Author: Maneesh Taneja

History and Evolution of Malayalam Cinema

 

Arun talks to Maneesh on the history and evolution of Malayalam cinema.

What makes Malayalam cinema different from Tamil and Telegu cinema, the influence of communism on its early years and how the OTT phenomenon is helping a generation of film makers take Malayalam cinema to a new audience.

1IndiI. A Hindu Business Line article, which, while trying to explain why South Indian cinema has box office muscle also shows an excellent visualisation that explains the limitation of Kerala’s screen real estate
2. An Economic times article lamenting the lopsided economics of Malayalam cinema
3. Whitepaper from Kannur University talking about the conscious role of Communism in shaping Malayalam cinema
4. Screenwriter Joh Paul talks about the environment of early Malayalam cinema of the 50s

A Conversation on Caste with Dr. Prakash Shah

Postscript from Omar Ali: My apologies to Maneesh and Gaurav, who got very little air time. And my apologies to listeners. I think Prakash and I should have explained more clearly what his argument is. I can see that many listeners expected a description of caste oppression in India, not a discussion of why this description is itself problematic or at least, incomplete..

We may have ended up with a discussion that will fail to get past the existing beliefs of most listeners. I hope we will try again in the future and as is the case with all complicated arguments, it may become clearer with repetition and rejigging. For now, take my advice from late in this podcast and see what happens if you suspend judgment and give the arguments a chance… Also see the articles and books linked at the end.

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Dr Prakash Shah, Reader in Culture and Law at School of Law Queen Mary University of London, talks to Dr Ali on the framework of studying caste in India and it’s colonial antecedents.

A list of publications from Prakash Shah and associates can be found here. 

A long talk from Prakash Shah on this topic may give more background:

 

Conversation with Chitra Iyer: Founder- Space2Grow a Social Impact Firm

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Chitra Iyer, Co-founder and CEO of Space2Grow, talks to Maneesh about Anti Child Trafficking, Digital Safety and making  Indians employable.

 

You can read more about Space2Grow on:

Website : www.space2grow.in
LinkedIn  – Space 2 Grow (https://www.linkedin.com/company/space-2-grow/)
Facebook – Space2grow (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064233876263)
Twitter – space2grow_llp (https://twitter.com/space2grow_llp)

 

Episode 21: South India Post Vijayanagar Empire till 1857

 

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Shrikanth talks to Maneesh about the History of South India post Vijayanagar kingdom till the year 1857.  He talks about the varies polities, their interactions and the Europeans among other facets that shaped the history of Deccan.

He wraps up the episode with the socio-cultural legacy of this period.

 

Sources and References:

1. History of the Nayaks of Madura : R Sathianatha Aiyar
2. The Nayaks of Tanjore : V. Vriddhagirisan
3. Textures of time : Writing history in South India – 1600-1800 – Sanjay Subramaniam, Velchuru Narayana Rao, David Shulman
4. Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan : Lewin Bowring
5. Symbols of Substance : Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamil Nadu – Sanjay Subramaniam, Velchuru Narayana Rao, David Shulman
6. Thomas Munro : The Origins of the Colonial State and His Vision of Empire – Burton Stein
7. Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not? Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850 – Prasannan Parthasarathi

8. India, Modernity and the Great Divergence: Mysore and Gujarat 17th to 19th c – Kaveh Yazdani

9. History, Institutions, and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India – Abhijit Banerjee and Lakshmi Iyer

 

Conversation with Pooja Sharma: Founder The Sarvodya Collective

 

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

 

Maneesh is in a freewheeling conversation with Pooja Sharma, founder of The Sarvodya Collective. A NPO working to build awareness and allyship for Neurodiversity as a cause.

You can mail Pooja at pooja.sharma@sarvodya.org

The Sarvodya Collective Instagram handle: https://instagram.com/thesarvodyacollective

Inclusive Duniya Instagram handle: https://instagram.com/inclusiveduniya

 

 

 

Episode 20: History of Europeans in India

 

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Prathamesh and Omar talk to Maneesh about Europeans in India.

This a precursor to a dedicated episode on the history of British in India.

Books and References:

Indica by Arrian

A Forgotten Empire by Robert Sewell

The First Republic: The Untold True Story of the Imperial Karbhari Sarkar by Venkatesh Rangan

White Mughals and The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

 

 

 

Mr. Tilak Devasher on his book The Pashtuns- A Contested History

 

 

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Mr. Tilak Devasher, Author, Member, National Security Advisory Board and former Special Secretary, Govt of India joins Maneesh, Somnath and Dr. Ali to talk about his latest book The Pashtuns- A Contested History.

 

 

 

Sunny Narang in Conversation with Dr. Omar Ali.

 

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

 

Sunny Narang, a Punjabi born and brought up in Delhi with ancestral roots in Pakistan, speaks with Dr. Ali on post partition Punjabis in Delhi; they also talk about culture and people who have and continue to shape the history of the sub-continent, from Jain bankers in Mughal India to the business clans of modern India.

 

 

Some of the books talked about on the episode.

Indiraji Through my Eyes: Usha Bhagat
The City of Hope The Faridabad Story L.C. Jain
The South Asian Papers” , a collection of 16 papers by Stephen Philip Cohen
All These Years: A Memoir by Raj Thapar
Civilization and Capitalism: 15th-18th Century by Fernand Braudel
Punjabi Century by Prakash Tandon
 

 

 

 

Episode 17: Mughals-the socio-cultural milieu and their Decline

 

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Episode 17 of the series of Podcasts on the history of Indian sub-continent.

Maneesh speaks to Jay and Omar on the socio-cultural milieu of the Mughals and their decline.

Across the two episodes on Mughals we haven’t talked about the Sikhs and the Rajpoots. We plan to do dedicated episodes on them.

A notable miss across both the episodes is Kabir Das. Perhaps an episode on the great spiritual figures of the millennium some day !

 

Sources and References:

1. Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India : Volume II by J.L Mehta
2. The History and Culture of the Indian People: Volume 7. The Mughul Empire
3. Akbar and His India by Irfan Habib
4. Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court by Audrey Truschke
5. The life of a text: performing the Rāmcaritmānas of Tulsidas by Philip Lutgendorf
6. Three Bhakti Voices Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in their Time and Ours by John Stratton Hawley
7. The Mughals and the Sufis by Muzaffar Alam
8. Did Aurangzeb Ban Music? Questions for the Historiography of His Reign
by Katherine Butler Brown [ARTICLE]
9. The Early Sūr Sāgar and the Growth of the Sūr Tradition
by John Stratton Hawley [ARTICLE]
10. Hidden in Plain View: Brajbhasha Poets at the Mughal Court
by Allison Busch [ARTICLE]
11. The Meeting of Musical Cultures in the 16th-century Court of the Mughal Akbar by Bonnie C. Wade [ARTICLE]

 

 

Episode 15: The Vijayanagara Empire

 

Shrikanth and Gaurav talk to Maneesh on all things Vijayanagara Empire.

An empire that lasted longer than the Mughal Empire and whole legacy thrives to this day.

@shrikanth_krish   @gaurav_lele    @maneesht

 

Sources and References:

A Forgotten Empire by Robert Sewell
 
2. A History of South India by KA Nilakanta Sastri
 
3. Sources of Vijayanagara History by S Krishnaswami Aiyangar
 
4. Vijayanagara History by KAN Sastri and Venkataramanayya
 
5. Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagara by TV Mahalingam
 
6. The New Cambridge History of India 1-2 by Burton Stein
 

 

 

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