The Coffee House Experience

Eminent film academician Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay talks about his journey from Engineering to Film studies, the interconnection between society and cinema starting from the "counter-culture era" of 1960s to the more "structured age" of 1990s, en route digressing into the dichotomy of cinema as art and business, impact of popular mainstream cinema, and much more.

Pratyay and Srinjoy elaborately discuss the on-going conflict between Russia and Ukraine with eminent political scientist Rajesh Rajagopalan (JNU). This episode is in English.

SUDEEP CHAKRAVARTY is an award - winning author of bestselling works of narrative non - fiction, including Plassey: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History, The Bengalis : A Portrait of Community (shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2018, and Tata Literature Live! Award 2018). An extensively published columnist, he has over three decades of experience in media. Sudeep has worked with major global and Indian media organisations including the Asian Wall Street Journal, where he began his career and he has held leadership positions at Sunday, the India Today Group, and HT Media. In this episode he joins Srinjoy and Soumik to uncover the intellectual journey that culminated in the form of a book on Plassey, the war that set the stage for the East India Company's rule over the entire Indian subcontinent, and en route he breaks many myths from all sides.

Prof. Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay, a renowned economist from ISI Delhi, known for his works on public education, healthcare and rural employment discusses various issues of public education in India, including the role of public investment, politics, perception of education in society and many other things with Soumik and Pratyay.

While analyzing romantic relationship, friendship and the tradition of informal discussion (Adda) in and around Kolkata, Nabamita Das, a sociologist by training, realized that only a researcher's lens might not suffice to capture the fundamental essence of these intimate human expressions. Instead, she approached these quests within her personal space. Eventually, these quests, along with her musical inclination led to creation of a new musical force, Borno Anonyo. In this episode Pratyay, Soumik and Srinjoy pick her mind about her two journeys as a sociologist and as a musician, and how they ultimately unify into a single one.

Born in Silchar, and brought up in Kolkata, Ronny Sen's political activism was shaped by the Bengali nationalism of Assam's Barak Valley. Already a renowned photographer, Ronny has recently ventured into film-making, and with his first full-length movie "Cat Sticks" he made a ground-breaking debut. Int his episode he opens up about all of these freely with Srinjoy and Pratyay.

Pratyay, Srinjoy and Soumik chat with one of the most popular independent film makers of Bengal, Pradipta Bhattacharyya about his life, thoughts, views and experience in making cinema.

Universal Basic Income is one of the very few policy proposals, which is supported by many people across the philosophical/political/economic spectrum. However, opinions differ significantly when it comes to implementation, framework and other details. In this episode Prof. Maitreesh Ghatak, (currently at London School of Economics) discusses various aspects of UBI and other things with Srinjoy and Soumik. Maitreesh Ghatak's webpage: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/GHATAK/ Maitreesh Ghatak's blog: https://maitreesh-ghatak.blogspot.com/

Diptakriti Chaudhuri, a highly successful marketing professional, maintains an amazing alternative career as a popular writer and blogger, writing regularly about movies, books, Indian societies and more. In this episode Srinjoy and Soumik pick his mind about these two shades of his life.Diptakriti's blog: https://diptakirti.blogspot.com/

In this free-flowing conversation Srinjoy, Pratyay and Soumik discusses their journey starting from Jadavpur University's ETCE department.

It is hard to deny that identity politics has been a mainstay of our polity since the inception of the Indian nation-state. However, can identity per se lend a suitable explanation to a host of social inequities which are a part and parcel of our lived reality? Or will an analysis through the prism of class struggle and the politics around citizenship yield more practicable insights? Adil Hossain, a political anthropologist, joins Pratyay, Srinjoy and Soumik to discuss all this and much more in this edition of the Coffee House Experience. Links: Adil's homepage: https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/people/adil-hossain Adil's twitter handle: https://twitter.com/adilhossain?s=09 Sachar committee report: https://minorityaffairs.gov.in/reports/sachar-committee-report Article on the implications of CAA-NRC: https://www.cprindia.org/news/8339

Avelo Roy, a serial entrepreneur and an ISKCON follower, talks with Srinjoy and Soumik about his journey in the start-up space and venture capitals which is guided by the principles of Bhagavad Gita. His efforts through Kolkata Ventures in the past 2 years have resulted in 400+ revenue generating startups responsible for around 4500 new jobs created in 10 states of East India. Links: Avelo's Bio: https://aveloroy.com/avelo-roy/ Kolkata Ventures: https://kolkataventures.com/

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, the eminent journalist explains various aspects of evolution of Indian media landscape starting from after the independence, went through breakthrough periods such as economic liberalization of 1991 and more recently transformed rapidly with the rise of social media and "fake news". Few relevant links: Paranjoy's homepage: https://paranjoy.in/ WIkipedia page on PGT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranjoy_Guha_Thakurta Article titled "Combating Fake News in India": https://ssir.org/articles/entry/combating_fake_news_in_india Journal titled: Capitalists vs. the media: an analysis of an ideological mobilization among business leaders: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344378200400203?journalCode=mcsa& Article titled "Media Ownership Monitor: Who owns the media in India?": https://rsf.org/en/news/media-ownership-monitor-who-owns-media-india - Washington Post article on Mob lynching and Fake News: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/21/how-misinformation-whatsapp-led-deathly-mob-lynching-india/ Amazon's Antitrust Paradox by Lina Khan: https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/e.710.Khan.805_zuvfyyeh.pdf

Prof. Janam Mukherjee, who grew up in the US, came to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1999 in his thirties and in search for his root. This journey of him turned out to be his career as well when he pursued his research into finding the history of 1940's Bengal and finding astonishing facts about 1943's Bengal famine. His work on this is documented in his book titled "Hungry Bengal: War, Famine and the End of Empire". In this episode he discusses about Bengal Famine of 1943 with Soumik, Srinjoy and Pratyay. The discussion takes place mostly in English except the intro.A few relevant links:Janam Mukherjee’s webpage https://www.ryerson.ca/history/about-us/faculty-and-staff/faculty/mukherjee-janam/Janam’s thesis: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86383/jsmuk_1.pdfA recent public lecture delivered at the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umo_uFM5i1oAnother recent YouTube appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHkA0_cNCPA

Pratyay and Srinjoy discusses with Debashish Sen Sharma about his journey as a filmmaker and a film academician, recent trends in Bangla cinema etc. Few relevant links: IMDB profile of Debasish Sen Sharma https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7338117/ Chaepani http://www.chaepani.com/ Article titled "Out of the Waiting Room of History: Ritwik Ghatak’s Cinema of Partition" https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/out-of-the-waiting-room-of-history-ritwik-ghataks-cinema-of-partition/ Article titled "Humanism and Hope: The Legacy of Film Director Satyajit Ray" https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/humanism-and-hope-legacy-filmmaker-satyajit-ray Article on Mrinal Sen titled "An iconoclast and a humanist" https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/comment/an-iconoclast-and-a-humanist-707650 Article titled "How the Left left Bengali cinema" https://caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/power-bourgeoisie Article titled "Why Iran creates some of the world’s best films" https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20181115-the-great-films-that-define-iran On Meghe Dhaka Tara and Subarnarekha https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc47.2005/ghatak/3.html

Dr. Kunal Sarkar talks with Pratyay and Srinjoy about Covid-19's most striking experiences as a health professional, the background of lab-made theory, pertinent policies and politics around it. A few relevant links: Dr. Sarkar’s upcoming book: The Sickness of Health https://www.patrabharati.com/shop/the-sickness-of-health/ The COVID lab-leak hypothesis (Nature article) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3 New York Times article about denial of Covid-19 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/opinion/coronavirus-airborne-transmission.html Nicholas Wade’s article on origin of Covid-19 https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/ Effect of health insurance program for the poor on out-of-pocket inpatient care cost in India: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-020-05692-7#:~:text=In%20India%2C%20Out%2Dof%2D,%2Dof%2Dpocket%20health%20expenditures. Prof. Abhijit Banerjee’s talk on demonetization https://youtu.be/tk-JJXWPd2Y The Coffee House Experience#1 with Anujit Chakroborty (economist) https://youtu.be/iVFFRGgSMcI Article on America’s healthcare https://www.healthline.com/health-news/america-first-not-in-healthcare-not-even-close Bernie Sanders’ policy on universal healthcare in the US https://berniesanders.com/issues/medicare-for-all/ Article on India’s recent record vaccination (Scroll) https://scroll.in/article/998156/how-bjp-ruled-states-engineered-a-new-world-record-for-vaccinations Prescription drug price in the USA is twice as high, why? https://scroll.in/article/998156/how-bjp-ruled-states-engineered-a-new-world-record-for-vaccinations Peter Principle (wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

Srinjoy and Pratyay talks with Aritra Sen, an engineer turned film producer/director about his amazing journey. Few relevant links: Aritra's IMDB profile: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9263470/ Roadshow films: http://roadshowfilms.in/

Pratyay and Srinjoy discussed Operation Barga of 1978, pertinent policies, background and aftermath. A few relevant resources follow: Srinjoy’s article “An eclectic demystification of Operation Barga” http://plpr-association.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2015_PLPR_SARC_Ganguly.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0kr7yXhRDRneQKiMCzAQFE7QmUDqk0eNl4NKaTHdUUYZKe2MXLjiL6ZUg Article by Bipab Dasgupta “Sharecropping in West Bengal-From Independence to Operation Barga” : https://www.epw.in/journal/1984/26/review-agriculture-review-issues-specials/sharecropping-west-bengal-independence Agricultural reform and productivity: some important lessons to be learnt from West Bengal's "Operation Barga". By Raychaudhuri and Sen https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20006779762 West Bengal Land Reform Act, 1955 http://www.bareactslive.com/WB/WB010.HTM - Empowerment and Efficiency: Tenancy Reform in West Bengal by Abhijit V. Banerjee, Paul J. Gertler and Maitreesh Ghatak https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/338744 State of Agriculture in India https://prsindia.org/policy/analytical-reports/state-agriculture-india - Land Reforms in Theory and Practice: The Kerala Experience by P. Radhakrishnan https://www.jstor.org/stable/4370526

Pratyay and Srinjoy discusses with Prof. Subhamoy Maitra on his venture into political analysis from academia, assembly election 2021, political awareness of Bengalis etc. Links: Subhmoy Maitra's homepage: https://isi.irins.org/profile/61161 Neal Koblitz’s homepage: https://sites.math.washington.edu/~koblitz/ Article on food movement of 1959: http://www.mcrg.ac.in/PP56.pdf Article on Leftist organization led Kishan long march from Nasik to Mumbai: https://scroll.in/latest/914036/kisan-long-march-thousands-of-farmers-begin-protest-march-from-nashik-to-mumbai

Pratyay and Srinjoy discusses Bengal Assembly Election 2021 with stats, anecdotes and perceptions. A few relevant links: Statistical afternotes (https://thewire.in/politics/statistical-afternotes-tmc-may-have-won-bengal-but-bjp-did-not-do-badly) Some interesting stats (https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-assembly-election-2021-trinamool-congress-wins-third-straight-term-in-west-bengal/article34491637.ece) How women voted (https://www.thehindu.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly/women-rally-behind-trinamool-finds-csds-lokniti-survey/article34494083.ece) On Left Front’s poor performance (https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/a-self-destructive-consensus-explains-the-cpi-m-s-west-bengal-disaster-101620206604074.html) A comparison between Bengal and Assam elections (https://www.livemint.com/elections/assembly-elections/how-bengal-bucked-the-saffron-surge-11620142207250.html) Analyzing the new Bengal assembly (https://scroll.in/article/994172/the-new-bengal-assembly-in-28-charts-fewer-muslims-more-scheduled-caste-mlas-and-not-much-youth) Strategy for economic reform in Bengal, a paper written in 2002 by Abhijit Banerjee, Pranab Bardhan, Kaushik Basu et al. (https://www.rrcee.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/339_Strategy_for_Economic_Reform_in_West_Bengal.pdf)

In this episode Pratyay talked with Pratish Datta, a mathematician, specialized in the area of Cryptography. The discussion mostly focused onto his amazing journey as a visual impaired mathematician. They also talked about the tools and technology Pratish uses to perform research and his vision in life. Some relevant links: NTT Research Silicon Valley, CIS Lab (https://ntt-research.com/cis/) Pratish's Linkedin profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratish-datta) Pratish's intro at NTT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpHzeokW9Q) News article on Pratish's achievement at IIT (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/blind-student-is-iit-topper/articleshow/16417542.cms)

In this episode Pratyay talked to Anujit Chakraborty (https://anujit.ucdavis.edu/about-me), Assistant Prof. of Economics at University of California, Davis. The discussion focuses on several topics, broadly categorized into five parts:Part-1: From Engineering to Economics - 00:24Part-2: Behavioral Economics - 15:14Part-3: Economic Decline of West Bengal - 30:30Part-4: Economic Impact of Covid-19 in India - 46:20Part-5: Public Education in India - 51:12A few relevant links:Anujit's homepage at UC Davis (https://anujit.ucdavis.edu)Paper on Bengal's economic decline by Timothy Besley and Robin Burgess (http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/rburgess/wp/indreg.pdf)Article criticizing Besley and Berger's work (https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/the-bogus-paper-that-gutted-workers-rights)