I turned 30 yesterday, and if I wasn’t obsessed with movies, I think I’d be freaking out right now. The 20s are gone, I’m officially an 'adult', and like most birthdays I spent the day a little intoxicated and taking it easy. But this year felt different — the usual dread of not having done enough that always loomed in on late birthday eves never showed up.
At the cost of coming across as an obnoxious cinephile, I think that has a lot to do with the egregious amounts of cinema I consume. I’ve watched people on screen still figuring themselves out well into old age, and I’ve seen young characters endure tragedies so crushing they border on psychological torture. The sheer plurality of existence and our own selves has seeped into me over all that screentime, into a kind of reassurance that it's okay to be okay with whatever shape life takes. I've left the anxieties of racing for timelines in the 20s and hopefully that'll clear up some space to actually indulge in the things that "I should've done by now". To be honest, I still don't know what I'm doing. But without the deafening clock-noise it's kinda fun now.
Here's what we have for you this week.
Songs Of Forgotten Trees By Anupama Roy
Bengali filmmaker Anuparna Roy, originally from Purulia in West Bengal, has made a striking debut with her feature film Songs of Forgotten Trees, earning her the Best Director award in the Orizzonti section at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. The film, the only Indian entry among 19 contenders in that category, follows two migrant working women in Mumbai whose lives, separated by circumstance, gradually intertwine amid survival, quiet intimacy, and shared longings.
Read about it here.
'The Mountain' By Gorillaz
The Mountain', out March 20 next year, marks Gorillaz’ ninth studio album and their first on new label KONG. Recorded partly in Mumbai, New Delhi, Rajasthan, and Varanasi the 15-track album collaborations with legends like Asha Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Anoushka Shankar, Ajay Prasanna, and sarod maestros Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash. Infused with Indian classical textures and voices alongside global sounds, the album reflects the band’s spiritual journey through music and life’s vast terrains.
Listen to the first track from the album here.
'The Songs of Our People: Vol 2' By Anurag Banerjee
Anurag Banerjee’s The Songs of Our People: Vol 2 turns its lens toward the pioneers behind Meghalaya’s music scene — those mentors, teachers, and early artists who laid the foundation for the vibrant subcultures now flourishing there. Visually and structurally, Anurag signals the shift from presence to origin, where Vol 2’s portraits immerse readers in the lived spaces where music is made, underlining how culture grows from everyday life.
Find the book here.
Mother Mary Comes To Me By Arundhati Roy
In her new memoir, Arundhati Roy challenges the hallowed myths around motherhood and 'good daughterhood' in India, arguing that the veneration of mothers (as self-sacrificing, flawless figures) and the insistence on daughterly gratitude both serve to silence real experiences and dilute agency. Her book is as much a reckoning with familial love as it is a critique of the cultural expectations that bind mothers and daughters into impossible roles.
Read more about it here.
Sovabazar Urban Conservation
The Calcutta Heritage Collective (CHC), in collaboration with CEPT University, launched an exhibition reimagining Sovabazar-Sutanuti — one of Kolkata’s oldest, most layered neighbourhoods. Through student proposals and designs, the show explored adaptive reuse of colonial-mansions, fragile canals, and the public spaces in between, aiming to shift the preservation narrative away from just monuments toward a holistic urban revival.
Read about it here.
FILA x Almost Gods
In their new collaboration capsule drop, FILA and Almost Gods draws on brutalist architecture and elemental mysticism to bring FILA’s clay-court heritage into sculptural, exaggerated silhouettes and layered outerwear. The palette made up of ash, iron and oxidised reds reads like an imagined desert terrain, and familiar pieces (tennis skirts, nets, uniforms) are treated as cinematic artefacts.
Checkout the collection here.
Omen IV: Ascension By BONK Research Dept
Omen IV: Ascension is set to take over Pune with a collision of analogue electronics and heavy metal. Organised by the BONK Research Dept., the event strips away laptops for a DAW-less approach, relying on raw hardware — synths, drum machines, and distortion to create an atmosphere of calculated disorder. The lineup brings together acts like Glitch Rot, Deep East/Noble Luke, INDRAA, Slaughter Pit, Vomit Suit, and veteran death-metal band Atmosfear, spanning everything from dark-psy and noise to death-metal blast beats.
Get your tickets here.
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