Her witty repartees are the stuffof legend. Not many fans of Mithali Raj, former Test and ODI captain of the Indian women’s team, will forget her cutting remark in 2017 when she was asked who her favourite male cricketer was. Why do her male counterparts not get asked who their favourite female cricketer is, she shot back. That not only set the ball rolling on conversations around women’s cricket, but it also enshrined her permanently in the feminist hall of fame. And, it brought her to the notice of a starry-eyed young actor who felt an instant connect with the cricketer. “This was the exact same predicament I was grappling with,” says Taapsee Pannu, who plays Raj in her next film, Shabaash Mithu, which releases on July 15. “I had been struggling with that question for 12 years as an actor. I realised we were both negotiating the same space. Hers was a struggle against the nation’s male cricket frenzy, while mine was against the male protagonist-led film frenzy.”
And so, years later, when Pannu was offered a chance to portray Raj on-screen, she pounced on the opportunity. There almost seemed to be a karmic connection with the thunderbolt of a cricketer. The film is also significant for Pannu as it is the last one in a trio of sports dramas by her in the last three years: Saand Ki Aankh (2019), Rashmi Rocket (2021), and now Shabaash Mithu, directed by Srijit Mukherjee. She is determined that this is going to be the last, as she feels sports films take a lot from you, both physically and mentally.
Denne historien er fra July 17, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra July 17, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
