Podcasts by The Sandip Roy Show
What makes people tick? What are the stories they carry with them? In a world of shouting heads, veteran journalist, radio commentator and novelist Sandip Roy sits down to have real conversations about the fascinating world around us and the people who shape it. Catch these engaging interviews every other Sunday
Further podcasts by The Indian Express
Podcast on the topic Gesellschaft und Kultur
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The pop stars leading Hindutva's cultural revolution ft Kunal Purohit from 2023-12-03T12:00:03
They could be the biggest pop stars you've never come across. Absent from your social media feed, yet integral to the pop culture consumed by millions. Meet some of Hindutva's prominent pop stars w...
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Does the BJP need Rahul Gandhi more than the Congress? ft Sugata Srinivasaraju from 2023-11-19T03:30:02
Even though Rahul Gandhi is the guardian of the Nehru-Gandhi holy flame, at times it seems that his real mission is to reinvent his own party. On the other hand, many supporters of his party feel t...
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Sunil Pant and Nepal's lessons for India's LGBTI movement from 2023-10-29T05:00:02
After the Supreme Court’s disheartening verdict on same-sex marriage, it appears that we are still struggling to make progress in this regard. However, if we were to look just beyond our northern b...
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Ujjal Dosanjh on the India-Canada tensions and the Khalistan gap from 2023-10-15T05:32:46
India-Canada relations are currently at an all-time low. And it all started after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged active connections between agents of the Government of India and the killing ...
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Gautam Bhatia on the state of top courts under the Modi era from 2023-10-01T05:00:02
Over the past decade, India's top courts have presided over numerous landmark cases, including those related to Aadhar, Sabarimala, the Hijab row, anti-defection laws, privacy, Section 377, and the...
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Does India have a women in science problem? ft Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj from 2023-09-17T07:29:48
When ISRO launched its Mars orbiter, it drew attention to the women working at the space agency. And the recent Chandrayaan-3 landing also celebrated this idea. However, the prestigious Shanti Swar...
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Siddhartha Basu on taking India from Quiz Time to KBC from 2023-09-03T05:30:02
From hosting and producing popular shows like Quiz Time and Mastermind India to becoming the producer-director of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), Siddhartha Basu is widely regarded as the father of In...
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Shubhra Gupta on what makes a crossover star from Irrfan to Priyanka from 2023-08-20T07:27:17
With Priyanka Chopra starring in ‘Citadel’ (an American spy thriller TV series) and Alia Bhatt starring in ‘Heart of Stone’ (an American spy thriller film), has Bollywood finally made the crossover...
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Sudha Pai and Sajjan Kumar on the Dalit vote mystery in UP from 2023-08-06T05:00:03
There is a mystery surrounding Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh. Over the past decade, the Bahujan Samaj Party's Dalit voter base appears to have been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which i...
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Hansal Mehta on making Scoop and using characters to confront his demons from 2023-07-23T06:48:28
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta joins Sandip Roy to talk about his latest TV series, Scoop, which is based on journalist Jigna Vora's book 'Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison.' In the book, she share...
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Why laws have not ended caste violence in India, with Manoj Mitta from 2023-07-09T06:46:38
Even though we talk about caste through the lens of politics, reportage, and even personalities, the intersection of caste and law is often overlooked. Even though it is the law that has been used ...
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Hoshang Merchant, still a poster-boy for gay liberation at 75 from 2023-06-25T06:51:02
In this special Pride Month episode, Sandip interviews Hoshang Merchant, a poet and writer who has never been shy about discussing love, sex, and religion. Born in 1947, Merchant has led a life tha...
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Angela Saini on why there is nothing ‘natural’ about patriarchy from 2023-06-11T06:00:02
Patriarchy seems like an entrenched fact today, and many argue that it is the 'natural' order of things. But is it? What do we really know about its roots? How did male domination spread across dif...
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Ujjal Dosanjh on how Canada became a haven for Khalistanis from 2023-05-28T06:10:01
From taking on the Khalistan movement in Canada, and surviving an assassination attempt, to discussing multiculturalism (and why it is a double edged sword) and caste in Sikhism, in this episode Sa...
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni on why a world without villains might be scarier from 2023-05-14T05:41:33
In this episode, host Sandip Roy interviews bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni about her latest novel ‘Independence’, which tells the story of three sisters who are separated after the P...
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Writing Dalits back into history, with Yogesh Maitreya from 2023-04-30T05:00:02
In this episode, Sandip Roy speaks to Dalit poet and publisher Yogesh Maitreya and discusses his memoir Water in a Broken Pot, the experiences that led him to becoming a writer, and why he places h...
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Nilanjana Bhowmick on why men prefer wives in cages and daughters to fly from 2023-04-16T07:15:03
In her book, Lies Our Mothers Told Us, writer and journalist Nilanjana Bhowmick talks about how middle-class homes can be a laboratory for patriarchy, and the burden that women have to bear ...
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Nilanjana Roy on writing crime, eating books, and falling for Delhi from 2023-04-02T07:13:02
Writer and journalist Nilanjana Roy's new novel, Black River, is a police procedural set in a dusty little town in Northern India that revolves around the horrendous murder of an eight year old gir...
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The documentary won, when will our elephants? ft Vivek Menon and Alok Gupta from 2023-03-19T05:00:02
What is the actual state of elephants in India? How many of them are currently in captivity, and what are the reasons for that? And what challenges do conservationists face in trying to help them? ...
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Manil Suri on how mathematics saved his life from 2023-03-05T07:00:02
The literary world may know him as the author of books like The Death of Vishnu, and The Age of Shiva, but Manil Suri is also a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland,...
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Timepass or subversion? Ira Bhaskar and Ghazala Wahab on Pathaan's politics from 2023-02-19T09:55:04
Why did Pathaan become such a success? Is it just an action film or a 'daring act of subversion'? And what does it say about the role of Muslims in Hindi films? In this episode, host Sandip Roy tal...
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Why Shobhaa De Remains Insatiable at 75 from 2023-02-05T05:30:01
In this episode, host Sandip Roy talks to the novelist and columnist Shobhaa De about her recently released memoir 'Insatiable' — from her early modelling career and how she developed her writing s...
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No country for the elderly, with Himanshu Rath and Indira Jai Prakash from 2023-01-22T05:00:02
Who is taking care of India’s elderly? UN statistics project that 48 million Indians will be over the age of 80 by 2050. That’s more than the population of California. But is India ready for that? ...
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P Sainath on the freedom fighters India forgot from 2023-01-08T05:18:09
In this episode, Sandip is joined by veteran journalist and the founding editor of People’s Archives of Rural India (PARI) to talk about his book, The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedo...
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50 shades of Christmas in India, with Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle from 2022-12-25T05:00:02
In a new anthology titled, Indian Christmas, writers Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle bring together essays that capture the many unique flavors of an Indian Christmas — from a village in Na...
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What Indian languages say about who we are, with Peggy Mohan from 2022-12-11T06:12:44
What makes Indian languages different from other ones? We all know about a mother tongue, but is there also a father tongue? Why did invaders from Uzbekistan bring us Persian? And will English cann...
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Why Mallika Sarabhai isn't shy of taking the alternative path from 2022-11-27T06:00:02
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Changing the way we talk to kids about sex, with Reema Ahmad and Ramya Anand from 2022-11-13T05:00:02
When it comes to sex education, there are many questions that don't have easy answers. Like, who should do it? Should it be parents or schools? And when should you do it? And should it just be abou...
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How safe are the drugs we take, with Dinesh Thakur from 2022-10-30T08:35:01
The Gambian cough syrup tragedy in which 66 children died has once again raised alarm about India's drug regulation policy. But was Gambia just one rotten apple? Or this apple cart itself full of l...
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Kuch meetha ho jaye, with Rajyasree Sen from 2022-10-16T07:35:36
With Diwali around the corner, columnist and host of the Awful and Awesome podcast Rajyasree Sen joins Sandip Roy to talk about her latest book, The Sweet Kitchen, which includes tales and recipes ...
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Gopalkrishna Gandhi on how Bengal shaped the Mahatma from 2022-10-02T03:30:01
Even though Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most well known figures in Indian history, for many, especially the young, he has become a bit of a two dimensional figure. Someone who helped us get indepe...
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Shaili Chopra on why every woman doesn't need to be Indra Nooyi from 2022-09-18T05:30:02
Is the female CEO the only model for female empowerment? To what extent are women still split down the middle when it comes to home and work? And what does success, independence, and agency mean to...
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Rohini Nilekani on why India's wealthy need to do more to boost civil society from 2022-09-04T06:31:14
At a time when the government and the marketplace have assumed enormous power over our lives and choices, Rohini Nilekani argues that now is the time for civil societies to be boosted, and that Ind...
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Rahul Sagar on the 19th century debates to make India great again from 2022-08-21T05:00:02
In his latest book, To Raise A Fallen People, Rahul Sagar points out that the debates around what role India should play on the world stage started way back in the 19th century. This was the time w...
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The unanswered questions about the Cheetah Project, with Ravi Chellam and Prerna Bindra from 2022-08-07T06:00:38
In 1952, the cheetah was officially declared extinct in India. Now, the animal, albeit a different subspecies, might be set for a comeback - not in the wild, but to Kuno National Park, Madhya Prade...
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Seema Chishti on love, food and the challenges of diversity from 2022-07-24T05:30:02
Journalist Seema Chishti's mother, Sumitra, wrote a cookbook so that she could pass down recipes from their rather unique kitchen - a kitchen which was shared by Sumitra, who was a Kshatriya Hindu ...
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Vauhini Vara imagines how a Dalit CEO shapes an algorithm to rule the world from 2022-07-10T03:30:02
Journalist Vauhini Vara's debut novel, The Immortal King Rao, has been making waves because it marries a vision of technocapitalism with caste. The book imagines a Dalit man who escapes the coconut...
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Pride Month Special: A lesbian couple about life and love in India from 2022-06-26T05:51:05
Even though the Pride Month is now embraced across India, its coverage mostly focuses on gay men and sometimes transgender women activists. But lesbians seem to be largely missing from this coverag...
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The untold story of a slave rebellion in UP, with Laura T Murphy from 2022-06-12T03:58:36
In this episode, Sandip Roy speaks to Laura T Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University. They speak about the people still living in modern day slave...
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Ramachandra Guha on 7 original 'anti-nationals' who fought the British from 2022-05-29T05:30:02
At a time when nationalism and patriotism are increasingly conflated, historian Ramachandra Guha's latest book, Rebels Against The Raj, tells the story of seven remarkable westerners who went to ja...
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Estimating India's real Covid death toll, with Dr Bhramar Mukherjee from 2022-05-15T03:32:18
Data scientist Dr Bhramar Mukherjee joins host Sandip Roy to talk about the challenges of estimating India's real Covid death toll.
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Aparna Piramal Raje on living (and thriving) with bipolar disorder from 2022-05-01T06:05:37
The pandemic has been tough on many of us, but for those with mental health problems, it's been even tougher. Former CEO of BP Ergo, and columnist Aparna Piramal Raje has had to deal with Bipolar d...
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100th Episode Special – Usha Uthup on her unique musical journey from 2022-04-17T03:30:03
On this show’s 100th episode, host Sandip Roy is joined by the iconic pop singer Usha Ushup as she takes a trip down memory lane, remembering her unique musical journey so far, recounting her exper...
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Making sense of India’s Ukraine strategy, with Krishnan Srinivasan from 2022-04-03T03:30:02
After five weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine not going as planned, what end game does Vladimir Putin have in mind? How well can India continue to walk the tight diplomatic rope? And how will...
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Saeed Naqvi on why Hindutva needs the Indian Muslim from 2022-03-19T21:20:02
In veteran journalist Saeed Naqvi’s play, The Muslim Vanishes, overnight everyone Muslim, and everyone thing deemed Muslim in the country, suddenly vanishes into thin air. This leads to consequence...
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How Delhi’s street names reveal its history, with Adrija Roychowdhury from 2022-03-06T05:00:03
Journalist Adrija Roychowdhury joins Sandip Roy to speak about her new book, 'Delhi in Thy Name' which traces the history of the capital city through the naming of its streets. She delves into six ...
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Using SRK to understand womanhood and the Indian economy, with Shrayana Bhattacharya from 2022-02-20T05:00:03
Shrayana Bhattacharya is trained in development economics and is currently working at a multilateral development bank. But, to the surprise of many around her, she spent the last 15 years interview...
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What we don’t understand about India’s data, with Rukmini S from 2022-02-06T05:38:46
We often use data to understand India and its problems. Be it data about unemployment, how we vote, what crimes we commit, and even who we choose to love. But data journalist Rukmini S' new book, W...
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A New Election Series by The Indian Express from 2022-02-05T03:30:03
You can listen to the series at:
3 Things - https://bit.ly/34jEQbp
Express Elections -
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Johann Hari on how our attention is being stolen from 2022-01-23T05:11:30
A lot of us can relate to the idea that increasingly, we are finding it harder to focus and are more distracted. Many blame themselves and their smartphones for shorter attention spans, but a new b...
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Mridula Ramesh on what it would take to solve India's water crisis from 2022-01-09T05:30:19
How bad is India's water crisis? What has led us to this place? And what can be done to solve it? In this episode, Sandip is joined by Mridula Ramesh to talk about India's groundwater crisis. From ...
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Why eating insects makes sense, with Srishtaa Aparna Pallavi and Tansha Vohra from 2021-12-26T05:46:23
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation has said that eating insects can help us fight hunger and malnutrition. This is considering they are rich in protein, and farming them can be m...
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Amitav Ghosh on whether a climate apocalypse is inevitable from 2021-12-12T05:20:16
Are all countries obliged to tighten their belts equally for the sake of climate change? Based on our current efforts, have we reached a point of no return? And do we need a new narrative to change...
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How Nehru debated his adversaries, with Adeel Hussain and Tripurdaman Singh from 2021-11-28T05:01:44
In their latest book, Nehru: The Debates that Defined India, Adeel Hussain and Tripurdaman Singh look at four men debated the first Prime Minister – Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sardar Pat...
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Josy Joseph on how India's deep state is threatening our democracy from 2021-11-14T05:08:06
What is ailing India's democratic institutions today? – This question is at the heart of investigative journalist Josy Joseph's latest book, The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State. In thi...
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Rethinking the Indian Monsoon, with Dr Sulochana Gadgil from 2021-10-31T05:00:02
The arrival of the monsoon is always big news in India. But its drama and romance is also accompanied by anxiety and tension, especially now, with the rains growing more erratic, and some places ge...
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The battles of India's first women in medicine, with Kavitha Rao from 2021-10-17T05:37:23
While it isn’t unusual to have women doctors in India now, and the rise of women in the medical field seems to have been steady, the road that led us to this place wasn’t easy. India’s first "lady ...
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What we don't understand about Gandhi's non-violence, with Jyotirmaya Sharma from 2021-10-03T05:00:10
Mahatma Gandhi is known around the world as the apostle of non-violence, but what did his insistence on ahimsa actually mean for him? In this episode, Sandip talks to Jyotirmaya Sharma, professor o...
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How alternate realities really work (beyond Whatsapp forwards) from 2021-09-19T05:00:08
How does information warfare shape our realities? Has the problem of alternate realities worsened now? Does fake news or Whatsapp forwards create the problem or only add to it? And to what extent d...
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The story of India through 100 objects, with Vidya Dehejia from 2021-09-05T05:33:46
In this episode, Sandip talks to Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian and South Asian Art at Columbia University, about her latest book, India: A Story through 100 Objects.
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What a Pak-China-Afghan axis will mean for India, with C Raja Mohan from 2021-08-22T06:08
What leverage points does the international community have over the Taliban right now? In what way does the situation in Afghanistan affect India? And what will a Pak-China-Afghan axis mean for Ind...
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Shahrukh, Aamir, Salman: How the 3 Khans changed India, with Kaveree Bamzai from 2021-08-08T04:00:07
How have the three Khans of Bollywood helped shape how Indians see themselves? How have their characters helped us grapple with a changing India? How have they negotiated their religious identities...
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An intimate history of a changing Kashmir, with Farah Bashir from 2021-07-25T05:42:43
How does the conflict-ridden state of Kashmir affect the everyday lives of people? How does the trauma get processed? And what stories get lost in the usual reportage of the area? In this episode S...
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80: How China spun the COVID-19 narrative, with Manoj Kewalramani from 2021-07-11T05:18:35
Manoj Kewalramani on whether China has successfully spun the Covid-19 narrative to its advantage, and his latest book Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance.
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79: Chinmay Tumbe on what we can learn from past pandemics from 2021-06-27T05:13:47
Sandip Roy talks to Chinmay Tumbe about the pandemics India has witnessed in the past, how they changed the country, and what we can learn from them.
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78: Nik Sharma on the science of taste and why we like the things we do from 2021-06-13T05:00
Chef Nik Sharma breaks down the science of taste, talks about the joy of cooking, and discusses his latest book – The Flavor Equation.
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77: Dr Gagandeep Kang addresses the concerns around India's vaccine policy from 2021-05-30T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talks to Dr Gagandeep Kang, who addresses the concerns around India’s vaccine policy.
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76: Ghazala Wahab on what it means to be an 'Indian Muslim' today from 2021-05-16T05:22:09
Discussing the the changing face of Indian Islam, and what it really means to be an ‘Indian Muslim’ today.
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75: Sharmila Tagore remembers Satyajit Ray on his 100th birth anniversary from 2021-05-02T03:30
Renowned actor Sharmila Tagore joins Sandip to celebrate this occasion, take a look back at his films, and talk about what made him stand apart from others.
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74: Memories of food and what's missing on our plate, with Anumitra Dastidar and Shalini Krishan from 2021-04-18T05:18:44
Sandip talks to the co-founder of Edible Archives, a restaurant-cum-research centre in Goa that is spearheading a new way to think about food memory and food heritage.
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73: The conundrum of BJP's meteoric rise in Bengal, with Neelanjan Sircar and Sajjan Kumar from 2021-04-04T05:31:17
In this episode, Sandip is joined by political analyst Sajjan Kumar and Neelajan Sircar, assistant professor of political science at Ashoka University, to talk about the West Bengal state polls 2021.
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72: Anuja Chauhan on the pleasures of murder and perils of romance from 2021-03-21T05:00
Anuja Chauhan joins Sandip to talk about her new novel, the politics of Delhi (and Bangalore) clubs, the perils of writing romance in the time of ‘love-jihad’, and more.
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71: What's next for Bihar after Lalu and Nitish? – with Santosh Singh from 2021-03-07T05:00
Sandip talks to Indian Express' Associate Editor Santosh Singh about what Bihar politics will look like after Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad's lasting impact on the state, and his latest book – JP to BJ...
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70: Stephen Alter on what Uttarakhand tells us about fragility of Himalaya from 2021-02-21T05:13
Author Stephen Alter on what the history of Himalaya can tell us about the present, lessons we can learn from past disasters, and his latest book ‘Wild Himalaya’.
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69: Dr Gagandeep Kang on the mystery of India's declining COVID numbers from 2021-02-07T05:00
In this episode, microbiologist Dr Gagandeep Kang and Sandip Roy discuss why South Asian and Sub-Saharan countries have shown higher seropositivity than the West, why vaccinations are necessary but...
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68: Harsh Mander on how India's Covid strategy forgot its most vulnerable from 2021-01-24T05:00
Social activist Harsh Mander on how the pandemic has impacted the country's most vulnerable, his own harrowing experience of getting COVID-19, and his latest book Locking Down the Poor: The Pandemi...
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67: The A to Z of ghosts and monsters of India, with Rakesh Khanna from 2021-01-10T05:00
Rakesh Khanna, the founder of Blaft Publications, talks about his new book which is an encyclopedia of ‘Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India’.
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66: Why the BJP keeps winning, with Vinay Sitapati from 2020-12-27T04:00
Political scientist Dr Vinay Sitapati talks to Sandip about this latest book, Jugalbandi: The BJP before Modi.
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65: Dr Shashi Tharoor on the gap between nationalism and patriotism in India from 2020-12-13T05:00
Dr Shashi Tharoor on who does nationalism really mean in the Indian context, and how it is different from patriotism.
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64: Why India's better placed to do a huge vaccine roll-out than most other countries, according to Dr Giridhar R Babu from 2020-11-29T05:00
Sandip speaks with epidemiologist Dr Giridhar R Babu about the great vaccine race, and whether millions of COVID-19 infections are being undercounted.
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63: The fascinating career of the actor and fitness icon, Mandira Bedi from 2020-11-15T05:00
Sandip talks to Mandira about her career, how she has reinvented herself over the years, and her memoir, Happy For No Reason.
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62: Why life won't go back to normal even after a COVID-19 vaccine, with Dr Gagandeep Kang from 2020-11-01T05:00
Sandip talks to Dr Gagandeep Kang about what we’re really looking for in a COVID-19 vaccine, and clears up some burning coronavirus concerns.
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61: The untold story of the unraveling of Parveen Babi's mind, with Karishma Upadhyay from 2020-10-18T05:00
Sandip talks to author Karishma Upadhyay about her new book on Parveen Babi, the glamorous star whose life was turned upside down by her mental health struggles, and discusses how far we've come, o...
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60: Romila Thapar on dissent in India from Vedic Brahmanism to Shaheen Bagh from 2020-10-04T05:00
Historian Romila Thapar on the history of dissent in India – from Vedic Brahmanism to Shaheen Bagh.
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59: SSR case and why India's drug laws are out of date, with Ronny Sen from 2020-09-20T05:00
Award winning photographer and filmmaker, Ronny Sen on the questions we should be asking about drug addiction and the issues that India's drug laws fail to address.
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58: Apurva Asrani on whether Bollywood has changed 2 years after the 377 verdict from 2020-09-06T05:00
National Award winning film editor and writer Apurva Asrani on why he has been overwhelmed by the changes he has seen in Bollywood since the Section 377 verdict was announced two years back.
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57: Comic books as art, protests and propaganda, with Paul Gravett from 2020-08-23T05:30
Sandip speaks to Paul Gravett, the world's foremost comic book authorities, about the unique power of comic books to absorb and reflect cultures.
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56: How to overcome anxiety in the middle of this pandemic, with Dr Sonali Gupta from 2020-08-09T05:05:42
In this episode, Sandip talk to clinical psychologist Dr Sonali Gupta about how to cope with anxiety during this pandemic and her book, 'Anxiety: Overcome It and Live without Fear'.
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55: The Cisco case and how Indians took casteism to the US, with Thenmozhi Soundararajan from 2020-07-26T05:44:13
In the latest episode of the Sandip Roy Show, Dalit activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan talks about how the Cisco case highlights the problem of caste discrimination in the US.
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54: What the Tiktok ban means for young India, with Snigdha Poonam from 2020-07-12T05:23:08
In this episode, Sandip talks to journalist Snigdha Poonam about what made TikTok different from other social media apps, how it affected the lives of young Indians, and why it has been a cultural ...
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53: What India's environment ministry's been doing while we were preoccupied with COVID-19, with Kanchi Kohli from 2020-06-28T05:09:54
In this episode, Sandip talks to Kanchi Kohli, senior researcher at Center for Policy Research (CPR), about how the pandemic has affected the way the ministry has been taking decisions and changing...
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52: Angela Saini on Black Lives Matter and how 'race science' helped harden discrimination from 2020-06-14T06:39:22
In this episode, Sandip talks to award-winning science writer Angela Saini, whose latest book Superior, talks about how the feeling of racial superiority has been hardened through 'race science' th...
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51: How Cyclone Amphan warns us about the future of Sundarbans, with Nilanjan Ghosh from 2020-05-31T05:29:11
Sandip talks to ecological economist, Nilanjan Ghosh, Director of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Kolkata about the future of Sundarbans and the damage that cyclone Amphan has done to the r...
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50: How to talk to your kids about the Bois Locker Room, with Tanu Shree Singh from 2020-05-17T05:23:21
In this episode, Sandip talks to psychologist and author, Tanu Shree Singh, about how to talk to your kids about Bois Locker Room and have other difficult conversations.
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49: The lockdown's toll on mental health, with Dr Pratima Murthy from 2020-05-03T05:00
Dr Pratima Murthy on how mental health is suffering during this time. From the toll that the lockdown has taken on people suffering from alcohol addiction and severe mental illness like schizophren...
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48: What will it take for India to come out of lockdown? With Dr Giridhar Babu from 2020-04-19T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talks to Dr. Giridhar R Babu, professor and head of life course epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) about how we will know whether India is ready to...
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47: Understanding how India migrates, with Chinmay Tumbe from 2020-04-05T06:14:57
In this episode, Sandip talks to Chinmay about India’s internal migrants, the myths that surround them, how the government can better address their problems, the emerging trends in migration and hi...
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46: When India locked up 3,000 Chinese-Indians in internment camps, with Dilip D'Souza from 2020-03-22T05:32
In this episode, Sandip talk to journalist Dilip D'Souza about this latest book, The Deoliwallahs: The True Story of the 1962 Chinese-Indian Internment.
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45: Getting a coronavirus reality check, with Dr Gagandeep Kang from 2020-03-08T05:00
In this episode, Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of India's leading clinical scientists, busts myths about coronavirus, talks about why she is hopeful for a vaccine and how climate change affects the spread...
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44: Viswanathan Anand on being a bad loser and why he admires John McEnroe from 2020-02-23T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talk to Viswanathan Anand about how he deals with losing, why he admires John McEnroe, his autobiography and more.
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43: How Congress helped the BJP come to power, with Kapil Komireddi from 2020-02-09T05:30:05
In this episode, Sandip talks to Kapil Komireddi about how secularism was worn down in India, how historians inadvertently contributed to it and his latest book, Malevolent Republic.
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42: What Ranbaxy and Indian Pharma don't want you to know, with Katherine Eban from 2020-01-26T05:16:27
Investigative journalist, Katherine Eban, on her book Bottle of Lies that documents global fraud, large-scale data fabrication and unsafe practices inside Indian drug plants.
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41: 'Oh, but you don't look like a Muslim!' with Rakhshanda Jalil from 2020-01-12T05:31:04
Writer, translator and literary historian, Rakhshanda Jalil, on her collection of essays titled 'But You Don't Look Like A Muslim'.
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40: The Best of Sandip Roy Show 2019 from 2019-12-29T05:00
The best conversations Sandip had with this year's guests, including Amitav Ghosh, Prannoy Roy, Harsh Mander, Paro Anand, Anjali Gopalan and more.
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39: Trucking through India - A Hitchhiking Adventure with Rajat Ubhaykar from 2019-12-15T04:30
What a hitchhiker learned from riding across India in trucks and the insight it gave him about how corruption works.
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38: The politics of India's relationship with technology, with Arun Sukumar from 2019-12-01T05:08:55
Over the decades, India's political leadership has had a complicated relationship with scientific innovations. Arun Sukumar, the head of the technology initiative at the Observer Research Foundatio...
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37: Our plastic addiction and what we can do about it, with Bharati Chaturvedi from 2019-11-17T05:09:26
The myriad ways in which plastic affects our lives and how we can realistically fight it.
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36: William Dalrymple on how a private company came to rule India from 2019-11-03T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talks to historian William Dalrymple about how the East India Company came to rule India and why many know so little about it.
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35: Why the sedition law still exists, with Chitranshul Sinha from 2019-10-20T05:44:17
In this episode Sandip talks to writer and Supreme Court lawyer Chitranshul Sinha about the history of the sedition law in India and why it still exists in the 21st century.
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34: On being Gandhi and why he still matters, with Paro Anand from 2019-10-06T05:00
Sandip talks to writer Paro Anand about her latest book, Being Gandhi and what we can still learn from the father of the nation.
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33: Sex and other pleasures, a chat with Paromita Vohra from 2019-09-22T04:00
Sandip talks to Paromita Vohra the founder of Agents of Ishq about how ideas of sex and love are evolving and why sex education is important for a good sex life.
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32: How much corporate India changed a year after 377, with Parmesh Shahani from 2019-09-08T05:15:49
Sandip talks to Parmesh Shahani about what corporate India looks like one year after the 377 verdict.
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31: Understanding depression, the invisible illness, with Amrita Tripathi from 2019-08-25T06:22:25
Sandip talks to Amrita Tripathi, the founder-editor of the Health Collective, about her latest book that tries to open up conversations about depression and tell us that we are not alone in dealing...
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30: What we get wrong about Yoga, with Devdutt Pattanaik from 2019-08-11T03:30
Devdutt Pattanaik on what we get wrong about Yoga, how much is it really connected to faith and why the ancient Indians practiced it.
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29: What they cooked in Shah Jahan's Kitchen, with Salma Yusuf Husain from 2019-07-28T05:42:58
Food Historian Salma Yusuf Husain takes us through the wondrous kitchen of the Mughal emperor and talks about the surprising dishes that the Mughal's gave us.
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28: On migration, climate change and The Gun Island, with Amitav Ghosh from 2019-07-14T05:00
Amitav Ghosh talks about migration, cosmopolitanism, the lack of climate change in literature and his latest novel - The Gun Island.
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27: Afghanistan's first openly gay person, Nemat Sadat from 2019-06-30T05:18:37
Sandip talks to Sadat about what made him finally come out, why people around him saw it as an act of cowardice and his skepticism of 'liberal' Islam.
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26: A sanctuary for all creatures great and small, with Anjali Gopalan from 2019-06-16T04:51:49
LGBTQ rights activist and the founder of Naz foundation, Anjali Gopalan, on the way we treat our animals and what that says about us as a society.
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25: Close to the Bone, with Lisa Ray from 2019-06-02T05:40:19
In this episode, Lisa Ray talks about being boxed into the category of a "sex symbol", the problem of hypersexuality in Bollywood, her struggles with eating disorders and more.
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24: What it means to be secular in India today, with Harsh Mander from 2019-05-19T06:49:13
Writer and human rights activist Harsh Mander on the threat that we face as a nation and the need for fraternity in our society.
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23: People with mental illnesses and their right to vote, with Ratnaboli Ray from 2019-05-05T06:08:09
Ratnaboli Ray, the founder of Anjali, a mental health rights organization in Kolkata, talks to Sandip about the challenges and her efforts of getting people with mental illnesses to cast their votes.
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22: Understanding the Indian Constitution, with Gautam Bhatia from 2019-04-21T08:43:50
In this episode, Sandip speak to lawyer and legal scholar Gautam Bhatia about his new book 'The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography in Nine Acts'.
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21: Decoding Indian Elections, with Prannoy Roy from 2019-04-07T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talks to the man who, in many ways, brought elections to our living rooms.
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20: The BDSM scene in India, with the Kinky Collective from 2019-03-24T05:00
Journeys into the world of kink and the learnings that we can all take from the BDSM community.
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19: Ruskin Bond, The Man with the Golden Pen from 2019-03-10T05:00
In this episode, Sandip talks to the beloved author, Ruskin Bond, about his journey as a writer so far.
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18: Coming Out as Dalit, with Yashica Dutt from 2019-02-24T05:00
Journalist Yashica Dutt talks about how she passed as being upper caste and what made her finally come out as Dalit.
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17: Discovering Shakespeare in Bollywood, with Jonathan Gil Harris from 2019-02-10T05:00
Author Jonathan Gil Harris explains how Bollywood films are closely related to the work of Shakespeare and how the 'masala' genre celebrates India's cultural diversity.
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16: The Great Smog of India with Siddharth Singh from 2019-01-27T14:14:11
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14: End the year by learning to build on your failures, with Shabnam Aggarwal from 2018-12-23T02:00:03
Shabnam Aggarwal talks of the risk she took to follow her dream, and the lessons she learned when she failed.
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13: The close relationship between crime and politics in India from 2018-12-09T08:16:02
Carnegie Fellow Milan Vaishnav on how Indians like to elect people facing criminal charges
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The twice born: Talking to Indian Brahmins with Aatish Taseer from 2018-11-25T08:31:02
In this episode, Sandip speaks to author and journalist Aatish Taseer about his experiences writing The Twice Born: Life and Death on the River Ganges.
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11: The great Indian rope trick: A magical history of India with John Zubrzycki from 2018-11-11T06:50:20
John Zubrzycki talks to Sandip about the history of magic and magicians in India, from fakirs to P.C. Sorcar
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10: Mapping food in India, through time and place, with Pushpesh Pant from 2018-10-28T03:07:56
Pushpesh Pant talks to Sandip about food memories, sweets and what the map of India would look like if it were drawn by food.
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9: The buffet edition: Extended excerpts from our best episodes from 2018-10-14T03:45:22
A special episode with extended excerpts from James Crabtree, Devdutt Pattanaik and Shubha Mudgal
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8: Shubha Mudgal on music, activism and more from 2018-09-30T03:35:05
Shubha Mudgal talks about music, activism, education and more, with stories from her life and experiences.
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7: Devdutt Pattanaik on mythology, tribalism and #377 from 2018-09-16T04:00:28
Mythologist and writer Devdutt Pattanaik talks about life for LGBTQI people after #377, Indian society's relationship with sex, our tendency to tribalism and more.
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6: Explore a fading community: Flower Silliman on the Jews of Kolkata from 2018-09-02T02:55:24
A conversation with one of the oldest of the dwindling Jewish community in Kolkata, Flower Silliman.
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5: The Billionaire Raj with James Crabtree from 2018-08-19T02:30:51
Sandip and James talk about the book The Billionaire Raj, the personalities of these tycoons and India's problem with corruption and crony capitalism.
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4: Making it in Hollywood: Aseem Chhabra on Priyanka Chopra from 2018-08-05T05:00:14
On this episode, Sandip sits down to chat with author and film journalist Aseem Chhabra, who wrote the recently released unauthorized biography, Priyanka Chopra: The Incredible Story of a Global Bo...
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3: Pawan Dhall on LGBT activism from 2018-07-22T05:27:42
LGBT activist Pawan Dhall about the difficulties that the community faces in India
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2: Anusha Yadav on the Indian Memory Project from 2018-07-08T04:30:42
In this episode Sandip talks to photographer and visual artist, Anusha Yadav, who founded the Indian Memory Project, about how the project came about, the kind of stories it tells about love, loss,...
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1: Welcome to The Sandip Roy Show from 2018-06-23T06:16:11
Real conversations about the fascinating world around us and the people who shape it
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