And it's written with tears, blood and unspoken lines.
From earning Rs 5 a day as a farm labourer to starting an IT services company that is worth Rs 15 million, Jyoti Reddy's story of success is nothing short of an inspiring movie plot.
'I lived in a chawl for 33 years, aur potty ke liye line lagaya, holding a dabba in my hand (I would queue up to go to the loo, with a bucket in my hand). Even after I became a hero, I had to stand in line. It has become so ingrained in my bones that it cannot come out easily.'
Akash Banerjee is posing tough questions to the establishment -- and getting away with them.
If you think life has made Asna a bitter person, you are wrong; she is one young woman full of positivity and dreams.
The ongoing violence in the valley is driving students to excel, but it is also making them angry, discovers Ritwik Sharma.
Rakhi Sawant is as uncensored as they come.
At its heart, the furore over 'love jihad' reveals an anxiety over the increase in inter-religious marriages and women's freedom, says Charu Gupta, associate professor of history at Delhi University, whose areas of research include the colonial history of Uttar Pradesh and issues of gender and sexuality.
He asserted his force was as competent as the CBI to probe the Kathua rape and murder case.
The celebrations after the 2017 World Cup went on for the next few months. But there was one question that the Indian cricketers failed to respond to in their interviews. 'What was their next assignment?' Nobody knew; the players were waiting for the BCCI to tell them. The BCCI, with barely any time from its endless legal tangles, had nothing in mind immediately. The likes of Australia and England were back on the field, battling it out in the Ashes in front of sizeable crowds. But for Mithali Raj and team, there was no road ahead.
Gone are the days of over-the-top Diwali parties, says Kishore Singh. This year round, the taxman is the invisible -- and unwanted -- guest at these once extravagant affairs.
'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
'The parents have seen the documentary. They have liked the documentary. They called me to say, "Aap log himmat mat hariye (You don't lose heart)".' 'After that I don't care what people think. I got goose bumps when they said, "Aap log piche mat hathiye (You people don't back off)".'
'The starting point of the Udta Punjab casting was that we didn't think stars would do a film like this, so we'd take non-stars. As the names kept rolling in and we had Kareena Kapoor and Shahid and Alia Bhatt, I was like yaar yeh ho kya raha hai?'
The young politician seems unfazed about the complaint and tells Subhash K Jha that she would return to the neighbouring country to foster peace.
'There are many serious crimes in which powerful and fake babas have been involved in... The states where this is prevalent are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and even Delhi,' CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat tells Neeta Kolhatkar.
'There's no real rebellion, just a consuming love for fashion and faux feminism where every zinger flying out of their mouth sounds like something you've heard on a sitcom or favourited on your Pinterest wall,' notes Sukanya Verma.
Two Muslim women were slapped, kicked and abused by a mob in Madhya Pradesh allegedly over the possession of beef.
After snapping his political alliance with the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, N Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, speaks to B Dasarath Reddy on what he now has in mind.
Nobody expects such "petty comments" from a person holding such a high post, said BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.
The top two in the government and in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah, respectively, spent the day trying to hard sell not just the contentious land Bill but also how the Modi government stood for the welfare of farmers.
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
'Arshi never crossed her boundary.' 'Initially, Akash was entertaining but slowly, he's become irritating because he changes groups without being loyal to anyone.' Hiten Tejwani discusses the contestants on Bigg Boss 11, and reserves the worst for Hina Khan.
'The Sabarimala issue is no longer in splendid isolation.'
#Not In My Name, said ordinary citizens, as they took to the streets to reclaim the India they believed in.
Nitish Kumar and his officials maintain that Bihar has one of the lowest crime rates in India. Bihar police crime data indicates otherwise.
'Made in Heaven plays well as a busy show; when it's hip, but without being hopeless,' feels Sreehari Nair.
In a veiled attack on Congress and Samajwadi Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused them of continuing to practice vote-bank politics to divide society and asserted that disturbance of peace and harmony will not be tolerated.
'I didn't want to be the bottom-most in the food chain of a commercial film.' 'I'd rather do something experimental and learn and hope that this translates into somebody noticing me.'
In a no-holds-barred interview, 20-year-old Nikita Azad discusses the backlash she has faced after #HappytoBleed, the campaign she launched to protest a derogatory statement made by the chief of the Sabarimala Devasom Board.
In a no-holds-barred interview, 20-year-old Nikita Azad discusses the backlash she has faced after #HappytoBleed, the campaign she launched to protest a derogatory statement made by the chief of the Sabarimala Devasom Board.
'I'm a fashion philanthropist, but people are wondering how she can still be doing a song in a bikini.' 'When a woman becomes a philanthropist, it is always expected that she must be like a Mother Teresa kind of a girl.' 'Why would I become like anyone else?'
'It's very expensive for a girl to become an actress. I remember I was nominated at all the award shows for Tanu Weds Manu, and conscientiously, like a new actress, I attended all of them and I was bankrupt by the end of it! I had to find a costume stylist, a hair stylist, a makeup stylist...!' Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff.com gets inside Swara Bhaskar's mind.
'I have always been told 'thoda sa aur, thoda sa aur.' 'That's why I was always hamming.'
Presenting some of the good, bad and ugly looks of the week.
Months of relentless booing of Aboriginal football great and anti-racism campaigner Adam Goodes has ignited an uncomfortable public debate in Australia about race and how the country treats its indigenous citizens.
Iram Haq's What Will People Say is a deeply relatable story of family values at odds with a modern culture.
'A speedy trial is absolutely essential.' 'Not only justice is given, it is given expeditiously.'
Sukanya Verma lists the lessons Bollywood taught us this year.
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