Associate Professor

Ravikant is a bilingual historian, writer, and translator. He read, researched, and taught modern Indian and world history in various colleges of Delhi University before joining the Centre’s Sarai programme at its inception in 2000. He is the author of Media ki Bhasha-leela, New Delhi, Vani Prakashan, 2016. His collaboratively edited books include Translating Partition: Stories, Essays, Criticism with Tarun Saint (2001); Deewan e Sarai 01: Media Vimarsh: Hindi Janpad (2002), Deewan e Sarai 02: Shaharnama with Sanjay Sharma (2005) and Hinglish Live: Language mixing across media (2021). His collaborative filmography includes Andaz Production's Kali Shalwar (2001), an adaptation of Saadat Hasan Manto's eponymous story, and Jo Dooba So Paar (2011).

Ravikant’s doctoral work, 'Words in Motion Pictures: A social History of Language of 'Hindi' Cinema', navigated inter-media sites such as print, broadcasting, and web in an effort to offer creative connections between these media forms and their diverse publics. The Hinglish Project, in collaboration with SOAS, London, tries to make sense of contemporary bilingualism in North India. He also works for the Indian Languages programme at CSDS and its peer-reviewed journal Pratiman. His recently published essays can be found on the web at Academia.edu, Kafila, Rachnakar, Gadyakosh, Janaki Pul, and the Deewan mailing list, which he manages. 

Email: ravikant(at)csds.in

Select Publications (Click to Read)

श्रव्य-द्रष्टव्य : सिनेमा में रेडियो 2.0

Popular Cinephilia in North India

Architecture of intellectual sociality: Tea and coffeehouses in post-colonial Delhi