The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma cover image

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Latest episodes

undefined
16 snips
Oct 31, 2022 • 5h 49min

Ep 301: Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life

Her acclaimed personal essays explore motherhood, marriage and this modern world -- and hold up a mirror to all of us. Natasha Badhwar joins Amit Varma in episode 301 to speak about her life and her writing. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Natasha Badhwar on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Tribune and Mint Lounge. 2. My Daughters' Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 3. Immortal for a Moment -- Natasha Badhwar. 4. Natasha Badhwar's newsletter on Substack. 5. Natasha Badhwar's old blog on Blogspot. 6. Natasha Badhwar's Memoir Writing Course. 7. Parenthood -- Episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Natasha Badhwar). 8. Reconciliation: Karwan e Mohabbat’s Journey of Solidarity through a Wounded India -- Edited by Harsh Mander, John Dayal and Natasha Badhwar. 9. Karwan e Mohabbat. 10. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar in episode 8 of Brave New World. 14. Why my daughters don’t go to school anymore -- Natasha Badhwar interviewed by Manisha Natarajan. (Full video.) 15. The most important lesson learnt as an #unschooling parent -- Natasha Badhwar. 16. School forced me to put parts of myself inside a box -- Sahar Beg (Natasha's daughter). 17. Meet the unschooling girls -- Homeschooling India Community. 18. The Joys of Walking Out -- Natasha Badhwar and Sahar Beg. 19. How Children Fail -- John Holt. 20. Unsatisfied -- The Replacements. 21. To Fail Without Feeling Like A Failure -- Natasha Badhwar. 22. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 23. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 25. Sholay — Ramesh Sippy. 26. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 27. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? -- Harsh Mander. 31. The real difference between my husband and me -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. Self-Portrait -- AK Ramanujan. 33. The Girl From Kashmir -- Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir). 34. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Roger Ebert and me: How tragedy and Twitter bonded us across continents -- Natasha Badhwar. 36. In Conversation with Roger Ebert -- Natasha Badhwar. 37. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 38. Roger Ebert's essay on Dekalog. 39. A welcome note for new husbands and wives -- Natasha Badhwar. 40. Five things to learn from the man you love -- Natasha Badhwar. 41. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 42. Fatherhood is a funny thing -- Natasha Badhwar. 43. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 44. Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck and JD Salinger on Amazon. 45. Cyrano De Bergerac -- Edmond Rostand. 46. Sweet Thursday -- John Steinbeck. 47. The Catcher in the Rye -- JD Salinger. 48. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 49. The Colour Purple -- Alice Walker. 50. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 51. Imposter Syndrome. 52. What we say and what we mean, the fine art of small talk -- Natasha Badhwar. 53. Kabhi Hum Khoobsurat -- Nayyara Noor. 54. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 55. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 56. Hayao Miyazaki on IMDb, Wikipedia and Britannica. 57. Ponyo -- Hayao Miyazaki. 58. Natasha's favourite shows: Bad Buddy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince and The Good Place. 59. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan. 60. Mirch Masala -- Ketan Mehta. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Examined Life’ by Simahina.
undefined
24 snips
Oct 24, 2022 • 4h 19min

Ep 300: The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Our selves are nebulous, the world is complex and the times they are a-changin'. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen for a freewheeling chat about how to make sense of all of this.  (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, where Amit Varma answers questions from his guests. 2. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Twitter, Amazon and the Indian Express. 3. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 4. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote. 5. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 6. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 7. Francis Fukuyama on Amazon. 8. Ideas of India: The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta discusses Adam Smith with Shruti Rajagopalan. 9. Conversation and Society -- Russ Roberts discusses Adam Smith with Amit Varma in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga. 11. The Interpreter — Amit Varma. 12. Free Will on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13. Free Will — Sam Harris. 14. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15. The Median Voter Theorem. 16. 'Thinking and Reflecting' and 'The Thinking of Thoughts': Gilbert Ryle's essays on 'thick description' and Winks vs Twitches, also found in Collected Essays. 17. Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture -- Clifford Geertz. 18. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 19. The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast -- Arkotong Longkumer. 20. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 21. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 22. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death. 23. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Scientism. 25. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 26. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 29. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 30. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma. 31. Faust, as portrayed by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 32. The Measure of a Man -- Episode 9, Season 2, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia entry). 33. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 34. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy -- David Chalmers. 35. Yoga Vasistha. 36. On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings -- William James. 37. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 38. The Experience Machine -- Robert Nozick. (Wikipedia entry.) 39. Utilitarianism: For and Against -- JJC Smart and Bernard Williams. 40. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit. 41. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 42. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy -- Bernard Williams. 43. Bernard Williams on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 44. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 45. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 46. Friedrich Hayek on Amazon, Econlib, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 47. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann. 48. Jayaprakash Narayan on proportional representation. 49. Pakistan or the Partition of India — BR Ambedkar. 50. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 51. Manish Sisodia invokes ‘Rajput’ caste amidst CBI probe -- Janta Ka Reporter. 52. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs — Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 54. Beware of Half Victories -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 55. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Carl Schmitt on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 57. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. Justin Amash on why he left the Republican Party. 59. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 60. Rational Ignorance. 61. The Economics of Voting — Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance. 62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma on the importance of reading.   64. John Aubrey's biography of Thomas Hobbes. 65. Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel and Felix Mendelssohn on Spotify. 66. Digital Concert Hall -- Berliner Philharmoniker. 67. Berliner Philharmoniker on YouTube, Twitter and their own website. 68. Nikhil Banerjee on Spotify, YouTube and Wikipedia. 69. Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light -- The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel. 70. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 71. Premchand’s Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai). 72. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Yeh Premchand Hai -- Apoorvanand. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Radiant Knowledge’ by Simahina.
undefined
11 snips
Oct 17, 2022 • 5h 34min

Ep 299: The Reflections of Samarth Bansal

What should a newsroom report on? Does journalism know its own purpose? Do we? What ethics should we live by, and why? Samarth Bansal joins Amit Varma in episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about living the examined life, and asking the fundamental questions. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Samarth Bansal on Twitter and his own website. 2. The Interval -- Samarth Bansal's newsletter. 3. Truth Be Told -- Samarth Bansal's Food and Fitness newsletter with Shashank Mehta and others. 4. Journalists refer to themselves as storytellers. Is that a mistake? -- Samarth Bansal. 5. Why the event-oriented structure of news doesn't help in understanding how the world works -- Samarth Bansal. 6. A different way to think about Indian media -- Samarth Bansal. 7. Sugar-coated conspiracies: How ‘publication bias’ amplifies half-truths -- Samarth Bansal. 8. How I approach and manage my freelance journalism career -- Samarth Bansal. 9. Thoughts and observations on data journalism in India -- Samarth Bansal. 10. Why I am relearning statistics -- Samarth Bansal. 11. The Wire’s TekFog investigation: A futile search for evidence -- Samarth Bansal. 12. Indian pollsters are doing fine. Here is how forecasts work -- Samarth Bansal. 13. Lessons learnt from my 52-week workout streak -- Samarth Bansal. 14. The pursuit of truth with Samarth Bansal -- An interview by In Old News. 15. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature -- Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 19. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 20. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 22. Strangers Drowning -- Larissa MacFarquhar. 23. Larissa MacFarquhar on Getting Inside Someone's Head -- Episode 58 of Conversations With Tyler. 24. Dil Dhadakne Do -- Zoya Akhtar. 25. Kapoor & Sons -- Shakun Batra. 26. Why are India's housewives killing themselves? -- Soutik Biswas. 27. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh's ghazal from Arth. 28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Amit Varma's tweet on winning the Asian Championships of Match Poker. 30. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 31. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. 33. Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman. 34. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 35. Ira Glass on the Creative Process. 36. The Parable of the Pottery Class. 37. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 38. The Biology of Good and Evil -- Robert Sapolsky speaks to Sam Harris in episode 91 of The Making Sense Podcast. 39. Robert Sapolsky's biology lectures on YouTube. 40. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 41. The Overconfidence Game -- Episode 6 of Against the Rules with Michael Lewis. 42. Men Explain Things to Me -- Rebecca Solnit. 43. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 44. Free Will on Wikipedia, Brittanica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 45. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 46. The Blind Watchmaker -- Richard Dawkins. 47. The CBS 60 Minutes documentary on the Indian Institute of Technology. 48. Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. 49. A Student's Guide to Startups -- Paul Graham. 50. Paul Graham's essays. 51. Coursera and Udacity. 52. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch. 53. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 54. The Blank Slate — Steven Pinker. 55. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright. 56. Ezra Klein Interviews Noam Chomsky. 57. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. Tamasha -- Imtiaz Ali. 59. The Turn of the Tortoise -- TN Ninan. 60. Bad Blood -- John Carreyrou. 61. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Demonetisation). 62. Enabled by technology, young Indians show what it means to be a citizen -- Amit Varma. 63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Aakar Patel: 1, 2. 64. Adults in the Room -- Yanis Varoufakis. 65. Larry Summers at Harvard, Wikipedia, Twitter and his own website. 66. India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2009 -- List by Business Week including, heh, Amit Varma. 67. The theory of the interlocking public. 68. CRISPR gene editing. 69. Genetic Engineering -- Episode 165 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shambhavi Naik). 70. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz -- Brian Knappenberger. 71. I Hate the News -- Aaron Swartz. 72. Everybody Loves a Good Drought -- P Sainath. 73. Why everyone hates the mainstream media -- Andrew Potter. 74. Income Tax department raids Dainik Bhaskar premises across the country -- The Hindu. 75. Apar Gupta and Internet Freedom Foundation. 76. The Revolt of the Public -- Martin Gurri. 77. The best stats you've ever seen -- Hans Rosling. 79. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma. 80. Introduction to the Human Brain -- Nancy Kanwisher. 81. Future Shock -- Alvin Toffler. 82. The Trial of the Chicago 7 -- Aaron Sorkin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Reflection’ by Simahina.
undefined
Oct 10, 2022 • 4h 25min

Ep 298: The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande

Her pioneering work has helped us understand how caste and gender remain huge problems in India. But her past goes beyond numbers, into a rich history of aajobas and aajis and theatre and song. Ashwini Deshpande joins Amit Varma in episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how she used her economist's gaze to understand our social problems -- and how films and music also played their part. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Ashwini Deshpande on Twitter, Ashoka, Google Scholar, Amazon and her own website. 2. The Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande. 3. Why are Indian Women not employed? -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk for Manthan. 4. What Women Do: Is it even "work"? -- A seminar by Ashwini Deshpande at Ashoka. 5.  The New Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk at JNU. 6. Gender and Caste Discrimination and Affirmative Action in India -- Ashwini Deshpande speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on the Ideas of India podcast. 7. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Mahima Vashisht and Alice Evans. 9. Amit Varma's tweet with Ashwini Deshpande's viral and potentially award-winning vocal performance. 10. Archaeology and the Public Purpose -- Nayanjot Lahiri. 11. Rahimatpur: Town along the Kamandalu -- GP Deshpande. 12. Satyashodhak (out-of-print book) (YouTube) -- GP Deshpande. 13. Uddhwasta Dharmashala (Marathi) (English)-- GP Deshpande. 14. Thelma and Louise -- Ridley Scott. 15. Jyoti Subhash, Amruta Subhash, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ebrahim Alkazi, Rohini Hattangadi, Jayadev Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Sai Paranjpye, Arun Joglekar, Shriram Lagoo and Amol Palekar. 16. Ghashiram Kotwal -- Vijay Tendulkar. 17. Jai Santoshi Maa -- Vijay Sharma. 18. English Vinglish -- Gauri Shinde. 19. Satyajit Ray and Manmohan Desai. 20. Qurbani -- Feroz Khan. 21. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 22. Dance Dance — Babbar Subhash. 23. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala — Song from Dance Dance. 24. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah -- David Dhawan. 25. Baba Sehgal and ML Sondhi. 26. The Man Who Resides in Music -- PL Deshpande on Malikarjun Mansur, translated by Ashwini Deshpande. 27. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Chhoti Si Baat -- Basu Chatterjee. 29. Raj Kumar's famous dialogue from Waqt. 30. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Manik Bhide. 31. Yuval Noah Harari on Amazon. 32. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Kaushik Basu and Amazon, Twitter, Wikipedia and his own website. 35. Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? -- Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan. 36. Race At Work: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the NYC Job Market -- Devah Pager and Bruce Western. 37. Walking the Talk? What Employers Say Versus What They Do -- Devah Pager and Lincoln Quillian. 38. The Economics of Discrimination -- Gary Becker. 39. How Gary Becker Saw the Scourge of Discrimination -- Kevin Murphy. 40. The Theory of Discrimination -- Kenneth Arrow. 41. What Has Economics to Say About Racial Discrimination? -- Kenneth Arrow. 42. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 43. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 44. Who is the Identifiable Victim?: Caste Interacts with Sympathy in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Dean Spears. 45. Identifiable victim effect. 46. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study -- Thomas Sowell. 47. Dominant or Backward? Political Economy of the Demand for Quotas by Jats, Patels and Marathas -- Ashwini Deshpande and Rajesh Ramachandran. 48. (In)Visibility, Care and Cultural Barriers: The Size and Shape of Women's Work in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer. 49. Norms that matter -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer. 50. The gendered effects of droughts -- Farzana Afridi, Kanika Mahajan and Nikita Sangwan. 51. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work -- Ashwini Deshpande. 52. Women’s Work in India: Evidence from changes in time use between 1998 and 2019 -- Nicholas Li. 53. Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women -- Ashwini Deshpande and Jitendra Singh. 54. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 55. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 56. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 58. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 59. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 60. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 61. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Ret Samadhi -- Geetanjali Shree. 64. Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya -- Mohammed Rafi song from Hum Dono. 65. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane. 66. The Disciple — Chaitanya Tamhane. 67. Line of Duty, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Shetland, The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Giri/Haji. 68. The Good Doctor -- Damon Galgut. 69. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: 'Patriarchy' by Simahina.
undefined
191 snips
Oct 3, 2022 • 4h 8min

Ep 297: Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence

We're in the 21st century, and it would seem that the world is finally moving towards gender equality, right? Not so fast. Alice Evans joins Amit Varma in episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss why some parts of the world are crawling slower than others. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Alice Evans on her blog, website, YouTube, podcast, Google Scholar, King's College and Twitter. 2. Rocking Our Priors -- Alice Evans's podcast. 3. Ten Thousand Years of Patriarchy, Updated! -- Alice Evans. 4. An Intellectual History of the Patriarchy -- Alice Evans. 5. Friendships and Women's Liberation -- Alice Evans. 6. 3 Things I Got Wrong About Patriarchy -- Alice Evans. 7. What Don't We Know About Patriarchy? -- Alice Evans. 8. Overcoming the Global Despondency Trap -- Alice Evans. 9. Ideas of India: The Great Gender Divergence -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast. 10. Ideas of India: Female Friendships and Fraternal Capital -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast. 11. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht. 12. Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. 13. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 15. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 16. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 17. Chup: Breaking the Silence About India’s Women -- Deepa Narayan. 18. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument -- Francis Bloch and Vijayendra Rao. 19. Russia: Bill to Decriminalize Domestic Violence -- Human Rights Watch. 20. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 21. Climate Change and Our Power Sector -- Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah). 22. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 23. Emergent Ventures prizes for best new and recent blogs -- Tyler Cowen. 24. Zotero -- Your Personal Research Assistant. 25. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread. 26. On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough -- Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, Nathan Nunn. 27. The Ties That Bound -- Barbara A Hanawalt. 28. Jared Diamond and Paul Collier on Amazon. 29. Pseudoerasmus.-- Blog about economic history & comparative development. 30. Daron Acemoglu on Amazon. 31. Naila Kabeer on Twitter, LSE, her own website.and Google Scholar. 32. Sylvia Chant at LSE and Google Scholar. 33. Claudia Goldin at Harvard and Google Scholar. 34. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 35. Tony Joseph’s episode of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 38. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 39. On the Economic Origins of Restricting Women’s Promiscuity -- Anke Becker. 40. Herding, Warfare, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence -- Yiming Cao, Benjamin Enke, Armin Falk, Paola Giuliano and Nathan Nunn. 41. The Politics of Marriage in Medieval India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan -- Sabita Singh. 42. The Ulema-State Alliance: A Barrier to Democracy and Development in the Muslim World -- Ahmet T Kuru. 43. Gendered Morality -- Zahra Ayubi. 44. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 45. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast. 46. Structural Transformation and Employment Generation in India -- Amit Basole. 47. Networks and Misallocation: Insurance, Migration, and the Rural-Urban Wage Gap -- Kaivan Munshi and Mark Rosenzweig. 48. Curse of the Mummy‐Ji: The Influence of Mothers‐In‐Law on Women in India -- S Anukriti, Catalina Herrera‐Almanza, Praveen Pathak and Mahesh Karra. 49. Gender, Intersectionality and Smartphones in Rural West Bengal -- Sirpa Tenhunen. 50. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 51. The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development -- Yuhua Wang. 52. Penis pins. 53. Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa -- Nwando Achebe. 54. The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850 -- Joel Mokyr. 55. The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa -- Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon. 56. Michael Pollan on coffee. 57. Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions -- Alberto Alesina, Reza Baqir and William Easterly. 58. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker). 59. Claiming the State -- Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner. 60. Capable Women, Incapable States -- Poulami Roychowdhury. 61. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 62. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 63. Honour and Shame: Women in Modern Iraq -- Sana Al-Khayyat. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina.
undefined
Sep 26, 2022 • 3h 38min

Ep 296: Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad

The evil of caste will be solved not by deliverance from up top but empowerment from down below. Dalit scholar and writer Chandra Bhan Prasad joins Amit Varma in episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the cure for caste lies in capitalism -- and why his two great heroes are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Adam Smith. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Chandra Bhan Prasad on Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia. Mercatus, Times of India and Google Scholar. 2. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs -- Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 3. What is Ambedkarism? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 4. Dalit Phobia: Why Do They Hate Us -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 5. When Adam Smith entered an Ambedkar village -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 6. In defence of suit, boot -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 7. How Piketty got it wrong -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 8. Who was the real Ambedkar? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 9. On Ambedkarism, Caste and Dalit Capitalism -- Chandra Bhan Prasad in conversation with Shruti Rajagopalan in the Ideas of India podcast. 10. 'Indian languages carry the legacy of caste' -- Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 11. Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era -- Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and D Shyam Babu. 12. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 13. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 14. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed caste with TM Krishna, Shruti Rajagopalan and Manu Pillai. 15. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed the 1991 reforms with Shruti Rajagopalan+Ajay Shah, Vinay Sitapati and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 16. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht. 17. Ramchandra Keh Gaye Siya Se -- Song from Gopi. 18. The Laws of Manu (Manu Smriti) -- The Penguin edition & the Buhler translation. 19. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 21. Devesh Kapur at University of Pennsylvania. 22. Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias -- The New York Times profile of Chandra Bhan Prasad by Somini Sengupta. 23. In an Indian Village, Signs of the Loosening Grip of Caste -- The Washington Post piece on Chandra Bhan Prasad by Emily Wax. 24. Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 25. Aims and Objects of the Republican Party of India -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 26. Ambedkar's memorandum to the British (in Volume 10 of his collected works). This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Gond painting.
undefined
Sep 19, 2022 • 3h 15min

Ep 295: The Girl From Kashmir

Imagine being a young girl growing up in a world of constant curfews, occasional raids, army bunkers outside homes, and the fear that whoever leaves home may not return. Farah Bashir joins Amit Varma in episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about her childhood in Kashmir — and the act of writing about it. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Farah Bashir on Twitter and Instagram. 2. Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir -- Farah Bashir. 3. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 4. Curfewed Night -- Basharat Peer. 5. The Good Women Of China -- Xinran. 6. Svetlana Alexievich on Amazon. 7. Portrait of a Turkish Family -- Irfan Orga. 8. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law -- Suad Amiry. 10. Derry Girls on Netflix and Wikipedia. 11. Nazia Hasan on Spotify. 12. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 13. Nikaah -- BR Chopra. 14. Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe. 15. Sonnets -- William Shakespeare. 16. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Ghazal -- Agha Shahid Ali. 20. Farah Bashir on the Raw Mango campaign. 21. The Wretched of the Earth -- Frantz Fanon. 22. Kaabil: That Old Regressive Bollywood Strikes Again -- Amit Varma. 23. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 24. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 26. Against White Feminism -- Rafia Zakaria. 27. Another Birth and Other Poems -- Forugh Farrokhzad. 28. The Late Bourgeois World -- Nadine Gordimer. 29. Telling Times -- Nadine Gordimer. 30. Kashmir ki Kali -- The Shakti Samanta film starring a Bengali! 31. Territory of Desire -- Ananya Jahanara Kabir. 32. Mahjoor and Habba Khatoon. 33. Ali Saffuddin and Parvaaz on Spotify. 34. Toni Morrison on Amazon. 35. The Patience Stone -- Atiq Rahimi. 36. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 37. Milkman -- Anna Burns. 38. Paradise Lost -- John Milton. 39. Macbeth -- William Shakespeare. 40. Greta Gerwig on IMDb, Wikipedia and Mubi. 41. Hisham Matar on Amazon. 42. Museum of Innocence -- Orhan Pamuk. 43. Bell Hooks and WG Sebald on Amazon. 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 45. Vivian Gornick on Amazon. 46. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick. 47. Fierce Attachments -- Vivian Gornick. 48. Shame On Me -- Tessa McWatt. 49. Home Fire -- Kamila Shamsie. 50. Joan Didion and Jane Austen on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Madhubani painting.
undefined
Sep 12, 2022 • 4h 51min

Ep 294: Dance Dance For the Halva Waala

You can lose yourself in cinema -- and you can find yourself in it. Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty join Amit Varma in episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the films in their lives, why we should watch old films, why we should watch new films, why Bollywood and Hollywood and other woods are all great, and why we live in a wonderful technicolor world. This episode is a celebration of cinema! (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Jai Arjun Singh on Twitter and Instagram. 2. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Subrat Mohanty and Pavan Jha's podcast. 3. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Jabberwock — Jai Arjun Singh’s blog. 5. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Seriously Funny Since 1983 — Jai Arjun Singh. 6. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee -- Jai Arjun Singh. 7. Popcorn Essayists: What Movies do to Writers -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh. 8. The Golden Era -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 100 lesser-known songs from the golden era of Hindi film music (mostly 1935-65). 9. The Unseen Lata -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 54 lesser-heard songs from Lata Mangeshkar, from 1948 to 1976. 10. Old posts by Subrat Mohanty from the Passion For Cinema web archives. 11. Some Spotify playlists, courtesy Nishant Shah, from Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai episodes: 1, 2, 3, 4. 12. Pavan Jha's YouTube channel. 13. The only 1980s Maltova Mum commercial I could locate from the 1980s. (Couldn't find Singer.) 14. Kashmir Ki Kali -- Shakti Samanta. 15. Mughal-E-Azam -- K Asif. 16. Khuda Nigehbaan Ho -- Song from Mughal-E-Azam, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni. 17. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore. 18. Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan -- talk show by Tabassum.  19. Old episodes of Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan with RD Burman, Deepti Naval, Anand Bakshi and Bhupinder. 20. The Indiana Jones and Superman franchises. 21. The Evil Dead -- Sam Raimi. 22. Sam Raimi, Wes Craven and John Carpenter. 23. The Fugitive and The Bodyguard. 24. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera. 25. The Antichrist -- Friedrich Nietzsche. 26. The 400 Blows -- Francois Truffaut. 27. Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom -- Pier Paolo Pasolini. 28. Łódź Film School and Andrzej Wajda. 29. Do the Right Thing -- Spike Lee. 30. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) -- Jorge Luis Borges. 31. Titus Andronicus -- William Shakespeare. 32. A Chess Story (previously published as The Royal Game) -- Stefan Zweig. 33. The World of Yesterday -- Stefan Zweig. 34. The Friday the 13th franchise. 35. Tracy and Hepburn -- Garson Kanin. 36. Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Kumar Gandharva and Lata Mangeshkar on Spotify. 37. Vijay Anand, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 38. Guide -- Vijay Anand. 39. Kaagaz Ke Phool -- Guru Dutt. 40. Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini. 41. Shankar–Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Mukesh, KA Abbas, Ramanand Sagar and Kidar Sharma. 42. Aag, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Awaara, Barsaat and Shree 420.43. Nargis and Nadira. 44. Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey, music by Shankar-Jaikishan, lyrics by Shailendra. 45. Orson Welles. 46. Squid Game on Netflix. 47. The Immediate Experience -- Robert Warshow. 48. Dil Dhadakne Do, Luck by Chance and Gully Boy -- Zoya Akhtar. 49. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz. 50. Yudh and Tridev -- Rajiv Rai. 51. Amit Varma’s Twitter threads on the MAMI festival from 2018 and 2019. 52. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 53. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 54. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 55. Pauline Kael on Amazon. 56. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. (And Roger Ebert’s essay on it.) 57. The Dead — John Huston. 58. In the Bedroom -- Todd Field. 59. Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) and Parineeta (Pradeep Sarkar). 60. Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Vikram Seth. 61. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla. 62. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 63. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 64. Dharmyug and Dharamvir Bharati. 65. Andha Yug (Hindi) (English) -- Dharamvir Bharati. 66. Suraj ka Satvaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharati. 67. Gunahon Ka Devta — Dharamvir Bharati. 68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Anil Biswas, SD Burman, Chitragupt, Roshan, C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan. 71. Naushad and Aan. 72. Maan Mera Ehsan -- Song from Aan, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni. 73. Sebastian D'Souza, Anthony Gonsalves, Ghulam Mohammed and Mohammed Shafi. 74. Khayyam and RD Burman. 75. The Long Tail -- Chris Anderson. 76. The Sound of Music -- Robert Wise. 77. Do-Re-Mi -- Song from The Sound of Music. 78. Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi on Spotify. 79. Tosca -- Giacomo Puccini -- performed at Arena di Verona. 80. Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzo and Billie Eilish on Spotify. 81. About That Time -- Lizzo. 82. Renaissance -- Beyoncé. 83. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil -- Karan Johar. 84. Aar Paar, Geeta Dutt and Eminem. 85. Pet Shop Boys, Guns N' Roses, U2, REM and Stone Temple Pilots on Spotify. 86. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. 87. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature -- Amit Varma. 88. Mera Joota Hai Japani -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Mukesh, music by Shankar-Jaikishen, lyrics by Shailendra. 89. Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri. 90. Do Bigha Zamin -- Bimal Roy. 91. Dharti Kahe Pukaar Ke -- Song from Do Bigha Zamin, sung by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra. 92. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 93. Mondegreen. 94. Tragedy -- Bee Gees. 95. Aap Jaisa Koi -- Song from Qurbani, sung by Nazia Hassan, music by Biddu Appaiah, lyrics by Masth Ali & Shashi Pritam. 96. Ek Akela Is Shaher Mein -- Song from Gharaonda, sung by Bhupinder Singh, music by Jaidev, lyrics by Gulzar. 97. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon. 98. Amar Akbar Anthony and Andrei Tarkovsky. 99. 2001: A Space Odyssey -- Stanley Kubrick. 100. Mirza Ghalib (and the show on him by Gulzar). 101. Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso and the Pre-Raphaelites. 102. The Wire, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. 103. Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Coen Brothers and Preston Sturges. 104. Ball of Fire -- Howard Hawks. 105. The Lady Eve -- Preston Sturges. 106. Barbara Stanwyck and Lawrence Olivier. 107. Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock. 108. How to Read and Why -- Harold Bloom. 109. Malayankunju -- Sajimon Prabhakar. 110. Muqaddar Ka Sikandar -- Prakash Mehra. 111. Agatha Christie on Amazon and Wikipedia. 112. Nayak -- Satyajit Ray. 113. Prakash Mehra and Kader Khan. 114. Laawaris -- Prakash Mehra. 115. Don and Majboor. 116. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 117. David Cronenberg. 118. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 119. Moonlight — Barry Jenkins. 120. Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony and Dharam Veer -- Manmohan Desai. 121. Man, Woman and Child -- Erich Segal. 122. Man, Woman and Child (1983 film) -- Dick Richards. 123. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapoor. 124. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Mrinal Sen and Robert Bresson. 125. Au Hasard Balthazar -- Robert Bresson. 126. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul. 127. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 128. Calcutta 71 -- Mrinal Sen. 129. Ivan's Childhood, Solaris and Andrei Rublev -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 130. Stanislaw Lem on Amazon and Wikipedia. 131. Cahiers du Cinéma and Mayapuri. 132. Black Friday and Paanch -- Anurag Kashyap. 133. Navdeep Singh, Sudhir Mishra, Neeraj Ghaywan, Raj Kumar Gupta and Rajkumar Kohli. 134. Nagin and Nagina. 135. Jaani Dushman -- Rajkumar Kohli. 136. Three Colors: Blue -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 137. Three Colors: Red -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 138. Three Colors: White -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 139. The Double Life of Veronique -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 140. The legendary Babbar Subhash. 141. Dance Dance -- Babbar Subhash. 142. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala -- Song from Dance Dance. 143. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro -- Kundan Shah. 144. Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar -- Song from CID, sung by Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi., music by OP Nayyar, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. 145. Rote Hue Aate Hain Sab -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, sung by Kishore Kumar, music by Kalyani-Anandji, lyrics by Anjaan. 146. Kai Baar Yun Bhi Dekha Hai -- Song from Rajnigandha, sung by Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Yogesh. 147. Rim Jhim Gire Saawan -- Song from Manzil, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by RD Burman, lyrics by Yogesh. 148. Andrew Sarris and André Bazin. 149. Sergei Eisenstein and the Odessa Steps sequence. 150. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane. 151. Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Shanghai and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! -- Dibakar Banerjee. 152. Jean Renoir. 153. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 154. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu. 155. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa. 156. The 2012 Sight and Sound poll of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. 157. Early Summer -- Yasujirō Ozu. 158. Make Way for Tomorrow -- Leo McCarey. 159. Citizen Kane -- Orson Welles. 160. Vertigo -- Alfred Hitchcock. 161. Setsuko Hara. 162. Sara Akash -- Basu Chatterjee. 163. Bhuvan Shome -- Mrinal Sen. 164. KK Mahajan. 165. One Cut of the Dead -- Shin'ichirō Ueda. 166. Unsane -- Steven Soderbergh. 167. Promising Young Woman -- Emerald Fennell. 168. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock. 169. Hitchcock's Films Revisited -- Robin Wood. 170. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Witness, Dead Poet's Society and The Truman Show -- Peter Weir. 171. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. 172. John Ford and Girish Shahane. 173. Everything is Cinema -- Don Palathara. 174. Hi Mom! -- Brian De Palma. 175. Taxi Driver -- Martin Scorcese. 176. Joyful Mystery -- Don Palathara. 177. The Postman Always Rings Twice -- Tay Garnett. 178. Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- John Huston. 179. Noir’s arc - notes on an excellent anthology -- Jai Arjun Singh. 180. Key Largo -- John Huston. 181. Gun Crazy -- Joseph H Lewis. 182. Sullivan's Travels -- Preston Sturges. 183. O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- Coen Brothers. 184. Winchester '73 and Bend of the River -- Anthony Mann. 185. Shaheed (1948) -- Ramesh Saigal, starring Dilip Kumar. 186. Andaz -- Mehboob Khan. 187. Duniya Na Mane -- V Shantaram. 188. Some Like it Hot and Ace in the Hole -- Billy Wilder. 189. Ernst Lubitsch and James Wong Howe. 190. Sweet Smell of Success -- Alexander Mackendrick. 191. Mere Apne -- Gulzar. 192. Haal Chaal Thik Thak Hai -- Song from Mere Apne, sung by Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Gulzar. 193. Mr Sampat -- SS Vasan. 194. Miss Malini -- Kothamangalam Subbu. 195. Mr. Sampath: The Printer Of Malgudi -- RK Narayan. 196. Achhe Din Aa Rahe Hain -- Song from Mr Sampat, sung by Shamshad Begum and ML Vasantakumari, music by Balkrishna Kalla, lyrics by Pandit Indra Chander. 197. Parakh -- Bimal Roy. 198. O Sajna Barkha Bahaar Aayee -- Song from Parakh, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra. 199. Oonche Log -- Phani Majumdar. 200. Major Chandrakanth -- K Balachander. 201. Jaag Dil-E-Deewana -- Song from Oonche Log, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Chitragupt, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. 202. Birendranath Sircar, RC Boral and Timir Baran. 203. PC Barua, Bimal Roy and KL Saigal. 204. Devdas (1936) -- PC Barua. 205. President -- Nitin Bose. 206. Ek Bangla Bane Nyara -- Song from President, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrcs by Kidar Sharma. 207. Street Singer -- Phani Majumdar. 208. Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaye -- Song from Street Singer, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrics by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. 209. Wajid Ali Shah. 210. Shatranj Ke Khilari -- Satyajit Ray. 211. Duniya, Yeh Duniya, Toofan Mail-- Song from Jawab, sung by Kanan Devi, music by Kamal Dasgupta, lyrics by Pandit Madhur. 212. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 213. Rajnigandha/राजनीगंधा -- Mannu Bhandari. 214. The Conversation -- Francis Ford Coppola. 215. Deer Hunter -- Michael Cimino. 216. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 217. The Godfather: Part 2 -- Francis Ford Coppola. 218. Sisters -- Brian De Palma. 219. Blow Out -- Brian De Palma. 220. Blowup -- Michelangelo Antonioni. 221. The Long Goodbye and Nashville -- Robert Altman. 222. The Missouri Breaks -- Arthur Penn. 223. The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What's Up, Doc? and Targets -- Peter Bogdanovich. 224. This is Orson Welles -- Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich. 225. Hitchcock -- Francois Truffaut. 226. Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not  -- Howard Hawks. 227. The Big Sleep -- Raymond Chandler. 228. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway on Amazon. 229. Johny Mera Naam and Jewel Thief -- Vijay Anand. 230. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy. 231. Back to the Future -- Robert Zemeckis. 232. Mr India -- Shekhar Kapoor. 233. Rahul Rawail, JP Dutta, Mukul Anand and Rajiv Rai. 234. Hathyar and Ghulami -- JP Dutta. 235. Raat Bhat Jaam Se Jaam Takrayega -- Song from Tridev with galaxy of villains. 236. Naseeb -- Manmohan Desai. 237. Dan Dhanoa, Mahesh Anand, Dalip Tahil and Tej Sapru. 238. The Ramsay Brothers! 239. Don't Disturb the Dead: The Story of the Ramsay Brothers -- Shamya Dasgupta. 240. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche -- Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay. 241. Veerana -- Ramsay Brothers. 242. Purana Mandir -- Ramsay Brothers. 243. Govinda! 244. Ilzaam -- Shibu Mitra. 245. I am a Street Dancer and Main Aaya Tere Liye from Ilzaam. 246. Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction -- Quentin Tarantino. 247. Halloween -- John Carpenter. 248. A Nightmare on Elm Street -- Wes Craven. 249. Scream -- Wes Craven. 250. Terminator 2: Judgment Day -- James Cameron. 251. Mad Max: Fury Road -- George Miller. 252. Nicholas Cage and Keanu Reeves. 253. Wild at Heart -- David Lynch. 254. Red Rock West -- John Dahl. 255. The Last Seduction -- John Dahl. 256. Edward Norton in American History X and Rounders. 257. New Delhi Times -- Ramesh Sharma. 258. Drohkaal -- Govind Niahalani. 259. Gupt and Mohra by Rajiv Rai. 260. Sonam! 261. Wild -- Nicolette Krebitz. 262. Waves -- Trey Edward Shults. 263. Climax -- Gaspar Noé. 264. Mother! -- Darren Aronofsky. 265 Eho — Dren Zherka. 266. The Magic Mountain -- Thomas Mann. 267. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 268. Cosmicomics -- Itali Calvino. 269. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller -- Italo Calvino. 270. A House For Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 271. A Bend in the River -- VS Naipaul. 272. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 273. Mrs Dalloway -- Virginia Woolf. 274. To the Lighthouse -- Virginia Woolf. 275. Decline and Fall -- Evelyn Waugh. 276. Scoop -- Evelyn Waugh. 277. Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene. 278. Brighton Rock (1948 film) -- John Boulting. 279. Kingsley Amis and Martin Amis. 280. Lucky Jim -- Kingsley Amis. 281. The Siege Of Krishnapur -- JG Farrell. 282. Alfie -- Lewis Gilbert. 283. Get Carter -- Mike Hodges. 284. Blame it on Rio -- Stanley Donen. 285. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 286. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Jackson Pollock.
undefined
21 snips
Sep 5, 2022 • 5h 45min

Ep 293: Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht

The world we live in is designed by men for men. What is it like to be a woman in this world? Mahima Vashisht joins Amit Varma in episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her experiences documenting all that is unseen by men and lived by women. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Mahima Vashisht on Twitter and Buy Me A Coffee. 2. Womaning in India -- Mahima Vashisht's newsletter. 3. The Womaning in India podcast. 4. The All-Powerful Female Imposter Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht. 5. Maternity Discrimination is killing women's careers -- Mahima Vashisht. 6. Body shaming women is our favourite national pastime -- Mahima Vashisht. 7. Let's talk about Office Toilets -- Mahima Vashisht. 8. The Raja Beta Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht. 9. Fabulous Lives of Indian Housewives -- Mahima Vashisht. 10. What is obstetric violence? (Aka my birth story) -- Mahima Vashisht. 11. Women face selective deafness in meetings -- Mahima Vashisht. 12. Lessons from the Tarun Tejpal judgment -- Mahima Vashisht. 13. The Great Indian Dhakosla -- Mahima Vashisht. 14. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 16. Nobody Told Me -- John Lennon. 17. The Sunk Cost Fallacy. 18. Koffee With Karan. 19. An Unsuitable Boy -- Karan Johar. 20. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris. 21. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 22. Dunning-Kruger Effect (Wikipedia). 23. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma. 24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 25. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 26. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The Road to Freedom -- Arthur C Brooks. 28. Clarification Regarding Release of Funds to Prasar Bharti -- I&B Ministry press release. 29. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 30. The Darwaza Band campaign with Amitabh Bachchan and Anushka Sharma. 31. The Vidya Balan Nirmal Bharat commercial. 32. Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan. 33. The Good Girls — Sonia Faleiro. 34. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 35. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. 36. Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar's Swachh Bharat commercial. 37. Twin Peaks -- David Lynch. 38. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 40. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 41. Inside Bill's Brain -- Decoding Bill Gates. 42. Daily Rituals — Mason Currey. 43. Daily Rituals: Women at Work — Mason Currey. 44. The tweet Mahima referred to about Albert Einstein's wife. 45. Eileen Mary O’Connell's tweet about Marie Curie and Mariah Carey. 46. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 47. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 50. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma. 51. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner. 52. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 53. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 54. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 55. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 56. Invisible Women -- Caroline Criado Perez. 57. The controversy over the woman with an oxygen cylinder cooking in the kitchen. 58. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) -- Amit Varma. 59. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Fearless Freedom — Kavita Krishnan. 61. Why Loiter? — Shilpa Phadke. 62. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 63. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 66. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 67. How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings -- Sarah Cooper. 68. Untamed -- Glennon Doyle. 69. Shrill -- Lindy West. 70. Steal Like an Artist -- Austin Kleon. 71. Show Your Work -- Austin Kleon. 72. Keep Going -- Austin Kleon. 73. Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, James Acaster and Karunesh Talwar. 74. And here's Mahima's post with more show notes! This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina, in a tribute to Cubism.
undefined
49 snips
Aug 29, 2022 • 4h 26min

Ep 292: Varun Grover Is in the House

He's one of our finest writers, lyricists, comedians, dissenters -- and the breadth of his work is matched by the depth of his insights. Varun Grover joins Amit Varma in episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and work so far. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Varun Grover on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and IMDb. 2. Masaan -- Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 3. Aisi Taisi Democracy on YouTube. Twitter and Instagram. 4. Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar -- Directed by Dibakar Banerjee and co-written by Varun Grover. 5. Biksu -- Raj Kumari (illustrations) and Varun Grover (words). 6. Learn Screen Writing -- Varun Grover's course on Front Row. 7. Varun Grover interviewed on Slow Cafe by Neelesh Misra. 8. Guftagoo with Varun Grover. 9. Moh Moh Ke Dhaage -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 10. Tu Kisi Rail Si -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 11. Mann Kasturi -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 12. Network -- Sidney Lumet. 13. Hot Drinks Equal Warm Feelings. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 16. Massive fire breaks out at Chitrakoot ground in Andheri. 17. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 18. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 19. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul. 20. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave le Bon. 21. Crowds and Power — Elias Canetti. 22. Nikaah -- BR Chopra. 23. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapur. 24. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 25. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Stage.in. 27. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 28. Blowin' in the Wind -- Bob Dylan. 29. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen. 30. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh and Dushyant Kumar. 31. M Indicator. 32. Range -- David Epstein. 33. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo. 34. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 35. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman. 36. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 38. Biba Sada Dil Morr De -- Nusrat Fatek Ali Khan. 39. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 42. Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, SD Burman, RD Burman and Abida Parveen on Spotify. 43. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck -- Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 45. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju -- Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Songs of Life -- Puneet Aghi. 47. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! -- Sooraj Barjatya. 48. Surabhi. 49. Forrest Gump, Notting Hill and Rambo. 50. Majid Majidi, Abbas Kiorastami and Jafar Panahi. 51. Loha, Farishtay, Border and Gadar. 52. Babel and Amores Perros. 53. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie -- John Cassavetes. 54. Mean Streets and Taxi Driver by Martin Scorcese. 55. Flow: The Psychology of Happiness -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 56. Ellevoro on Instagram and Trip Advisor. 57. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 58. Gunahon Ka Devta -- Dharamvir Bharati. 59. It is Immoral to Have Children. Here’s Why — Amit Varma. 60. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 61. The Importance of Satya -- Episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Uday Bhatia). 62. The Great Man Theory of History. 63. Gaata Rahe Mera Dil -- Lyrics by Shailendra. 64. Surinder Kaur, Asa Singh Mastana, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Parveen Sultana and Noor Jehan on Spotify. 65. Satyajit Ray on Wikipedia, IMDb and Amazon. 66. Agantuk -- Satyajit Ray. 67. The Wind Rises -- Hayao Miyazaki 68. Michael Haneke on Wikipedia and IMDb. 69. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 70. The Three Colours Trilogy --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 71. A Short Film About Love --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 72. A Short Film About Killing --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 73. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy. 74. Dharamvir Bharati, Harishankar Parsai, Uday Prakash and Manohar Shyam Joshi. 75. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla. 76. Naiyer Masud on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon. 77. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud. 78. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon. 79. Kai Chaand The Sar-e-aasman --  Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. 80. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 81. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel. 82. The Dead -- John Huston. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode