'2016 may have been unkind, more than other years, but we are here and we owe it to the ones who are gone -- to live and love fully this wonderful gift of life,' says filmmaker Suparn Verma.
'India is likely to do better than other emerging markets.'
An astounding 11,400 athletes will travel from more than 200 countries to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In all, 20 nations will be represented by three or fewer athletes - including Afghanistan, Belize, Gambia and South Sudan - nine will be represented by only two competitors, and one country will be represented by a sole athlete. Sprinter Etimoni Timuani will carry the flag at the opening ceremony for the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu - the smallest delegation destined for Rio de Janeiro.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'Every time I step on stage, I feel like I'm performing the play for the first time,' Manoj Joshi tells Sadiya Updade.
'In the run-up to the summit, Trump had indicated that he might strike a nuclear deal in the course of a single meeting or over several days, but as it transpired, Trump departed Singapore soon after the meeting.' 'This raises questions if his aspirations for an ambitious outcome had been scaled back,' says Rajaram Panda.
Gajraj Rao's performance in Badhaai Ho is the finest by an actor in a Hindi film this year, applauds Sreehari Nair.
Raja Sen feels Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer is an unwarranted, atrocious remake.
Interstellar is an incredible ride, a film that will scare and stupefy and drop jaws and make us weep, the kind of film that makes our hearts thump against our ribs for forty straight-minutes and makes us believe in the glory of the movies.
'Tagore repeatedly denounced the "My country, right or wrong" attitude.' 'We often use the phrase "unity in diversity" like a cliche and often make diversity secondary, giving precedence to unity.' 'You do not have to shout from the rooftops that we are very tolerant.'
Christopher Nolan's next, Gulzar's gussa, Shyam Benegal's Shivaji and RD's Lawrence of Arabia connection, catch all this and more in Sukanya Verma's super filmi week.
Shah Rukh Khan yelps and squeaks and shrieks and bares fangs and pouts and, well, exhausts himself overcompensating at every step, despite nobody else in the film following this template.
Mythological and historical shows are lapped up not just by the young, but equally by grown men and women.
Alia Bhatt continues to impress while Shah Rukh Khan takes it easy in this lovely, thoughtful little film, applauds Raja Sen.
The Hundred-Foot Journey treats its Indian characters with respect, discovers Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com
Reema Kaur is one of the students on strike for nearly three months at the FTII. The Delhi resident feels the campus that had been a cocoon for her in the last three years has turned into a revolution ground demanding change -- and she is happy to be a part of it.
Beneath a street lamp in one of Rio de Janeiro's slums, 19-year-old boxer Wanderson de Oliveira does pull-ups from a metal bar outside the Fight for Peace academy while two skinny young boys watch intently. Much of the Complexo da Mar, a teeming neighborhood of 140,000 people near Rio's international airport, remains in the grip of drug gangs despite efforts to break their hold on the city's poor districts ahead of the August Olympic Games. Gang members brandishing automatic weapons inspect vehicles that enter Mar at a checkpoint, watchful for raids by rival crews or the police. Youths with machine guns patrol the streets or loll in plastic chairs at corner bars.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
They gave voices to sexual assault & harassment survivors across the world.
England's World Cup 2018 team, and remarkable similarities emerge between the XI expected to start the semi-final against Croatia
MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.
There is so much goodness in Garm Hava, says Aseem Chhabra/ Rediff.com
Dr Siras was a man determined to be a freak in the show called Life, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'You don't peak every week. One has to keep playing.' 'It's a sport where you have to play at least 25, 30 weeks a year.' 'You have to keep your head down and go with the flow.'
These girls are so H-O-T you just can't take your eyes off them!
On the second leg of his trip to Central Asia, Narendra Modi makes quite an impression in Astana, as he talks about terror and trade, films and the future
With Narendra Modi about to make his first Independence Day speech, there is a buzz in Delhi that Modi will make some big announcements to signal major reforms and directional shifts. But we have to wait and see if it happens, says Mohan Guruswamy.
While Sonu Sood stays consistent and Deepika inevitably dazzles, it is Shah Rukh himself who appears the most out of place, says Raja Sen.
Monisha Dudaney tells you how your partner will behave according to his/her star sign.
'Despite a quarter century since India began the uphill battle of moving away from its peculiar hybrid of imperial-feudal-socialism, it remains distressingly -- and sometimes reassuringly -- the country I left in 1986,' says Rahul Jacob.
'This is a movie, which if you allow it to, will wash itself all over you, so that you emerge from it a little drenched but wide awake,' says Sreehari Nair.
Have you heard of the Burning Man festival? Or the Monkey Buffet festival?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his over four-hour visit to the US Capitol established a personal rapport with top lawmakers and seems to have won over his critics.
Aseem Chhabra's take on the highlights of Indian cinema this year.
Her great grandfather began sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra. Her grandfather was an eight time MP. Her uncle is currently leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly. Her cousin joined the BJP on Tuesday, March 12. Nila Vikhe Patil, who could one day become prime minister of Sweden, unravels her India connections in an e-mail interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Chennai born Meera Mitun landed her first modelling break when she least expected it.
Moments after a court in Delhi awarded the death penalty to the four men convicted of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student, a man emerged from the court and in one statement to the media, managed to deflect attention from the case that has shaken the nation, and from the issue of woman's safety, to himself.
With tiger stripes and India in its logo, Gautom Menon wants the world to drink Indian.
At least 129 people were killed and 350 wounded -- of whom 99 were said to be in critical condition -- in a series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen in Paris at a concert hall, restaurants and the national sports stadium claimed by Islamic State jihadists.
