Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has criticized the BJP for its allegations that elements in the American "deep state" were behind attempts to destabilize India, saying this "attack-dog" behavior is an embarrassment to India. Tharoor's comments come after the US rejected the BJP's allegations, describing them as "disappointing" and asserting that the US government is a champion of media freedom. The BJP had alleged that the US deep state colluded with the media portal OCCRP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to "damage" India's image.
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
'Women' as a political constituency appears to be an idea that has come of age. It is changing India in ways that we only dimly understand, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
2023 is the year of records. So many have been broken and so many more milestones achieved.
Beginning with the bird's eye view of itself -- a narrow state of hills, rivers and high population density, in a tapering part of the Indian subcontinent. It can be a beautiful place shaped by aesthetic founded in appropriate lifestyle and progressive views, or a junkyard shaped by money and what money buys. The choice is Kerala's, notes Shyam G Menon.
Noting that Muslim girls are doing "so well" everywhere and so they need encouragement, Khan also said they do not need to be pushed down.
Payal Kapadia's understanding of what it means to be a woman is as poignant as her authentic portrait of Mumbai's hoi polloi, observes Sukanya Verma.
Arjun Menon looks at 2024's top Web series from South India.
'We give them problems so that they can come up with solutions using the technological skills they have learnt.' 'In fact, changemaking and problem solving are interchangeable, in a way.'
If the DMK is able to sustain the momentum until the assembly polls, the AIADMK especially and the PMK and possibly the infant TVK too would find it hard to sign up with the BJP, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Any language I know or character I can convincingly portray is an opportunity, immaterial of which industry it's in.'
Tamil Nadu and Kerala are voting in single-phase for 234 and 140 assembly constituencies respectively.
Aseem Chhabra picks his top 10 Indian films of 2024, which includes films that have had theatrical releases or are streaming on OTT.
Is there more than meets the eye to Kitex Garments, the world's second-largest children's garment producer, abandoning Kerala for Telangana?
Through Manorathangal, M T Vasudevan Nair makes himself available to a whole new generation of uninitiated viewers, who can familiarise themselves with his rich body of work and hope to learn a thing or two about life in all its messy grandeur and flawed imperfections, notes Arjun Menon.
Sreejesh and Aneeshya have two children -- son Sreeansh and daughter Anusree.
Nadda claimed that over the years the number of people listening to the PM's programme has increased each month.
Do not underestimate the ingenuity of the Deep State in America to have its way. Keeping the guard down will be a catastrophic mistake on the part of the Delhi establishment. We could get hit when least expected. That's what happened in Bangladesh and Syria, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Apparently rattled by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's Malabar tour, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly, V D Satheesan on Tuesday said any kind of sectarianism or parallel activities would not be allowed in the party and warned that such moves would be dealt with 'seriously'.
'Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I would write a book one day.'
The Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards were held at Mumbai's Taj Lands End hotel on February 20.
Sukanya Verma raises a toast to the top female performers of 2024.
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
Rediff.com's Satish Bodas takes us on a trip to Kerala with these stunning pictures.
The stock of Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals has shed about 12 per cent since the start of the month due to a muted near-term outlook. Demand slowdown across segments and pre-buying in cooling products in the June quarter are expected to weigh on revenues going ahead. In addition to pre-buying in the preceding quarter, demand conditions are soft on account of lower consumer spending due to inflationary conditions, weakness in rural demand and the fact that Q2 remains a soft quarter after a strong summer.
'Healthcare is not an industry.' 'The government is only encouraging insurance as they are not able to provide healthcare to people.' 'Opening new medical colleges is not what is needed.' 'You have to invest in public sector hospitals.' 'You cannot hand over healthcare to the private industry.'
The big Independence Day holiday weekend always has big releases vying for space, and this year too, there's going to be quite a clash at the box office.
'The film-literate public in Kerala are not happy watching run-of-the-mill movies.'
Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale ends up being a flashy, aspirational celebrity lifestyle doc that is aimed for an evening of popcorn-fueled fan tribute entertainment, observes Arjun Menon.
The much-awaited report of the Justice Hema Committee, the government-appointed panel in 2019 that studied issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, comprises explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment being faced by women.
'Suddenly the audience pool feels bigger, like everyone is watching everything now.' 'It's no longer limited in terms of boundaries, like a state or a language.' 'Whether it's a series, a movie or even a Korean film, the audience has access to all of it.' 'Slowly, the boundaries are blurring, so that's great for actors.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of not addressing the problem of Manipur even during the debate on the violence in the northeastern state in Parliament a few days ago.
'Not many films have a reference to a creature who talks, emotes, acts in a film. And Munjya is doing all of it.
They saluted 'the hands that weave timeless stories'.
How wonderful it would be for all of us to watch the Oscar ceremony on March 2, 2025 and watch AWIAL win an Oscar, notes Aseem Chhabra.
The Moplah rebellion, also known as the Mappila riots, of 1921 was one of the first manifestations of the Taliban mindset in India and the Left government in Kerala was allegedly trying to whitewash it by celebrating it as a communist revolution, Rashtriya Swayasevak Sangh leader Ram Madhav claimed on Thursday.
More than Rs 10 lakh was collected during the fund raising event.
While super hits like Jawaan are missing this year, it has been filled with a range of medium-range hits such as Crew, Teri Baaton Ne Uljhaa Diya and Guntur Kaaram, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The humiliating rebuff given to the power brokers in Delhi in Kerala's local body election carries a big message: Malayalis thoroughly disapprove of the Modi government's shenanigans to misuse central agencies to destabilise a genuinely popular state government, notes M K Bhadrakumar.
