The masterful Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi once used a fine analogy to describe the shapeshifting state of censorship in his country. “The restrictions and censorship in Iran are a bit like the British weather: one day it’s sunny, the next day it’s raining. You just have to hope you walk out into the sunshine.” In […]
Review: Vivek Agnihotri’s Buddha In A Traffic Jam
Dear Indian Right Wingers, You have my sincerest condolences. Propaganda films can be dangerous, influential, misleading — and that is what they intend to be. The one true requirement of a propaganda film is that it be effective. Emphatic instruments of (mis)information and awareness, instruments geared to trigger a change in mindset, to squelch a […]

Bobby’s Jindals: The family back in Malerkotla
As Bobby Jindal announces his bid for the US Presidential elections, here’s a story from back in 2007 about how his village in Punjab felt about their oddest export.