'Only the prime minister can take the initiative in reaching out to his opponents. The fact that he has been reluctant to do so, leaving it to the Arun Jaitleys and Venkaiah Naidus to hold out the olive branch, has given the Opposition the chance of pointing to his aloofness,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The Bollywood veteran celebrated her birthday on Sunday, September 8.
Jolted by the shock loss to New Zealand in the opening game, India will be fighting a survival battle quite early in the tournament when they take on arch foes Pakistan in what is being seen as the marquee clash of the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. The hosts, who started clear title-favourites, were in for a blow in the first match itself when New Zealand's spinners bamboozled their famed batting line-up on a turning Nagpur track. As a result, the world No.1 side is staring at an early elimination should it lose to Pakistan in the high-voltage game at the Eden Gardens. As is the case with most India-Pakistan contests, this game too has been preceded by its share of drama. The match was originally scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted here after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed inability to provide security to the Pakistan team owing to protests by ex-servicemen and their families.
'I have always considered Salman, Shah Rukh (Khan) and Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) to be bigger stars (than me). Kiran likes the look in the poster because when I hold her lovingly now, she says my body has become very hard. It was soft like a pillow before.' Aamir Khan gets candid at the poster launch of Dangal.
AAP is arguing quietly that indifference, alienation have to go. These are symptoms of disempowerment. For AAP, the battle to empower people demands new engagements with the marginals and corporations, says Shiv Visvanathan.
'If Ruttie had been alive, Jinnah would never have turned communal.'
'Where have we failed, as parents, teachers and leaders, that our children have forgotten all tenets of decent behaviour and respect for women?' President Pranab Mukherjee asks the nation on the eve of Republic Day.
Former Essex player Ian Pont, who is now engaged in coaching Indian bowlers in Bangalore, shares his views on the fallout-out from the Kevin Pietersen's tell-all book with Rediff.com's Manu Shankar.
We have let a woman of Italian origin rule us through a clever divide of administrative power centres, but far too many of us have not accepted her Indianness. We have every right to reject her politics and her corrupt government, but shouldn't her living most of her life here make her Indian enough?
Make modern meals from ancient grains.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap speaks to Harish Kotian/Rediff.com about his recent triumph over world No. 1 Chen Long of China and why he wants the Indian Badminton League to be revived.
18-year-old Paloma Sharma had never been to a fashion week until a few days ago. She writes about what it feels like to stick out like a sore thumb.
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
'We are completely engaged in fighting poverty; alas, our neighbour Pakistan seems only engaged in fighting us.'
Indrani chose at that moment to wave a folded chit from the accused enclosure. It distracted Bharti, who looked at her sharply for a split second before turning back to Pasbola. The chit was collected from Indrani and her lawyer Gunjan Mangla slipped it to Pasbola. He looked at it, quietly laughed in disbelief and continued with his cross examination.
'I have some more things to do on this planet that will make me happy. Just because I have become a grandfather doesn't mean I am ready for retirement.' Boman Irani gets ready for a new phase in his life.
When the high court delivered the stringent norms, which in no way eliminated the fun of the proceedings but made it safer, by requiring proper safety measures, there was an undercurrent of defiance. Sensing the adverse implications of loss of a mass contact platform, the government persuaded itself to seek a review, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
'Oommen Chandy may well prove to be the Teflon chief minister whose reputation cannot be tarnished,' predicts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Bajirao, an unorthodox leader, faced much opposition during his lifetime from the Brahmins of Pune. In the last hundred years or so, he has been ignored due to caste politics in Maharashtra where he has become a 'non person' for having been born a Brahmin, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'He was a legend, he changed kathak and brought it to a whole different level.' 'He held very high standards and his energy was beyond imagination. He was god-like to see; he expressed such positive vibes.' Amid dance and music, friends and family mourned the loss of Kathak maestro Pandit Chitresh Das, who passed away on January 4 of a heart ailment. Touching tributes were made for the great dancer. Ritu Jha/Rediff.com reports
There are 7 key rules one can follow to ensure that the chances of such fraud are almost reduced to a negligible level when shopping online, says Anil Rego
'I'm getting to play different characters now, from the ones in my earlier years, when I was a leading actor. Then, you fought with the villain and got the girl at the end of every film. Today, we have different shades of characters -- a man on wheelchair, a 13-year-old child, a mad character like mine in Shamitabh. The roles are wonderful.' Amitabh Bachchan gets ready for Wazir.
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
In the witness box, on bald embarrassing display, was not just Sub-Inspector Ganesh Dalvi, but the entire system of police investigation too.
What Sukanya Verma loves about Kenneth Branagh's extravagant vision is he gives us a Cinderella that's got a little more spirit and penchant for horse-riding if not the hand-drawn delicacy or singing prowess of her animated avatar.
This list goes ahead to prove that people still love the touristy spots!
Be it Oscars, Kareena Kapoor or Karan Johar, Sukanya Verma's super-filmi week is a study in grace for both the right and wrong reasons.
'Healthcare is so expensive that while it saves lives, it destroys more lives socially and financially.' 'While the poor gets wiped out, a middle-class man goes to a corporate hospital and after the treatment, he ends up below the poverty line.' 'Generally, hospitals would like to have patients who need procedures and operations.' 'They are not so fond of palliative care.' 'How much can be made from one hour of counselling? And how much can be made from one hour of an operation?'
India would look to reignite the spark and keep themselves afloat in the ODI cricket tri-series when they take on an unbeaten Australia in Sydney.
Ian Pont, a former Essex player and fast bowling coach, now at the Ultimate Pace Foundation in Bengaluru, analyses England's disastrous World Cup campaign in an exclusive conversation with Manu Shankar/Rediff.com.
Raja Sen's favourite bits from what was, overall, a glitzy but forgettable awards show.
Rinki Roy Bhattacharya pays tribute to her aunt Sonali Dasgupta, who eloped with filmmaker Roberto Rossellini in 1956, and then made a life in Europe.
'Our experience in Nagaland and Kashmir for the last 60 years has shown our insanity, defined by Albert Einstein as doing the same thing again and again and yet expecting different results,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The senior-most leader of the Shiv Sena brought it upon himself during the party's Dussera rally, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
FM needs to convince Indians to invest more in stocks.
'This may seem like a lyrical lamenting of a writer, but it is the sad reality in and outside the industry. In films, nine out of 10 times the writer's name is not mentioned in posters, publicity or even reviews.' Screenwriter Anjum Rajabali and actress-writer Preeti Mamgain hope to make way for Bollywood's writers.
Sukanya Verma lists the lessons Bollywood taught us this year.
How will the return of a majority government at the Centre, the new India-US friendship and the Mangalyaan triumph change India?
