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Reel Take

Rekha’s Ghar asks an important question—How does a couple survive sexual assault?

The 1978 classic Ghar attempts to start a conversation around rape and trama, which is absent from most Hindi films to date.

English is a very funny language—Bachchan gave the OG Bollywood monologue in ‘Namak Halaal’

While Bachchan has been rightly applauded for his dialogue delivery in ‘Namak Halaal’, the writer is not widely known—it was actor Kader Khan.

Rekha’s Khoon Bhari Maang showed revenge doesn’t have to be violent—it can also be fashionable

Eccentric headgear, leather outfits, lace gloves, pearls—Rekha’s sartorial choices dominated Rakesh Roshan’s thriller.

Bollywood’s playful resistance to Emergency was Rekha’s Khubsoorat

Khubsoorat won the Filmfare Best Film award in the 1980s. It established Rekha as a star who could carry a film on her own, even in the absence of famous male hero.

‘Insaf Ka Tarazu’ was well-intentioned but couldn’t resist rape fetishisation of ’80s Bollywood

BR Chopra's 1980 remake of 'Lipstick' revived Raj Babbar's career, stalled for three years after his banned debut 'Kissa Kursi Ka'. Despite hesitation, Babbar accepted the role of a serial rapist.

‘Dosti’ was 1964’s breakout hit. A Bollywood film with no romance, hero-villain drama

Its actors, Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar, were not superstars. The music was directed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, when they were still not the powerhouse they eventually became.

‘Aasha’ explored a different view of one-sided love—that of the woman

Aasha, played by Reena Roy, is complex and empathetic—something female characters in Om Prakash movies have in common.

Sai Paranjpye’s ‘Sparsh’ squashes the ‘lachar-bechara’ image of blind people

Sparsh also highlights that number of books in Braille is abysmally low. It also shows how stories for the blind must make sense to them.

‘Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se’ was a remake of an American novel. Here, parents aren’t villains

It steers clear of the traditional Bollywood stereotype of the Christian woman who goes on dates and loves to party. Lily is shown as an intelligent, studious and ambitious woman.


‘Mashaal’ mixed news media with melodrama. It made Anil Kapoor an ‘A-grade hero’

The 1980s were a tough time for Yash Chopra. He directed Mashaal after two of his major films, Silsila and Faasle, flopped at the box office.

On Camera

A Donald Trump presidency threatens Indian economy. Just see his record

The chances of a trade war that raise inflation and reduce India’s economic growth are much higher under a Trump presidency.

Watch CutTheClutter: Flattening INR-USD rate, and debate on pros and cons of a ‘strong’ rupee

In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.

As IDF unveils robotic combat task force, Israeli maker says open to working with India

Using this technology, IDF carried out fully robotic combat missions, drastically reducing risk to Israeli troops. The robotic combat task force also enhanced situational awareness.

Xi wanted to teach India about imbalance of power. We should take a budgetary lesson from it

While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.