This Week In Culture: Khauf, Raveena's Latest Single, Lehenga-Inspired Lingerie, & More

Creators and culture-makers in India and the diaspora are too often forced into toothless politeness — exportable, apolitical, and inoffensive — to make them palatable to the largest common denomination. But culture doesn't shift with consensus — it fractures, haunts, seduces, and resists.

The avant-garde matters now more than ever — not because it is 'pretentious' or because it succeeds in predicting and pre-empting trends in the arts, culture, fashion, films, and music, but because it tries. While generative tools replicate and regurgitate what has been done before, the avant-garde gestures towards and reaches for what has not happened yet. This week, we are looking at culture-makers who are not here to entertain the status quo. This isn’t trend-watching — it’s a dispatch from the faultlines of contemporary Indian and diasporic culture.

From Khauf, a horror series that drags patriarchy into the realm of the paranormal, to Raveena’s meditative single born from the sonic detritus of the Earth, and lehenga-inspired lingerie that refuses 'sanskari' modesty to bars built on industrial decay and art that exposes the violent architecture of urban life, here's what we have for you this week:

'Khauf' on Amazon Prime Video

According to Homegrown's in-house film buff Disha Bijolia, "the new Amazon Prime series Khauf written by Smita Singh and directed by Pankaj Kumar and Surya Balakrishnan is a supernatural horror that doubles as a feminist critique of Patriarchal society. Set in a women's hostel it Delhi, it paints a portrait of gendered trauma through paranormal occurrences."

Raveena's New Single 'Morning Prayer'

Released on Earth Day, Raveena's latest single builds a soundscape using sounds from the natural environment. The singer was meditating in the forest, on a trip with her friend and collaborator, Jenn Bann, when the two decided to record the beautiful sounds around them. What started as a voice memo taken out of appreciation was then mixed by Bann with sounds of frogs in Florida and artist Zen-T’s meditative vocalisations to create what ended up being the track for 'Morning Prayer'.

Read Disha's review of 'Morning Prayer' here.

Paradox: A New Art Deco-inspired Cocktail Bar From The Team Behind Masque

Located just steps from Masque, Paradox occupies a repurposed mill within Mumbai’s historic Shakti Mills complex. Its industrial layout posed significant challenges for conversion into a hospitality space, but interior designer Ashiesh Shah took on the task and transformed the space into a striking example of Art Deco-inspired adaptive reuse. With a balance of heritage and modern glamour, Paradox now stands as a sophisticated destination that honors its industrial past while offering a refined, contemporary experience.

TKC Design Inc's Instant Classic Lehenga-Inspired Lingerie

Lehenga lingerie is just one among the wide range of pieces that TKC Design Inc., founded by Vancouver-based Punjabi-origin designer Taranjit Cheema, has to offer. The ‘Indian-Inspired Lingerie’ has become their definitive piece, and it is only made to order in limited numbers, remaining rightfully bespoke. Fathima has more information here.

Sudhir Patwardhan's 'Cities: Built, Broken' At Tri Art & Culture

In 'Cities: Built, Broken' at Tri Art & Culture, Kolkata, veteran painter Sudhir Patwardhan presents a new body of paintings and drawings which serve as his form of “involvement with the city” while examining the supportive-while-imposing nature of urban infrastructure. A contemporary contemplation on urbanity of the 21st century in Mumbai and beyond as bulldozers and bombs reduce homes and entire neighbourhoods to rubble, the exhibition features 40 new works by Patwardhan, with select drawings and print renderings of older paintings from 1977 to 2012. Here, Patwardhan presents the question: What is truly being built and what is irrevocably being broken?

Learn more about Patwardhan's practice here.

A Limited Edition Drop By Kaagazz x Naagin

Kaagazz and Naagin's surprise 4/20 drop 'Tastebuds Elevation Pack' is a pampering celebration of stoner culture. The box contains organic and biodegradable limited-edition rolling papers designed with traditional Indian motifs and two of Naagin's original sauces. The pack also has a curated set of extras, including exclusive stickers and a printed comic strip that brings together Kaagazz’s iconic Auntyji and Naagin’s signature parrot in a collectible crossover. Disha has all the details here.

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