Showing all 23 results
-
Kolkata
Twenty-five years ago, Calcutta officially became Kolkata. Has anything truly changed since then? In many ways, the name change was inconsequential. Throughout history, the city has worn a long mala of names around her neck: Kalikata, Kolikata, Kalkatta. She never needed the decision of elected officials to adopt new appellations. When the name Kolkata was officially consecrated, it did ruffle feathers among some sections of the anglicised elite. But it was far from revolutionary. The name had long been alive on Bengali lips anyway. So then what? Has nothing changed at all? Outsiders and Bengalis alike often dismiss the city as doomed to stagnation, trapped in her past. There is no doubt that nostalgia permeates Kolkata’s aesthetic – you cannot escape it here. But Kolkata is far more than that. Scratch the tired image of a sleepy city, and you see a megalopolis in motion. New takes on Bengali cuisine. Edgy comics. Alternative lenses from younger photographers. An irreverent underground scene. Heavy bass, rap, and humour from the margins. Kolkatae onek kichu hocche toh – much is stirring in Kolkata, and it is time to recognise those reshaping the city’s imagination. This is a tribute to a city of textures and contradictions, of irresistible quirks and irreverent grace. This is Kolkata for you: heavy on nostalgia, but enough attitude to dance with it.
-
Cinema
Independent cinema has been gaining momentum over the years, offering a refreshing alternative to mainstream Bollywood. With a focus on realistic storytelling, nuanced characters and social issues, indie filmmakers are pushing boundaries and resonating with audiences. From critically acclaimed films like ‘All We Imagine As Light’ to emerging talent in regional cinema, indie films are showcasing India’s diverse cultural landscape, and providing a platform for underrepresented voices. The growth of digital has also democratised access, allowing these films to reach a wider audience. As indie cinema continues to evolve, it’s exciting to see the talent, new stories and perspectives that emerge. Here’s to the filmmakers who continue to push boundaries, challenge audiences and inspire us all.
-
Bombay (1995) – Mumbai (1996)
Motherland invites you to take a trip down memory lane and rediscover an overlooked year in recent Indian cultural history: 1995-1996. The year Bombay became Mumbai. A wave of change swept across the country but some things remained the same and continue to stand the test of time. And yet, this is all just the tip of the iceberg.
-
Yamuna
The Yamuna issue seeks to evoke the lost bond between a river and it’s people: to see the Yamuna for all it could be and all it once was, instead of simply what it has become today. It is only through the restoration of its waters, both in our imagination and our urban reality, that we can revive the river system that has sustained us for generations.
-
Voter
The first issue of Motherland Report is dedicated to the first requisite of a democracy: its voters. Each person born in this country has a hand (or two) in deciding its fate. The Voter issue, in short, is our modest attempt to look inside the one billion minds that keep Indian democracy alive and ticking.
-
2045
Our 17th issue is all about the future. Not the kind you’d find in the stars or decks of cards, but the future that’s brewing in laboratories, board rooms and classrooms across the world. Meet the people who are building the future, not predicting it.
-
Football
Motherland #16 looks at the state of the beautiful game in India. The Indian Super League is already the country’s second most-watched sports league, and if cricket is this country’s religion, then, at least for some, football is a way of life. From a motley collection of local leagues to one unified Cup, find out how football in India is changing.
-
Nurse
When you have your health, you have everything. And in issue 15 of Motherland we pay tribute to the unsung heroes of healthcare: nurses. From an award-winning photo series that fixes its lens on the migration patterns of the Keralan nurse to a sneaky excerpt from a Bollywood-style medical thriller that’s out later this year, were looking at practitioners and clinicians, therapies and therapists, and the cultures surrounding medical caregiving in India.
-
Bandra
In Mumbai you’ll often hear Bandra referred to as “the Queen of suburbs”, but the streets of this neighbourhood have always held their own allure. Once a collection of sleepy fishing villages, it has been, at various junctures, a refuge for the city’s Catholics, Bollywood’s playground, a hipster hidey-hole and today, a patch of rampant redevelopment with prices to rival South Bombay. Bandra is all of these things and it is also the subject of Motherland’s 14th issue.
-
Military
It’s impossible to break the Indian Armed Forces down into bite-sized pieces. With four professional uniformed services (The army, navy, air force and coast guard), additional organizations like the Assam Rifles and the Special Frontier Force-not to mention a slew of inter-service institutions-the Indian military has in its embrace over 1.3 million active personnel. Yes, we know the numbers, but there is so much more that is unknown about the Indian military services, and the temptation to zoom in closer is irresistible.
-
Item
Right from the high-camp of Helen and all the taboos she embodied, through to the high-gloss choreography and sinew of her present day counterparts, there is nothing more Indian than the item number. These song and dance sequences form one of Bollywoods most defining characteristics and have evolved from coy, suggestive numbers into unapologetically explicit, provocative sequences. At a time when these cameos, so disconnected from the plotlines of the films in which they appear, turn into speeding juggernauts of hype and publicity, were taking a look back at the origins of the item number and onward to its future.
-
Skin
The eleventh issue of Motherland sits close to the bone, touching on the border between the world and ourselves: skin. It is clothed, painted, pierced and inked, but it is also the envelope in which our pain, pleasure and identity resides, an expanse that is far from a blank canvas, but is instead subject to shifting social definitions of health or beauty or regarded for external identity markers, like color.
-
Borders
In Motherland’s tenth edition, we explore borders in all forms. The sixth-largest country in the world shares land borders with six others and countless cultural cross-overs within. Other contributors also explore borders outside the geopolitical. Never shying from paradox, in 21st-century India, the borders between tradition and modernity are nearly invisible for some and becoming more rigid for others. For Indias sari designers, garment borders are places to express their history, individuality or sometimes just show off, while a peek inside the booths of the ten-second men, the toll operators of India, reveals the human face of the quotidian border crossing.
-
Gurgaon
The ninth issue of Motherland is its first dedicated to exploring a single city. Why Gurgaon? Because although it’s just a few decades old, India’s most misunderstood city has firmly established itself as the National Capital Region’s de-facto business district for the 21st century, with golf courses, swanky malls. This is more or less the Gurgaon we hear about, but where business and industry flourish, culture follows and Gurgaon is showing all the signs of an artistic naissance.
-
Kochi
Cross-cultural memories inform much of Kochi’s rituals and particularities; at the same time, this is the site of India’s first Biennale, and South Asia’s largest public art exhibition, which has cemented Kochi’s reputation as a place for contemporary art. This special edition of Motherland is then a mirror of a set of changes, with an acknowledgement of things that have remained the same.
-
Performance
In Motherland’s eighth edition, we set our sights on uncovering the stories of people and subcultures that practice more unusual modes of performance, and we also share atypical perspectives of what a performance can be.
-
Ghost Stories
Get spooked with our Ghosts Issue. This edition brings together diverse stories that explore the different ways beliefs in ghosts have evolved to survive in contemporary India. Featuring memoirs, reportage, social commentaries, photo essays and Motherland’s first fashion story, this issue is a visually rich collection of atypical “ghost stories”.
-
Prisons
In this edition, we explore the contemporary world of Indian prisons, as they are understood both literally and metaphorically, to uncover the unique realities emerging from different kinds of jails and what happens when freedom is confiscated.
-
Ecology
In the fifth issue of Motherland – the “Ecology” issue – we set our sights on uncovering the unique ways in which people in contemporary India engage with the idea of ecology. From discovering an eco-tourism hotspot in Meghalaya where everyday living is marked by using nature in innovative ways; to delving into the world of “green” architecture and the visionary whose idiosyncratic practices has resulted in one of Delhi’s healthiest edifices – this issue is a roundup of the more intriguing expressions of ecology making an impact in India today.
-
North-East
Explore a culturally diverse part of the country which for many, still exists on India’s periphery, both literally and figuratively. From young Naga entrepreneurs looking to shape their state’s future, to an Imphal-based vigilante organisation, to the artists and writers recreating the unique folktales of the region – this issue looks at the grassroots, fresh and dogged ways in which people who comprise the North-East are putting their places on the map.
-
The Parties
A party, however it is understood, is nothing without its people. And as people engage with parties, be it traditional, contemporary or political, this issue captures the different faces in the crowd, whether it’s the Delhi hipsters, the wedding band performers, or the red-blooded members of an altogether different Party.
-
Stargazing
Our second edition focussed on two very different meanings of the act of the stargazing. Stories of India’s transgender community and struggling athletes challenge typical ideas of who can be a role model or a celebrity, while pieces on astrology and astronomy in contemporary India look to the stars quite literally.
-
Freedom
In our inaugural issue, we tried to answer what freedom looks like in modern India. It is an idea as complex as the country we find ourselves in, and it comes in many guises. Our contributors set out to explore some of them.