Two of the greatest modern exponents of yoga began their life in Mysore, under the tutelage of the legendary Krishnamacharya. For both of them, life was yoga. And yoga was life, says Sunaad Raghuram.
36-year-old Sunil Yadav, who works as a garbage collector for the civic body in Mumbai is an inspiration. He chronicles the arduous journey he took to secure his MPhil degree and why he refuses to give up his job despite his education.
A Muslim man taking a PhD in a dance form is not unusual, but it becomes interesting when the dance happens to be Mohiniyattam, says Shobha Warrier
'The first time we actually got to meet a Bollywood star, it was Salman Khan.' 'We met him at his farm house.' 'For Pia, an actor is just an actor. There is no such thing as a star in her world, and that may or may not go down well with some people.'
Hailed as one of the finest filmmakers of his time, K Balachander, who passed into the ages on December 23, has left behind a rich legacy of hard-hitting films, some of which have been routinely credited with redefining Tamil cinema.
'Did she, for a minute, think of what I've gone through or what my parents have gone through?' 'I've gone through hell. I wasn't given a chance to grieve for Pratyusha.' 'It was her financial mess that landed her in depression.'
L K Advani's observation on Narendra Modi, an attempt to cut the BJP's prime ministerial nominee down to size, billing him a mere event manager like Vijay Raaz in Mira Nair's film Monsoon Wedding, speaks volumes about their differences... In the coming days, the Congress and BJP may lock horns over the AgustaWestland chopper deal. In an Italian court, Guido Haschke, one of the accused middlemen who allegedly bribed the Indian side, has sought a plea bargain to reduce his jail term if convicted. On or around April 11, we will know how much Haschke is ready to reveal. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt detects which way the political wind is blowing these days.
'Asked which Dilip Kumar films were among her favourites, she said she had seen not a single movie of his until that time. This became a sensational issue. She did not mean to offend Dilip Kumar. There was not a bone of diplomacy in her and she never acquired that calculating attitude even at the cost of some of the roles that she would eventually lose.'
'I believe politics was imposed on it by the censor board, when it gave the film's trailer an A certificate, hoping to deny children, teenagers the opportunity to watch it during prime time television shows,' says Aseem Chhabra.
Beautiful glimpses into Dilip Kumar's life with Saira Banu.
Deven Verma passed away into the ages on December 2. We re-publish an interview done with the veteran actor.
The founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition first attracted attention in the US as the "Punjabi tycoon" who was a huge supporter of Narendra Modi in the US. 'He will be best for India. There is no better ally for the US than India in the region,' Shalabh Kumar tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Once a beggar, Renuka Aradhya's company has a turnover of Rs 30 crore and employs 150 people.
'From the beginning (I have told her) "Whatever it may be -- you are losing or winning -- on the ground you're not going to cry!" She never cried.' '"I don't want you to project that you are a loser. You are a winner".' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com speaks to Leela Raj about her famous daughter, now in the West Indies for the women's T20 World Cup.
His heart-warming journey will inspire you to live life to the fullest.
As Peter sits outside the court with his sister, Indrani walks in with a request. It has been three months since Peter has started speaking to Indrani again, after a long silence of two years.
'I've seen the craze for English education even among the poorest. But that is only for their sons. Parents feel thrilled when they see their sons going to school wearing a tie. They don't mind paying for their sons' private tuitions too.' 'But daughters are sent to municipal schools, madarsas, small schools where teachers with no teaching skills are paid Rs 2,000 or Rs 4,000. That's why more girls come to my class.' Syed Feroze Ashraf, who has sent 500-odd girls (and a few boys) -- all first generation learners, children of grave-diggers, hawkers, rickshaw-drivers, tailors and watchmen -- to college, speaks to Jyoti Punwani. A Rediff.com Special.
How do you even define a movie that primarily exists as an invitation to its audience -- an invitation to come and merely laze around with a set of interesting characters, asks Sreehari Nair.
Mamta Kulkarni, Mumbai's first woman station master joined the Indian Railways in May 1992.
'The whats app messages came as a tsunami on to dry, sparse, corroded, forgotten parts of the brain. Thoughts, memories, faces and long erased episodes were irrigated once again and with that came a turmoil not felt in a long while.' 'In the stark difference of time zones, how does one work in a work day and when checking messages cope with the instantaneous transport to a time that was different in every possible way?'
'I have doubts before the release of every single film. I never really like my work as I am never happy with what I do. After Barfi! released, I ran away for three-and-a-half weeks! I didn't want to face the media because I had heard some horrific stories.' Ileana D'Cruz gets ready to face the world again, with Happy Ending.
'You don't want to admit that it is your wife in the video because she said you were arrested on Wednesday (August 19; Shyamvar Rai states he was arrested on August 21, a Friday).'
'One reason why Suchitra Sen quit acting in the 1970s was the mediocrity that overtook Bengali cinema. Many of the directors she knew well and felt comfortable working with passed away. The scripts offered to her were awful,' Moon Moon Sen talks about her famous mother, the legendary Suchitra Sen, who passed away on January 17.
'I am the undiscovered Julia Roberts of India. They haven't figured it out yet.' Kalki Koechlin gets talking.
The central government has drafted a law to restrict wombs for hire, and there is much to be said on all sides.
'The Indian and Israeli rabbis were singing a small departure song for brave little Moshe, who had spent many, likely, heartbreaking but bittersweet hours at this home of his babyhood, looking at the drawings his mother had made for him, that were still up in his room.'
'Not allowing people to speak or listen is the biggest act of anti-nationalism,' says Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, one of India's finest poets.
'To be good at the heptathlon takes at least seven years; to compete internationally and win medals takes 10 years.' 'Swapna became Asia's best heptathlete in just five years!' 'Nobody would have believed it. but she did it.'
The first woman chief justice of a state in India Leila Seth talks about her career and how she went on to fight male bias and discrimination.
Filmmaker Prakash Jha opens up about his life.
32 years ago, CPI-M activists hacked both the legs of Sadanandan Master, a former party member who has moved over to the RSS. Master learnt to walk using prosthetic legs and rebuilt his life. Today he is the BJP candidate highly-sensitive Koothuparamba constituency of Kannur. He told Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com his story.
Talented, rebellious, obsessive: Ranjita Ganesan and Dhruv Munjal find traces of the actor's different streaks in Mandi, Chandigarh and Mumbai.
'... and all of the symbolism, history, the colours of his motherland, the earth, the sky, all of that is there and it always remains with him.'
'Unfortunately, in today's world, people feel it is luxury to eat pizza. I am not saying all pizzas are bad, I am not saying you shouldn't be eating it. But eating fast food constantly is the reason why everyone is getting these problems. The air is polluted, the water is probably polluted. You can't do much about that but we can check our food. Junk food has zero fiber and that creates havoc in your body. That's another reason why people get cancer.' Emraan Hashmi, in an enlightening interview.
Sudha Murty has various roles -- philanthropist, author, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt -- and she revels in each one of them, discovers Savera R Someshwar.
'I have watched comedies but some have failed to make me laugh. The characters indulge in too much buffoonery. They move too much, falling, hitting each other, making faces... Comedy is very serious business.' Director Anees Bazmee tells us how he makes people laugh with his films.
In the witness box, on bald embarrassing display, was not just Sub-Inspector Ganesh Dalvi, but the entire system of police investigation too.
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'Why was Yeddyurappa taken back by the BJP ? Because his community is very strong in Karnataka and if he is back, the BJP thinks it will get more seats.' The government should stop all reservations based on caste, Gandhian Salem Velu Gandhi -- who recently asked the Supreme Court to include a new caste in the list of India's castes, for the children of inter-caste marriages -- tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
'My wife was asked to get out of an autorickshaw because she was married to me. My children were targeted and branded a traitor's children. In spite of the Supreme Court and the NHRC having cleared my case, the state government is yet to close it. Local politicians are behind this. Why can't they close the case, give me compensation, accepting gracefully that they have wronged me?' Dr S Nambi Narayanan, the scientist who was accused and then exonerated in the 1994 ISRO spying case, speaks to Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier about his continuing travails and his recent meeting with Narendra Modi.
No wedding invitation? No problem! Rajul Punjabi who gate-crashed a wedding shares her experience
