'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
The year saw its share of news and views. But there were some that really stood out for our readers.
The Commission concluded that the bank officials had evidently been negligent in failing to compare the signature prior to making payment, notes Jehangir B Gai.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
'They must have thought that this kind of tapori language would please the common man, but they don't suit Hanumanji.'
Sakshi Malik revealed that her family is getting threats.
'In him resides a fierce lion of an actor who would have made Stanislavsky proud.' 'With Rocky he started with his body, his hair, his clothes; then his walk, his language, the constant listening to Punjabi hip hop and before long we couldn't differentiate between Ranveer and Rocky.'
'I received many threatening calls and letters.' 'A fatwa was issued against me.'
Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com captures some beautiful moments from the many events of 2023, when the stars weren't looking.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
'When I heard the tune for Abhi Na Jao I was bowled over.' 'Of course, I never knew it would be such a timeless rage.'
Factionalism is nothing new to Bihar cricket and the ugly infighting that has been running well over two decades has robbed the state of some notable talents, besides attracting the ire of the BCCI.
Often called Canada's version of Warren Buffet, Watsa preaches a long view that suggests it may be too early to assess his decision to take on a leading 10 per cent stake in BlackBerry.
Though the MLAs termed it a courtesy meeting, they said they will support Raje if the party leadership chooses her for the post in the state.
Sukanya Verma quizzes you to find out just how much you know about the movies.
Birj Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh becomes new WFI president
Jaya Bachchan has been a Dharmendra fan ever since she can remember.
'On the set, Ranveer and I got along really well. Ten days after the release, Ranveer messaged me and said, you have killed the scene! For someone like him to message me just says how supportive person he is of newcomers.'
A look at Mumbai's famous homes.
'When a common man's house is on fire, he is infused with extraordinary strength.' 'He will go to any length to save his home and family even if he is not as big and strong as Sunnyji.'
'While Rocky Aur Rani is a good film, there is nothing compelling in the content for which viewers would be ready to pay a premium.'
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
'It wasn't a happy time for us because Ibrahim was just three and we were very fond of the children. Tiger was really fond of Ibrahim and he would say, "That's a good lad." He didn't get that time with him. So we felt doubly deprived to lose Amrita and lose the two kids.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
Allu Arjun is the first Telugu actor to receive a National Award for Best Actor.
Hardly 24 hours have passed since the formation of the new wrestling federation and trouble has started brewing within the sports body with Secretary General Prem Chand Lochab demanding postponement of the junior Nationals, saying the President did not follow rules while announcing the dates for the competition.
A look at the hits and misses of the week.
Before you catch a brawny Prabhas as the Prince of Ayodhya in its VFX-heavy edition, Sukanya Verma looks at the many, many on screen portrayals of Ram over the years.
Shah Rukh Khan was snapped on his return to India from the US at Mumbai airport in the early hours of Wednesday.
'I introduced her around.' 'Her first audition was for Heropanti, but she did not get it.' 'Now she is doing movies regularly.' 'After her movie releases, she always calls me to ask if I have seen the movie and if I liked the way she acted.'
The point made by sociologist M N Srinivas, that it represented a Sanskritic act that was linked to caste, is never raised in Indian debates and the disapproval of drink is almost universal, notes Aakar Patel.
'I am a Delhi Bengali and I speak Punjabi.' 'Karan was looking at these two communities for Rocky and Rani, as well as the city of Delhi, as a setting.' 'So I guess it all fell in place.'
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
The UAE has played 21 ODIs in 20 years. The Indians have played 22 ODIs in 12 months. Prem Panicker surveys the landscape of the mismatched 'contest' at the WACA.
There are 763 registered voters among around a thousand residents of this remote village in Alirajpur assembly constituency, reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, but no candidate has bothered to visit the place, locals said on Thursday.
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
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