Shatranj Ke Khilari was Satyajit Ray's first Hindi film. The Master set the Premchand story against the backdrop of the First War of Independence in 1857. Bijoya Ray, his wife, reveals fascinating glimpses behind the making of the epic in this exclusive excerpt from her memoir.
'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.'
'Mumbai is testing a lot compared to a lot of other places in the country.' 'Now that we exactly know where the hotspots are, and they've been converted into containment zones, there is a lot of testing, going on, from door to door and symptom screening.' 'In the last 10 to 15 days we have definitely done a good job.'
Anup Raaj shares the lessons he learned from his mentor.
'When Irshad Khan approaches the Supreme Court, he will undoubtedly have the best and most committed of lawyers to represent him.' His case will be reported on the front pages.' Neither the BJP government in Rajasthan nor at the Centre can stop this,' says Jyoti Punwani.
'I wish there was a little chaos there and I wish there was a little discipline here.' Actress Tannishtha Chatterjee on Bollywood and Hollywood.
Two women and three non-engineers are among the 20 candidates who have scored 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT), 2017.
Talented students in small towns often don't get into national-level colleges simply because they don't get proper training to write entrance exams. Ignus is working to change that.
'Memories of a simple, yet amazing childhood, long lost, but never forgotten.' Vijay Menon takes us back to a time when overnight train journeys were the most exciting events of our lives.
Every blade of grass and grain of sand in Mehrangir has a story to tell: The story of how one of the greatest sons of India lived here, planned and executed from here a technological and scientific enterprise which became the envy of the world. The government must save Mehrangir for future generations, says Dr K S Parthasarathy.
A look at the potential blockbusters this summer.
Kanti Bhatt, respected Gujarati author and journalist, passed into the ages on August 4, 2019, at the age of 88. In tribute, we reproduce an article his wife Sheela Bhatt wrote about him 19 years ago.
'This is a book written by a man who has seen it all and done it all and can now laugh about it,' says Vir Sanghvi.
'Preparation is not something Salman will admit to because I think it's not "cool" enough to do that.' 'This is the first time I saw him prepare for a role.' 'This is the first time I saw him struggling to get a hold of this character.'
'Sonia Gandhi can't rejuvenate the party, her heir is fodder for stand-up comedians, and nobody in the Congress has the guts to question the Nehru-Gandhis.'
'According to legal advice provided to me then, I was told we had very limited options.' 'Now in hindsight and after taking stock of things myself, I can quite see how I was ill-advised.'
Radhakishan Damani is the only billionaire to see his wealth grow by around 20% during the lockdown.
'I remember I was doing The Hate Story and had finished shooting all the other bits with Paoli (Dam, actress), only the erotic bits were left. It was the first time I was doing lovemaking scenes and I had no clue how to do that. My wife was like, 'don't worry, just be comfortable, it's your job.' It was comforting coming from my wife.' Knowing Gulshan Devaiah better.
To those who feel that Dhadak doesn't measure up to Sairat, Kshamaya Daniel, 19, has one piece of advice: We're talking about wine here, not scotch.
Rangoon is too fuzzy and half-hearted, feels Sukanya Verma.
An astute thinker of the game with copybook technique of the famed 'Bombay School of Batsmanship', Wadekar was more than just the captain, who led India to twin series victories in England and the West Indies in 1971.
'I decided to go on a sabbatical because I wanted to change a few things.' 'I felt I was becoming very complacent towards the approach to my work. I wanted to change that.' 'Whether you want to call it a comeback or not is your choice.'
"You will see further improvement after an immediate reaction and the markets will calm down," says Vikas Khemani.
'You know, there's not much else happening other than the juicy murder story starring the TV mogul's trophy turned huntress wife,' says Mango Indian.
When the filmmaker took Rediff.com on a tour of his lavish New York estate.
'I'll keep painting as long as I'm alive,' Madhvi Parekh, one of India's most influential painters, tells Rajendran Pottayil in New York.
'My brave JCO managed to get to the gun, sit on top of the dead man and fired away at the attacking aircraft till they melted away into the darkness.'
It was legendary producer-director V Shantaram, who conceived the plot, based on a short story The Police Constable, which revolved around the theme of a good-hearted uniformed man attempting to free a prostitute from a life of indignity.
A 'B-Summary' report is filed when the police do not find any evidence against the accused person to file a charge sheet and seek trial.
Acid attack survivor Lalita ties the knot with Rahul Kumar at a dream wedding.
Lack of consensus on 'how not to let Jignesh Shah get away' could become a huge embarrassment for the government.
The one common theme across companies that have rewarded shareholders is consumption.
'Discussions of favouritism and the #MeToo movement really unearthed a lot.' 'I really hope that these movements force people to look inwards and be nicer to each other.' 'But it's definitely not as bad as it's made out to be.'
Aseem Chhabra imagines a time, 20 years from now, when movie-watching in theatres will be long gone, thanks to the coronavirus, and pens a letter to his grandchild, explaining the magic of the cinema hall.
'We saw people tripping over each other, running, screaming.' 'You could see people running with their daily briefcase despite suffering deep cuts and blood pouring from them.'
'I want to something drastically different, where people will get the shock of their lives. But that has not happened yet.'
Did you like Chennai Express, Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram Leela and 3 Idiots?
'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.'
Enabling the online booking and payment for Indian Railway tickets is one such case. Amitabh Pandey's book is about how he went about enthusing teams inside the Indian Railways and facilitating online reservations, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
