Nikkhil Advani, a master of long-form storytelling, reflects on Freedom At Midnight and what it was to make a two-part series on the most difficult period of India's history in these polarised times.
Whether Freedom At Midnight 2 has a political agenda, a bias or two will be read into it, depending on the affiliation of who is watching, notes Deepa Gahlot.
Suryakumar Yadav discusses his successful partnership with head coach Gautam Gambhir, highlighting their shared understanding and mutual respect, which has led to significant success for the Indian T20 team.
If the stories are food for the mind then our digestive system has changed. If they are a piece of art, our gaze has altered. This calls for a change not in stories, but in the grammar of storytelling so that it can cut through the deluge and gluttony and force people to savour, appreciate and re-visit it. That is what the creators of Taskaree or Dhurandhar are trying, points out Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
January has a rich slate of web series and movies on the OTT platform. Joginder Tuteja gives us a quick look.
Sunny Deol. Akshaye Khanna. Anil Kapoor. Madhuri Dixit. Saif Ali Khan. Manoj Bajaypee. Netflix's 2026 slate packs a starry punch.
Freedom At Midnight is a bold attempt to revisit the whole discourse about Partition, its causes, and the predicament under which the Congress leaders accepted it. It perfectly captures the extremely confused and complicated situation to which it seemed the only viable solution, observes Utkarsh Mishra.
'Mark had such a profound understanding of India, which was, of course, the land of his birth as well as of his death... He loved India, and lived two-thirds of his life here.'
Which are some of most special places in the world to celebrate Christmas?
"This is an insult to India's poor, it is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, it is an insult to Rabindranath Tagore. With just five hours' notice, this bill was given to us. We were not allowed a proper debate," Ghose said.
...a time when his legacy ledger was still positive and before the debacle against China. With every subsequent election, our leaders tend to become weaker. India should consider passing a law that no person should hold the highest office in our country for more than two terms, points out Harishchandra.
Nepal has banned several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, for failing to register with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. The ban affects millions of Nepalese citizens and has drawn criticism from journalists and freedom of expression advocates.
The order draws sharp reactions from the Opposition NCP-SP and Shiv Sena- UBT leaders who called it an infringement of people's food choices.
With the lady's retelling of history, it is perhaps time for Narendrabhai's government -- which is already remodelling the central vista in the national capital -- to commission a fresh sculpture to replace Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury's famous Gyarah Murti sculpture on Sardar Patel Marg -- depicting the Mahatma and 10 other freedom fighters during the Dandi March in Gujarat 90 years ago -- with folks madam says got us Indians freedom seven years ago.
A Bangladeshi court has sent 16 people, including veterans of the 1971 Liberation War, to jail under the Anti-Terrorism Act after a mob disrupted their public discussion.
'They were born stars the day they were selected for this film.'
Responding to the 'Women, Reclaim the Night' call given on social media by commoners, college students, home-makers and employees of offices will congregate in key thoroughfares in small towns and big cities, including in various parts of Kolkata.
As an over-enthusiastic activist put it, it was "freedom at midnight" for the Telangana supporters. The entire region burst in to unprecedented celebrations at midnight after the Centre gave the nod for a separate state. Soon after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram made the announcement, the people, especially the youth, rushed out to the streets to witness history in the making.
BJP strategists are missing something somewhere, and they have not acknowledged it, to be able to repair it in good time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Often people outside paint a wrong picture of us of Kashmiris. We are not like that. We are cool and bindaas,' said the lady, a teacher, caressing my cheeks in the pressing crowds.
From royalty to a tea vendor-turned-politician's wife and from a first lady to a Bengali actress, the 18 Muslim women who treaded the hallowed corridors of power in the Lok Sabha are an eclectic mix, with each of them having an interesting backstory, but one common thread -- their path to power was always strewn with struggle and hurdles.
'According to JP, Indira Gandhi was not much of a danger to democracy. He said, it was Sanjay Gandhi and his gang.'
While India today is vastly different from the India of 1975, the need for vigilance against authoritarianism remains the same, asserts Utkarsh Mishra.
On that fateful day, Narayan, popularly known as JP and a fierce critic of the then-Indira Gandhi government, addressed a massive gathering at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.
'When you watch Freedom At Midnight, I want you to feel like you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.'
'Had these leaders known that Jinnah was dying...'
'Today, if someone spits on us, we are ready to kill them, but these men, without raising a hand, led the country to freedom and that's easier said than done.;
Uttam Ghosh riffs on a quote from Rushdie's double Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight Children to remind us what Freedom of Expression should mean to every human being.
'I have no idea why I was so many film-makers' choice for Jinnah. I assume it is because I was born and bred in Mumbai and speak English.' 'There's also my name, people tend to believe that a Muslim character can best be played by a Muslim actor.'
Dhoom Dhaam is a medley of midnight shenanigans that oscillate between jumbled screenplay and out-of-place crusading, notes Sukanya Verma.
'About whether I'm worried it will blow up into something, no, I'm used to these things.' 'I am a voice in the city and have said quite a few things that may have ruffled feathers. But I stuck with them because it's your truth.'
Ram Madhvani's series is all over the place and also boring to watch, complains Deepa Gahlot.
'The opportunity to live as the Serpent excited me.'
'I am ashamed that you and I were born into the same faith -- because we are nothing alike. My religion is humanity. The Islam I know teaches me to protect the innocent. Yours celebrates slaughter, you #&$#@#. 'My Islam teaches me to serve my nation. Yours tells you to tear it apart,' writes Major Dr Mohommed Ali Shah (retd).
'Whatever you do will spark controversies, so it is best do what your heart tells you to do. Simple.'
The Noapara police station in West Bengal holds a unique historical connection to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who was briefly detained there in 1931. The police station commemorates this event every year on Netaji's birth anniversary. The station preserves the cup and saucer used to offer Netaji tea, which he refused, as well as a memorial room with photographs and books about his life. Visitors can pay homage to Netaji at the memorial room and a statue of him stands proudly outside the station.
'People think that because there are so many OTT platforms, roles should just fall into your lap. That's not true at all.'
Gandhi will now be seen in two upcoming OTT series -- Hansal Mehta's Gandhi, starring Pratik Gandhi in the title role, and Freedom at Midnight by Nikkhil Advani.
Musharraf called the Army "the saviour of Pakistan" and said: "Bina iske, Pakistan ka vajood nahi" (without the army, Pakistan has no identity). That was said as much for the domestic audience as for Uncle Sam.
Superheroes, snowmen, freedom fighters, Sukanya Verma lists everything the OTT channels have to offer this week.
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