Soumya Bhattacharya is the editor of Hindustan Times, Mumbai. He is the author of five books of fiction, non-fiction and memoir.
Articles by Soumya Bhattacharya
The consummate storyteller; Review of The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre
John le Carre entertains and enlightens readers with a wealth of stories from his life.
Updated on Dec 24, 2016 12:24 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Van Gogh’s Ear: The True Story does not enhance our understanding of the painter
Bernadette Murphy’s book is a detailed exploration of the most tumultuous period of Van Gogh’s life, and a forensic examination of that December day in 1889 when he cut off his ear
Updated on Oct 15, 2016 09:07 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Arsene Wenger: A truly revolutionary manager, the last of his kind
It is now easy to lose sight of the fact that neither the Premier League nor Arsenal had ever seen anything like Wenger before the Frenchman arrived to take charge in north London in September 1996.
Updated on Sep 27, 2016 09:19 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Review of Aravind Adiga’s new novel, Selection Day
In Selection Day, a novel with cricket at its heart, Aravind Adiga has created complex and wonderfully-realised characters
Updated on Sep 24, 2016 11:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Why Cristiano Ronaldo divides opinion like no other athlete on planet
Asif Kapadia’s documentary on Cristiano Ronaldo makes clear that he defines himself -- or is defined by others -- as a sort of anti-Messi.
Updated on Jun 30, 2016 02:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words: On a journey to reclaim herself
Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book, written in Italian, is an attempt to reclaim herself and to forge a new direction in her work
Updated on Mar 12, 2016 02:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
A Strangeness in My Mind review: A celebration and homage to Istanbul
In Orhan Pamuk’s A Strangeness in My Mind, protagonist Mevlut’s life is so inextricably woven with that of the city he lives in, that in a way, one becomes the other.
Updated on Dec 19, 2015 01:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Don’t whine about pitch in Nagpur Test, great sides win away games
It is in the nature of Test cricket that the surface plays a decisive role in the outcome of the match. All countries make pitches that play to the strength of their bowlers. A phrase exists to describe it: home advantage.
Updated on Nov 26, 2015 03:55 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Cricket and the future: Here are five things this World Cup taught us
The bat didn't always beat the ball and you needn't be disappointed about Team India: here are five lessons that this cricket World Cup taught us.
Updated on Mar 30, 2015 07:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Player with a plan: Rohit Sharma is languid and lethal
The second ball of the 46th over of the India innings, bowled by Bangladesh’s quickest bowler Rubel Hossain, was pitched up and on the middle stump. It was a perfectly decent ball in the death overs of an innings.
Updated on Mar 20, 2015 02:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Five trends from the World Cup so far
We have already had more hundreds in this tournament than in the entire 2007 competition. There have been three scores in excess of 400, including the highest ever in a World Cup. Teams are scoring more than 300 - a daunting, impregnable score even a few years ago - and losing. 400 has become the new 300.
Updated on Mar 11, 2015 04:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
In praise of the understated, underrated Ajinkya Rahane
Amid the storm of young stars in this Indian side, Ajinkya Rahane – quiet, unflappable and an absolute asset – is the perfect calm. Why do we love to mess around with him?
Updated on Feb 24, 2015 02:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Future spin: where this World Cup will take cricket
The last World Cup played in Australia and New Zealand 1992 saw the birth of the modern 50-overs game. This one will reveal to us how far that game has come, and what the ODI will be like in future.
Updated on Feb 19, 2015 05:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Why India loves cricket World Cup
The attraction of ODI cricket may pale beside the wham-bang of Twenty20, but the place of the World Cup in the fan's heart is secure, inviolable. Why it is more than just a game?
Updated on Feb 15, 2015 11:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Upamanyu Chatterjee's new novel Fairy Tales at Fifty is quite a ride
Upamanyu Chatterjee's disquieting Fairy Tales at Fifty makes you laugh even as it shocks and disturbs. It defies plausibility to tumble, overwrought, into a sort of hallucinatory, Baroque romp.
Updated on Jan 17, 2015 04:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, New Delhi
On 38, and one billion prayers: Sachin takes the field last time, expectations rise a ton high
Sachin Tendulkar belongs to India, and to the rest of the world. But the opening day at the Wankhede showed that there is no doubt that the claim Mumbai can stake on him is unrivalled. That is why he wanted his farewell Test over here. 38 most-watched runs in cricket | Sachin-mania engulfs Twitter, Facebook
Updated on Nov 15, 2013 08:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Oh Sachin! Kolkata is in Eden as the master bows out
Cricket legend's first innings stand in his penultimate Test lasts 40 minutes. He falls in just 24 balls. Kolkata waits for his second innings, writes Soumya Bhattacharya.
Updated on Nov 08, 2013 01:55 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Anatomiser of the heart
One of the many virtues of this searing, remarkable novel is the empathy Jhumpa Lahiri extends to her characters. She does not judge them; readers may, at their peril. Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on Sep 14, 2013 11:50 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Review: The Great Tamasha
A third of the way into this uneven, discursive book, James Astill interviews Sharad Pawar, whom he calls the “ruler of world cricket”. Astill faithfully renders the conversation, even conveying the interviewee’s tic of dropping definite and indefinite articles from sentences.
Updated on Aug 12, 2013 12:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
'Of all my films, Jaws was hardest to make'
Steven Spielberg talks about filmmaking, his love for telling stories and why he doesn't want to quit
Updated on Mar 12, 2013 11:31 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Of all my films, Jaws was the hardest to make: Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is sitting in a well appointed room of the Reliance Centre in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate, one knee crossed over the other, the tip of his soft leather ankle boots faintly brushing the edge of the table that is between us. Soumya Bhattacharya writes...
Updated on Mar 12, 2013 11:24 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Coffee at Flurys
Amit Chaudhuri’s new book is a perceptive, beautifully written and often wry portrait of Calcutta/ Kolkata, a book that deals with, among other things, the dichotomies between Calcutta and Kolkata, the pastness of the city’s past as well as its presence in the present, writes Soumya Bhattacharya.
Updated on Feb 09, 2013 12:10 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Beaten, bruised: can things change for Team India?
Of course India can win the next two Tests. But irrespective of the outcome of this series, England have done what India never managed to do when they visited last year: played with gumption, flair and resolve. The comparison with that series is inevitable. Soumya Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Nov 27, 2012 10:33 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
2000-2010 was a great decade: Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar believes that the single biggest change in cricket between when he started playing for India in 1989 and today is the laptop. “It has altered everything,” Tendulkar said in an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times. Soumya Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Nov 25, 2012 02:15 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
2000-10 was a great decade: Sachin
In a rare, exclusive interview, Sachin Tendulkar tells Soumya Bhattacharya about the most agonising period in his career, bringing up his children, contentment and the only void in his life. There is more to Sachin than just runs
Updated on Nov 25, 2012 11:49 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
No dying of the light
Philip Roth's immortality is assured even if he doesn't write another word. Soumya Bhattacharya wrires.
Updated on Nov 19, 2012 04:43 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Review: Zoo Time
In the end, Zoo Time, a darkly comic work, is a devastating play on notions of success and failure. Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on Nov 30, 2012 05:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Sherlyn Chopra: An Indian bunny in the mansion
What do you wear when you meet Hugh Hefner? Sherlyn Chopra, the first Indian to model naked for Playboy, talks about the man, the magazine and the Mansion. Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on Jul 30, 2012 11:47 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya, Mumbai
Thanks to Steyn & Ganguly, IPL has its moments
Now that advertisers seem to be not so keen on the IPL, now that ticket prices are being slashed to lure spectators to stadiums, and now that TV viewership figures are dwindling compared to those of previous editions, a couch purist ought to gloat. Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on May 03, 2012 01:00 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya
Loyally divided between Dada and the Knights
The intensity of Kolkata's relationship with Ganguly, its penchant for cosmic, comic hyperbole when it comes to the player, is unique. Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on Apr 14, 2012 01:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Soumya Bhattacharya