Ziya Us Salam's 'Being Muslim in Hindu India' paints a clear, searing picture of a community increasingly under siege from Hindutva forces that have overrun large parts of the country.

The adopted son of the late Rudra veena maestro Ustad Asad Ali Khan was the only recognised performer of the Khandahar bani of the Jaipur beenkar gharana, a tradition within the Dhrupad genre.

A searing look at today’s judgemental society, Niloy Roy’s adaptation of Kafka’s ’Metamorphosis’ for the stage is a necessary production.

True to the artiste's creed that all juniors complete their performance before the turn of the 'ustad', Guru Munna Shukla passed away five days before his guru, Pandit Birju Maharaj, bid the world goodbye.

India's theatre practitioners rue the gradual deterioration of the country's premiere drama institute and the shrinking space afforded to institutes of culture in general, ever since the BJP government came to power in 2014.

In Bharatanatyam, like other dance forms, ageist perceptions still dominate, forcing women to give up their passion for learning and practicing the art form as they take over other roles as adults.

“We never, ever thought that artistes[' situation] would come to such a pass. We never expected to be so let down by the government.”

That old India was one where duty to family and society came before indulgence of the individual, yet hyper-nationalism was not audible from street corners.

Ziya Us Salam's reverence for the religion, which he has decoded for an array of readers, places him in an ideal position to critique traditions that have crept into the day-to-day practice of Islam.