'The most difficult thing in the world is to convince someone to put Rs 20 crore on your movie script.'
Majaz, based on the life of Asraul Haq Majaz, the John Keats of Urdu poetry, marks Talat Aziz's debut as a composer in Hindi cinema. The film could have been an excellent biopic had it stuck to the poet's poetic self rather than his unfulfilled love, says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
'That way, it will be helpful for India because by April, temperatures will be in the late 30s and early 40s.' 'So, if we are able to sustain these 21 days, and go to that temperature zone, it will be a way of nature protecting us.'
She had got 849th rank in the 2014 civil services exam and was allotted the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise).
'His portrayal of Income Tax Commissioner Amay Patnaik relies on his firm footing as a man of consequence to pitch itself as a tribute to the IT department's unsung heroes.' 'It's the most I've enjoyed watching Ajay Devgn in a while,' says Sukanya Verma.
While Raju and Brijesh Saroj have found help from the Uttar Pradesh government as well as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Zahid Qureshi is struggling to make ends meet.
'...getting drenched in the rains, doing farm work, labour and sweating it out so that they can get their evening meals.' 'I want to tell them that this Ram Nath Kovind of Paraunkh village is going to Rashtrapati Bhavan as their representative.'
His father spent Rs 5 lakh on his studies. He works with a chartered accountant in Delhi for Rs 8,000 a month. He's excited at the thought of landing a job at Rs 17,000 -- even if it is as a sweeper.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
Centurion Rishabh Pant (118) led India to a spectacular 104-run win over Afghanistan to progress to the final of the Under-19 tri-series One-day cricket tournament in Kolkata on Friday.
Son of a mechanic from the Public Works Department, Ayush Sharma has not only won admission to the undergraduate programme at the prestigious American university, but also a full tuition waiver.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
President Pranab Mukherjee presented five Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and forty-three Padma Shri awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Gandhi accused BJP of re-inaugurating projects launched by the UPA dispensation.
Image Alert: These models will make your screen MELT.
'The BJP has latched on to the idea of nationalism, but the nationalism they advocate is not nationalism as we have understood it since the time of the freedom movement.' 'This is not secular nationalism, it is Hindu nationalism.' 'It is a form of nationalism that is exclusionary and it tends to conflate national interest with the government.' 'So, if you disagree with the government, for example, on surgical strikes or demonetisation, you are anti-national or holder of black money.'
'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
'After being a housewife for 13 years and a mother of three, I was put on stage with Shah Rukh Khan! I was trembling on stage and did not know what to do. From singing bhajans with Anup Jalota, I was doing hip-hop and item songs!' Baby Doll singer Kanika Kapoor tells us her inspirational story.
'Before my scene with Amitabh Bachchan, my father asked me, "You are acting opposite Amitji. Are you scared?"' 'I foolishly said, "No. He is an actor and so am I. He will say his lines and I will say mine. Why should I be scared?".'
Ecotrail Personal Care, a start-up by sisters Mauli and Grishma Teli, is the only company in India that makes halal cosmetics
Rajnath Singh, under whose stewardship the Bharatiya Janata Party has stormed to power with its highest-ever tally, took charge as the Union home minister.
Sudhir Bisht recalls the battle of 1984, in which UP's strongman H N Bahuguna was felled by Bollywood superstar turned political novice Amitabh Bachchan.
'Our grandparents' generation knew one another.' 'In our generation, you could go a lifetime without meeting someone from the other country,' British Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie tells Rahul Jacob.
'What has hit me between the eyes is Modi's seeming utter contempt for public perception of the yogi being an unrepentant bigot who also carries the baggage of many criminal cases against him,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
'Narendra Modi is single-handedly changing the formula to win elections. With money, human resources, mobile technology, the Internet, advance planning and tremendous confidence, he has spread his image more in UP villages than in urban areas.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports from Lucknow on how Team Modi is changing the rules of the election game.
Besides the polarisation in favour of the BJP, there could be other reasons for the under-representation of Muslims too, says Shafeeq Rahman.
Before the Supreme Court struck down Sec 66A of the IT Act, it was used with devastating effect against anyone posting critical comments online.
They aid patients needing drugs and doctors via their online venture.
'What we are today witnessing is the final act of the Pakistani army trying to retain its turf,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Saturday released the party's manifesto for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections promising to make efforts to ensure construction of Ram temple under constitutional provisions if voted to power.
'It's very tough for someone, who doesn't have a filmi background, to get work in Bollywood. It's not a smooth ride unless you are really lucky. But I think one has to be prepared for that. I must have given 30 auditions for films alone.' Rajkummar Rao survived the struggle to give us some brilliant films.
Medha is an organisation created with the idea of bringing in better employment opportunities and life for educated youth.
There is so much goodness in Garm Hava, says Aseem Chhabra/ Rediff.com
Our problem is that we look at these words from a non-Indic perspective, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
The Modi-Shah definition of secularism is, India is a confident, resurgent Hindu, and therefore secular, country.
Moments after a court in Delhi awarded the death penalty to the four men convicted of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student, a man emerged from the court and in one statement to the media, managed to deflect attention from the case that has shaken the nation, and from the issue of woman's safety, to himself.
'The animosity in the BJP against Swamy continued for a good more than thirty years.' 'It was only after herculean efforts by a reconstituted and more just RSS, that Swamy was finally inducted into the BJP in 2013.'
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