THE PATHWAYS GAZETTE
In This Issue:
bollywood's dilemma of speaking up
By Raghav Prabhakaran
During a march in JNU in response to the attack, one of the most successful actresses in the Indian film industry, Deepika Padukone made an appearance alongside hundreds. She stood in silence next to the protesters showing her support for them. Bollywood is notorious for its lack of participation in political matters and even though during the past month, actors including Farhan Akhtar, Twinkle Khanna and Jim Sarbh have spoken against the CAA and the NRC, this was a turning point with regard to Bollywood in politics. A number of known celebrities including Bhumi Pednekar, Sonakshi Sinha and Anurag Kahsyap followed her footsteps and spoke against the attack and by extension, the CAA and NRC.
While it was indeed a shock to many that she attended the protest, she did so two days before the release of her film ‘Chapaak’: a movie primarily produced by Padukone herself and inspired by the life of Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack victim. Her presence at the event was met with a large boycott of the film
letters of recommendation
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
spoiler alert
By Angelina Jain
Around a month ago, audiences experienced the final chapter of the new Star Wars trilogy and, presumably, of the Star Wars universe in cinemas. The Rise of Skywalker brought back many characters, including Mark Hamill as Luke, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher (posthumously) as Princess Leia. It promised a return to the roots and the answers to many questions. And answers we got: too many and too quickly.
For instance, the origin and existence of Supreme Leader Snoke - the question asked most of the new trilogy for the last five years - was established with but a single panning shot. In a single second, we saw clones of him in a vat and nothing more. And who was the puppet master? Good old Emperor Palpatine.
Sex education
trigger warning: sexual harassment
By Aadhaar Agarwal and Akrit Agarwal
The groundbreaking comedy that is Sex Education made ripples with its first season, tackling themes traditionally perceived as taboo with youthful nonchalance. Despite the tremendous expectations set for the second season, it is safe to say that the creators have succeeded, building on the first with a refreshingly honest look at adolescent sexuality.
The series plays closer attention to character dynamics than ever before, forcing the peerless cast through excruciatingly awkward situations and interactions. The first episode - conventionally used to ease the audience back into a production - is perhaps the most discomforting, portraying many a teenager’s worst nightmare while simultaneously highlighting the ridiculousness of its premise. It was, without a doubt, gripping.
shubh mangal zyada saavdhan
spoiler alert
By Vedika Giridhar Mandapati
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan takes Bollywood leaps further in its acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community through the love story of Kartik and Aman. Kartik, having ‘come out’ to his parents at a young age, is unabashedly proud of who he is and convinces his boyfriend Aman to speak his truth to his small-town parents. The plot follows the adventures of the two as they try to convince a ‘conventional’ and uptight Allahabad family that homosexuality isn’t inherently wrong.
The movie is crafted in a typically Indian comedic style, with slapstick humor and exaggerated characters. It feels almost as though the cast wanted to normalize gay romance and portray it against the same background they would a straight one.
Music To Be Murdered BY:
by Eminem
By Kyra Kumar & Raghav Prabhakaran
On the 17th of January 2020, Eminem released his unannounced studio album Music To Be Murdered By. If the surprise release wasn’t enough to astound his fan base, its 60-minute runtime did, consisting of diss-topian rhymes, the world’s fastest verse, bars about infamous serial killers, and satirical mentions of recent terrorist attacks.
The album was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and imitated his concepts of glamorized gore. Aside from the evident snippets of the 1958 album of the same name, parallels between the two are drawn at many tracks - Darkness, for instance, where Eminem emphasizes the issue of gun violence in America by embodying Steve Paddock, the gunman responsible for a mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017.
Valentine's day playlist
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around the globe
The Indian Economic Slowdown: The Downfall of the Financial Sector
By Varushka Bhushan
India’s economic growth is at a six year low with GDP growth plummeting to 4.5% as of the July-September quarter of 2019-2020. What led to the slowdown of the world’s fastest-growing economy? The financial sector.
Infrastructure Leading & Financial Sectors is a non-banking financial company, more recently being called a shadow lender. NBFCs provide financial services similar to banks; however, they are not regulated like the banking sector. Thus, NBFCs can take higher and more long term risks than most banks. The lack of regulation is the one thing that enables heavy involvement in the real estate sector. Real estate projects are long term and high risk - they require large amounts of money and have no returns until the projects are functional.
astrology amor
What zodiac signs are you most compatible with?
By Angelina Jain
Astrology might not be everyone’s cup of tea but, admittedly, it can be fun to read through your horoscope once in a while. If the advisory ones are a little too serious, then at least you enjoy the descriptive posts on Instagram. Whether it’s checking what kind of sandwich you’d be or who you’re likely to kill, short astrology tit-bits make for great entertainment. Here, in honour of Valentine’s Day passing, is a list of zodiac signs you’re most compatible with...
a decade of memes
pathways in-shorts
