In Amar Kaushik’s Stree, gender roles are reversed: Men are forced to comply with society’s impractical rules and police their behaviour for no fault of their own. The film uses its supernatural spirit to imagine a safer world for women, but fails to eventually carry it through.

What would happen if Bollywood remade Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther? Prince T’halasa would rule over Bondwana, a kingdom inaccessible to anyone with an Aadhaar card.

Jack Ryan tracks an unassuming but troubled desk-bound analyst’s heroic turn into a duty agent heeding the call of duty. But its strength lies in its awareness that the war on terror is after all, a terror too.

On his 51st birthday, Akshay Kumar remains where he was at the beginning… hearing the cash register go ka-ching and smirking at all the other idiots trying so desperately to win.

Like Get Out and Pari, the Radhika Apte-starrer Ghoul underlines horror with context and uses it as a device to drive home a point about prejudice and gross injustice. In all three, humans are the hunters – not the hunted.

All through school, Kumar sir and his PT “exercises” combined all the beauty of flight attendants making safety announcements with all the grace of Sunny Deol dancing to “Yaara O Yaara”. To this day, my Pavlovian reaction to the sound of a whistle is breaking into march past.

As a twenty-something educated adult with a good track record of jobs and salary accounts, banks love me and I have come to make the most of that. I chose to live the best version of my life in EMIs – a lifestyle that has 14 per cent interest, but that’s ok.

Why can’t I, the former devourer of books, complete even a single one today? I put the blame partly on technology: Streaming websites offer us thousands of shows and movies. And unlike books, which require imagination on the reader’s part, these shows serve you everything on a platter.

If Raghuram Rajan really wanted the PMO to pay heed to his report on high-profile fraud cases, he should have tweeted it to the official handle. Isn’t he aware that the PMO is more active on social media than anywhere else?

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.

Every Mumbaikar knows a rickshawallah won’t look at you unless you address him as “boss”; no one ever questions the use of “rapchik” as a compliment. It wasn’t until I went to Delhi that I realised why I’ve always fared 37/100 in my Hindi paper.

As an elder sister, I am constantly bailing my brother out of sticky situations. Which makes me wonder, if I am his protector, shouldn’t he be tying a rakhi on my wrist, instead of the other way around? All traditions need an update and Raksha Bandhan is no different.

India and WWE have a lot in common even though jacked white dudes fighting each other theatrically seems to be far from anything remotely Indian.

I was brought up in a religious household, where Ganesh Chaturthi was the celebration we waited for all year. After my father passed away, I stopped praying and developed a disdain for religion. But I make an exception during the Ganesh festivities, where I suspend my atheism.

Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan is both a manifesto of modern love and a statement against Bollywood's unrealistic portrayal of love triangles. Aided by smart writing and affecting performances, the film subverts the nice guy trope and squashes the idea of the one true love.

As Opposition parties staged an all-India protest, a crowd of angry Mumbaikars gatecrashed the scene demanding a holiday. “The whole point of a bandh is to sit at home while protesters burn down the city. Is this what we pay tax for? What is the government doing?”

Instagram once saved us from the mundane mediocrity of Facebook, one pretty photo at a time. But its new “Ask Me a Question” feature is the epitome of modern loneliness: A way to convince yourself that your followers are actually interested in your life.

Not too long ago, the Kanwar Yatra was a peaceful procession of a few thousand Shiva devotees. But now this march has turned into an exhibition of aggressive religiosity, with 20 million participants – easy to be roused to violence.

Men and women have reacted to Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open final differently. Several men viewed it rather straightforwardly, siding with fairness in sport. The larger chunk of the support for Williams has come from women across the world – possibly because stuff like this happens to us every day.

It was only in 2014, when all of India was talking about the saffron wave, India’s millennials were lost in Snapchat’s simple world of disappearing pictures. Four years on, after Kylie Jenner’s deadly tweet and a much derided interface update, it is finally time to bid the app farewell.

Here’s some advice for Nick Jonas, recently anointed the white brother-in-law India has always wanted. Now for the important questions: What’ll he wear at Amitabh Bachchan’s Holi party? Will he be cast in Student of the Year 7?

Seven decades ago, one generation of freedom fighters drove British colonisers away from this country. Today, another generation has seen one of their lingering relics off for good. Menaka Guruswamy is one of the many participants who’ve helped win us the right to love who we want.

Legend says that every night, Krishna descends upon a forest in Vrindavan to dance with his gopis. But in a town dependant on its faith economy, does it even matter if it's true?

For most women who find it difficult to imagine their periods without sanitary pads, cost and features remain the top priority. The GST exemption too aims to serve this mentality. But we should be focusing on, is whether the pad you use for five days a month is harming your body.

Punjabi music, despite having roots in the Pind, has managed to consistently appeal to international markets. With a humongous global fanbase and ability to churn out hit after hit, bona fide superstars like Badshah and Diljit Dosanjh have helped make Punjabi music India’s biggest cultural export since Bollywood.

The next 30 days are going to be all about football and the World Cup. So even if you don’t find the game beautiful, you need to fit in. Pick a top team and pretend to support it. Do not say things like “I think The Netherlands or Italy will win the Cup” and “The Mexico team is building a wall. Lol.”

At 19, my aunt, who I once suspected of being a little bit butch, lashed out at my mother for trying to fix my engagement with a girl. She understood that I was different, just like her. What my aunt did for me, was something she could not have probably done for herself.

Welcome to India, IKEA. Let me also warn you that India is going to be no cakewalk. Selling DIY furniture in a land when memsahib calls carpenter ji to fix a screw is as tough as convincing us to stand in queue or follow traffic rules.

How do you delegitimise a woman’s expectation of justice in a case of sexual assault and break her spirit? As Kerala MLA PC George showed us, label her a “prostitute”. Tell her that she “enjoyed it”. Tell her that she “invited it upon herself”.

“What is she thinking?” That’s what everyone said when reports of Nimrat Kaur dating Ravi Shastri surfaced. But love is like a tracer bullet, it can hit anyone.