Sal Salam

The Academy Awards are the one sporting tournament I follow with any level of engagement. I pay attention to the cottage industry of prognosticators that starts speculating straight out of Sundance, more than a year before the ceremony; I despair about the unsuccessful campaigns mounted by my favorites, as they fall by the wayside; I predict potential nominees and winners; I exult and rant about the films that make it; and, every late winter or early spring, I watch the overlong spectacle alternating between feelings of suspense, delight, and stultifying boredom.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Padmaavat", based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi's epic poem of the same name, was originally titled Padmavati

My father didn't look like other people's fathers when I was a young child. He was tall and fit and square-chinned and took great care with how he dressed.

My father taught us to wear our Bengaliness with pride. It was impressed upon us that we, by being born Bengali, had inherited a rich intellectual and artistic tradition.