Retroscope

RETROSCOPE: MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUITAR

Khalid Mohamed replays the life and oeuvre of Van Shipley, who was a formidable name once, but has never been acknowledged in our Nation’s Hall of Music Fame. Play it ag...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: VILLAIN WITH GOLDEN HEART

Pran Krishan Sikand, the unforgettable screen villain, was in real life a warm and generous neighbour. Monojit Lahiri recalls his childhood encounters with the actor who redef...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: A BITTERSWEET STROKE OF INTERVENTION

A nostalgic journey from childhood Chitrahaar evenings to Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Jurmana, tracing Bachchan’s evolving image, parallel cinema’s rise, and the ...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: FORGOTTEN WOMEN OF HINDI CINEMA

Those forgotten B-grade movie divas of yesteryear: Khalid Mohamed recalls Indira ‘Billi’, Chitra and Naqi Jehan, just three of  the cavalierly sIde-lined B-gr...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: JAIDEV COMPOSED, SILENCE SANG ALONG

On Jaidev’s birth anniversary which was two days ago, on 3rd August, Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri remembers the unsung maestro whose timeless melodies, rooted in classical fin...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: WAQT CHANGED HINDI FILMS FOREVER

Sixty years since its release, Waqt remains a landmark of Hindi cinema, introducing the ensemble cast format and modernising the ‘lost-and-found’ trope with emotio...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: WHEN MELODY WAS KING

His lovingly built bungalow, Ashiana, on the Bandra seafront has survived the encroachments of real-estate sharks of sky-high towers. And despite malicious accusations and the...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: CENTENARY OF A REBEL POET OF CELLULOID

Ranjan Das Gupta marks 100 years of Guru Dutt, the visionary director who blended poetry, pathos, and protest in cinema, transforming Hindi films with his uniquely melancholic...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: THIRTY YEARS AFTER...TIME FLIES

  Khalid Mohamed revisits Bandit Queen (1994), Shekhar Kapur’s film on the dacoit leader Phoolan Devi, recalling the blitz of controversies which surrounded th...

Read More

RETROSCOPE: OF MEENA KUMARI & DREAMS OF HOLLYWOOD

Khalid Mohamed’s unpublished conversation with the late Saawan Kumar Tak, who despite his mega-hit movies and memorable lyrics never received his just recognition in Bol...

Read More

BOLLYWOOD: ARYAN KHAN BREAKS BOLLYWOOD RULES

“I am in love with your wife (Maya)!” — a line from Kabhi Alvida Naa K...

October 15 2025

ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: AND THE LEGACY LIVES ON

Khalid Mohamed in conversation with Ramu Aravindan, founder of a Documentation Centre an...

October 14 2025

THOUGHT FACTORY: STORIES THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD

From intimate documentaries to visionary fiction, the WIFF 2025 Jury—comprising ac...

October 13 2025