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Sanjukta Sharma

Articles by Sanjukta Sharma

Short Stream | An ode to the anxious teenage soul

A reflective and humorous 2D animation story about social anxiety and teenage interiority by Kolkata-based SRFTI graduate Subarna Dash

A still from The Girl Who Lived in the Loo(Subarna Dash)

Analysis

Published on Feb 01, 2025 08:00 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

The year of the ‘sakhi’

Three films by Indian writer-directors travelled far and wide in 2024. They share one standout quality: Camaraderie among women as acts of resistance

Preeti Panigrahi and Kani Kusruti in a still from Girls Will Be Girls.

Analysis

Updated on Jan 01, 2025 08:56 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Bobby Beauty Parlour: The finishing line of childhood

Two friends working in a claustrophobic beauty parlour on the hottest day of the year face a life-changing arrival, a departure, freedom, and fear

Analysis

Published on Jan 01, 2025 06:08 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Despatch: The manly problem

A grim, suffocating look at what the Internet nebulously calls “toxic male” and how the murky ethics of old-world crime journalism could make such a man a hero

Kanu Behl’s new film Despatch is streaming on Zee 5 (HT Photo)

India News

Published on Dec 14, 2024 11:56 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Short Stream | ‘First Time’

Role call: Adiraj Singh’s two-character, one-evening, lyrical short is about intimacy, expectations and lack of communication in relationships

Entertainment

Updated on Dec 03, 2024 01:50 PM IST

ht_print | BySanjukta Sharma

How Squeaky Shoes That Chase Lost Souls explores teenage turmoil

Debesh Mehrotra’s short film is an anime-inspired narrative about what happens when teenagers come together in the face of adversity

A still from Squeaky Shoes That Chase Lost Souls(Debesh Mehrotra)

Short Stream | Daadhi blends comedy and commentary on newsroom madness

Prashant Pandey’s film on TV news and identity politics is a winning combination of humour, pathos and satire

A poster of Daadhi: The Beard (2022)(PERPETUAL PICTURES )

Analysis

Published on Oct 02, 2024 06:15 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Farmers on camera

How and why 8 months of the farmers’ protests inspired filmmakers to chronicle it as a social-cultural revolution

A still from Farming the Revolution by Nishtha Jain(Author)

Analysis

Published on Sep 20, 2024 08:00 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Short Stream | Betelgeuse by Sunder Konar: In pursuit of the bright star

Sunder Konar’s Betelgeuse is a classic guerrilla project. It makes the compelling point that life offers a way out of grief and anger in unexpected ways

Analysis

Updated on Sep 04, 2024 06:11 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Romance of the Indian Railways through chronicler Michael Portillo’s warm lens

India’s transformation from locomotives to high-speed modern trains is part of the story of Great Indian Railway Journeys.

A still from Great Indian Railway Journeys from the episode about Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya(BBC)

Short Stream | A look into the life of a climate visionary

A heartwarming documentary about effective climate activism — Babulal Gandhi is behind a man-made forest with astounding biodiversity in a region in Maharashtra

A still from Vinchurniche Gandhi (Aproop Films)

Art and Culture

Published on Aug 01, 2024 08:15 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Bleeding vaginas don’t need bleeding hearts

The CJI’s view on menstrual leave rings true. After all, aren’t we that ancient civilisation that equates the female biological system with impurity, shame?

The big operating myth behind proposing menstrual leave without understanding the context and individual needs is that all women experience painful periods(DAVID TALUKDAR/AFP )

Opinion

Published on Jul 15, 2024 08:00 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

In Mumu Shelley, a heartwarming tale of finding connections in unexpected places

How two women, worlds and ages apart from each other, hang out on a night they are forced to spend together in this funny, absurdist tale

A still from Mumu Shelley(Batul Mukhtiar / Orange Peel Films)

Analysis

Published on Jul 01, 2024 08:00 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Short Stream | In Son of the Soil, who is a native, and who is a foreigner?

Akanshya Bhagabati’s award-winning film on immigration, land rights and the sense of belonging is set in rural Assam

In Son of the Soil, Ali (Dhananjay Debnath) is a third-generation Bangladeshi immigrant in a village in Assam(Akanshya Bhagabati)

Analysis

Published on Jun 01, 2024 05:37 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

In Teen Adhyay, the birds' flight brings a contemplative approach to the pandemi

Subhash Sahoo’s documentary on the interplay of the natural and human world during the pandemic is an atmospheric chronicle that leaves a lot to interpretation

As seen in Teen Adhyay: A crow building a nest, laying eggs, the eggs maturing to hatch, and the new bird in flight(Subash Sahoo)

Art and Culture

Published on May 03, 2024 08:30 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Chintu, a young boy living with HIV, is saved by unlikely heroes

Director Tushar Tyagi covers a wide canvas in this tear-jerker of a film, but its greatest strength lies in the way it conveys emotions with minimal dialogue

Chintu, the child actor, played by Arihant Angad Nayak, is the protagonist of Saving Chintu. The adult Chintu is played by actor Adil Husain. (Tushar Tyagi)

Entertainment

Published on Apr 02, 2024 12:49 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Kangana Ranaut: The unapologetic outsider in Bollywood

The actress’s outspokenness has proved to be her biggest asset and her Achilles heel in the film industry. How she makes use of her strengths remains to be seen

**EDS: FILE IMAGE** New Delhi: In this Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023 file image actor Kangana Ranaut attends Dussehra celebrations, in New Delhi. The BJP on Sunday nominated Ranaut as its Lok Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma) (PTI03_24_2024_000236B)(PTI)

Analysis

Published on Mar 26, 2024 06:32 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

The many worlds of Elk

A new biography by Ebrahim Alkazi’s daughter Amal Allana is a sharp spotlight on the father of modern Indian theatre

Art and Culture

Published on Mar 16, 2024 04:23 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

In Chithi, the past is not rose-tinted, but harks to stranger times

The short indie Bengali film with English subtitles is more than about personal memory. In it, the protagonist grapples with ageing, loneliness and past trauma

In its short running length, Chithi, [Bengali for letter] is able to portray an expansiveness of emotions(Author)

Art and Culture

Updated on Apr 01, 2024 12:39 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

In Binnu ka Sapna, an Indian man comes face to face with his toxic masculinity

Kanu Behl’s award-winning short film is a meditation on the lessons men learn as children watching their angry fathers and placatory mothers.

Kanu Behl behind the camera with lead actor Chetan Sharma, who plays the eponymous Binnu, sitting on a scooter in a behind-the-scenes shot during the filming of Binnu ka Sapna(Author)

Art and Culture

Updated on Jan 17, 2024 11:44 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

When Ram appeared before us all

How Ramanand Sagar’s 1980s morality drama transformed television consumption in India—and the nation’s imagination of the age-old revered Hindu epic

Ramanand Sagar’s TV show Ramayan is based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas.

Entertainment

Published on Jan 12, 2024 09:54 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Short Stream | In ‘Shera’, two boys set out to fulfil a small, wild dream

The film is an ode to Kumaon’s gritty residents, leopards included. Migration threatens to end a friendship, the wild helps to cement it in Arun Fulara’s short

Entertainment

Updated on Jan 14, 2024 12:25 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

HT Archives: 50 years of Shyam Benegal

As he completes five decades in cinema next year, a look at Shyam Benegal's incomparable oeuvre

Bollywood film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker Shyam Benegal attends the special screening of his upcoming biographical film Mujib: The Making of a Nation, a biopic on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh in Mumbai on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Sujit JAISWAL / AFP)(AFP)

Art and Culture

Published on Nov 28, 2023 08:30 AM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

'This could be a Serbian new wave brewing'

A world cinema gem by a young Serbian filmmaker, Nina Ognjanović, was recently shown in Mumbai. An interview with the director

Jana Bjelica in a still from Where the Road Leads(Courtesy: The author)

lifestyle

Published on Nov 08, 2023 06:34 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

LEGACY | Dariush Mehrjui: The slain pioneer

The murdered Iranian director inspired a generation of filmmakers and taught us that all cinema is political

Dariush Mehrjui was found murdered at the age of 83.

lifestyle

Published on Nov 01, 2023 03:34 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Conditions are ripe for climapocalypse or cli-fi films

A slew of recent shows and films show the way for climate change fiction—India’s entry to Oscars 2024 is a case in point; Martin Scorcese’s new film is another

lifestyle

Published on Oct 21, 2023 08:27 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Why are Bollywood screenwriters still so miserable?

Hollywood screenwriters are on strike seeking better wages. Back home, a recent Delhi HC order on intellectual property rights points to a longstanding issue

Screenwriter and active Screen Writers Association member Anjum Rajabali (top row, extreme left) led a demonstration outside Netflix India's office in Mumbai on June 14 in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America members who are on strike. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

india news

Published on Jun 30, 2023 10:59 PM IST

BySanjukta Sharma

Prithvi Theatre marks 40 years with a retelling of Prithviraj Kapoor’s plays

The festival will open with Sunil Shanbag’s reinterpretation of Kapoor’s Deewar, written in 1945.

Since it first opened, Prithvi has been a favourite haunt for some of India’s most talented actors. In this archival image, a young Amrish Puri lounges on its steps.(Photo courtesy Prithvi Theatre Archive)

lifestyle

Updated on Nov 04, 2018 01:59 PM IST

Hindustan Times | BySanjukta Sharma

What the first foreign show of the Progressives says about Indian art now

Curator Zehra Jumabhoy talks about the tradition-shattering group and what led to the exhibition

News of Gandhiji’s death by Krishen Khanna

lifestyle

Updated on Oct 06, 2018 09:06 PM IST

Hindustan Times | BySanjukta Sharma

From Satya to Sacred Games: The agony and ecstasy of seeing Mumbai on screen

As the web series based on Vikram Chandra’s novel premieres on Netflix, a look at how differently the city of its birth has been reflected in cinema through the years.

Gangsters, killers and smuggling at the docks... Sacred Games, based on Vikram Chandra’s 900-page thriller, is set mainly in the Mumbai of the 1980s and ’90s.

india news

Updated on Jul 08, 2018 10:09 AM IST

Hindustan Times | BySanjukta Sharma

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Sanjukta Sharma

A reflective and humorous 2D animation story about social anxiety and teenage interiority by Kolkata-based SRFTI graduate Subarna Dash

Three films by Indian writer-directors travelled far and wide in 2024. They share one standout quality: Camaraderie among women as acts of resistance

Two friends working in a claustrophobic beauty parlour on the hottest day of the year face a life-changing arrival, a departure, freedom, and fear

A grim, suffocating look at what the Internet nebulously calls “toxic male” and how the murky ethics of old-world crime journalism could make such a man a hero

Role call: Adiraj Singh’s two-character, one-evening, lyrical short is about intimacy, expectations and lack of communication in relationships

Debesh Mehrotra’s short film is an anime-inspired narrative about what happens when teenagers come together in the face of adversity

Prashant Pandey’s film on TV news and identity politics is a winning combination of humour, pathos and satire

How and why 8 months of the farmers’ protests inspired filmmakers to chronicle it as a social-cultural revolution

Sunder Konar’s Betelgeuse is a classic guerrilla project. It makes the compelling point that life offers a way out of grief and anger in unexpected ways

India’s transformation from locomotives to high-speed modern trains is part of the story of Great Indian Railway Journeys.

A heartwarming documentary about effective climate activism — Babulal Gandhi is behind a man-made forest with astounding biodiversity in a region in Maharashtra

The CJI’s view on menstrual leave rings true. After all, aren’t we that ancient civilisation that equates the female biological system with impurity, shame?

How two women, worlds and ages apart from each other, hang out on a night they are forced to spend together in this funny, absurdist tale

Akanshya Bhagabati’s award-winning film on immigration, land rights and the sense of belonging is set in rural Assam

Subhash Sahoo’s documentary on the interplay of the natural and human world during the pandemic is an atmospheric chronicle that leaves a lot to interpretation

Director Tushar Tyagi covers a wide canvas in this tear-jerker of a film, but its greatest strength lies in the way it conveys emotions with minimal dialogue

The actress’s outspokenness has proved to be her biggest asset and her Achilles heel in the film industry. How she makes use of her strengths remains to be seen

A new biography by Ebrahim Alkazi’s daughter Amal Allana is a sharp spotlight on the father of modern Indian theatre

The short indie Bengali film with English subtitles is more than about personal memory. In it, the protagonist grapples with ageing, loneliness and past trauma

Kanu Behl’s award-winning short film is a meditation on the lessons men learn as children watching their angry fathers and placatory mothers.

How Ramanand Sagar’s 1980s morality drama transformed television consumption in India—and the nation’s imagination of the age-old revered Hindu epic

The film is an ode to Kumaon’s gritty residents, leopards included. Migration threatens to end a friendship, the wild helps to cement it in Arun Fulara’s short

As he completes five decades in cinema next year, a look at Shyam Benegal's incomparable oeuvre

A world cinema gem by a young Serbian filmmaker, Nina Ognjanović, was recently shown in Mumbai. An interview with the director

The murdered Iranian director inspired a generation of filmmakers and taught us that all cinema is political

A slew of recent shows and films show the way for climate change fiction—India’s entry to Oscars 2024 is a case in point; Martin Scorcese’s new film is another

Hollywood screenwriters are on strike seeking better wages. Back home, a recent Delhi HC order on intellectual property rights points to a longstanding issue

The festival will open with Sunil Shanbag’s reinterpretation of Kapoor’s Deewar, written in 1945.

Curator Zehra Jumabhoy talks about the tradition-shattering group and what led to the exhibition

As the web series based on Vikram Chandra’s novel premieres on Netflix, a look at how differently the city of its birth has been reflected in cinema through the years.

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