The year was 1934. In Malad, Mumbai, a new film studio was being set up. Co-founded by Devika Rani and her first husband, Himanshu Rai, it was called 'Bombay Talkies'. The London-returned young couple had a dream -- to radically change Indian cinema. Devika Rani Rabindranath Tagore’s
If Bengali literature has pampered our children to Thakurmar Jhuli and Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen, Russian literature has enriched children of a generation in Kolkata to attractive Siberian fairytale characters from Olga to Misha. Even today, Russians produce a large number of children’s books to
The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) will set up a sensory park in New Town, the first of its kind in the city, designed to cater to children with special needs and differently abled persons. The park will come up on a 2.5-acre plot in
During British era, rich residents of Kolkata developed a fetish for importing marble sculptures of Venus. Hindu widows thought Venus was a new powerful goddess, similar to Goddess Durga. Members of Young Bengal often floated novel interpretations of existing deities. They announced Venus was like
For Utpal Dutt, theatre and political ideology were like two sides of the same coin. He strongly believed theatre was a weapon of political propaganda and relentlessly tried to reach out this popular medium of dissent to a larger section of the audience in a
Have you seen the movie Sabuj Dwiper Raja? Well, if you have seen or been to Andamans, you will just fall in love with Bengal’s Mousuni Island too. For it is as pristine and as virgin as the Andamans. Very few tourists are aware of
As the capital of the British Raj between 1858 and 1911, Calcutta has long been at the crossroads of multiple influences and played a major role in the cultural history of India. The Bengal Renaissance was one such movement in the 19th century as a
Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) is set to showcase a German machine that was used to record the poetry and song renditions by Rabindranath Tagore. In April 1932, Tagore had recorded the poem, ‘Jokhon hobo babar moto boro’, and the song, ‘Tobu mone rekho’
Writing has been a form of self-expression throughout history and women today are not afraid to pen down their story, create new ones, or share their intellect through their books, blogs or publications. The third edition of the Women Writers’ Festival 2020 will provide a
Kolkata will soon be witness to another historic moment as India’s first underwater metro tunnel will be operational under the River Hooghly by March 2022. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had tweeted before announcing India’s first underwater train will soon start running under the Hooghly