Author Archives: Deepanjana Pal
Bombay High
Novels set in Mumbai, whether they win prizes or become bestsellers, rarely offer a glimpse of the narcotics that are so deeply embedded in the city’s life. Read More »
Book Review: The Yellow Emperor’s Cure
Kunal Basu’s novel, about a quest for a cure for syphilis, suffers from a lack of focus and a slackening plot. Read More »
The Dirty Truth
We may be quick to take offense when foreigners point out India’s ugly realities, but are perversely happy to accept Bollywood’s inherent racism and warped gender politics.
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Happy New Year
Why this columnist hasn’t given up hope on 2011 yet. Read More »
Because Writers Find Poetry Even In the City’s Ugliness
The sordid side of Mumbai has served as the happy hunting ground of the city’s fiction and non-fiction chroniclers. Read More »
Red Light
A trip to a tier-two city in China leaves our correspondent awe-struck. Read More »
Curtain Call: Dev Anand
Despite his debacles in recent years, Dev Anand, who passed away this weekend, will remain an image in black and white, of a man with a cute face, a gravity-defying poof of hair, mischievous eyes and charming swagger. Read More »
MB Recommends: Mumbai Rollercoaster
In Rajorshi Chakraborti’s young adult fiction novel, the voices and tones of the murder mystery-solving teenaged characters are pitch perfect. Read More »
Book Review: Lucknow Boy
Richly sprinkled with humour and provocative opinions, Vinod Mehta’s memoir offers a delightful look at the life of a journalist. Read More »
Don’t Hate the Hater
Like them or loathe them, critics serve a purpose, if only to warn the reader of what lies ahead. Read More »
Where Are Our Heroes?
Bollywood may be full of them, but as the horrifying deaths of Keenan Santos and Ruben Fernandes prove, heroes weren’t there to save them in real life. Read More »
Water Show
Reclusive artist Sheba Chhachhi exhibits the best of her video, installation and photo works from the past eight years. Read More »
The Cutting Edge
The controversial My Little Princess may have won the top prize at the Mumbai Film Fest, but that doesn’t mean we’re past censorship. Read More »
What, Me Worry?
The BSE Sensex may have crashed by 704 points this past Thursday, but you wouldn’t guess anything was amiss from the chatter and buzz in Mumbai’s social scene. Read More »
Knotty People
‘The Wedding Wallah’, the third book in author Farahad Zama’s Marriage Bureau series, nimbly balances such diverse elements as homosexuality and rural insurgency. Read More »

