A promising young actor suffering from depression has had his life laid bare for the grubby public to paw through. An ordinary family has been pitched into the middle of a nightmare of an investigation and arrested for no reason discernible at present. And a young actress has had her reputation, and probably career, destroyed so that TRP ratings can soar, notes Sherna Gandhy.
Swaraj was admitted to All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) following a deterioration in her health. She passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Gokul wrote letters to the couple under the name of archbishop suggesting that they opt for a divorce, police said.
Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
Sonal lived the feminist slogan: The personal is political, in a way few feminists have been able to. She will be remembered and missed for doing this not with a dour self-righteousness, but with humour and a rare joie de vivre, remembers Jyoti Punwani.
'I don't think he would have ended his life if he knew that people loved him so much.'
Maradona was a uniquely gifted player who rose from the tough streets of Buenos Aires to reach the pinnacle of his sport.
'The last three decades were the era of D, where D stands for deforestation, destruction, degradation, disaster, damages, diseases, difficulties... and finally it leads to death.'
Malavika Sangghvi gives us fascinating glimpses from Dilip Kumar's life.
'The idea is to sideline you, box you up in a smaller box, so you don't go out of that.' 'The bigger boxes are for their own people.'
Tibetan refugees in India face a bleak future, says Greg C Bruno.
Aseem Chhabra lists the films that won his heart at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
By naming the 55-year-old lawyer and politician from California as his running mate, Biden made history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party's presidential ticket. If elected she would be the first ever women to be the vice president of the US and the first ever Indian-American and African vice president of the country.
'A poorly conceived reboot that's overlong, overdramatic and overdone, Love Aaj Kal simply cannot differentiate between pyaar and parody,' says Sukanya Verma.
'I have a voice and must use it to do as much as I can.'
Rediff.com looks at other sensational murder mysteries that left India shell-shocked.
In a long video message and a suicide note, Lalita has accused her in-laws and husband of "mental and physical harassment" over several issues, including dowry and her past.
As a mother, as a woman, as a human being, Savera R Someshwar is horrified by some of the provisions of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2016.
'Of all the PMs of India, I had the closest relationships with Morarji and Rajiv.' Mark Tully, the most famous foreign correspondent in India, remembers some encounters with prime ministers, dictators and militants.
'They pushed me out of the truck (carrying Rajesh Khanna's body) as well. What could be more mean than this? They didn't want me in the last journey. What can be more violent than this?' Anita Advani explains her case against Dimple Kapadia and her family.
>What happens when two teenagers -- one Israeli and one Palestinian -- discover that they were accidentally switched at birth? The Other Son is a wonderful vision of Israel and Palestine. There is no positive future for the region and its people without this vision, feels Aseem Chhabra.
Tales By Light is devoted to the kind of nature photography that appears on the pages of Nat Geo, but it exposes viewers to fascinating vistas that have only partly to do with photography, says Vikram Johri.
The prayer, Sarvejana Sukhinobhavantu, or let the whole universe of living beings be well, helps. So do profound and relevant Ancient Wise Words and aphorisms: Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, or the whole world is one big family, interconnected, interdependent. And a sense of humour, jokes, pranks, writing, conversations. And, last but definitely not least, the rippling waves of inner realisation on the background mind-track -- about the insignificance of ego, the importance of humility, the wasted opportunities in life, the wrong moves, the strokes of luck, the past 'sins', the what-ifs.
'Shah Rukh Khan is a born entertainer.' 'From five year olds to a 105 year old, Shah Rukh will charm and entertain everyone.' 'With Salman, a lot of people have come back intimidated.' 'But I enjoy my adventures with Salman because you just have to be yourself.'
The journey of getting used to a new way of life -- without domestic help, without the necessity of dressing up to step out and just staying cooped up indoors -- has been out of the ordinary, equal parts good, bad and ugly.
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
AIADMK leaders want Chinamma to succeed Amma as party general secretary, but it is not a done deal yet.
Every psychiatrist and psychologist Rediff.com spoke to said one thing: Avoid news channels and social media.
'What guides Monsoon Wedding through and through is Mira Nair's openness as a film-maker,' observes Sreehari Nair.
Women like men who are confident, chivalrous, well-mannered, says Love Guru.
Dealing with the Sirisena government in Sri Lanka, says G Ganapathy Subramaniam, is a lot easier for India than engaging with the Rajapaksa regime.
For 40 years they held out against the social institution of marriage, holding strong to their views that their love did not need the sanctity of a thaali (mangalsutra). They were barely out of their teens when they first met each other. In a year, they had made the decision to live together and over the next four decades that's precisely what they did. Live, work, have a child and nurture their family -- the thought of legalising their union never occurred to Kunjukunju and Leelamani.
'Woman need to be respected much more in our country. But choices should be allowed for women as well as men. I don't care about the box office collections of Ki & Ka; I care about the thoughts and conversation that it brings on. Every actor has that one film in their filmography where they pushed the envelope further.' Arjun Kapoor takes on new challenges with Ki & Ka.
'What matters right now is what I am able to do in these times of distress for the people of J&K.'
ACN Nambiar's life was extraordinary and intricately linked to momentous turns in history. Having lived in Europe for five decades, he was witness to and entangled with what we today -- with the benefit of hindsight -- call recent history.
Three or four stars are disproportionately powerful in the industry. All the others in Bollywood, no matter how talented, must be aligned to one of these stars or be reconciled to doing small movies with the others, says Aakar Patel.
Pakistan, which has propped up the new Taliban leadership, would be keen to use its influence over the group to neutralise India's presence in the region.
Aseem Chhabra is impressed by Rima Das's Bulbul Can Sing, Ritesh Batra's Photograph and eight other outstanding films.
