A star is reborn: Zeenat Aman “Laughing at the places life takes me. Why hello there, Instagram.” Thus began the Instagram takeover of Zeenat Aman, whose bio reads: “Actor. Mother. Maverick.” Accompanying the caption was an image of the veteran actor seated at her home on “a lovely sunny afternoon”, wearing a grey-and-white cord set and sporting a silver bob. The post became a talking point as it marked the screen sensation’s return to a public platform over half a century after she burst into popular consciousness playing a troubled young flower child in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971). Holding a marijuana pipe, she was seen swaying to the iconic Dum maaro dum song. Comfortable in her own skin, the model-turned-actor was hailed as a ‘game changer’, an unconventional heroine with Western looks. READ MORE In her new book, Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths, historian Taylor C Sherman brings out the democratic core that guided Jawaharlal Nehru’s policymaking What is India? An “imagined community” a la Benedict Anderson, a “civilisational” state, a Hindutva nation, a constitutional republic? It is perhaps all of these, or none and the battles to define it continue to take place at the ballot box, in Parliament, on the street and in the hallowed halls of academic institutions around the world. READ MORE Sheena Patel and Parini Shroff, writers of Indian origin, make it to the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist Two writers of Indian origin, Sheena Patel and Parini Shroff, have made it to the longlist of the annual Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023, one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary awards, for their respective debuts — I’m a Fan and The Bandit Queens. The shortlist of the prize, awarded to books written by women in English and published in the preceding year, will be announced on April 26, and the winner on June 14. READ MORE What the Amlani brothers bring to Mumbai's food circuit It is interesting how life comes full circle for a restaurant in south Mumbai. In 1983, Nasir Amlani, the patriarch, took over Berry’s, a restaurant at Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate. Boasting of a live orchestra and offering Indian, Chinese and Continental food, it became the space where their family bonded and, perhaps, it is where the idea of being a restaurateur took root for the Amlani siblings. The same address saw Riyaaz Amlani starting Mocha in 2002, which led to the birth of his empire Impresario Handmade Restaurants. And, now his younger brother Rizwan, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, New York, and CEO of Dope Coffee Roasters, has parked Mezcalita, an 83-seater Mexican cantina and tequila bar, at the same address. READ MORE 'I am not learning to be an actor but a non-actor': Geetanjali Kulkarni March 29 had been a long day for actor Geetanjali Kulkarni. She was continuously shooting for a horror series on Amazon, called Ladies’ Hostel, at the picturesque Mysore Colony in Mumbai. Kulkarni plays a cop whose son is missing. It was night before she caught a break. Kulkarni sneaked into an empty room and checked her phone — and found a message from theatre director Bhushan Korgaonkar telling her that she had just won the coveted Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) for Best Supporting Actor (Female) for their play Lavani ke Rang. The award ceremony was held in Delhi. “In my excitement, I told everybody, even the director who didn’t know anything about the play,” says Kulkarni. READ MORE In Gandhi and the Centrality of Ethics, KP Shankaran prepares the ground for a fresh understanding of Mahatma Gandhi Anthropologist Verrier Elwin once sent MK Gandhi two extracts from Plotinus. Elwin was reading the Gita which reminded him of that third-century Hellenistic philosopher, who might pass off as an Advait Vedantin in the right translation. Gandhi replied that the passages were “very striking and very beautiful”, but one of them might not “appeal to the modern mind”. READ MORE Ways of Being, a non-fiction anthology, is a sharp rumination on what it means to be a Pakistani woman in the world Ways of Being, an anthology of non-fiction writing by Pakistani women, begins with an introduction by its editor Sabyn Javeri ruminating on the definition of a ‘Pakistani woman’: Who is allowed, and invited, to be a part of this club? Is it someone born in the country, with roots there or is it someone marked by a Pakistani sensibility? Javeri, and the contributors to the anthology, agree that a Pakistani woman is a blend of all of the above and more. READ MORE If there were to be a zoo in a Tiger Reserve, what then? Thank god the brakes have been put on the harebrained scheme that the Uttarakhand government, – and environment ministry – came up with of building a zoo in Corbett Park. (Haryana has similar plans with ‘developing’ the Aravallis into some kind of mega-zoo a la Abu Dhabi starring hippos and rhinos – which hopefully should also meet the same fate). But can you, for a moment imagine what might have happened in Corbett and then everywhere else had they been given the go-ahead? READ MORE
