HT Picks; New Reads
On the reading list this week is a volume of fresh translations of classical Indian texts, reportage about a murder that shocked the country, and a book on an icon of Indian cinema
Spanning time, texts and languages
Salman Rushdie has called this volume “An important book, a wonderful selection, a treasure house”. lluminating Worlds explores the foundations of the world’s longest continuous multilingual literary tradition. It provides fresh and accessible translations of classical Indian texts from ancient Vedic hymns to the songs of Tamil bhakti. Organised both chronologically and thematically, this wide-ranging collection gives a broad perspective on Indian history while highlighting the deep connections between multiple literary traditions.
Spanning time, texts and languages, this anthology – the first of its kind – provides a comprehensive survey of of ancient India’s most important literary contributions.*
Behind the scenes of a most horrible crime
On 8 September 2017, a class two student was found murdered in a blood-splattered bathroom of his school in Gurugram. What followed was a bizarre cover-up and destruction of evidence, the framing of an innocent bus conductor by the police and the subsequent arrest by the CBI of a sixteen-year-old student suspected of brutally murdering the young boy.
In this book, investigative journalist Leena Dhankhar untangles the messy threads of the case and takes us behind the scenes of a most horrible crime. She asks and answers the troubling questions that haunt us all.*
Balancing comedy and tragedy with aplomb
In many ways, Kamal Haasan is unique. One of India’s great actors, he has usually gone further than just enacting a role to completely immersing himself in it. Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey explores some 50 films out of the 245 that Haasan has been associated with and analyses his cinematic journey from his beginnings as a child star all the way to his latest blockbusters. It traces how, even at a young age, he took on roles other actors would be wary of, positioning himself as an object of female desire in the 1980s; balancing both comedy and tragedy with aplomb; playing formerly caricatured roles such as that of a dwarf in Apoorva Sagodharargal and a woman in Chachi 420 with dignity; and having a resurgence in 2022 with the blockbuster Vikram. This book is a good introduction to Kamal Haasan: his life, his thoughts and his movies.*
*All copy from book flap.
Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crick-it, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Quizzes, Polls & much moreExplore now!
See more
