Premankur Biswas
Articles By Premankur Biswas
The master of weepy blockbusters with melodramatic battles over fish
The Tollywood director burst into the scene in the early 1980s, when the Bengali film industry was in mourning. Its reigning deity, Uttam Kumar, had passed away.
The Vanishing: A Kolkata magician’s death puts the spotlight on his art
A magician died in Kolkata, trying to replicate American stuntman Harry Houdini’s famous escape act. Is it a sign of the flailing fortune of magic in India?
Bengali actors Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan deal with memes, sing for Didi’s victory
Two Bengali actors hit the campaign trail. Will the newbie politicians ride the Mamata Banerjee wave?
Jyeshthoputro movie review: The best Bengali film of the decade
Kaushik Ganguly chooses to be inordinately verbose in a film where most of the drama is based on the inability of the characters to articulate their emotions. This works primarily because of the stellar performances of the ensemble cast, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ritwik Chakraborty, Gargee Roychowdhury, Sudipta Chakraborty and Daminee Basu.
In three Begusarai villages, very different perceptions of Kanhaiya Kumar
How does Begusarai see Kanhaiya Kumar, arguably its most popular son as far as the rest of India is concerned at the moment?
Meet Kanhaiya’s volunteer army: documentary filmmaker, gurdwara sevak, homemaker
Begusarai CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar getting help from across the country, and some seem more driven than him
Crowd at PM’s Saharanpur rally: ‘Modi is Kanhaiya of Gujarat, a celebrity’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held election rallies in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha and Saharanpur along with Uttarakhand's Dehradun.
Shah Jahan Regency movie review: Pretentious, vague and pointless
Srijit Mukherji directorial Shah Jahan Regency, starring Abir Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Anjan Dutt, Rituparna Sengupta, Swastika Mukherjee, stands for everything that is wrong with Tollywood.
Sen’s City: The Calcutta of Mrinal Sen’s films was a place of connections and conflict
In most Sen films, a mere glance is enough to reveal important things about this crowd, the language they speak, their social position and how long they have lived in the city.
Mrinal Sen: The husband, the father and the nurturing director
To understand Mrinal Sen the man, the political filmmaker, it is important to recognise his collaboration with Gita Sen, agree most of his collaborators and friends and family.
Mrinal Sen, the filmmaker who laid the foundation of parallel cinema in India
A look at the enduring arc of Mrinal Sen's work and how the man who was known for his plainspeak was also a master at looking inwards.
On a street far away, looking at a police car in the eye: ‘Today, I am no criminal’
"There is a long way to go. But today, maybe even people in small towns and states will wake up and realise that we too are people, and we deserve to live and love," said Vidya Rajput, one of the most prominent transgender rights activists in Chhattisgarh.
I never thought I would live to see this day: Queer activist on 377 verdict
“I never thought I will live to see this day,” says Sahni, who was a member of AIDS Bhedbhav Vidroh Andolan (ABVA), the first organisation to file a petition asking for Section 377, which criminalises homosexuality, to be struck down.
Gay in Gorakhpur: What it means to be a queer person in small-town Uttar Pradesh
What it means to be a queer person in small-town Uttar Pradesh. Gorakhpur's hoardings, like those of hundreds of small towns in India, is asking its young to leave in no uncertain terms.
The world Mrinal Sen built
One of the foremost filmmakers of our time, Mrinal Sen matched his strident politics with breathtaking storytelling. As he turns 95 on May 14, a look at the enduring arc of his work and how the man who was known for his plainspeak was also a master at looking inwards.
Kolkata teacher says he was fired from reputed school because he is homosexual
The principal of the Kolkata school, Moon Moon Nath, rubbished the allegations and said Abhijit Kundu himself asked to be removed as a full-timer.
‘I am a lesbian’: Kolkata girls’ school forces 10 students to ‘confess’ in writing
The parents blamed the school for arm-twisting the girls into signing the written admission. The school said the move was aimed at bringing the students on “the right course”.
Shades of Me
A photo project tries to capture the dreams and vulnerabilities of LGBTQI people in India.
Dear Sabyasachi, my mother gave up sari for a reason and she won’t be shamed for it
When Sabyasachi stated that Indian women who don't know how to wear saris should be ashamed of themselves, he didn't explicitly state that Indian women should wear saris at all times. But to burden them with a compulsion is unfair.
Here lies Hindoo Stuart: Inside the 250-year-old Park Street cemetery
The Park Street cemetery, which is now 250 years old, is home to stories of Kolkata’s past and present.
