Piyush Roy Introduces Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish by Rituparno Ghosh

On Monday 5th May Piyush Roy gave the following introduction to the Indian film Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish (2012). It is one of contemporary Indian cinema’s most empathetic engagements with gender expression and trans-experience.

A son contemplates changing his gender because it will allow him to adopt a baby with his male lover. But how does he take into confidence his parents, and the society around. His mother offers, “I gave birth to this body, which is yours… I have a right to know, whatever goes on in this body. I have a right to know, if it is changing, transforming…” Read more…

Piyush Roy Brings Together A Panel On Indian Politics

On 12^th May, 2014, India completed a six-week long voting process that mark a culmination of the ‘Biggest Elections in Human History’ involving 814 million voters casting their vote in 9,30,000 polling booths.

As the Exit Polls define the headlines in India, a day-long review of the 16TH Indian Lok Sabha Elections is being organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies through discussions, film screenings, and debates led by staff and students from University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt, Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University.