hero Archives

Chhe Din, Ladki Not In: Will the Year of #MeToo Usher in a New Kind of Bollywood Hero?

No film in the ’90s had a woman character whose first “no” was accepted – instead her consent was treated as a challenge by the hero. But in a year when #MeToo ruled our cultural consciousness, will that old idea of what a Bollywood hero is supposed to be, change?

Manik Sharma July 3, 2016

Bollywood

Bole Toh… Jackie Shroff, the OG Gully Boy of Bollywood

There was once a little-known kid who grew up in a chawl, worked a couple of dead-end jobs, and rose to fame as Bollywood’s poster boy of the ’80s and ’90s. Jackie Shroff, was your everyday next-door mawali, a tapori through and through, which is why his appeal endures today.

Damian D'souza April 11, 2016

Bollywood

Kaalia, Bob Biswas and Circuit: The Side Characters Without Whom No Bollywood Plot is Kaamyaab

A Bollywood film is incomplete without a “side hero” – you know, the “hero ka dost”. But side characters have risen from the forgotten corners of history, and thanks to social media, often find their own audience. Sanjay Mishra’s Kaamyaab reminds us of the long road side characters have had to tread.

Sayantan Mondal March 30, 2016