The Sandip Roy Show
What makes people tick? What are the stories they carry with them? In a world of shouting heads, veteran journalist, radio commentator and novelist Sandip Roy sits down to have real conversations about the fascinating world around us and the people who shape it. Catch these engaging interviews every other Sunday
Episodes
January 25, 2026 • 60 mins
Few policy ideas in India have generated as much political heat as the caste census. From television studios to opinion pages, the argument is no longer just whether a caste census should be conducted, but what it is meant to achieve.
Is the exercise simply about collecting data? Does it focus only on historically marginalised communities? And can the act of counting caste alter social identities themselves?
In this e...
Is the exercise simply about collecting data? Does it focus only on historically marginalised communities? And can the act of counting caste alter social identities themselves?
In this e...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
January 4, 2026 • 52 mins
The mountains are often imagined as an escape from city life. A place to visit, slow down, and leave behind. But for writer Anuradha Roy, they are something else entirely. The hills near Ranikhet are where she and her husband chose to move, turning a neglected cottage into a home over more than two decades, shared with family, animals, and a carefully tended garden.
In Called by the Hills, Roy reflects on a life lived close ...
In Called by the Hills, Roy reflects on a life lived close ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
December 14, 2025 • 57 mins
June is Pride Month around the world but does India need to march to that calendar? More Indian cities now hold Pride in winter, when it’s cooler and the streets are fuller. And that practical shift opens a bigger question, why has India so often taken its cues from the West when our own queer histories run deep?
And this week host Sandip Roy is joined by writer Sindhu Rajasekaran, whose new book traces how the British...
And this week host Sandip Roy is joined by writer Sindhu Rajasekaran, whose new book traces how the British...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 30, 2025 • 69 mins
Fine dining in India has shifted dramatically. What once meant dressing up for a five-star hotel is now shaped by standalone restaurants that are bolder, more experimental, and at the centre of culinary buzz. And in an unexpected twist, some of the most talked-about spots today are tiny, intimate 10 to 18 seaters, like Naar in Kasauli or Papa’s in Mumbai — where chefs are reimagining what a dining experience can b...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 13, 2025 • 55 mins
When people from upper castes talk about caste, it’s often through headlines — about atrocities or reservations — stories reduced to data, distant and impersonal. And even when caste violence is discussed, it’s usually set in faraway villages, rarely finding a place in books written in English.
That’s what makes Rakshit Sonawane’s novel The Scum of the Earth stand out. Drawing from his own...
That’s what makes Rakshit Sonawane’s novel The Scum of the Earth stand out. Drawing from his own...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 27, 2025 • 53 mins
Even though many of us in India immediately think of an eraser when we hear the word rubber, the material has long become an inseparable part of our lives. Yet, like many indispensable everyday items, its history is deeply tied to colonialism and slave labour.
With growing concerns about whether we have enough rubber to sustain our future needs, host Sandip Roy speaks with Vidya Rajan about her book Rubber: The Soc...
With growing concerns about whether we have enough rubber to sustain our future needs, host Sandip Roy speaks with Vidya Rajan about her book Rubber: The Soc...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 12, 2025 • 54 mins
Every election season, attention turns to India’s Hindi heartland, a region central to the country’s politics and identity. It has produced most of India’s prime ministers and a large share of its parliamentarians, while also witnessing some of the most intense communal clashes and temple–mosque disputes. Yet, it also remains the cradle of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, a culture rooted in coexistence and s...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
September 22, 2025 • 61 mins
When we think of cheese, names like Brie, Gouda, or Cheddar usually come to mind — but nothing much from India. Yet India, home to the world’s largest dairy herd, is now witnessing a quiet but remarkable cheese revolution. At farmer’s markets, artisanal producers are offering everything from creamy classics to inventive varieties infused with Tellicherry peppercorns or curry leaves. This week, as part of our serie...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
September 8, 2025 • 54 mins
Many of us grew up with only a patchy knowledge of Bhutan. And these days, most stories about the country in India tend to focus on tourism. But what was it like to grow up in Bhutan in the 1950s and 60s? Kunzang Choden, who grew up in a landed household, explores this in her memoir, Telling Me My Stories, which paints a complex portrait of a country caught in the winds of change.
This week on the show, Sandip speaks to Chod...
This week on the show, Sandip speaks to Chod...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
August 17, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode, host Sandip Roy discusses India’s national sleep crisis, a problem that affects all ages, from anxious teenagers to overworked professionals, with Dr. G.C. Khilnani, a renowned pulmonologist and chairman of the PSRI Institute of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, to understand why sleeplessness has become such a widespread concern.
They discuss everything from sleep hygiene and circadian rhyt...
They discuss everything from sleep hygiene and circadian rhyt...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
August 5, 2025 • 62 mins
In recent years, online retail has transformed how we shop—bringing everything from food to taxis to our doorstep. The convenience is undeniable, but the gig economy behind it remains largely unexamined. How does this system impact those who work in it, use it, or build it? This week on the show, host Sandip Roy speaks to social science researcher Vandana Vasudevan, author of OTP Please: Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
July 23, 2025 • 57 mins
Summer in India brings with it the irresistible charm of mangoes, and the predictable flood of mango themed stories. These usually blend nostalgia, tales of nawabi indulgence, exotic varieties, and the timeless Alphonso-versus-the-rest debate. But journalist Sopan Joshi, in his book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango, peels back that sugary surface to explore the mango’s deeper story—its fossil records, its gene...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
July 7, 2025 • 57 mins
Long relegated to the footnotes of history, Lal Bahadur Shastri is often overshadowed by the towering legacies of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. But what if Shastri hadn’t died suddenly after signing the Tashkent Agreement with Pakistan? Would Indira Gandhi still have become Prime Minister? And how might India’s political trajectory have changed?
In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to Sanjeev Chopra, aut...
In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to Sanjeev Chopra, aut...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
On June 25, 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency in India—an era marked by censorship, arrests, and a suspension of civil liberties. While the resistance within India is well-documented, far less is known about how Indians abroad responded. In this episode, on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, host Sandip Roy speaks with journalist Sugata Srinivasaraju, author of The Conscience Network, and Pr...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 16, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode, host Sandip Roy Show is joined by author Ruchir Joshi who takes us back to Calcutta in the early 1940s, an era charged with political upheaval, global war, and cultural ferment. Set against the backdrop of Tagore’s death, Subhash Bose’s escape, the Quit India Movement, and the looming Bengal Famine, Joshi’s novel Great Eastern Hotel captures a city on the brink of transformation. Sandip and Ruchir...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 1, 2025 • 57 mins
To what extent has gay representation in Indian popular culture evolved? Is it now simply trendy to include gay characters, or are these portrayals also becoming deeper and more meaningful? This week, to kick off Pride Month, we explore how the portrayal of gay lives in Indian popular culture has changed over the decades. Host Sandip Roy speaks to three queer voices from different generations to understand this shift.
Sridha...
Sridha...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
India recently saw heated debates around the three-language formula — a policy suggesting students learn a modern Indian language like Hindi, and English. While some saw it as a backdoor push for Hindi, the real picture might be far more layered.
But as we argue over Hindi versus English, or regional versus national languages, a deeper concern often gets overlooked: the hundreds of other languages quietly fading away. ...
But as we argue over Hindi versus English, or regional versus national languages, a deeper concern often gets overlooked: the hundreds of other languages quietly fading away. ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
April 27, 2025 • 58 mins
In 1975, Begum Wilayat Mahal and her children, Princess Sakina and Prince Ali Raza, moved into New Delhi Railway Station, claiming to be descendants of the House of Awadh. After a decade at the station, the government granted them Malcha Mahal, a 14th century hunting lodge deep inside a forest in Delhi. But were they really royalty, or was it all a grand deception?
A new book, The House of Awadh by Aletta André and Abh...
A new book, The House of Awadh by Aletta André and Abh...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
April 13, 2025 • 52 mins
Long before press freedom indexes were even conceived, the Urdu newspaper Pratap was speaking truth to power in undivided India — and paying a heavy price for it. Launched in 1919, Pratap quickly ran afoul of the British Raj but remained defiantly independent.
After independence, its legacy continued with the launch of Vir Pratap, its Hindi successor. But how fearless did these publications remain after indep...
After independence, its legacy continued with the launch of Vir Pratap, its Hindi successor. But how fearless did these publications remain after indep...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
March 30, 2025 • 59 mins
In this episode, we discuss how early Christian missionaries encountered Hinduism during colonial rule depending on where they landed and whom they met and how they saw very different faiths with different gods, rituals, and customs. Host Sandip Roy is joined by author and historian Manu S. Pillai to discuss his new book, "Gods, Guns and Missionaries," which explores how these cross-cultural encounters not only attempted to reshape...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!