MUST READ
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
Taut, symphonic, propulsive and riveting right from the outset, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed that it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance, at a breakneck pace, on complex themes that read as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice and what it feels like to face profound obstacles while nurturing big dreams in a country spinning towards extremism.
Release date: June 15
Body and Blood by Benyamin
Following the lives of men and women caught in a web of criminally orchestrated accidents and medically induced comas, Benyamin's latest novel Body and Blood is by turns introspective and thrilling - a meditation on faith and God that also holds up a mirror to the power and corruption of organised religion.
Release date: June 22
The Machine is Learning by Tanuj Solanki
The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
Release date: June 13
The World That Belongs To Us: An Anthology Of Queer Poetry From South Asia by Aditi Anginas and Akhil Katyal
This first-of-its-kind anthology brings together the best of contemporary queer poetry from South Asia, both from the subcontinent and its many diasporas.The anthology features well-known voices like Hoshang Merchant, Ruth Vanita, Suniti Namjoshi, Kazim Ali, Rajiv Mohabir as well as a host of new poets. The themes range from desire and loneliness, sexual intimacy and struggles, caste and language, activism both on the streets and in the homes, the role of family both given and chosen, and heartbreaks and heartjoins.
Release date: June 22
Rumi: A New Collection by Farrukh Dhondy
Love, devotion, suffering and longing mysteriously co-exist in the poems of Jalal-ud-din Rumi. Composed almost eight centuries ago, the deep spirituality and buoyant wisdom of the poems are a source of inspiration to millions today. Farrukh Dhondy's translations not only offer a modern idiom to the poems, but also faithfully keep intact their religious context. With selections from Rumi's masterpieces the Masnavi and Diwan-e-Shams, as well as his ghazals, this volume is a poetry lover's treasure-trove.
Release date: June 30
MUST WATCH
Jojo Rabbit
The 2020 Academy Award winning film directed by Taika Waititi is a cinematic masterpiece. Jojo is a lonely German boy who discovers that his single mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his imaginary friend — Adolf Hitler — Jojo must confront his blind nationalism as World War II continues to rage on.
Release date: June 2
Where: Disney Hotstar
Choked
Directed by Anurag Kashyap, the film follows a bank employee who is struggling to pay the bills finds a secret source of seemingly unlimited cash in her home.
Release date: June 5
Where: Netflix
Gulabo Sitabo
Gulabo Sitabo is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Shoojit Sircar, produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, and written by Juhi Chaturvedi. Set in Lucknow, it stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana as warring men.
Release date: June 12
Where: Amazon Prime
Ford v Ferrari
American automotive designer Carroll Shelby and fearless British race car driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary vehicle for the Ford Motor Co. Together, they plan to compete against the race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.
Release date: June 30
Where: Disney Hotstar
MUST ATTEND
WE ARE ONE: A Global Film Festival
Discover and watch films during this first ever 10-day global film festival co-curated by over 20 film festivals from across the world. All funds raised during the festival will benefit COVID-19 relief funds. The festival will feature programming curated by the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM), Jerusalem Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Venice Film Festival.
Where: https://www.youtube.com/weareone
When: Till June 7
Reading Space by Pan Macmillan India
Pan Macmillan India will upload videos and articles every Tuesday of the month from their authors wherein they tell you what they do apart from writing in terms of their profession, their interests and skills, their ways of contributing to society and nature and their recommendations about finding your true self; you will be amazed to find what inspires them to write and entertain us.
Where: Across all Pan Macmillan India’s social media channels
When: Every Tuesday
Met Opera Streams
Met recently launched “Nightly Met Opera Streams,” a free series of encore Live in HD presentations streamed on the company website during the coronavirus closure. “We’d like to provide some grand opera solace to opera lovers in these extraordinarily difficult times,” said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. “Every night, we’ll be offering a different complete operatic gem from our collection of HD presentations from the past 14 years.”
Where: metopera.org
When: 5:00 a.m. IST onwards (stays for 23 hours post the time), everyday this month.