Prologue The monsoon rain hammered the tin roof of the small, cramped cinema in the back alleys of Old Delhi. Inside, a single projector hummed, its lamp flickering like a dying firefly. The audience was a handful of regulars—students, office clerks, and a few elderly men who still remembered the golden age of Indian cinema. The film that night was Mastram (2013), a gritty, unapologetic look at the life of the infamous writer of erotic literature, a movie that had stirred as much controversy as it had curiosity.