Syed Firdaus Ashraf offers a ready reckoner on Javed Akhtar's great great grandfather Fazl e Haq Khairabadi who fought the British empire during the 1857 Mutiny and was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in Port Blair.
During the freedom struggle, Shah had launched revolts in the Awadh region. He made the local mosque, Masjid Sarai, located in Chowk area of Faizabad his headquarters. As he liberated Faizabad and larger part of Awadh region, he used the premises of this mosque to hold meetings with rebel leaders.
'The summer of 1857 saw violence, perpetrated by the Indians and the Britons, on an unprecedented scale.' 'Never before and never after in the history of British rule in India was there violence at the level that 1857 witnessed.'
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
The action was taken under a demolition drive, which will be carried out till March 9, officials said. It comes a month ahead of a G20 meeting planned to be hosted at the archaeological park in south Delhi.
Jaswant Singh's book has raised a fresh controversy on who was responsible for the Partition of India. Some think it was Mohammed Ali Jinnah; others say Jawharlal Nehru/Sardar Patel. The truth is that the seeds for Partition were sown at least 80 before Partition actually happened.
The Centre has finally woken up to their plight with Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal announcing a Rs 1 lakh grant from his personal fund.
With RRR adding to the line-up, Joginder Tuteja takes a look at how well films on revolutionaries have done at the box office.
Joginder Tuteja peeks into the Big B's date diary, and tells us what to expect from him next.
Attlee said Great Britain had concluded that the Indian element of the army was no longer reliable and that Netaji's Indian National Army had demonstrated that. That had shaken the foundation on which Britain's Indian empire rested, argues Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd).
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
Aiming to send the right signal to different sections of society, the BJP has embraced figures like Chuhar Mal, Emperor Ashoka, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Maharana Pratap.
Kangana Ranaut's Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi releases this week, a cinematic tribute to one of India's most courageous monarchs. In this fascinating excerpt from Moupia Basu's new book The Queen's Last Salute, the British conspire with Indian malcontents to bring Rani Lakshmibai's empire under the Englishman's yoke.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
Deras like Sacha Sauda made the poor feel secure, cared for, loved, provided a support system and gave them dignity, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'He cooked chicken curry and so because of him, curries entered the British royal kitchens.' 'Eventually, he became a political advisor to the queen.' 'This guy was disrupting the royal household. It sent shockwaves...' Ali Fazal on his character Abdul Karim and working with acting legend Judi Dench.
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