Kapil Dev's historic World Cup win wasn't the only highlight of 1983. Sukanya Verma looks back how the year treated Bollywood.
While players and teams from other participating nations can venture out as and when they wish, individual outings are a big 'No' for the Pakistani players. They are allowed to visit places in groups only and have to mandatorily inform the security a day in advance.
The hit parade of well-made movies continues, ticket sales are creeping up and OTTs are upping the game in one of the best years for the film industry.
'There's no real rebellion, just a consuming love for fashion and faux feminism where every zinger flying out of their mouth sounds like something you've heard on a sitcom or favourited on your Pinterest wall,' notes Sukanya Verma.
It turns 20 and Mumbai will celebrate, says Avantika Bhuyan.
'Even when he moves beyond his traditional repertoire, he sticks to a template that does not take him too far from the viewer's gentler emotions,' notes Vikram Johri.
Sukanya Verma lists the 2018 films that impressive her.
'At a time when the news channels are screaming louder than the worst crowd, you can't be subtle if you really want to say something important,' Anubhav Sinha tells Bedika/PTI.
'I don't remember the last time I was this invested in the characters of a story since Doordarshan's golden age or early days of cable television boom,' applauds Sukanya Verma.
'Both Kangana and Rangoli really love me and that's because they give me so much of time and attention from their lives.'
'Of all artists who openly support the current political dispensation, she is far and away the finest,' argues Sreehari Nair. 'With the exception of perhaps Tabu, no Indian actress has done more to extend the range of the feminine mystique in Hindi cinema.'
Even after three decades, Mandi proves its lasting relevance and powerful impact on cinephile memory by inviting comparisons to Vidya Balan's Begum Jaan.
'The producer will wear these gold ornaments, but they will not part with Rs 30,000 or Rs 50,000 to pay the writer.'
'Made in Heaven plays well as a busy show; when it's hip, but without being hopeless,' feels Sreehari Nair.
Aseem Chhabra picks the scenes that left him impressed this year.
'That night -- when Gandhi won Best Picture at the 1983 Oscars -- belonged to India and it meant a lot to a young student like me, who was trying to establish his Indian identity among the Americans around him.' Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com, who worked as an extra on Richard Attenborough's acclaimed biopic, salutes the late legend.
Gajraj Rao's performance in Badhaai Ho is the finest by an actor in a Hindi film this year, applauds Sreehari Nair.
'Nobody laughed during the shooting. There were fights, swearing and what not. Tempers were high but the unit and the actors stayed on, and finally, the film was made. But it was like riding a wild horse!' Kundan Shah's last interview.
How many of the 319 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2018 have you seen?
Balasubramanian, 50, Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Cambridge University, has been recognised for his work as a co-inventor of Next Generation DNA sequencing, described as the most transformational advance in biology and medicine for decades.
Nikhil Lakshman remembers the times he spent with the legendary writer who passed into the ages six days before his 86th birthday.
'We still look at films with A-listers.' 'There is change, but it's minor.' 'We still haven't learnt how to invest in stories.'
Former editor of Femina magazine, Sathya Saran looks back at the Miss India pageant that changed the lives of two young women.
Is it just the glamour?
Rajiv Gandhi would have turned 72 on August 20. Had he lived. On a humid night 25 years ago, the former prime minister of India was murdered in cold blood by an LTTE suicide bomber. Neena Gopal was an eyewitness to the assassination, and in this exclusive extract from her new book, The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she reveals for the first time what she saw in Sriperumbudur that night.
'If at all,' says Suhasini Haidar, Foreign Affairs Editor, CNN-IBN, 'Devyani Khobragade is to avoid facing a full trial, the process of that negotiation must start immediately, for which the current acrimonious atmosphere must be improved. It is no more than the US was willing to do for Raymond Davis; the Italian government for its sailors; and India for Captain Sunil James and Vijayan in Togo. Devyani Khobragade is not accused of charges anywhere as serious they were, and whether Preet Bharara's office recognises it or not, she is a diplomat who represents a proud country that has taken the insult to her as a personal insult to the country.'
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