In a country of 1.36 billion people, the most talked about thing right now is a machine – the EVM. As elections come to a close, we look back at all the drama surrounding EVMs: It involved malfunctions, court complaints, and now alleged tampering.

We’ve come to see petitions as a way to be loud when we’re tired of Twitter. From disgruntled fans demanding Game of Thrones’ final season be remade and Robert Pattison be recast as Batman, to actual do-gooders trying to save the environment, the online petition is the new outdoor rally.

It’s hard to beat the nostalgia that the mountain air brings with it. Maybe it’s the majesty of rolling peaks and valleys. Or maybe we have Ruskin Bond to thank for the romanticisation of these hilly havens with their winding roads, sky-high deodar trees, and rhododendron shrubs

There’s no getting away from the fact that Mallika Sherawat’s and Hina Khan’s connection to world cinema is tenuous at best. Yet they are gracing the Cannes red carpet. As for the rest of the Indian delegation? To paraphrase a modern statesman: We’re definitely not sending our best people.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu features Ryan Reynolds as the amnesiac, coffee-chugging, New York wisecracking title character. But underneath Pikachu’s ironic wit and conspiracy theories, lies a core of sincerity that defines the actor. The ability to skewer a beloved story without disrespecting its essence is signature Reynolds.

The common wisdom of the IPL, that it’s all about who can hit the biggest shots, has changed. Over the years, the record now dictates that batsmen might win matches, but it’s the bowling side that clinches tournaments.

Indian grandparents are known to spoil their grandkids silly. Most start by passive aggressively collecting Barbie dolls and cars months after their children get married. But this is Mukesh Ambani we are talking about. And nothing short of Hamleys, the legendary British toy retailer, will do for this future grandpa.

When women attempt to name and shame their aggressors, they are asked to follow due process. When they do follow due process, as the former Supreme Court staffer did in a detailed affidavit on allegations against CJI Ranjan Gogoi, the process is long and tortuous. As most women know, due process is code for being on trial themselves.

Aside from squealing over Baby Taimur’s adventures in micro-fashion, most of us don’t know the first thing about clothes. But on a few special nights of the year, like the Met Gala, even the most fashionably challenged among us become a leading authority on French couture.

Common wisdom in India dictates that dieters should steer clear of rice. But a research team from Kyoto found that increasing rice consumption could reduce global obesity. So why is the billowing sadam belly, paired with a bushy moustache, the most distinctive marker of South Indian-dom?

Few films seem further from today’s cinemascape of chest-thumping nationalism than the 2004 film Main Hoon Na. The lighthearted patriotic film about “Project Milaap”, an Indo-Pak peace operation would probably be labelled “anti-national” in today’s times.

What the hell are we all going to do when we no longer have the Avengers in our lives? Now that there are no more trailers to slow down frame-by-frame, or post-credits scenes to sit in the theatre for, to whom will the devotees of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes turn?

It’s not just real-life women with whom Chetan Bhagat seems to share a tetchy relationship. The author’s heroines are always one-dimensional, unattainable college girls. They are quite stupid when it comes to matters of the heart — which is why they inevitably end up with one of Bhagat’s douchebag protagonists.

Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan made unsavoury remarks apparently about BJP candidate Jaya Prada. This is not the first time Khan has stuck his foot in his mouth – and Jaya Prada is not the first woman politician to face disgusting sexism on the campaign trail.

It hurts to say that, as the show’s final season finally arrives, I have officially broken up with Game of Thrones. With its reliance on CGI dragons and impending apocalypse, GoT has become almost conventional, nearly predictable — and utterly disappointing.

When I was nine and my sister 13, I was diagnosed with leukaemia. Suddenly, my family’s plans changed overnight. My father gave up a job offer, my mother became my full-time carer. And my sister, always the mature, responsible one who never needed supervision, was left to her own devices.

A nine-year-old girl from Juhu’s Nehru Nagar, that houses lower-income families, was raped and murdered last week. Since Saturday, residents have protested the police’s slow response to the case. But most of Mumbai remained indifferent – until the city’s central SV Road was blocked due to a morcha that disrupted traffic.

The case for automation at work has been made many times by very smart, scientific people. But in a world where robots run shit and humans have unlimited free time, will every day be like the weekend — a snoozefest where we do nothing at all?

A woman constable in Uttar Pradesh was attacked with acid by a jilted lover. The fact that she is a cop did not deter the attacker. This is the stark dichotomy between the freedom women now have to make waves at work and the basic freedoms they continue to be denied in their personal lives.

What’s been made clear by the entire story surrounding touchy-feely Joe Biden, is that young women will no longer brush their discomfort aside, simply because it doesn’t fall under the definition of harassment. The empathetic, handsy politician is a relic from a more forgiving past — and is now being called out for outdated, soft sexism.

With PM Narendra Modi and My Name is RaGa readying for release, who will win the battle of the biopics this election season? If the reception to The Accidental Prime Minister is any indication, regardless of how the Lok Sabha elections turn out, the box office will belong to the BJP.

For once, our politicians have got the idea of a yuva neta correct. At 28, Tejasvi Surya is the BJP’s youngest candidate. With emo tweets and an adorable Instagram picture of his dog, he’s definitely winning social-media brownie points.

In the web series A.I.SHA, the programmer Sam develops a self-learning AI for the purpose of being a virtual assistant and companion – a scenario not far from reality. Most of us spend more time interacting with electronics than with people. New-age chatbots double up as friends and therapists.

The Kerala High Court recently upheld that women students have the same freedoms as men. The implications of these college rules go far beyond the campus. It goes against the understanding that the potential of young women is up for sacrifice without a second thought, as long as we can keep them in line.

The 2019 IPL kicks off tonight with CSK taking on RCB. If you are still part of the Whistle Podu Parishad, you are a loyalist who doesn’t switch allegiances no matter what. And you are a true Royal Challenger, if you believe in the power of Anushka Sharma’s birthday.

In the last two decades, our approach to technology in pop culture has swung from the unremarkable Jetsons to dystopian web series like Black Mirror or A.I.SHA. What changed? At some point, we had to deal with the very immediate prospect of robots taking our jobs, and inevitably, the world.

In our vast and diverse democracy, is it really possible for every filmmaker, writer, and performer to have the same rose-tinted view of the country? Obviously not. That’s why Kunal Kamra, whose bracing political satire dares to challenge that status quo, stands out.

Police in Tamil Nadu say that more than 50 women have been sexually abused by a four-member gang in Pollachi. Yet the plight of the survivors has gone unnoticed and reported sparingly by the mainstream media.

AI mines data from everywhere — including the casual sexist text messages we send, dissing Pakistanis on WhatsApp, and our porn searches. Self-learning robots can build on these same learned biases. And A.I.SHA, who displays the worst traits of humanity, is no different.

As Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta tie the knot, complete with a trio of dancing Khans and a million photo ops with Nita ben, we are a bit disappointed. They are doing what every rich couple does – Sabya lehengas and a theme party. If we had that much money, we’d probably get married at Burning Man.

Captain Marvel takes us back to the humble beginnings of the MCU, before we come to its operatic end. It’s a welcome palate-cleanser before the guaranteed plunge into the overstuffed chaos that Avengers: Endgame, releasing next month, will be.

Reducing India to outdated jokes about Bollywood dancing and funny accents is what American pop culture does best. Even as we see marginally better representations thanks to stars like Mindy Kaling, it’s still rare to see desis outside the context of “funny”. Trevor Noah is no different.

A sting by Cobrapost, Operation Karaoke, set up a fake PR agency that asked Bollywood celebrities to endorse a political party for money. But after a slew of propaganda films and biopics, are we really surprised to learn that the industry is full of actors who are cosily nestled in political pockets?

Realising that millennial lovers are hopelessly soft, the Bajrang Dal is offering counselling sessions on why Valentine’s Day is a greater threat to our country than chowmein and women with cell phones. Anti-love activists are busy convincing the youth that paintings of Mughal kings smelling flowers is proof that Rose Day is celebrated only by anti-nationals.

The Priyanka Sena is less like the angry, saffron-clad followers we’re used to, and more like the teddy bear your baby cousin offers his sweetheart on Valentine’s Day. Is this the fabled “Priyanka Effect” that we’ve all been hearing so much about?

Four More Shots Please! treats Damini no differently from the women journalists who have come before her in the chick flick genre. Like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, Damini is not just an unlikeable character – her many flaws are framed as aspirational.

Until now, Pride protesters have been united in their aims to decriminalise the LGBT+ community’s existence. Today, each attendee faces a different rights battle. But the war rages on for dignity, freedom, and equality, regardless of orientation or gender identity.

In 1996, Deepa Mehta’s Fire was met with riots and outrage. Politicians leapt over themselves to denounce the film as a threat to Indian culture, plenty more objected to the film’s religious allusions. Today, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga has received the kind of acclaim and acceptance that, not so long ago, seemed impossible.

Social media has been abuzz with PM Modi’s reference to PUBG at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0. And in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, both Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi recognise that a politician’s grasp over the public imagination is no trivial matter. But can anyone in the Grand Old Party match the PM’s oratory skills?

Turns out, when you call someone on Group FaceTime, you can hear them even before they pick up. For Apple, this so-called “bug” is a potential goldmine in a new generation of social spying.

Kangana Ranaut’s combative, no-filter style has come with setbacks. Thanks to her unwillingness to be diplomatic, she has alienated an influential chunk of Bollywood. It’s the reason that, even after doing a massive costume drama like Manikarnika, she’s not mentioned in the same breath as contemporaries Deepika, Anushka, and Alia.

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions going into the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Chances are we will remember the first Grand Slam of the season for Zverev’s racquet smash and Carreno Busta’s temper tantrum, rather than its winners.

In India, poverty isn’t just a state of mind, and paisa-vasooli is a way of life. Yet, people buy an extra birthday cake, just to smash it gleefully in some unfortunate soul’s face. What gives?

Are people who think they’re superheroes crazy, or does it take a crazy person to become a superhero? In trying to find pat answers to such questions, M Night Shyamalan’s Glass fails.

When Kidding, premiered last year, there was relatively little fanfare greeting Jim Carrey’s return to screen. But his character Mr Pickles is the closest we’ll get to grasping Carrey’s quicksilver mind and mammoth career.

In a series of Facebook posts, Kanak Sarkar, a professor at Jadavpur University, said that virgin girls are like sealed cold drink bottles and biscuit packets. We thought only our elected representatives were prone to shooting their mouths off on how women should be. Are we now to be concerned about our teachers and academics too?

There’s no denying that the old relationship between cricket and courteousness had become archaic. But after the latest Koffee with Karan episode, which featured Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul on the couch, it might have finally died for good.

If the chief villain of Mary Poppins Returns is the big bad adult world, then the cutthroat bankers are its henchmen, and the dancing lamplighters its underdog heroes. The film illustrates the impact that collective action can have, even in the face of powerful institutions.

Let’s forego the whole charade of New Year’s Resolutions and be resigned to the fact that you’re never going to stick to them. So maybe focus on finding a life-changing, self-improving, magical cop-out resolution that requires no actual commitment whatsoever: How about the modern classic, “go with the flow”?

A mob protesting against women entering the Sabarimala Temple attacked a cameraperson who was covering the story. In the past too, stones have been pelted at women. Who are these “real devotees” of Ayyappa, who believe in their religious rights without considering the constitutional rights of others?

In a rare interview, PM Modi stated that banning triple talaq has helped secure gender equality, but the Sabarimala ban on women is a tradition that has nothing to do with discrimination. But if treating women’s bodies as sacrilege isn’t blatant discrimination, what is?

Women in sports are making up for lost time by smashing records while stoking the pride of the nation. From the on-field exploits of Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, to the athletic feats of PV Sindhu, Hima Das, Mary Kom, and their peers, female athletes have forced naysayers to eat their words.

As the #DeepVeer and #Nickyanka weddings took over our timelines this year, the 2019 shaadi season should just stay home with its head under the blankets. It’s never going to top the unhinged festivities that have defined our Instagram feeds for the past three months.

For months, opposition leaders have shouted that the BJP engaged in crony capitalism with French Rafale jet manufacturer, Dassault Aviation, and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Naval and Engineering. But today, the Supreme Court concluded that it was outside its purview to examine the business of the government.

Like a naive lover or a doting Indian mother, the bhakt is blind to the BJP’s faults and deaf to their lies. Now that their reign is on shaky ground, will the bhakt resort to talking about actual policy and infrastructure, or will the propaganda intensify?

As a privileged upper-class woman, Midge Maisel keeps her comedy a secret from her elite social circle. But the second season of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel explores Midge’s anxiety as her disparate worlds collide.

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, which drops its second season today, is one of the most anticipated TV events of the year. The show subverts the conventional trope of “the perfect female lead” by having a heroine whose perfectionism isn’t a temporary product of her circumstances.

Priyanka Chopra is that rare star who has managed to breach the gates of Hollywood, a feat that no actress has been able accomplish. Priyanka, however, knew what it took to succeed – and that’s the reason she is so easy to hate. The Cut’s vitriolic screed about their “scam” wedding proves that the NickYanka hate brigade is real.

Anti-incumbency is probably the BJP’s biggest worry in Madhya Pradesh and a massive press spend might be exactly what the party needs to secure a fourth term for CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

If there's one thing Indians know how to do well, it's the shaadi. And it all builds up to the hallowed first night -- with kesar doodh and a literal bed of roses. Stay with us through the big night, as we ask: What's Up With India's Suhaag Raat Obsession?

Rakhi Sawant introduced us to camp, but today – amid the rise of cringe-pop stars like Dhinchak Pooja and the growing popularity of TikTok – we see many versions of her. Sawant’s space in the spotlight is shrinking, as everyone clamours to be on the same stage as her.

A day after dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik said that he acted in the state’s interest. With the dissolution, one thing seems clear: It doesn’t look as though the people of Kashmir will be getting a people’s government anytime soon.

Fifteen years ago, Britney Spears made a frothy pop song about a toxic relationship. Today, in the era of #MeToo, the word has a very different connotation. It was so much in vogue over the last year that Oxford English Dictionary anointed it 2018’s Word of the Year.

Forget Iulia Vantur, Warina Hussain, and bechara Aamir Khan. The latest firangi sensation in Bollywood is, without a doubt, Lake Como – the third glamorous diva at the Deepika-Ranveer wedding. And where Bollywood goes, the selfie-taking desi tourist follows.

As Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald releases, we finally see the much-hyped Nagini – and she is underwhelming. Should just have asked us, JK Rowling, we’re the experts in poorly CGI’d shape-shifting snakes.

Gellert Grindelwald’s tactics of demonising muggles, as a convenient “other”, can be seen in the divisive politics of the US, much of Europe, Brazil, and even in our India. Like a steadily growing number of our world leaders, Grindelwald understands the politics of fear, fake news, and populism.

Despite its glaring flaws, Dostana played a role in drawing the attention of a nation oblivious to the queer community and its struggles. The film went on to define the mantra of the LGBT community: sexy, fabulous, and deeply individual.

The Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone romance, captured in heartfelt confessions, mushy Instagram comments, and photos so sweet that they make singletons burst into tears, feels strikingly genuine in an industry where, dating is often used as a PR strategy.

Chhattisgarh’s action-packed polls are like a teaser-trailer for Election 2019. With all the high drama and horse-trading, it promises to be a merry – if frustrating – circus. It’s missing the pirates and the high seas, but is still more entertaining than Thugs of Hindostan.

Over the past year, women have done enough talking, outing sexual harassers with courage. But despite that, powerful men get away with million-dollar severance packages. Google Walkout seems to be the answer.

When vegans claim their diet is better for the environment, but rely on imported foods that waste water and fuel, are they being any more hypocritical than those who eat “Jain chicken”? Is their irritating preachiness so out-of-place in a country that has forced the world’s largest burger chain to create a beefless menu?

What will the Statue of Unity be remembered for? For being the world’s biggest statue? Or for being part of the government’s effort to make history for the world’s highest re-election spend?

Alok Nath might return to the public eye after a self-prescribed sabbatical, in a film about the #MeToo movement. A society that welcomes harassers back after a short time-out ensures that they are shielded from meaningful consequences.

How many Indian men can so lightly embody the many contradictions of Ranveer Singh? In our determinedly binary society, his love of lehengas on anyone else might have garnered epithets of “sissy” or “hijra”. But then, as his infamous t-shirt once declared, Ranveer always makes one thing abundantly clear: he’s got no fucks to give.

There’s never a particularly good time to be a dissenter, but the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the death of Father Kuriakose Kattithara, the priest who tried to stand up to Bishop Francis Kurukkal, and the forced leave of CBI chief Alok Verma highlight just how dangerous it is to challenge the powers that be.

At a recent press conference, Rakhi Sawant claimed that Tanushree Dutta raped her and muddied the waters of the #MeToo movement by calling it a publicity stunt. Because if anyone knows anything about cheap publicity stunts, it is Rakhi Sawant. It is fine to issue wedding proposals from your commode, but dismissing a movement for solidarity is going too far.

Whatever her intentions, union minister Smriti Irani’s remarks on taking sanitary napkins into homes and temples fall neatly into a cultural norm that considers women “impure” for menstruating, capable of “desecrating” any place by their mere presence.

Journalist Tavleen Singh has reduced #MeToo to a bunch of well-heeled urban women complaining over a bit of workplace harassment. But it is actually Singh and her ilk’s privilege that has helped them rise above the rampant sexism, which held back so many of their peers. That continues to be an obstacle for younger women.

Karnataka Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde recently claimed that his job was to do politics, not social service. Understandable. In other countries, getting into politics is not considered the rough equivalent of joining the mafia. But our politicians have long forgotten that they are put in place to serve the people, rather than the other way around.

It took the clout of 20 powerful and credible women to bring down one harasser. What message does this send to India’s women, whose harassers are not public figures, and who are not the nation’s top journalists and writers? That their stories will be ignored?

The rose-tinted escapism that defines PG Wodehouse’s oeuvre speaks volumes of a social observer who knew that the days of this rarefied existence were numbered. In his tumultuous times, his refusal to take anything seriously, be it political patriotism, the sacred lion of MGM Studios, or his own work, was its own form of irreverent resistance – one that is just as effective today as it was a hundred years ago.

Malgudi might have been a made-up Tamil town of the 1940s, supposedly located near colonial Madras. But its realism came from slice-of-life tales about a community that, however far removed from me in space and time, felt like home.

For many men, consent is a boundary that has to be challenged, rather than respected: Whether it’s Nana Patekar, who insisted there was a “misunderstanding” between him and Tanushree Dutta, or the allegations against Aziz Ansari that were chalked up to a bad date.

Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual harassment are eerily similar to Christine Blasey Ford’s, who testified at a US Supreme Court hearing yesterday. Does this mean that India’s #MeToo reckoning has begun? Because the movement’s progress in the US nearly one year on, is a sign that little has changed.

Today is CJI Dipak Misra's last day as top judge. He will be remembered as the judge who scrapped Section 377 – but his legacy will be shrouded by the impeachment motion and the Justice Loya investigation.

The concept of cramming a bunch of oddballs into a house and filming the fuckery is not exclusive to Bigg Boss. It’s a tried-and-tested reality formula, and it always works. You may consider it low-brow and yet you’ll consume it, as I learned when I discovered Jersey Shore.

Award ceremonies have long been criticised for being self-indulgent affairs, designed by the rich, white, and famous – for the rich, white, and famous. If the Emmys this year, defined by its snubs, were any evidence, there’s still a long way to go before that changes.

It might be tempting to dismiss terms like “Urban Naxal” and “anti-national” as empty rhetoric, but their domination of our news cycle demands a closer look. It all comes down to a nationwide difference of opinion on one question: What is the purpose of the country, and for whom?

Dutee Chand has come a long way: She’s won a fight against the sexist, transphobic practices of the International Olympic Committee. And now, she has come out as being in a same-sex relationship. The small-town athlete continues to challenge outdated notions of womanhood, just by being herself.

Why believe in meticulous research citing climate change and poor management of dams and irrigation, when you can pin the blame for the Kerala floods on MLAs eating beef or women entering temples?

Even as a kid, I knew that the secret to gorgeous hair was my dad’s heavy-handed Parachute champi and that the tastiest fish was fried in coconut oil. So it came as a rude shock when Harvard professor Karin Michels denigrated coconut oil as “pure poison”.

The Centre has declined all foreign offers of aid for disaster-struck Kerala, including UAE’s donation of ₹700 crores. The government is acting in line with policy, but it is imperative to remember that the UAE has been built on the back of a workforce from Kerala.

The #MeToo movement has changed our perception of who a sexual abuser can be – but not our view of victims of sexual assault. Who exactly is the “perfect” victim? The Asia Argento case challenges that notion, letting us know that a victim of assault can also be a perpetrator.

Indians are so obsessed with the virtues of a struggle, that it has become a part of our national narrative. But what happens to those who inherit the burdens of inequality and not the fruits of struggle?

Anushka Sharma is facing yet another social media backlash – this time for being photographed with the Indian cricket team. Anushka can’t seem to catch a break. When Virat Kohli is not in his finest form, we believe blaming Anushka for existing is par for the course.

The 1952 film by Karunanidhi, Parasakthi, democratised the DMK’s message of Dravidian ideology. But it was more than a propaganda film. Revolving around a divided Tamil family left broken and destitute by World War II, it was a scathing critique of a sexist, casteist society.

Besides being an old-fashioned film, designed purely for the purposes of glorious, full-throated entertainment, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again provides a refreshing perspective on life – one that is a soothing balm for our world of stressed-out Sophies.

Lewis Carroll based his most famous character on Alice Pleasance Liddell, the 10-year-old daughter of his friend. Carroll’s views on little girls bordered on the predatory. So how do we read the beloved Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland in a post #MeToo world?

The Fanney Khan song “Mere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge” is now BJP-approved. The lyrics have been suitably changed to “Mere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re”. The party might as well use it as its 2019 slogan.

Indian students rarely ask questions, because in our schools, a “why” is never treated as an innocent question, but an open challenge to the authority of a teacher. We are all expected to be Eklavyas, ready to offer our thumbs to our gurus without doubting them.