Splainer

Dhanush back to being a reckless lover; Urdu lessons from Naseeruddin Shah; sequel to the lovely Zootopia; a must-watch Taiwanese film on Netflix, and a sharp documentary on who gets to tell the truth vis-à-vis the Vietnam War. In our list of must-watches.

Find more via the link in bio.


[tere ishk mein, dhanush, zootopia 2, stranger things, left handed girl, movies, ott]

As the cold sets in, and the mind wants to stay still and lock in to a dark thriller, here's a list of 13 crime novels from Scandinavia meant to hit the right spots.

'Nordic crime' became a household name with 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' in the mid-aughts, but the genre goes all the way back to the mid-'60s, and has since had a striking evolution keeping pace with global politics. This piece also serves as a genre primer.

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Link in bio.


[nordic crime, nordic noir, stieg larsson, millennium trilogy, lisbeth salander, henning mankell, jo nesbo, pia juul, crime novels, crime fiction, thrillers]

As the cold sets in, and the mind wants to stay still and lock in to a dark thriller, here's a list of 13 crime novels meant to hit the right spots.

'Nordic crime' became a household name with 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' in the mid-aughts, but the genre goes all the way back to the mid-'60s, and has since had a striking evolution keeping pace with global politics.

This piece also works as a genre primer.

💻

Link in bio.


[nordic crime, nordic noir, millennium trilogy, stieg larsson, martin beck, henning mankell, jo nesbo, crime novels, thrillers]

Taylor Swift has perhaps the most committed fanbase in all of pop music right now. The Swifties have been following, analysing, and dissecting every single move she has made for close to two decades, united in their adoration. However, her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has caused a rare ‘glitch’, dividing her fanbase—the disillusioned, the loyal, and the cult conspiracy theorists. All of them trying to grapple with the big Q: What has Taylor Swift become?

Read more in Advisory! Link in bio.


[Taylor Swift, TLOAS, The Life of a Showgirl, Swiftie, Travis Kelce, Music]

As an actor, Shah Rukh Khan is more signifier than s*x symbol—often a survival tool for Indian women in a damaging, violent culture of patriarchy.

In this deeply personal essay, poet-author Manjiri Indurkar () reveals her intimate relationship with a distant superstar—who came to be a kind voice in her head, first when she was a lonely, abused child, and later as an adult struggling with trauma. Her essay offers a moving look at how movies shape and save our inner selves.

Find Manjiri's essay via the link in bio.


[shah rukh khan, srk, personal essay, mental health, manjiri indurkar]

This is the Advisory—your weekend edition of all things delightful.

As King Khan—Shah Rukh himself—turns 60 tomorrow, we feature a stirring, deeply personal essay from poet-author Manjiri Indurkar ().

Next, curl up in a razai through the winter months with a book or two…or 20! We have a massive list of recent and upcoming fiction and nonfiction titles from India and beyond.

Further, the story of MS Randhawa, a Civil Services officer who almost single-handedly built the art collection at Chandigarh Museum.

And, as always, we’ve curated the best new shows and films to binge-watch this weekend.

Head over to the link in our bio to read more!


[SRK, Reading, Books, Shah Rukh Khan, Art, Culture, MS Randhawa, Chandigarh, Films, TV]

Contrary to Halloween’s ghoulish spirit, our in-house horror connoisseur has a reading list focused on the purely non-supernatural.

(This is the only list on the internet where you will find Alan Moore, Satyajit Ray and Thomas Ligotti together)


[halloween, halloween reads, horror fiction, weird fiction, shirley jackson, satyajit ray, alan moore, thomas ligotti, bret easton ellis, brian evenson, harlan ellison, cormac mccarthy, eliza clark]

The Malayalam blockbuster everyone and their cat has been talking about, Lokah, is finally streaming.

Do not miss the chilling serial killer miniseries, The Monster of Florence, from crime specialist writer-director Stefano Sollima (Gommorrah, ZeroZeroZero).

This past week, we also featured five horror flicks for a separate Halloween segment.

Head to the link in bio to get our full watchlist.


[Lokah Chapter 1 Chandra, The Monster of Florence, The Good Neighbor, Vash Level 2, Halloween, Movies, OTT]

Our classical music encyclopedia, Narendra Kusnur (), has been writing fun, accessible guides to Western classical music and how they’ve shaped popular culture for a while. This month, he switches up the tempo and adds some skibidi-doo-bop to it, taking us through the history of jazz music in America, or ‘jass’ as it was first known.

Read about it in last week's Advisory! Link in bio.


[Music, Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Jelly Morton, America, 1920s]

This is the Advisory—your weekend edition of all things delightful.

A treat as Halloween cometh: a monster list of non-supernatural literary horror, from Stephen King to Satyajit Ray, and everything in between.

Calm those nerves soon after with some jazz music, as our Western classical expert, Narendra Kusnur (), switches up the beat to guide us through the history of jazz in America and its early impact on popular culture.

Next, we feature a poignant short story excerpt about grief and violence in ’90s Northeast, from the powerful new short story collection, The Last Free Naga, by author Jim Wungramyao Kasom ().

And, as always, we’ve curated the best new shows and films to binge-watch this weekend.

Head to the link in our bio to know more!


[Halloween, Horror fiction, Weird fiction, Jazz music, American jazz, Northeast, Nagaland, Movies, OTT]