Post by gayatri sinha

As the America-Israel-Iran war seems to be coming to an end, two articles in this month’s cinema newsletter look at the war-torn Gulf region from an architectural and media industry perspective. On April 28, 2026, the release of superstar Yash starrer, “Toxic: A Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups,” was postponed from June 4 to “a later, globally aligned date.” This was due to the ongoing geo-political tension, and the makers of the film did not want to lose out on as big a market as the Middle East. This moment has thrown fresh light on the significance of the region as a crucial centre for the production, promotion and circulation of Indian cinema and its ancillary industries, which Sreya Mitra further unpacks in her article. Bindu Menon Manill’s essay looks at the engineering documentaries produced on the changing skyline and infrastructure of megapolises like Dubai, which have come to stand for the “urban totality, wherein each constructed surface functions as a communicative membrane, and every action contributes to a data stream that enhances the spectacle instantaneously.” The war destruction broke open these surfaces, which lends the writer an insight into the colonial cartographies, racialized labour systems and petro-capitalist histories hidden beneath these shiny surfaces. 1. Still from Pathaan (2023) Courtesy: Yash Raj Films 2. Museum of the Future, Dubai Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons