How a dowry death in Delhi gave birth to feminist street theatre in India

The year 1979 was seminal for both the feminist and the theatre movement in the country.

Malini Nair

· Jul 13, 2017 · 11:30 am

In the narrow lanes of Old Delhi, a unique and flavoursome dialect of Urdu is going extinct

The ‘karkhandari zubaan’, spoken by trader communities, was once the subject of many nostalgic tributes to the city.

Malini Nair

· Jun 26, 2017 · 11:30 am

Beyond Premchand and Manto: Hindi theatre is finding inspiration in the writings of Vijaydan Detha

Every contemporary debate, from homophobia and intolerance, finds an echo in the Rajasthani writer’s stories.

Malini Nair

· May 23, 2017 · 11:30 am

Meet the lawyer whose musical rendition of an old elegy to Imam Husain is leaving Indians teary-eyed

Askari Naqvi is re-contextualising Soz Khwani, or songs of lamentation, and presenting them outside their strictly religious setting.

Malini Nair

· Apr 20, 2017 · 11:30 am

A farewell to Delhi’s Regal Cinema, the birthplace of the city’s LGBTQ movement

One of the Capital’s most storied theatres was also the site of the first-ever public show of solidarity for the LGBTQ community.

Malini Nair

· Mar 27, 2017 · 11:30 am

'I was tired of hiding': Delhi-based actor Mallika Taneja turns onstage nudity into act of protest

'Thoda Dhyaan Se' highlights the flawed logic of victim blame in cases of sexual assault.

Malini Nair

· Mar 20, 2017 · 03:30 pm

‘Once, we accepted the right to question mythology. Now, we are intolerant': Telugu writer Volga

Threatened for rewriting one of the narratives of the ‘Ramayana’, Volga details the rise of intolerance against a feminist perspective in literature.

Malini Nair

· Mar 02, 2017 · 08:30 am

Yoga isn’t an all-Hindu tradition – it has Buddhist, even Sufi, influences

Two scholars dipped into 100 texts, and found that yoga is not as culturally homogenous as the Right Wing makes it out to be.

Malini Nair

· Jan 27, 2017 · 03:30 pm

In step with time: Male dancers are chipping away at the gender barrier in Bharatanatyam

This culture season in Chennai, it was the male Bharatanatyam dancer who made the most spectacular impact.

Malini Nair

· Jan 14, 2017 · 11:30 am

The rediscovery of Chandralekha, the dancer who didn’t want a legacy

A decade after her death, India now appreciates her body of distinctive works.

Malini Nair

· Dec 30, 2016 · 11:30 am