One of the most prolific filmmakers of his time, VB turns 50 August 4!
Looking at some of Bollywood's coldest film locations.
The aftermath of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan has led to an argument that there was no religion as Hinduism in Chola times.
Instead, there was only Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc, and that the Cholas were Saivites, and hence not Hindus, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'A great loss for the fraternity. Your work will be missed & cherished.'
'He was full of Hindustan, its tehzeeb and its culture.'
'This trope must have been taken in 30 films.' 'The rogue agent is a common trope and not something unique.'
Priyadarshan talks about De Dana Dan and why Akshay is his compensation for Mohanlal.
Smita Patil would have been 60 on October 17 had fate not cruelly snatched her from us in 1986. She was only 31 when she died. Rediff.com salutes the incomparable actress in a special series.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
Debates on changing the name of India to Bharat continue to spark a crisis of identity without answering moot questions that stare us in the face. Ramesh Menon asks a few of those questions that do not have easy answers.
'Usually, my characters are flawed but this one is extraordinary.' Kangana Ranaut discusses her new film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi.
Two double centuries, three movies over the Rs 150 crore mark and five centuries -- that's how the repertoire looks like for Karan Johar and his Dharma Productions.
'It was fun trying to regulate ourselves and keep it in the family zone and yet, be tongue-in-cheek.'
Prominent celebrity losers include national award-winning actor Suresh Gopi, comedian Dharmajan Bolgatty, actress Priyanka Anoop, actor-anchor Krishnakumar and television serial actor Vivek Gopan.
The 'Shatrughan Sinha of the South' plunges into politics.
Hours after receiving the National Award for Best Actress, Kangana Ranaut flew to Port Blair to pay homage to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar at the cellular jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the Hindu Mahasabha leader had been imprisoned during the early 20th century.
'In 2015 I watched films in so many places. I attended several film festivals around the world -- Berlin, Tribeca (New York), Telluride, Toronto, Zurich, Mumbai, Dharamsala and Goa,' says Aseem Chhabra, author of a forthcoming book on Shashi Kapoor.
'These days girls are quite independent. They are scared to settle down as they feel their freedom will be taken away. In Pesarattu, what the girl goes through is representative of the new-gen woman. They have this fear of life and marriage, Nikitha Narayan tells Radhika Rajamani/ Rediff.com
Their armies of acolytes, fans and supporters believe that both men are supermen, blessed with almost magical ability.
'There is a popular forward doing the rounds in Bangalore now, about Appu, that says, 'Kaanadanthe Mayavaadanu Namma Shiva, Kailasa Serikondanu' (our Shiva disappeared from sight and reached heaven.)' 'These are the words of a popular Kannada song that Appu sang as a child.' 'Nobody expected that he would actually live out the words of his song some day.'
'Many of Akshay's well-wishers feel this controversy has come up because of his interview with Modi to undermine his credibility.'
'I did a small role in Masoom.' 'Do you remember the scene where an old man brings Jugal Hansraj to Naseer's house?' 'I put on the full make-up of an old man and stood in front of Shekhar.' 'He had no choice but to take me.'
Island City should not be missed, raves Aseem Chhabra.
The actress, who turns feature film director with A Death in the Gunj, discusses the cinema she is comfortable with and why she loves being an outsider.
Set in the backdrop of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Santosh Sivan's Inam brings to light the plight of the thousands of hapless Lankan Tamils, who were caught in the crossfire between the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) and the Sri Lankan government.
Subhash K Jha celebrates Ajay Devgn as the movie star turns 53.
'We didn't expect the film to be recognised at this level; we focused on making an honest and simple film.' 'We didn't have any expectations even like being appreciated at festivals.'
Sukanya Verma looks at all the significant bald imagery of Bollywood through the years.
'Unfortunately, prostitution is looked down upon.' 'It should be legalised.' 'Imagine the sexual frustration in the country if it didn't exist!' Chunky Pandey tells Rediff.com's Ronjita Kulkarni how he bagged Begum Jaan and more.
The convicts, out on bail, were taken into the custody after the order was pronounced.
The suave actor of the world, sometimes called the last of the Mohicans and familiar to students of cinema anywhere in the globe, acted in 14 Ray films and over 300 others, gracefully transitioning into commercial cinema in a variety of roles.
With some variations, all regional political formations, whether in power presently or out of it, share some common features: Tight family control of the political apparatus, key members in elected or appointed positions, obvious wealth but not quite known sources of income, and family factionalism, sometimes open and bitter, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
The fact that Gehlot has stayed relevant these five years with his populist schemes is one reason why he may beat incumbency in a state that votes for change every election, observes Ramesh Menon.
'Just imagine, in 2015-16, we're shamelessly talking about women empowerment! What is more shameful than this? I decided to make a film where a woman's character would be strong and see where it goes.' Shoojit Sircar prepares us for PINK.
Unfazed by the widespread criticism of his comments against the Hindi film The Kashmir Files, Israeli director and IFFI international jury chair Nadav Lapid said he stands by his remarks as he "knows how to recognise propaganda disguised as a movie".
'He is not interested in cricket or football.' 'He is interested in singing, dancing and painting.' 'Right now, he thinks he's Lord Rama.'
'Masaan is history for me. This is another journey with Raman Raghav 2.0. You have to clean your slate after every film, and not let its success or failure affect you.' Vicky Kaushal moves on, with Raman Raghav 2.0.
'I feel I should do a lot of things.' 'When you have got that chance to do that, it's wonderful.'
