Indian Podcasts Recommendations

I've seen a few posts asking for podcast recommendations, so here's a recommendation thread. This is not a comprehensive list (you can find a comprehensive list by /u/yogesh_calm here. While lists like that are great to have, it's hard to figure out whether a particular podcast is worth listening to. So here I have tried to include some notes about the podcast and recommend a particular episode as well. The quality of these podcasts can vary a lot, but these are some that I found were worth listening to. Anything I especially recommend has a star ★ next to it. I've also mentioned the language of the podcast. Hope you find this useful.

News and Politics:

• Three Things: hosted by the Indian Express newspaper, this podcast covers three of the biggest news stories each day. Their most recent episode unpacks the Indian Budget 2019. [English] ★

• The Big Story: Hosted by the Website The Quint, this brings you the lates news. Episodes are about 20 minutes. [English]

• The Seen and the Unseen: Hosted by Amit Varma, this podcast focuses on public policy, noting that all policies have two effects - the intended one, and the unintended consequences. He often hosts interesting scholars and public figures, e.g. Ramachandra Guha, etc. [English]

• Newslaundry Hafta: Deep look into news and the media covering the news. [Hindi/English]

• Puliyabaazi: Hosted from Bangalore, this podcast by tech entrepreneur tech entrepreneur Saurabh Chandra and public policy researcher Pranay Kotasthane was made with the goal of bringing complex political, policy and technological issues to Hindi speakers from areas where the level of education is not very high. They address subjects like bitcoin trading, Chinese politics, and so on, using a mix of Hindi and English, but avoiding language that is very complex or jargon-heavy. [Hindi/English]

• Stepwell: This podcast is produced by Indian Express and features the historian Patrick French talking to major Indian scholars and commentators. The quality varies depending on the guest, but some episodes are really interesting. Recommended episode: military historian Srinath Raghavan talks about the history of US-India relations over the past few decades. [English]

Literature and Fiction

• Indian Noir: The host, Nikesh Murali, has won the Commonwealth Prize for Short Stories, along with a bunch of other prizes for story narration, and writing. In this podcast he narrates stories from all over - his voice is lovely, and it is well-produced. He's currently narrating horror stories and they are so creepy. [English] ★

• Kahani Suno: This is a podcast hosted by Sameer Goswami, and he reads classic stories from Hindi literature. Production is very basic, but he has a nice voice and pace, and I like listening to his narration. Featured authors include Premchand, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri, Jaishankar Prasad, etc. Sometimes there are guest narrators as well. Recommended episode: This narration of Holi ki Chutti by Premchand. [Hindi] ★

• Ek Kahaani Aise Bhi: Radio Jockey Praveen of 93.5 FM narrates horror stories from India, with creepy music and sound effects. Don't listen at night. Little cheesy at times, but fun. Recommended episode: Mukti do Raja. [Hindi]

Music

• Maed in India: The host Mae Mariyam Thomas interviews an Indian indie music artist or band in each episode. The artists play some of their music as well. I like it because it balances the content well (the tagline is '60% music, 40% talk'). There are also episodes with mix tapes, sneak peeks to new albums, etc. I've discovered a lot of new music through this podcast. Recommended episode: this session with Bangalore folk rock band, Swarathma. [English] ★

Science, Research, and Technology

• The Intersection: two great journalists, Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian, narrate fascinating stories about obscure topics that focus on the intersection between culture, science, and history. Recommended episode: The Stories in our Stars: Tribal Astronomy in Ancient India. [English] ★

• Desi Stones and Bones: journalist Anupama Chandrasekaran covers stories about archaeological finds and fossils from India. She talks to authors, fossil hunters, historians and conservationists about their work. [English]

• In the Field: This podcast is produced as a set of distinct series.E.g. the first series, Sea Change, has just three episodes. It is hosted by two researchers, Samyuktha Varma and Radhika Viswanathan, who pick areas of research and talk to leaders in that field. E.g. in their first episode they talk to different people who have set big goals for social transformation in education, accessing healthcare, etc, and ask them how they get to achieving that goal. [English]

Culture and Lifestyle

• No Sugarcoat: Pooja Dhingra, a pastry chef, talks to people involved in the food business in India - restaurant owners, chefs, etc. Recommended episode: she talks to Gary Mehigan, one of the judges on Masterchef Australia. [English] ★

• Audiogyan: The host Kedar Nimkar talks to people from the art world in India: artists, graphic novelists and cartoonists, designers, architects, etc. He's talked, for example, to the people who designed the title sequence for Sacred Games, to famous theatre personalities like Atul Pethe and Rahul Da Cunha, to an engineer explains how watches are designed, etc. [Almost all episodes are in English, but one or two are in Marathi] ★

• Movie Wala Podcast: The hosts Flo and Tanvi discuss Hindi (Bollywood) movies. Sometimes they discuss specific movies, sometimes they focus on one director's work, eg this episode on Ashutosh Gowarikar. I feel a lot of nostalgia when I listen to them talk about 90s movies in particular, and its fun to revisit some old classics. Recommended episode: this one on Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, which is part of series they did on top family dramas. [Mostly in English but also Hindi]

• The Musafir Stories: This travel podcast is hosted by a husband and wife duo, and they host someone in each episode who talks about travelling to a different part of India. The only downside is that the quality wavers depending on the guest; some are great and others are very average. [English]

• The Real Food Podcast: Vikram Doctor is one of India's most well-known food writers, and in this podcast he talks about all kinds of things related to Indian food, from farming to heirloom vegetables, to cooking techniques. Recommended episode: Monsoon Foods of Western India. [English]

Business and Finance

• Moneycontrol Market Podcast: Moneycontrol is a well-known business and finance news site in India and this daily podcast brings the most important stories to you about the Indian market. They often host their journalists and editors to explain and discuss current events. [English]

• Building it up with Bertelsmann: This focuses on the startup culture in India, and hosts episodes with people involved in business and startups in the country. It's hosted by Ankur Warikoo. Recommended episode: Miss Malini (host of a fashion/celeb blog called Miss Malini) and Preeta Sukthankar, the founder of a lifestyle brand TheLabelLife, talk about using celebrity endorsements and influencers to build your business. [English]