Sitting for long hours at the desk? Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Pushkar Chawla shares how to protect the back and spine Published on: Aug 24, 2026, 13:58:18 IST By Debapriya Bhattacharya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Poor posture at work can lead to problems with the back and the spine
A patient once told me that her blood sugar reading in the morning was higher than the one she had taken after dinner the night before. She hadn’t eaten a single thing. “How is this even possible?" she asked. “I haven’t had breakfast yet." That question comes up in my clinic almost every
Step inside the regal Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, where a one-night stay will cost you ₹4 lakh: Watch Updated on: Aug 24, 2026, 14:06:37 IST By Krishna Pallavi Priya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link A look inside the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad
Every year at about this point in the rains, the same sequence plays out. Outpatient departments fill with feverish patients, a city announces a jump in confirmed cases, television rediscovers the phrase “swine flu," and within a fortnight the anxiety has moved on to something else
Onam gifting is often about more than simply handing over a box of sweets. The festival brings families and friends together, and a well-chosen hamper can combine traditional flavours with attractive packaging to make the occasion more special
‘Walking is one of the most underrated things’: Geriatric doctor says you don't need to join a gym to start exercising Published on: Aug 24, 2026, 10:52:55 IST By Eshana Saha Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Read more to find out why walking is an underrated form of exercise! (Unsplash)
There are few things as satisfying as biting into a buttery, flaky almond croissant, especially when you get that rich almond flavour, creamy frangipane filling and slightly crisp, toasted edges in every bite. But when a croissant craving hits and you don’t have a bakery run planned—or all the
Erling Haaland debuts new buzz haircut after chopping his iconic blonde locks: ‘+999 missed calls from shampoo company’ Updated on: Aug 24, 2026, 08:58:32 IST By Krishna Pallavi Priya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Erling Haaland debuts a fresh, new buzz cut
The many worlds of Aparna Sen
The many worlds of Aparna Sen
The book cover
Movie lovers will remember her as the playful young girl rummaging under the bed to look for her pet squirrel who has chosen the right moment to slip out and gatecrash a nuptial negotiation. She finds Chorki in a matter of moments and darts out, leaving an already nervous family that has laid out a charm offensive for a prospective groom in a state of befuddlement.
Aparna Das Gupta in "Samapti", directed by Satyajit Ray, the third chapter in the triptych Teen Kanya in 1961. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
It is one of several comedic moments in Samapti (Conclusion), part of Satyajit Ray's triptych of Tagore short stories — Teen Kanya (Three Daughters). Aparna Sen, was only 14 when she played Mrinmoyee in the short film that pivots humour in the institution of marriage in familiar social settings. The year was 1961.
From playing the heroine in popular Bengali films to holding her own with stalwarts such as Ray and Mrinal Sen, Aparna is one of the legends of Bengali cinema. In between, there's been theatre, both serious (with Utpal Dutt, no less) and mainstream, activism and a nearly two-decade stint as Editor of Sananda, a trailblazing women's magazine. The next major shift was writing short stories. One modelled on her school principal wrote itself into a screenplay. Nurtured over two years, it was a labour of love that had to be made into a film.
Jennifer Kendal in a still from 36 Chowringhee Lane | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
36 Chowringhee Lane was born, placing itself in the central Calcutta neighbourhood to allude to the protagonist's Anglo-Indian roots but brilliantly suffixing a fictional lane to its title. The film was released in 1981, and Chowringhee Lane was so earnestly imagined that it has etched itself into the multi-cultural landscape of the city. A stellar debut, 36 Chowringhee Lane will remain one of Indian cinema's most enduring portrayals of the individual, her solitude and parched existence universalised with honesty and empathy.
Aparna has so far directed 16 feature films, including such landmarks as Paroma, Yugant, Paromitar Ek Din, Mr & Mrs Iyer, 15 Park Avenue, Goynar Baksho, Ghawre Bairey Aaj and, recently, The Rapist. She has been able to widen her lens on life with each outing, placing her women in unchartered territory within relationships and politics, allowing them agency and voice. Three National Awards have come her way in addition to the NETPAC Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival.
Auteur by instinct, Aparna makes sure her films bear her imprint, because she believes her directorial offerings and not her screen idol status define her legacy.
At 80, Aparna still sparkles. “I don't feel my age and people say I don't look my age. So, I am really not bothered,” she says in filmmaker Suman Ghosh's commemorative book The Worlds of Aparna (Simon & Schuster India), which records his conversations with her, daughter Konkona Sensharma, husband Kalyan Roy, film friends Anjan Dutt, Goutam Ghose and Shabana Azmi, and author/cultural commentator Samik Bandopadhyay.
The book cover of Aparna Sen: A Life in Cinema | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Another timely book, Aparna Sen: A Life in Cinema (Rupa) by Devapriya Sanyal, undertakes a deep dive into her filmography, especially with regard to her female characters. These are women who may start off emotionally vulnerable but by the end of their on-screen journey almost always claim agency for themselves. Read together, these books offer a cogent analysis of Aparna Sen the filmmaker, placing her within the framework of contemporary Indian directors. They shine a light on the person she is: funny, at times irreverent, and offer intimate accounts of her formative years in Calcutta and Santiniketan.
Aparna grew up amid books, music, poetry and films, courtesy her parents Chidananda and Supriya Dasgupta. Their home was a crucible of the arts with poets, writers and cultural icons visiting often. It was but natural for her to imbibe a sense of aesthetics closely associated with the Bengal of the time. Her father and Ray were friends, and together founded the Calcutta Film Society, making them pioneers of the film society movement in India. There were regular film screenings at home (the works of Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Eisenstein, and more).
The first Bengali film she was “allowed” to see was Ray's Pather Panchali, Dasgupta Senior being quite clear that his children needn't be exposed to the formulaic offerings of commercial cinema so early in life. Yet, she spent around 20 years in that very milieu as an actor.
Aparna is a keen photographer, and a good one at that (the Henri Cartier-Bresson books at home helped), which explains her instinctive understanding of light and camera angles. “Now, we'll have to take her seriously,” commented Ray when she showed him her black-and-whites. Sadly though, there'll never be an exhibition of her stills as she has lost most of the negatives (“I am not much of an archivist”).
The director during the shoot of Mr. & Mrs. Aiyer | Photo Credit: PARTH SANYAL
Who did she go to with the completed script of 36 Chowringhee Lane? Ray, of course. He liked it. It's all heart, he said, and put her on to Shashi Kapoor. But, how did Aparna read her script to the Kapoors in Bombay? When did he agree to produce the film? Why did he double Aparna's directorial fees?
Suman Ghosh's book is delightfully revelatory. Beginning with the pastel-shades of Ms. Violet Stoneham's loneliness, Aparna's ever-widening world view gets reflected in the sheer range of her stories and characters. Meenakshi Iyer rediscovers her humanity while encountering a riotous mob during a bus journey (Mr and Mrs Iyer, 2002), homemaker Paroma (1985) is able to take responsibility for herself, choosing to return after a torrid affair, as Devapriya explains, “to continue to search for her own identity”; Deepak and Anashua find their marriage crumbling (Yugant, 1995), their downslide finding metaphoric resonance in the way environmental recklessness destroys planet earth – the Gulf War, and oil spill were Aparna's inspirations; a mother-in-law bonds with her daughter-in-law (Paromitar Ek Din, 2000), their friendship helping each other navigate relationships in a patriarchal family. As for Meethi, disturbed on account of a mental health condition, she ultimately takes charge and simply disappears (15 Park Avenue, 2005), a stunning on-screen resolution that left theatre audiences transfixed long after the end credits had rolled.
A still from the film The rapist
“It's my worldview that you must soak up life like a sponge,” believes Aparna, “then, every experience becomes your resource material that you, perhaps, someday may go on to use.” She has lived by that credo, unafraid about where it might lead her. Consider Ghawre Bairey Aaj (2019). For this modernist retelling of Tagore's Home and the World, Aparna drew from contemporary reality to arm Bimala, the female protagonist, like she had never been imagined, to reflect the filmmaker's vehement rejection of the politics of hate sweeping the world today.
Where exactly does Aparna feature among India's filmmakers? For Shabana Azmi, she's among the finest we have. “She grew up in a very syncretic atmosphere… and it hurts her as an Indian to redefine that,” she explains. Anjan Dutt believes youngsters will come to regard her films as important a document as her cinematic predecessors. Most of all, critic Samik Bandopadhyay emphasises, Aparna stands out as she is among the very few filmmakers who remain political. “…Aparna has dared. And her politics lies there… in daring to do what few others are doing.”
Published - November 21, 2025 02:21 pm IST
Friday Review
Source: TheHindu
Related Posts: Aparna Sen,Books on Aparna Sen,The Worlds of Aparna,Suman Ghosh ,Simon & Schuster India,KonKona Sen,36 Chowringhee Lane,Jennifer Kendal,Shashi Kapoor,Satyajit Ray,Devapriya Sanyal
Parents should check medicine labels carefully before giving cough or cold remedies to young children. The Union Health Ministry has restricted all fixed-dose combination medicines containing chlorpheniramine maleate and phenylephrine hydrochloride from being used in children below four years of
12 hours ago
Tandoori chicken should be smoky and seared on the outside, yet juicy and tender on the inside. But it can often turn out dry, rubbery and lacking flavour, even when you’ve used all the right spices. The problem may not be the recipe itself, but a few small mistakes during preparation and cooking
1 days ago
Want to know how healthy your heart is? Cardiologist Dr Sanjay Bhojraj lists 9 blood tests for ‘cardiovascular risk’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 14:34:50 IST By Akanksha Agnihotri Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Dr. Bhojraj highlights nine blood tests to assess cardiovascular health
1 days ago
We tend to think of constipation as a plumbing problem: eat more fibre, drink more water, take isabgol and wait for things to move. For occasional constipation, that approach can be perfectly reasonable. But when constipation keeps returning despite these measures
1 days ago
Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting women, but its biggest known cause is persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), which is closely linked to sexual transmission. While HPV itself is not caused by men
1 days ago
Chakra Horoscope Today, August 23, 2026: An obstacle does not necessarily mean you are on the wrong path Updated on: Aug 23, 2026, 14:49:03 IST By Kishori Sud Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Chakra Horoscope Today, August 23, 2026 (Pinterest) Daily Chakra Horoscope, August 23
1 days ago
Dahi vade may not be the first dish that comes to mind when planning a Sawan Somwar vrat menu, but Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s fasting-friendly version gives the classic snack a clever twist. Instead of lentils, these vade are made with cooked barnyard millet, also known as sama or samak
1 days ago
59-year-old grandmother and Roadies 20 contestant Ashu Jain shares 5 hacks that helped her 'build gym habits that stick’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 10:12:34 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Ashu Jain is not just a grandmother — she's a 'hybrid athlete'
1 days ago
Could artificial intelligence compress decades of medical progress into just a few years? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes advanced AI systems may soon transform how we fight cancer, Alzheimer’s and other major diseases. Amodei has predicted that AI-enabled biology could compress 50 to 100
1 days ago
Look out of an aircraft window as it descends into Chennai and the coastline is the first thing that catches your eye. A long blue-grey edge against the city, with the sea on one side and the sprawling city on the other. From up there, it looks permanent
1 days ago
Soha Ali Khan, along with her husband Kunal Khemu, is known for setting couple goals through their fitness content. The couple have consistently shared videos showing their workouts in the gym, how they parent their kids together, the healthy food they eat without compromising on taste
1 days ago
As Onam 2026 approaches, here is our curated guide from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Bengaluru covering everything from elaborate restaurant thalis to convenient takeaway sadya boxes. We consult chefs on how they are reimagining the traditional sadya; we ask celebrities how
1 days ago
Raksha Bandhan is all about celebrating the special bond between siblings. This year, show your siblings how much you mean to them and make the occasion sweeter by making everyone’s favourite kalakand at home. If you are looking for a festive dessert that is indulgent yet skips refined sugar
1 days ago
Thirty-nine-year-old Shivendra came in with what looked like an ordinary monsoon fever. Fifteen days later, he was still in hospital, only being discharged now after being diagnosed with H1N1-related pneumonia. His wife, Poonam, said the family did not take the fever seriously at first. “Actually
1 days ago
Postpartum pain is NOT just ‘normal’: Physiotherapist Muskan Rastogi reveals all about pelvic floor recovery Postpartum recovery involves more than just pain management; it includes pelvic floor rehabilitation to restore strength and reduce discomfort for new mothers. Published on: Aug 23, 2026
1 days ago
Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug has been arrested in the US state of Texas on charges of driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and illegal possession of a firearm. Allen County Police confirmed to BBC Newsbeat the 28-year-old, whose real name is Xavier Landum, was stopped on Friday
1 days ago
44-year-old fitness coach shares simple exercises that help her look ‘15 years younger’ Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 13:24:38 IST By Akanksha Agnihotri Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Fitness coach shares 4 simple exercises to improve posture and look more youthful. (Instagram/@sascha
2 days ago
The Madhya Pradesh Health Department has ordered a high-level medical and legal investigation after a 6 woman from Ujjain died following treatment at a private hospital in Indore. She had tested positive for H1N1 influenza, commonly called swine flu
2 days ago
No food after 6 pm to boxing: Inside Dua Lipa’s fitness routine and fasting rules for toned body on her 31st birthday Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 14:11:05 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Dua Lipa turned 31 on August 22, 2026
2 days ago
The DJ dropped the beat and 70 women started throwing punches. By the time the first kickboxing combination was called out, Moon Bar, a Visakhapatnam club had shed its weekend persona to turn into a makeshift fitness floor, with women punching, kicking
2 days ago
A couple of years ago, when Osman Abdul Razak was being fitted for a suit by Yuki Igarashi, founder of Japan-based menswear brand Lecteur, he recalls being struck by how neatly Yuki’s pins were arranged on his pin cushion. “As an onlooker there, I couldn’t help but analyse this precision
2 days ago
Baro Market is coming to Chennai with a pop-up bringing together fashion, craft, art, accessories and lifestyle products, with a focus on conscious living and handcrafted design. Curated by Srila Chatterjee, the showcase marks her third pop-up in the city
2 days ago
Step inside ₹200 crore royal residence in Hyderabad: Shaped like a scorpion and home to 'world's longest dining table' Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 10:22:41 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link The palace in the shape of a scorpion: Here's a virtual tour of the magnificent
2 days ago
On Fourth Trust Link Street at Santhome in Mylapore, a piece of vacant land cheek by jowl with a Greater Chennai Corporation-run middle school was being armtwisted every day into functioning as a garbage dumping spot by residents and passersby
2 days ago
The rise in H1N1 cases across Delhi-NCR is prompting fresh concern among doctors as some patients develop severe breathing difficulties and falling oxygen levels. While swine flu often causes flu-like symptoms, it can sometimes progress to serious respiratory complications
2 days ago
Happy Birthday Chiranjeevi: Telugu cinema icon Chiranjeevi has spent more than four decades building one of Indian cinema’s most enduring careers. From his breakthrough years to becoming the industry’s celebrated Megastar, the actor has continued taking on demanding roles that require energy
2 days ago
Have high cholesterol? Nutritionist lists 9 heart-friendly cooking oil options Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 11:00:04 IST By Aayushi Gupta Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Cooking oils that may help manage cholesterol and support heart health
2 days ago
