Where Shamshad Begum was charging Rs 900 for a song, Lata was prepared to settle for Rs 50 as she came on the scene. Raju Bharatan recalls yet another memorable incident from Lata Mangeshkar's incredible life.
'Rani made it very clear when she signed the film that she would shoot only during her daughter's summer vacation so as not to disturb her role as a real life mother.'
All his disciples across the globe feel he was closest to them. All his friends believe he loved them the most. Just like every gopi in Brijbhoomi felt Krishna was closest to her. Pandit Jasraj didn't have acquaintances; he had friends, recalls his biographer Sunita Budhiraja.
'Aamir is deeply patriotic and cares for the country.'
'They also think that if all opposition parties rally behind him, then 2024 will be Rahul versus Modi and that will be advantage BJP'
Dhankhar, who took to cricket in his school days and also had keen interest in spirituality and meditation, began his political journey with the Janata Dal and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989.
A fascinating excerpt from Arghya Sengupta, Jinaly Dani, Kevin James, and Pranay Modi's Hamn Ast: A Biography of Article 370.Instead came a recommendation from Parliament, acting under the imposition of President's Rule, purporting to convey the views of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. This clever act achieved Parliament's purpose optimally. But was it legitimate in law?
Andrew Morton also wrote Princess Diana's tell-all biography.
Over the years, a noticeable unpleasantness began to develop between senior and junior, Sorabjee and Salve. Salve gave credit, for his rise in the profession, to Nani Palkhivala, and not to Sorabjee. This hurt Sorabjee, though he never admitted it.
IAF Flying Officer Jawahar Lal Bhargava was forced to stayed in the POW camp at Rawalpindi for the year that followed only to be released in December 1972.
Smita has left behind a rich haul of films that showcase her enormous ability to offer us a glimpse into her soul each time she performed a role.
Modi said Ramakrishna Paramhansa was one saint who had a clear vision of her and his disciple Swami Vivekananda had also felt the spiritual vision about the goddess, which infused into him extraordinary energy and strength.
Keen to settle the India-Pakistan dispute 'once and for all,' HD Deve Gowda spoke to his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif over the phone and the two hit it off quite well but his government fell before they could meet, says a recent biography of the former Indian prime minister.
Ranjish Hi Sahi is a feeble attempt at showcasing a sensitive love story, complains Namrata Thakker.
Sikandar Kher's Nishikant Adhikari is a solitary poet by the corner, trying to remind us that the honest plans of honest people don't always come to respectable ends, observes Sreehari Nair.
'If the Congress gets to form the government in 2024, then Sonia Gandhi by virtue of being CPP chairperson will have the authority to decide who will be the prime minister and not Kharge.'
'Why should Khargeji work against the Gandhis for the sake of proving his independence?'
Tulsidas Balaram, who passed into the ages last week, was a member of the Indian football team which reached the semis at the Olympics and won an Asian Games gold medal.
Who's Virat's calling a rock?... Mrunal meets a hunk... Why is Dharmendra Sunny-eyed?
Reading books will make you curious, build your imagination and nourish your brain into an organic super power.
Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India.
Some analysts also pointed out that "outsourcing" political management to regional satraps such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana may have proven counterproductive and micromanagement by the Gandhi family was needed.
She came like a whirlwind to wipe out, in one stroke, practically all female singing competition, recalls Raju Bharatan.
Prime Minister Modi saw a reflection of himself -- she does not come from a political background, has no lineage, and had a lifetime of personal struggle and sacrifice.
Much to the disappointment of booklovers, Westland, one of the largest publishing houses in India, is being shut down by e-commerce giant Amazon, they announced on Tuesday.
'Gehlot is right now doing things, which are not appreciated by the Gandhis.' 'The Gandhis have realised that their writ does not run in Rajasthan, therefore they have deflected the issue to Kharge.'
'I have seen Bishan paaji get worked up when he felt the game was losing its character because of some individual.'
Kumar banged his table at Patna's Indian Coffee House as he announced this to an audience that was discussing alleged corruption in Bihar in 1977, writes Sankarshan Thakur in his biography of Kumar -- The Brothers Bihari.
On Kapil Sharma's 41st birthday, Subhash K Jha looks back on the comic's fall and resurrection.
Goodbye makes ordinary places, ordinary people and ordinary events become interesting, observes Mayur Sanap.
'Chup is the work that I'm most satisfied with; it won't bore me or make me cringe later.'
'I assume Ramachandra Guha's neglect of this aspect of Gandhi grows out of the belief that Gandhi's life had no central text,' says Rudrangshu Mukherjee, professor of history, Ashoka University.
'One after the other, they have committed four murders (Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh)...' 'They feel they will not have to face the consequences of their actions as it is a favourable time for them.'
'I realised what a great leader he was by the way he took decisions to undertake the most-risky of missions.'
Long before she won royalty rights for playback singers, there was an undisclosed incident in Lataji's life where she not only put a male colleague in place, but also refused to sing with him thereafter.
Citizen K is purely about Kamal Haasan's work.
I have heard cynics say that Priyanka Chopra Jonas as we know her today is the creation of a PR machinery, but that is rather a poor reading of a determined woman and the work she has done to get to where she is. Aseem Chhabra salutes the movie star on her 40th birthday on July 18.
Fifty years ago today, December 25, 1972, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, one of the titans of India's freedom struggle, passed into the ages. Kalki Krishnamurthy, who penned the Tamil classic Ponniyin Selvan among numerous other novels, describes his first glimpse of the man who would become an august national leader and his cherished role model.
'On the ground, Jai would never swipe or slog or do anything ugly with a cricket bat.' A Joseph Antony salutes the memory of M L Jaisimha, one of the most stylish batsmen to play cricket for India.
When it comes to books, it's been a year of plenty.
