So you wanna watch something…
Rashmi Rocket: Set in Kutch, Gujarat, this movie follows the story of Rashmi (Taapsee Pannu), a star runner, and her quest for glory—which is derailed by a gender test that declares her ‘masculine’. Although many have drawn parallels to Dutee Chand, writers insist the story is original, and inspired by the struggles of the Indian female athlete. Stream it on Zee5 tomorrow.
My Name: Has ‘Squid Game’ left you wanting more Korean? Check out this eight-episode series which is an intense revenge drama—as a young woman teams up with a crime boss and infiltrates the police to track down her father’s killer. According to the South China Morning Post, ‘My Name’ is “a grungy and pulpy revenge drama involving knife-wielding gangsters...Painted in red, black and brown tones and spiced with liberal amounts of violence, this series throws many well-worn thriller tropes into a pot and boils the mix into hard-boiled noir.” Dropping on Netflix tomorrow.
Sardar Udham: This is the biopic of freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer—the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab—to avenge the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre. Directed by Shoojit Sircar and starring Vicky Kaushal, the release of this thriller-drama—which bills itself as a “heart wrenching story of retribution”—has been highly anticipated. Coming to Amazon Prime Video on Saturday.
A long list of good reads
- The wardrobe of women politicians is always under scrutiny. For a change, Shivam Vij in The Print sets his sights on a man—Rahul Gandhi, who is labeled as the worst dressed neta in India.
- Also in The Print, Rama Lakshmi offers a thought-provoking essay on Modi as the unreliable narrator of a new Hindutva-guided India.
- The New York Times offers an intriguing look at how words get chosen for its daily crossword puzzle.
- We missed including this must-read on Monday: Rest of World’s eye-opening report on what happened when an upper-class Instagram replaced the more democratic TikTok after the ban: “TikTok was a canteen; Instagram is a café. But the canteen has better food, and the café serves costly coffee that not everyone drinks.”
- From poisoned monks to nuclear bombs, the New Yorker offers a fascinating look at the histories hidden in the periodic table.
- For a bit of fascinating history: Caravan magazine traces India’s journey toward gaining the right to fly.
- Founding member Kruthika Ravi Kumar highly recommends listening to this podcast episode of The Dictator's Playbook Revisited which follows the story of Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa—and her battle against President Duterte. It is as much a story about Facebook.
- Since you have some extra time this long weekend, check out Digg’s compilation of the most useful websites that you’ve probably never heard of.
- Scroll offers a ground report on the disastrous government app being deployed to fight child malnutrition in India.
- Arwa Madhawi in The Guardian takes a brief but scathing aim at ex Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi who recently boasted that she’s “never, ever, ever asked for a raise” in an interview with the New York Times—which is also worth a read.
- For something light: Alison Fensterstock on Medium looks at the emerging genre of romance novellas—Crypto Billionaire Romance.
- How did an epidemic that killed pigs in China lead to thousands of fish dying in Spain? The Guardian has this eye opening story that shows you how an interconnected global economy creates unexpected environmental impacts in distant places.
- Salon explains why the human neck is an evolutionary mistake.
- Fast Company explains how to talk yourself down when you are about to rage-quit your job.