From the cinema of caste in Tamil Nadu to how Pashto poetry articulates the trauma of war and violence, we at Himal Southasian take a look back at some of our most-read stories on culture for 2023.
Here's our selection, in no particular order:
Mari Selvaraj, 'Maamannan', and the cinema of caste in Tamil Nadu
"Popular Tamil cinema presents the south of Tamil Nadu as something like the Wild West, where the law is lax and men with handlebar moustaches, armed with machetes, rule the streets," writes Karthick Ram Manoharan, "Reality, however, is often a lot less exciting."