divine Archives

India’s Real Gully Boys & the Art of Protest Poetry: Rapping Up Election 2019

At a time when there is a trust deficit in India’s news media and chilling deaths of RTI activists and journalists are par for the course, the guardians of democracy appear to be India’s street rappers. Their fire rhymes are lighting up an election year. Meet the new breed of “citizen rappers”.

Nair Da July 28, 2016

Pop Culture

Kya Bol Rele Gully Boy: How Hip-Hop Hacked India in 2019

Even as India registers a low rank for starting a business, and millions of micro-firms struggle to stay afloat, a new species of internet-enabled artist-entrepreneur is thriving. Unburdened by corporate or political bureaucracy, Indian hip-hop’s army of ardent creators have hooked our youth to a quality product.

Nair Da July 15, 2016

Pop Culture

“Gully Life” Introduces Us to Vivian Fernandes, the Man Behind Divine

At this point, Divine, who has fronted crackling music collaborations, founded a band, an independent hip-hop label, a hip-hop fest, and inspired a Bollywood film, has stopped being just a musician. Instead, he is now, a cultural commodity – a gully-bred Indian rap franchise. A new documentary unearths Vivian Fernandes, the man behind Divine.

Poulomi Das June 30, 2016

Bollywood

Gully Boy Review: Khatri Music & Bahut Hard Performances in a Primer on Mumbai Slums

Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt deliver power-packed performances in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. But the movie soon becomes predictable and seems stubborn in playing out like a 101 primer on life in the Indian slum. After 18 songs, you come out of the theatre learning as much about gully rap in India as you did going into it.

Poulomi Das June 13, 2016

POV

A Question for Those Offended by the Amazon Toilet Covers: Do You Need to Defend the Divine?

#BoycottAmazon is trending in India, after the online retailer's international platform featured Hindu deities on toilet covers. But do all-powerful, all-knowing deities really require human protection?

Dushyant Shekhawat June 2, 2016

POV

Independence Day: Is Poetry the Oppressed Soul’s Ticket to Freedom?

Freedom, to most of us, still dates back to the political independence of 1947. But like poetry, freedom too is defined by its individual interpretations. To be free would be to accept everyone’s claim to the same poem, and by extension, the same freedoms.

Manik Sharma April 26, 2016

People

MC Tod Fod: Musician, Wordsmith and Eco warrior

Dharmesh Parmar was not just a singer, but also a philosopher, an environmentalist and the rarest of all, a principled artist.

Anurag Tagat April 23, 2016