'For all of the tamasha about these meetings of Modi and the videshi desis, the reality is that they are just entertainment. The question to ask is what does this energy result in? The answer is: not much,' says Aakar Patel.
'It's very expensive for a girl to become an actress. I remember I was nominated at all the award shows for Tanu Weds Manu, and conscientiously, like a new actress, I attended all of them and I was bankrupt by the end of it! I had to find a costume stylist, a hair stylist, a makeup stylist...!' Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff.com gets inside Swara Bhaskar's mind.
'To be complimented for a fantastic performance after just viewing the trailer! This never happened to me before.' 'If you have given a party a mandate for five years, stop blaming it for everything under the sun.' 'My kind of films do not make stars. Now we, the actors, after years of struggle, have created a parallel industry where we have made a name for ourselves. But stars we are not nor can we be.' 'For a boy coming from a remote village of Bihar at the Indo-Nepal border where no transport was available to commute to the nearest town, even coming to Delhi and then Mumbai and finally watching himself on the silver screen was a huge thing!'
The jallikattu issue has revived pan-Tamil political sentiments especially among youths, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Alarming but true: Cosmetic surgery to get back at an ex is not uncommon. Ranjita Ganesan explores brutal beauty trends like "revenge surgery" and "vampire facial".
Shatrughan Sinha has never minced his word. No wonder then his biography is titled, Anything But Khamosh.
In this May 2014 interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com, the politically conscious Karnad spoke of why he is concerned about Modi coming to power.
'Amitabh Bachchan told me, "I don't appreciate other people doing my voice".'
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
Two young dhaakad designers tell us why they want to dress up the First Lady of Bollywood.
It turns out that there is serious money in funny business these days!
'For people who are fed on nothing else but the media, what were prejudices become facts of life.' 'What my neighbour may see as just news, for me is a source of fear, living as I do, surrounded by non-Muslims.' 'So I would say it is important to talk to a Muslim, be it your neighbour or your colleague.' 'Have that conversation about what's happening to Muslims.'
Aseem Chhabra on his friend, the firebrand Nepali journalist Kanak Mani Dixit, who was arrested last week. Aseem, who has known Dixit for 35 years, believes the charges are trumped up.
'Peddlers isn't a movie of grand cinematic achievements, but one of small yet startlingly original victories.'
'It is widely believed that such posts require lobbying. Maybe they do, but I can say this straight up, I did not lobby. This appointment has been on pure merit. My lobby is myself and I don't need to lobby,' Waman Kendre, newly-appointed director of NSD, tells Neeta Kolhatkar
Even as an enthused AIADMK cadre celebrate their Amma's return, if the Supreme Court stays the Karnataka high court judgment in the disproportionate assets case, Jayalalithaa may once again lose her chief ministership. R Ramasubramanian reports from Chennai.
How do you translate a first love into a profession? How do you become a writer once you set your heart on it? Susmita Bhattacharya, who once worked as a graphic designer in Mumbai, now teaches the basics of English to newcomers to Britain and is also a creative writing tutor. Her first novel The Normal State of Mind was published earlier this year after a grim battle with cancer.
'Not allowing people to speak or listen is the biggest act of anti-nationalism,' says Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, one of India's finest poets.
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