'As Rai spoke, in an unbelievably dead pan, almost off-the-cuff tone, about helping plan the murder of two youngsters, drugging them with vodka and whiskey spiked with dava (medicine), smothering one, dragging a body in rigor mortis out of a car, burning a corpse, destroying evidence, and so on, it felt like he was discussing nothing more surprising than the intricacies of the weather.'
Soulful strains of some of the most popular and best known western classical music compositions reverberated in the majestic backdrop of Zabarwan Hills when Zubin Mehta, world famous conductor, performed before a mesmerised audience in the Shalimar Gardens on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar on Saturday evening.
'Everything about you and your precious relationships spoke to me, stirred me and I wish you could hear how deeply you touched me,' Sukanya Verma says in her letter to Piku.
The incidence of corruption cases can be checked to a large extent if the suggestions already available with RBI and the government are taken seriously, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Trepidation made its home firmly on his face on Thursday, announcing its presence with lines of anxiety and the repeated jumpy widening of his eyes.
With the CBI ruling out bus conductor Ashok Kumar's involvement in Ryan International School student Pradhyumn Thakur's murder, his wife Mamata is hopeful of him getting bail on November 16. 'I just want my man to come home, I don't want anything else,' she tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar masterfully weaves a compelling human story, says Sukanya Verma.
Tuesday was the last that Courtroom 51 saw of Shyamvar Rai, accused No 3 and approver in the Sheena Bora murder trial. True to form, Rai's final hours in the witness box were rather acrimonious. His cross-examination at several points turned downright ugly.
'He never believes in loose talk.' 'If he is done with you, then you go your way, he goes his way.'
Indrani, radiant in an immaculate white and gold salwar-kurta that matched the moment, her hair open, a bindi gleaming on her forehead, beamed placidly, fully enjoying this small minute of victory.
'The youth have given New Delhi a chance. Now it is up to the policy-makers in Delhi to respect their political choices.'
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Saturday dismissed a petition against the Uttar Pradesh government's ban on Vishwa Hindu Parisha's proposed Yatra from Ayodhya.
BJP leader Ram Madhav's rant about Vice President Hamid Ansari's absence at the International Yoga Day celebrations goes deeper, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf, deep into their brain.
The attempts to unearth the document started getting more and more frantic. The clerks began to flip pages of files full of documents, some hand written, some bearing thick seals or multiple stamps, some in Hindi, some in Marathi. Several junior lawyers joined in, perusing different files and dockets. But in spite of the best of efforts the document was not to be found.
The four major Hindi general entertainment channels -- STAR Plus, Sony, Colors and ZEE -- have all launched music and dance reality shows in the 9-pm slot on weekends.
'Minorities should not fear a Modi sarkar... Who has given the right to kill in the name of religion? No one! You are not James Bond 007, that you will just take a shotgun and kill anybody at your whims and fancies. We are not living in a banana republic...' The inimitable Shatrughan Sinha on Narendra Modi as a dabbang action hero, what a Modi Sarkar would be like.
Three businessmen disclose their success mantras: One belongs to an old Marwari family, another is a second generation industrialist whose father scripted an amazing rags-to-riches story and the third was a professional till one day he succumbed to the charms of entrepreneurship.
Paloma Sharma -- the only non-middle aged, non-canine member of the home -- on a Sunday spent at the bank.
In our special series revisiting great Hindi film classics, we look back at Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Babita's 1971 film, Kal Aaj Aur Kal.
'Most of the time we do close-ups you'll be looking at the camera or your main lead, your leading lady, is left of the camera, right of the camera -- she's never there. So, your best close-ups are looking at some unfortunate-looking assistant director or a cameraman. All the romantic close-ups I'm looking at some guy.' Salman Khan tells P Rajendran/ Rediff.com how he shoots his romantic scenes.
Not Mekhail. Not Rahul. Not anyone. 'Wouldn't someone have asked?' Indrani asked.
'I still fight with my sister.' 'I still get scolded by my mom.' 'I still travel by autos sometimes.'
'Promise less, exceed expectations' should be the lesson for the Modi government
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently completed one year in office, has, in an exclusive interview with Smita Prakash, editor, ANI, said the opposition alleging that his government is a "suit boot ki sarkar" is definitely better and more acceptable than being labelled a "suitcase" (ki sarkar), and satirically added, that after ruling for sixty years, the Congress has suddenly remembered the poor.
'Despite living in a free nation for so many years, if atrocities like rapes, public flogging, social boycotts are faced by Dalits, then conversion is the only option.'
'The threat that India faces and the threat the United States faces is not just to the homeland, but to our people and to our institutions wherever they may be.' In an exclusive conversation with Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com, US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal outlines the importance of Prime Minister Modi's visit for America.
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar speaks to Prasanna Zore/Rediff.com.
'Acting is a very crazy profession to be in. Mentally and emotionally we have to go into a particular zone and come out of it and keep on doing it. I am sure acting takes a toll on everyone and maybe that's why logon ko actors pagal lagte hai.' In the second part of a fun conversation, Tabu shares some beautiful nuggets with Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar and Sonil Dedhia.
Ishita Katyal, the youngest TEDx licensee ever from Asia impressed the world with her ideas at the TED Youth conference held in New York, November 14.
The full transcript of the exclusive interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In Sukanya Verma's special series re-visiting great Hindi film classics, we look back at 1960's Parakh, starring Sadhana, Motilal, Nazir Hussain and Durga Khote.
Akshay Manwani traces Aamir Khan's fascinating journey to stardom.
Saurabh Shukla, one of our finest character actors, on his life and movie career.
'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was the highest point of our life,' Lalit Pandit tells Subhash K Jha.
'When I was younger, 15 years or 20 years seemed like a really long time. But, as you journey though life, you don't realise where the years disappear...'
'The director has tried to be neutral. But Talvar won't leave the audience confused, for sure.'
'If I tried remaking my father's films, he might just come out of his grave and give me a tight slap.' 'Kareena doesn't want to have babies,' Randhir Kapoor tells Sonil Dedhia/Rediff.com
Shubir Rishi/Rediff.com speaks to rockstar saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan days before the release of the sequel, MSG 2.
Damu Nagar -- a shanty colony built around a hillock in Mumbai's northern suburb of Kandivali, abutting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, was engulfed in an inferno Monday, December 7, that left more than 2,000 homes gutted and thousands homeless. Residents displayed exemplary courage, camaraderie and chutzpah as they grappled with ways and means to overcome their personal catastrophes when Rediff.com visited them.
'When I was staying in Teen Batti (in south Mumbai), I had one washroom and we were 10 people. Today I have three washrooms and I am the only one using all of them. Can you see the quantum leap that I have taken in life?' Jackie Shroff gets candid.