The Mumbai Dabbawallah and the Bollywood Badshah

This is from a column I used to write for a now-defunct magazine published by the Mid-day group. The magazine was an advertising and marketing rag that was neither before its time, nor in tune with the times – it was simply out of time! It’s long gone. And most of the columns I wrote for it were pure hackwork, intended to bring in a few bucks to pay the bills and my kids’ school fees. And if I say that about my own work, you can imagine in what high esteem I... Read More

The Long Road: Musings on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and the enigma of Yudhishtira’s father

What have I been listening to lately? The late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan mostly. Not really his pop hits, although those are very good too. Even his more ‘commercial’ hits like Kinna Sonna and Afreen Afreen have the same intoxicating quality as his more serious classical work. But the tracks that have really got me hooked these days are the recordings he did for the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. In particular, there are two tracks: The Long Road. And The Face... Read More