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3D Celluloid: Experiments in Indian Cinema of the 1980s

Silpa Mukherjee Mar 26, 2022

Malayalam film My Dear Kuttichathan was the first three-dimensional film to be released in India and one of the biggest money-spinners in the history of Indian cinema.

The Video Moment: Piracy and the Bombay Film Producer

Silpa Mukherjee Jun 20, 2022

Magnum Video, one of the major video distributors of Bombay cinema was officially established in 1987. There were some deliberate confusions over its proprietors and real owners.

The Emergency and Stardom in India: Crackdowns on Creative Liberty in the 1970s

Silpa Mukherjee Jun 28, 2022

The censorship regulations were a subject of frequent discussion in film magazines between 1975 and 1977—a dark period in independent India’s history—sometimes as gossip or sarcasm, and sometimes as serious statements.

Bollywood’s Tryst with Orchestra Music: The Instruments of Disco in the 1980s

Silpa Mukherjee Jul 12, 2022

Journalist and critic Geeta Dayal suggests that disco music was very much part of the zeitgeist in the 1980s, with Bollywood film soundtracks chock-a-block with such songs.

Disco Music and the Diaspora: A New Islamicate in Bombay Cinema

Silpa Mukherjee Jul 14, 2022

In a pre-music video, pre-MTV age, reports of music release parties play a fascinating role in reconstructing the lost visual object.

Bigamy, Scandal and the Homewrecker Film: Bollywood in the 1980s

Silpa Mukherjee Sep 13, 2022

Reports in film magazines in the 1980s voiced the continuous anxiety of what might become of “our film culture” if homewrecking and bigamy were normalised, and thus made respectable.

Madness and Mandates: Pramod Pati's Film Experiments

Ritika Kaushik Oct 09, 2023

Born in 1932, Pati was a graduate of science and a cinematography diploma holder who became renowned for his experimental animation in films.

Women in the Emergency: Socialist India and the Depiction of Women

Ankan Kazi Apr 18, 2024

Gemma Scott explores the role of photographs in the Emergency that sought to mobilise women’s support for Indira Gandhi, her party and the state’s repressive measures, which were repeatedly justified as having been undertaken to protect the rights of “minorities” in the country.

The Spectral Archive: On Bombay Horror with Kartik Nair and Vibhushan Subba

Editorial Aug 10, 2024

ASAP | art hosted a discussion with Kartik Nair and Vibhushan Subba about the art and afterlife of Bombay horror films of the 1980s, where they discussed the secret histories contained within the spectral images of Bombay horror, and how popular images can be read as archives of their production, regulation, and circulation.

Free Jazz: Soundtrack to a Coup d’État

Natasha Gasparian Feb 01, 2025

Director Johan Grimonprez’s historical documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (2024) exploits the political potential of rhythmic montage to reveal the nonlinear and dialectical movement of history and the various contingent forces that determined the path it actually took—genocide and a protracted civil war—over another it could have taken but did not—national liberation and socialism.

Chambre 666: Is Cinema About to Die, or Is It Already Dead?

Akash Sarraf Feb 15, 2025

The emergence of digital technologies in the 1980s pose existential questions for the ability of cinema to endure as an art form. It is this question that becomes the subject of Wim Wenders’ forty-five-minute-long documentary Chambre 666 (1982).

On a Schizophrenic Viewing Practice: In Conversation with EXCISE DEPT

Upasana Das Apr 04, 2025

In the first of a three-part interview with Upasana Das, the members of EXCISE DEPT—Rounak Maiti, Karanjit Singh, Siddhant Vetekar and Andrew Sabu—discuss the origins and evolution of their audio-visual collective.

Staging the Farce: The Visuality of EXCISE DEPT

Upasana Das Apr 05, 2025

In the second part of an interview with Upasana Das, the members of EXCISE DEPT delve into the references behind their striking visual language.