Pop Culture Archives

Big Little Lies Season 2 Deserved a Better Finale

The haphazardly-stitched together Big Little Lies finale became unrecognisable from the hundreds of other cable TV finales that believe in the performance of closure and not in the act of it. In under an hour, it reiterated what most of us were too afraid to admit: The charm of Big Little Lies was in it being a mini-series.

Poulomi Das May 21, 2016

Pop Culture

The Celebrity Talk Show Fatigue is Real. And We Might Want to Thank Arbaaz Khan

At a time when actors are overeager to broadcast every part of their lives online, there remains little reason to watch a celebrity chat show. It’s precisely what should have triggered the talk show fatigue years ago. That might change now with Pinch by Arbaaz Khan.

Arré Bench May 21, 2016

Pop Culture

Years Before Black Panther, We Had Blade: The Black Superhero We Forgot

On the 20th anniversary of Blade’s film debut, it’s worth remembering his role in making superhero movies what they are today. He was the first black superhero before Black Panther, the first gritty franchise before Batman Begins, and Iron Man and Captain America owe their popularity to him.

Dushyant Shekhawat May 21, 2016

Pop Culture

Made in Heaven Review: The Zoya Akhtar Show Exposes the Regressiveness of Urban India

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s Made in Heaven dissects the transactional nature of Indian weddings and critiques the concealed social regressiveness of urban India. It’s also a rare show that explores homosexuality as an Indian identity instead of reducing it to an empty statement.

Poulomi Das May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Netflix’s Russian Doll Reveals the Hidden Cost of “Inconsequential” Decisions

Nadia on Russian Doll becomes a proxy for the viewer as she scrutinises her life while stuck in an endless time loop, confronting all the decisions she ever took for granted.

Meghalee Mitra May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Terry Pratchett for the Teenage Soul

As a child with a tendency to suffer mild anxiety attacks, I found solace in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where uncomfortable situations were treated with levity.

#VALUE! May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Make Way for the Corporate Stoner

If weed is legalised in India, corporates won’t waste time jumping in. And we’d have ads with jingles like: “Reliance Number Ek Maal, Sirf 4,000 Rupay Mein!”

#VALUE! May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Hereditary Review: Family is the Greatest Horror of All

The most inventive stroke of Ari Aster’s Hereditary is that it has the greatest horror villain of all time: family inheritance. The film takes the saying “skeletons in the closet” literally, giving us a genuinely terrifying portrait of a family’s breakdown.

Poulomi Das May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

With Mowgli, Netflix Gives The Jungle Book A Much-Needed Update

The biggest threat that looms over the jungle and its denizens in Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, isn’t Shere Khan, but human encroachment. In today’s times, man’s rapaciousness is a graver danger to the balance of nature than a tiger.

Dushyant Shekhawat May 19, 2016

Pop Culture

We’ve All Laughed At Yogi Babu, the Tamil Comedian. It’s Time to Applaud for Yogi Babu, the Actor

Since his debut in 2009, Tamil comedian Yogi Babu has built for himself a filmography most of which relied disproportionately on jibes about his appearance. This is why 2021 is an important year for him. In Mandela and Karnan, he explores roles he’s never done before and seals his place as an actor who can do a lot more than make jokes.

Ranjani Krishnakumar May 19, 2016