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24 जुलाई 2015 के दिन रिलीज़ हुई एक बहुत ख़ास फ़िल्म। आज दस साल पूरे हो गए मसान के। ये बहुत प्यारी फ़िल्म है। और बहुत ज़रूरी फ़िल्म भी है। नीरज घायवान ने इस फ़िल्म को डायरेक्ट किया था। और वरुण ग्रोवर ने कहानी और गीत लिखे थे। मसान का संगीत इंडियन ओशन बैंड द्वारा रचित है, जो अपनी फ्यूजन शैली के लिए जाना जाता है। सबसे पहले, वरुण जी और नीरज जी ग़ज़ब गुरु! कोटि कोटि प्रणाम! मसान शब्द का शाब्दिक अर्थ है "श्मशान"। यह वह स्थान है जो मृत्यु और अंतिम संस्कार से जुड़ा होता है, और यह जीवन के अनश्वर होने का प्रतीक भी माना जाता है। फिल्म "मसान" बनारस के जीवन और मृत्यु के बीच समाज की दो अलग-अलग कहानियों को बताती है और सामाजिक जटिलताओं को दर्शाती है। पर बनारस ही क्यों? बनारस, जहां मृत्यु केवल शोक नहीं है, यह एक उत्सव है और मसान विश्रामस्थली मानी जाती है। मसान की गोद में एक ज़िंदा थकान। जब ज़िंदगी थका दे, तो मसान ही आरामगाह है। यहीं तो चिता की राख से होली मनाई जाती है, जहाँ अंत में भी एक नया आरंभ झलकता है। इस फिल्म में दो मुख्य कहानियां हैं—एक कहानी देवी की है, और दूसरी कहानी दीपक की...

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading Rhodesia in the 1970s stands as one of history's most intriguing anomalies—a fully functioning economy, internationally isolated, ruled by a tiny white minority of about 7% who controlled the government, military, and economy while disenfranchising the 93% Black majority.  The book  that captures this paradox at its core, portraying a state born from defiance: in 1965, the white minority government unilaterally declared independence (UDI) from Britain, rechristening itself Rhodesia.  Rhodesia practiced white minority rule with a veneer of civility, a "multiracial" facade that fooled no one. Black people knew there was no path to reform; whites knew majority rule was inevitable. It was rotten from the start, a losing battle against the tide of history. The 1970s Bush War escalated into terrorism, cross-border incursions from Mozambique, and full civil war. In the en...

Note: The following post is taken from the archives of PassionForCinema.com , a much-loved platform for cinema enthusiasts. This is being republished here in the spirit of archiving, historical significance, and sharing important conversations with the readers who may not have had access to the original site. The author of the post is Shailesh Limbachiya, who published the post on June 28, 2007, at 11:45 pm. Yes, I know this site is for cinema only, but Doordarshan is the birthplace of some of the today's successful personalities of Indian cinema so Let myself be 10 years old and get back to late 80s and early 90s- the era of Doordarshan. The one and only daily entertainment dose of every Indian. Let's check out some goods and bads of Doordarshan and our memory power. Most of the serials were of 13 episodes and so people were associated with character for 2-3 months and it made more concentrated and sensible serials. - Ramayan and Mahabharat - how can we mention doordarshan w...

The Complete Persepolis  - Marjane Satrapi The Complete Persepolis  | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading Marjane Satrapi's internationally acclaimed memoir-in-comic-strips,  Persepolis is a powerful autobiographical story about growing up in Iran during the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and the rise of a strict Islamic government after the Islamic Revolution . The story is told through the eyes of a girl child, which makes complex political events simple, emotional and deeply relatable. Through this young perspective, Satrapi shows how everyday life was shaped by fear, change, and uncertainty. Satrapi’s visual storytelling is deceptively simple, using stark black‑and‑white illustrations and concise narration to mirror the moral clarity and confusion of growing up during Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Satrapi skillfully mixes funny moments with serious ones to show how people survived difficult times under both regimes. This minimalist style allows ordinary moments from ...

तीन ताल के सभी साथियों को जय हो, जय हो, जय हो! भाई, तीन ताल में कमेंट पब्लिश होते ही मज़ा आ गया! इतनी प्रतीक्षा के बाद ये पल जैसे अमृत तुल्य लग रहा। सरपंच ने लल्लनटॉप छोड़ दिया है और सरदार को कुर्सी मिल गई है... परिवर्तन जगत का नियम है। सरदार संभवतः योग्य हैं मुझे उनमें ठहराव सरपंच से ज्यादा दिखता है!

The Palace of Dreams  -  Ismail Kadare The Palace of Dreams  | Goodreads The Palace of Dreams - Complete Book - Internet Archive ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading The Palace of Dreams (Pallati i Ëndrrave) carries an atmosphere that instantly brought to mind the quiet surveillance of The Lives of Others , and the dream visual world of Tarsem Singh’s The Fall - a connection that may particularly strike the cinephiles.   His portrayal of the labyrinthine state machinery aligns with which skewered international inefficiency and echoes the traditions of Kafka’s claustrophobic nightmares and Orwell’s stark warnings about power.  The result is a kind of alternate universe that feels disturbingly relevant in any large bureaucracy - whether you’ve dealt with the inner workings of global south governments or simply navigated everyday administrative chaos.  The readers who are accustomed to stories where absurd, politics, and bureaucracy often intersect - Kadare’s novel feels...

Under the Yoke  -  Ivan Vazov Under the Yoke | Goodreads Under the yoke - Complete Book - Internet Archive ⭐⭐⭐  Above average Set against the turbulent geopolitics of the late 19th century—when the Ottoman Empire, long dubbed the “ Sick Man of Europe ,” was steadily losing its grip over the Balkans - Ivan Vazov ’s Under the Yoke emerges not merely as a novel but as a national monument. The crumbling Ottoman domains had become the arena for conflicting imperial ambitions: Russia sought influence across the Black Sea; Britain worried about routes to India; France defended its prestige in the Levant; and Austria-Hungary looked to stabilize the Balkans. It was an era when the so‑called Eastern Question dominated Europe’s imagination, and the fate of Bulgaria lay entangled within it. This international tension was sharpened in 1876 by what British statesman William Gladstone famously denounced in his pamphlet ,  Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East . He  u...

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended In 1945, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a decorated Soviet officer who made a small, private joke about Stalin in a letter. The state opened it, read it, and treated it as a crime. Within weeks he was arrested, stripped of rank, and fed into the camps, where he served eight years in the Gulag . The camps were designed to teach one lesson: say nothing, remember nothing, become nothing. His novel’s unflinching realism reflects these lived experiences. The novel was an unprecedented event in Soviet literary history, boldly exposing Stalin’s crimes. It explains that One Day was allowed to be published in 1962 because Khrushchev’s de‑Stalinization briefly eased censorship. Khrushchev’s approval made the book a political and literary sensation worldwide, though it was soon banned again—ironically helping Solzhenitsyn win the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature ...

Note: The following post is taken from the archives of PassionForCinema.com, a much-loved platform for cinema enthusiasts.  Ap un Mithunda! koi shak??   This is being republished here in the spirit of archiving, historical significance, and sharing important conversations with the readers who may not have had access to the original site. The author of the post is Kartik Krishnan who published the post on September 7, 2006 at 6:36 am.  Mithun Charkaborty. A name that makes me lose my self control, makes my blood boil, and my anger go wild. And it's for all the wrong reasons. I have always adored and loved this guy. As a child, I watched more of his movies than Amitabh. He is a person who has taken me into a totally different world of dancing, spy games, and larger-than-life heroism. So the question is, why am I angry at him?It was because I always felt that he had more talent than all the actors of his time. He is one of the rare actors who never got ruffled by Big B and m...

" The Seen and the Unseen " is India's premier long-form podcast hosted by Amit Varma. The podcast, which has been running since 2017, features long-form conversations with writers, intellectuals, economists, historians, and thought leaders from India and around the world . Amit Varma is a respected journalist and writer, twice winner of the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The show is known for its rich intellectual content and the diversity of its guests, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in public policy, history, culture, or economics in India today.  I am only sharing the books recommended related to  Literature & Fiction (Indian) The Education of Yuri — Jerry Pinto Raw Umber: A Memoir — Sara Rai Other Skies — Sara Rai Wilderness — Sara Rai Clouds — Chandrahas Choudhury My Country Is Literature — Chandrahas Choudhury A Book of Light — Edited by Jerry Pinto Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto I Have Not Seen Mandu — Swadesh Deepak (translated by Jerry Pin...