Akhil PJ
Akhil PJ is a Sub Editor at The Indian Express. He writes on Carnatic music, Kerala culture and Malayalam cinema.
Authors you can follow
More From Akhil PJ
Why Gen Z, with its Instagram doomscrolling and short attention spans, needs Guru DuttSubscriber Only
August 16, 2025 17:53 IST
Audiences and film industries – even the much-vaunted Malayalam cinema – need to rediscover the power of silence, pauses, and reflection.
Tue, Aug 19, 2025
Amid confusion and political outrage, 2025 National Film Awards highlight cinema that mattersSubscriber Only
August 03, 2025 13:43 IST
Ullozhukku, Pookkaalam and Parking, share no similarity on the surface. But they share the understanding that a plot is only ever as powerful as the people who carry it.
Sun, Aug 03, 2025
V S Achuthanandan, and a generation raised on memesSubscriber Only
July 21, 2025 19:13 IST
He taught the youth how to hold institutions accountable from within. For those who grew up seeing how dissent is criminalised and whistleblowers punished, Achuthanandan’s career was instructive
Mon, Jul 21, 2025
Quiet power, revolutions: What shines in International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq’s ‘Heart Lamp’Subscriber Only
May 22, 2025 07:45 IST
On Wednesday, Heart Lamp won the International Booker Prize, making Mushtaq the first Kannada writer to receive this honour.
Thu, May 22, 2025
A boat in the mist: The quiet eloquence of Shaji N Karun’s filmsSubscriber Only
April 29, 2025 12:58 IST
A filmmaker who began his career as one of India’s finest cinematographers, Karun understood that sometimes, a shaft of light across a wooden floor says far more than a hundred lines of dialogue.
Thu, May 01, 2025
Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp tells stories of Muslim life with all its contradictions and texturesSubscriber Only
April 19, 2025 16:34 IST
In mainstream Indian literature, Muslim women are often flattened into metaphors — silent sufferers or tropes in someone else’s moral argument. Mushtaq refuses both. Her characters endure, negotiate, and occasionally push back — not in ways that claim headlines, but in ways that matter to their lives
Wed, Jun 25, 2025
Mammootty, Mohanlal and a temple offering: The story of a friendship, and KeralaSubscriber Only
March 28, 2025 12:11 IST
Religious harmony is not a modern performative addition to Sabarimala. If people actually understood its traditions, there wouldn’t be a manufactured controversy today
Fri, Mar 28, 2025
Malayalam cinema’s thriller obsession is worryingSubscriber Only
February 26, 2025 12:54 IST
By focusing on one genre, Kerala’s film industry threatens to sideline the very diversity that made it stand out
Wed, Feb 26, 2025
Malayalam film Marco puts violence at centre, story suffers. It follows a pan-Indian trendSubscriber Only
January 23, 2025 18:19 IST
It's the culmination of a line of narratives steeped in violence, reflecting a broader trend of stylised aggression that caters to an audience craving visceral, high-adrenaline spectacles.
Thu, Jan 23, 2025
Jeet Thayil’s latest poetry collection explores the search for hope in broken societiesSubscriber Only
January 19, 2025 17:00 IST
The imagery in the anthology is often sharp and grotesque. Thayil paints characters in ways that underscore their toxicity and need for survival in a flawed world.
Sun, Jan 19, 2025
P Jayachandran’s music ‘spoke’ to his listenersSubscriber Only
January 10, 2025 17:11 IST
And that conversation was all the more easy as his tunes — devoid of any complex vocal jugglery — were accessible to anyone, any time
Fri, Jan 10, 2025
Bhima the tragic hero: Reading and rereading M T Vasudevan Nair’s ‘Randamoozham’Subscriber Only
December 29, 2024 14:13 IST
Being a prince but growing up like a refugee, being the strongest, but also mocked as a dimwit, being the fastest but called slow-minded, in the late writer’s epic novel, Bhima embodies a range of contradictions
Mon, Dec 30, 2024
Revolutionaries on Trial dives into the British Indian judiciary, its faults and influence on colonial societySubscriber Only
December 08, 2024 05:00 IST
While we remember Bhagat Singh and his comrades as stellar icons of India’s revolutionary past, we often forget how that image came into existence. From being considered violent fringe elements of the national liberation struggle to being hailed as the country's biggest heroes, the transformation was neither by chance nor sudden
Mon, Dec 23, 2024
How Britain’s anti-immigrant riots backstab UK’s flailing economySubscriber Only
August 16, 2024 19:17 IST
Pointing at the immigration and refugee numbers to divert attention from flailing domestic conditions helped the Conservative party’s short-term post-Brexit survival, but it clearly failed the interests of the working class, irrespective of their racial identity
Fri, Aug 16, 2024
Why T M Krishna gets under the skin of Carnatic music traditionalistsSubscriber Only
March 28, 2024 19:00 IST
While remaining grounded in the aesthetic of the art form, Krishna travels through a range of philosophies. His engagements with caste, gender and the ideas of equality and freedom reflect in his body of work, creating fans and haters alike
Wed, May 21, 2025a better experience