'If there is one thing our politicians, especially those with their ear to the ground, understand, it is the reality that their voters want three things from their children's schooling: English, English, English', notes Shekhar Gupta.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past crams so, so much plot into its two-hour running time that there isn't room to get bored, raves Raja Sen.
Tamil film Strawberry works because of its storyline, says S Saraswathi.
'Good economics isn't necessarily bad politics, or vice versa,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The prayer, Sarvejana Sukhinobhavantu, or let the whole universe of living beings be well, helps. So do profound and relevant Ancient Wise Words and aphorisms: Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, or the whole world is one big family, interconnected, interdependent. And a sense of humour, jokes, pranks, writing, conversations. And, last but definitely not least, the rippling waves of inner realisation on the background mind-track -- about the insignificance of ego, the importance of humility, the wasted opportunities in life, the wrong moves, the strokes of luck, the past 'sins', the what-ifs.
'His is a naive genius which eludes the sophisticated. He is natural, lazy, effortless. He is no match for other stars. His acting is poor, his dancing is worse. Yet Salman as Salman is miles ahead of them....'
Manchester United have appointed Jose Mourinho as their manager, the Premier League club said on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Kaabil serves nothing beyond an unabashed platform to vaunt a seething Hrithik, sentimental Hrithik, snarky Hrithik, sly Hrithik or spry Hrithik, feels Sukanya Verma.
'The ultimate satisfaction of helping in the country's space programme is the bigger achievement attracting women to space research -- and they are so good at it!'
'He was unlike anyone else I had met until then or ever since.' Lt Gen Ashok Joshi (retd) remembers one of India's most famous soldiers who passed away on Sunday.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the Sheena Bora Trial.
Kabali has nothing new to say or offer, besides Rajinikanth playing his age, feels Raja Sen.
In a world now over-stuffed with comic-book movies, X-Men: Apocalypse is far from being the finest movie yet may well rank among the most comic-booky, feels Raja Sen.
Even if reduced to a "relic of a deleted timeline," Schwarzenegger is easily the only attraction of this wishy-washy sequel, prequel, reboot, offshoot, whatever. But that's no reason to overstay one's welcome even if it's an iconic character. Rather especially if it's an iconic character.
They are also feature among the top 500 in the world.
If you don't have power in a game you are masters of, the world will walk all over you, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Ambassador B S Prakash has fond memories of Vinod Khanna, his minister.
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The film has good action sequences and gripping treasure hunt sequences especially towards the climax.
Guru Bhoopala's seven-day trek took him to the base camp of Jomolhari, a majestic 7,500 metre mountain, unclimbed and revered by the Bhutanese.
These are some of Rediff.com's favourites from all 80 award-winning photos.
Krrish 3 is a outrageous mishmash of Bollywood sentimentality meets E.T. meets Superman meets X-Men.
'Kejriwal has shown that not only can Modi-Shah be stopped, they can in fact be routed... Today, as the Delhi votes are counted, it shows not only the AAP's victory or BJP's defeat. But also the Congress's final irrelevance.'
Could this reluctance be tied to the family's projection of themselves as the last bastion of the aam-aadmi's interests? Do they fear that a full disclosure of their not-inconsiderable assets would go against their carefully-cultivated pro-poor image, wonders Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Secretiveness and the element of surprise in announcing decisions marks the Modi style of diplomacy. From being a voluble politician, he became a reticent statesman... But the diplomatic dance is performed on thin ice and his adroitness is still to be proved,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Communal tension and violent mobs have been part of our country, whichever government is in power. What has happened since the BJP came into power is that individuals or group activities asserting Hindutva have become louder, more aggressive.' 'Now we are finding ourselves in a country where reasoning and thinking have no place, the power lies with the goons.' 'I find any ban, whether on what we write, what we eat, how we dress etc, absolutely abominable. They have no place in a democracy.' Shashi Deshpande on why she joined the writers' protest against the growing intolerance in India.
'Vietnam has become an adjective as well as a verb -- the Americans, for instance, were driven by the passion to do a 'Vietnam' on the Soviet Union when that country invaded Afghanistan in 1979.'
As Maharashtra and Haryana show, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah completely control the BJP and are taking it to the next level ruthlessly, without carrying forward any past baggage.
'Modi, focused on youth and their aspirations, has articulated a truly disruptive change: One of hope, of duties rather than rights, of standing up to the world instead of being bullied by it,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'
'We saw how vigorous democracy was when it dislodged authoritarianism under Indira Gandhi. We saw its vigour again when it voted Mr Modi out of humble origins as prime minister. It was Nehru who laid that foundation for India and what is worrying today is Modi's rather imperial style of functioning,' says writer Nayantara Sahgal.
