Must Read
Exciting, landmark releases to add to your shelf this month.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Nominated for the 2025 Booker Prize, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai is a love story between two people whose lives intersect across continents and countries. The plot revolves around Sonia, an aspiring novelist who just returned to her family in India and Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York. It is a sweeping tale of class, race, history and complicated families.
Mother Mary Comes to Me
Arundhati Roy’s debut memoir has the whole world itching to get their hands on a copy. This book is an intimate, inspiring account of her identity as an author and writer, and more importantly how her life ties back to her relationship with her mother, Mary. It chronicles her move from Kerala to Delhi, from childhood to the present. The memoir is sure to be an ode to freedom, love and grace.
All the Way to the River
In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: the two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. All the Way to the River, Gilbert’s landmark memoir, is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love – or to any other passion, substance or craving – and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.
Must Watch
Movies and TV shows to look out for.
Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale
Directed by Simon Curtis, set to release on 12th September, the cinematic return of the global phenomenon, follows the Crawley family and their staff as they enter the 1930s. When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.
Nishaanchi
On 19th September, Anurag Kashyap’s gritty crime drama Nishaanchi will hit theatres. This intense saga surrounding crime and punishment is all ready to delve into the complex lives of two brothers who walk starkly different paths, uncovering how their choices shape their destinies. The film features several debutants: Aaishvary Thackeray alongside Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Kumud Mishra.
Task
Task, a mini series starring Mark Ruffalo, released on 1st September. Created and written by Brad Engelsby, the show is set in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia, where an FBI agent heads a Task Force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man.
Must Listen
Tunes to get your groove on.
Double Infinity by Big Thief
Big Thief will release their sixth studio album, Double Infinity, on 5th September 2025. The lead single, Incomprehensible, is already out, and what will follow is an album comprising 8 more songs. Double Infinity was produced, engineered and mixed by longtime Big Thief collaborator Dom Monks. The album is a result of riding bicycles on frozen streets between Brooklyn and Manhattan, meeting in Power Station’s warm wood-panelled room.
Vie by Doja Cat
American rapper and singer Doja Cat’s fifth album is set to release on 26th September and promises a pop saga with French undertones. The trailer, which found her wanting to take a drive in a scarlet red sports car. ‘Anywhere, nowhere. Just drive,’ she tells the driver before jumping out and hopping behind the wheel of another exotic car.
Breach by Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots drop their eighth studio album, Breach, on 12 September 2025. The lead single, The Contract, has already been released, followed by the introspective second single Drum Show, which notably features drummer Josh Dun stepping up as a vocalist for the first time. Breach comprises 13 tracks, including titles like City Walls, RAWFEAR, Garbage, Robot Voices, and Intentions. The album marks the conclusion of the conceptual saga spanning Blurryface, Trench, Scaled and Icy, and Clancy—a decade-long narrative arc finally closing.
Must Attend
Plays, concerts and exhibitions to keep you occupied.
Maiyya
Inspired by Geetanjali Shree’s debut novel, Mai, Maiyya, is a one woman interactive play set over the course of a single night in a home in Vrindavan. Maiyya follows nine-year-old Achyutaa, a restless, imaginative child obsessed with the stories her mother tells her about Lord Krishna. Catch Maiyya, adapted, directed and performed by Suhaani Gala at Kathika Cultural Centre and Museum on 6th September.
Taba Chake’s Tour
Taba Chake is a critically acclaimed Indian fingerstyle guitarist, singer-songwriter, and composer from Arunachal Pradesh. Known for blending Nyishi (his native language), Hindi, English, and Assamese, Taba’s music bridges the personal and the poetic with warmth and sincerity. He is taking his music all around the world through the month of September, and you cannot miss it.
Touching Light
Touching Light: A Prelude to the Bicentennial of Photography (1827–2027) is a tribute to the art, craft, and soul of analogue photography. This exhibition brings together 19th-century treasures — Carte de Visite from Bourne & Shepherd, the People of India series, the Beauties of Lucknow — alongside silver prints, chemigrams, and slides by 28 contemporary Indian photographers. Each frame carries its own unique grain, light leaks, and colour shifts — the fingerprints of film. The exhibition will remain open at Museo Camera, Gurgaon, until 29th September.
Words Platform Desk
Date 2-09-2025