'Singhasan ke shoot ke din aaj bhi yaad hain... Nature ke beech, colourful costumes, heavy jewellery aur uss zamane ki grand sets ki vibe hi kuch aur thi.'
From sultry cabaret numbers to soul-stirring ghazals, Asha Bhosle crafted a sonic universe where boldness met beauty and mischief mingled with melancholy. Her voice didn't just soundtrack cinema, it liberated expression, challenged norms and gave generations permission to feel, flirt, ache and celebrate without restraint. Sukanya Verma salutes the legend.
This Women's Day, meet Shanti, the woman who makes so many lives easier even though hers is anything but.
'(Mahesh) Bhattsaab had wisely recommended him for the lead role, but I was young and stubborn then, and would instinctively push back against a producer's suggestion. I insisted on casting Shiney Ahuja as Daya Shankar. While he was excellent, in retrospect, I realise Irrfan would have taken the character to a different level altogether.'
Mumbai-based caretaker Suchita Sawant tells us how she raised her son, funded his education and continues to support herself financially and brings smiles and comfort in the lives of several elderly and helpless patients.
Akshay Kumar opens up about his upcoming horror-comedy Bhooth Bangla, and reveals his fitness philosophy: 'Fitness should not be an instant coffee or two-minute noodles.'
Shor was a masterpiece and the song Ek Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai, Maujon Ki Ravaani Hai, Zindagi Aur Kuch Bhi Nahin, Teri Meri Kahaani Hai plays in my mind every time I think of my sweet wife, who passed away nine years ago. A Ganesh Nadar applauds the fabulous songs in Manoj Kumar movies.
Dinesh Raheja celebrates Lata's 96th birth anniversary on September 28 by picking some choice examples of her non-typical songs that are tinged with a rare eroticism.
'Star didn't think Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was good enough to come immediately after KBC.' 'Except for Ekta, no one imagined it would become such a hit.'
'I will do it again. I am ready to put my life in danger a second time. This is my land, this is my responsibility'
In the dangal of UP politics, much as Muzaffarnagar wants to leave its past behind, the shadows are never be far behind.
'I went to Nagpur for my engineering. I used to model there, those amateur fashion shows. Then you know, I thought why not try my luck in films and all?'
Sukanya Verma quizzes you to find out just how much you know about the movies.
'Here are 25 stories special to me for one reason too many,' says Sukanya Verma who scored 25 years writing about the movies last week.
Afsar Dayatar/Rediff.com brings us moments from the film's music launch.
'...changed my image, changed everything.' 'Now I make calls with great confidence.' 'Day before yesterday, I sent a message to a director that I heard you are making a film, is there any role for me?' 'I have confidence now. Earlier, I could never do.'
'Ek ghante ke andar humare paas 78,000 calls aaye.' '78,000!'
Narendra Modi is set to address a huge political rally in Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Monday, January 2. The PM is expected to make some big announcements at the rally, his first after the 50-day deadline on demonetisation curbs expires. Utkarsh Mishra imagines what Modi will say at the rally, dubbed as Lucknow's 'biggest ever.'
Lata Mangeshkar has never tasted alcohol. Yet, she has sung some extraordinary songs about intoxication.
If he wasn't an actor, Aamir Khan could have made an excellent life coach.
The best analysis of politics does not come out of air conditioned newsrooms, but from the voices on India's streets. Rakesh Kumar Singhal -- once an army jawan, then an ONGC employee, then a tea shopwallah -- reveals why he left the Congress for Modi.
Sukanya Verma salutes most beloved Rishi Kapoor melodies.
'Today's cricketers are amazing, they know everything, but still you find a few cricketers, they have a talent, but their mind is not there.'
On his 90th birthday, Sukanya Verma highlights a fraction of the legend's marvelous versatility in this curated list of his 25 unique moods.
What The Fame Game showcases is the depth and marvels of Madhuri as she switches between star and human, mother and woman, notes Sukanya Verma.
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'Bola nikal jao. Sala firing karte hai Russi.'
A pregnant woman is murdered in cold blood in the heart of suburban Mumbai. By her father who didn't want her to marry the man she did.
There are no two views on which way the 'hawa' is blowing. It's Akhilesh Yadav -- with or without his father. Akhilesh, with or without the Congress Party.
Throughout, Mekhail spoke calmly, with hardly an inflection making even the barest attempt to hijack his tone. His tone was so empty it made his narrative all the more touching. And ugly and grey, as the monsoon sky beyond the window.
Just 20 years old, Inderlal Kamalsingh Dhurve is a migrant labourer, a part-time farmer, a sole breadwinner and one of four survivors from the group that was mowed down by a goods train near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 10 days ago, claiming 16 lives.
Sukanya Verma presents a playlist of 100 Lata Mangeshkar songs from different decades of Hindi films -- songs that make me sing, smile, sob and sigh.
Sukanya Verma salutes the legend and celebrates some of the finest soundtracks of his career.
'The source of our music, the very notes of music itself have fallen silent.'
The ripping off the lid, that Mekhail did, on the chain of episodes that lead up to his sister's murder, while condemning Indrani for her actions, for the first time, paradoxically, allowed a more human -- if flawed and complicated -- picture to emerge of Indrani, allegedly The Woman Who Killed Her Own Daughter and shocked a nation.
One couldn't help feeling a certain melancholy viewing these now vagrant documents and photographs that would never be rightfully cherished. The pictures spoke to you. They offered slices of extinguished lives. They breathed sadness too, for what could have been and will never be. The sweet promises that Life made and insolently, arrogantly never kept.
When it came to his cross examination by Sanjeev Khanna's lawyer Niranjan Mundargi, Imtiaz Shaikh appeared to be afflicted by that peculiar gap-in-one's-memory or Choosy Memory Syndrome with his recall of other dates in his life, except those directly related with the murder, shaky or non-existent.
'So much so we don't feel the need to create anything, but just bask in that glory.' 'It's time to move on.' 'How much burden can you put on a person or the legacy of the person?'
Kangana Ranaut's guts, Amitabh Bachchan's venomous threat and dark TV serials occupied Sukanya Verma's super-filmi week.