Stepwell

In the finale of the Stepwell podcast, Patrick French talks to the acclaimed director Mira Nair about why she shifted from documentary film-making to fiction, her adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 'a Suitable Boy' and whether film-making is a political act.

Author Swapan Dasgupta details the history of the Hindu nationalist movement in India, discusses figureheads like Savarkar and Deendayal Upadhyaya and talks about the current Indian right wing, represented by the BJP government.

On the latest episode of the Stepwell podcast, Patrick French and renowned Harvard historian Maya Jasanoff explore themes of globalisation, imperialism, identity and how these factors shape the modern world.

Patrick French talks to Mukulika Banerjee, the Director of the South Asia Centre at LSE, about why India votes, why the 2019 elections were radically different, how our voting system could be improved, whether India is part of the global trend of rising populist nationalism that can be seen in other liberal democracies, EVMs, electoral bonds and much more.

The Professor of Greek Literature and Culture from Cambridge University joins academician Patrick French to discuss how collaborative, interdisciplinary work can solve complex problems.

In this episode, Patrick French talks to the wonderful Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan about how their journeys into music started, what they have learnt along the way, their views on current methods of music production and how they honed their craft. Tune in now.

On this episode of the Stepwell podcast, Patrick French talks to Shruti Kapila, a Historian at Cambridge University, about how Conservatism can be seen as a disposition rather than an ideology. Kapila details how this disposition has influenced politicians in India for eras, from Gandhi and Tilak to present day Congress.

Join the historian and author of "Empire of Cotton" in conversation with Patrick French about how cotton trade, slavery and colonialism played a role in the emergence of capitalism.

The Economist and Director of Research at Brookings India talks about economic growth, factors working against getting more women in Parliament and much more.

Can climate change be mitigated? Patrick French talks to climate scientists Jim Skea and Minal Pathak of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about how they weigh the evidence on global warming.