Bad Newz review – racy Bollywood romcom breaks new ground with parenting shenanigans
Love triangle caper about a woman who bears twins by two different fathers gives disappointingly more life to its competing men
Other lives
Pamela Cullen obituary
Other lives: London regional manager for the National Film Development Corporation of India in the 1970s and 80s
Opinion
What does a Bollywood star have to do with Indian women’s wellbeing? Everything
Shrayana Bhattacharya
In India being a female fan of Shah Rukh Khan is not just about a love of film – it’s a form of resistance against restrictive gender norms
June 2024
Notebook
‘A sweet breeze amid a heatwave’: liberals feel hope again following Narendra Modi’s loss of his majority
There is renewed hope for democracy and tolerance after authoritarian PM left reliant on coalition partners
April 2024
Gang members fire at Bollywood star’s home in antelope killing row
Two men from Bishnoi gang, whose leader has threatened to kill Salman Khan, arrested over Mumbai shooting
March 2024
Swatantra Veer Savarkar review – biopic of Hindu nationalist is self-defeating call to arms
Politically-inspired biopic of Indian politician who opposed Gandhi’s non-violence is hamstrung by its own lack of action
‘Brazen propaganda’: pro-Modi films flood Bollywood before India election
Some releases promote the PM and his policies while others are accused of being divisive and Islamophobic
Unfair & Lovely: the Bollywood film shining a light on dark-skin discrimination
As an Indian judge says change must start at home, a new movie uses humour to examine family prejudice against children with darker complexions
February 2024
The beauty spot
Screen idols: how to shimmer like a Bollywood star
Shreya Ghoshal review – masterful Indian singer has a voice like billowing silk
January 2024
Fighter review – India’s pizazz-free Top Gun weighed down by patriotic propaganda
Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone can’t inject feeling into a love story weighed down by propaganda
December 2023
Animal review – Ranbir Kapoor plays one of the vilest protagonists in cinema history
Kapoor plays the scion of a wealthy family whose violence is the result of a craving for love and validation, in a regressive Bollywood blockbuster
October 2023
12th Fail review – Indian exam yarn offers hope on overcoming corruption and poverty
This semi-true story of a young farmer who uses his grandmother’s life savings to sit police officer exams in Delhi fosters the idea that success is possible through effort alone
September 2023
Indian actor Anil Kapoor wins court battle over AI use of his likeness
The actor can now send an injunction if his image or voice is used in gifs and deepfakes as well as for unauthorised merchandise
What Modi won’t show the G20: Muslims killed, harassed by the police and abused in school
Rana Ayyub
The PM is keen to show India as the ‘mother of democracy’, but this is one of the most undemocratic periods in its history, says the journalist Rana Ayyub
Jawan review – Shah Rukh Khan vehicle goes like a runaway train
With flair, Khan plays a godly badass, dandyish army vet and a sweetheart with a prospective stepdaughter in an undisciplined showcase of his talents
