Sejal Shah's flatly-narrated timeline would probably serve better as a documentary, observes Sukanya Verma.
On Saadat Hasan Manto's 100th birth anniversary, writer-lyricist-ad filmmaker Prasoon Joshi talks about the writer who he first couldn't fathom and was prohibited from reading and yet went on to become one of his favourites.
Director Pan Nalin is prepared to cast Aamir opposite recent Oscar winner Kate Winslet for a film based on the short story Toba Tek Singh by Saadat Hasan Manto.
Based on the life of prolific Indo-Pakistani author and playwright Saadat Hasan Manto, the film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title role.
Bollywood gets together for a special screening.
In a special series, we will put YOU to the test everyday!
Who rocked the sari style best in the British Raj? Sukanya Verma asks you to take a poll.
The legendary film festival has a strong Indian flavour this year.
Sreehari Nair introduces you to three promising movies coming up.
An effortless artist at all times, Surekha Sikri's emotional eloquence and authoritative presence showed a knack for turning moments into meaning.
Check out what's happening in Cannes!
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
If Manto, the film, falls short of being a masterpiece it's because Nandita Das could not quite crack the Manto code: She couldn't quite see the wholeness of her subject with the same eyes that Manto saw his people. This imperfection in the film, in a way, becomes the greatest tribute to Manto, feels Sreehari Nair.
'Many Indians are not voting mostly on the basis of issues like the economy and their own well-being as measured by data provided by the government.' 'They seem to be as concerned and perhaps more concerned about other things, especially those that have to do with the harassment of India's minorities,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Sukanya Verma lists some of Bollywood's delightful reel-life husband and wife jodis in the last few years.
Sunil Sethi caught the coronavirus. This is what happened next.
'When you have a gentle character, people tend to define them as meek.' 'Today's brash understanding of strength is very masculine, of somebody who is aggressive.'
Sukanya Verma curates an impressive list.
'Manto is the only writer to grasp what the project of Pakistan would eventually mean,' says Aakar Patel, who has translated a collection of Saadat Hasan Manto's essays in a just-released book Why I Write.
'My speculation is that the BCCI believes that it is dangerous for credible insiders to stay outside its area of influence. It wants people like these three cricketers inside the tent rather than outside it,' says Aakar Patel.
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'The defence minister should concentrate on acquiring a bigger stick, rather than brag of using terrorists as State policy.'
'Allah is there above and, with him as witness, I am giving you this money. If my Mariam's letter arrives, you must deliver it.' The clerk stood still in astonishment. 'Where must it be delivered?' 'Upon my grave!'
It is time India started taking part in chats about itself instead of trying to ban them
'Few practitioners of yoga doing the Surya Namaskar, including lakhs of Americans and Europeans, see it as a form of worshipping the sun. They do it because it is good exercise.' 'In my view Muslim groups need to be more flexible on such things and not present their problem in terms that are confrontational.' 'Having said that, are they over-reacting? The history and the background of the government and its ministers would lead us to believe otherwise,' says Aakar Patel.
'Will Modi succeed with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan? He will not, because cultural change does not come purely from legislation and never overnight. It comes internally and this is something Gandhi understood,' says Aakar Patel.
'Modi deliberately chose such unhinged people because they said what he wanted to, but couldn't,' says Aakar Patel.
'People were apprehensive when I cast Nawaz. Especially after Sacred Games, people told me you are diminishing Manto.' 'But he is an actor and actors don't diminish.'
'Despite its noble attempts, tight editing, terrific sound design, good performances and a compelling story, Hotel Mumbai tells a big lie.'
Aseem Chhabra mourns the passing of the gentle and knowledgeable Mr K D Singh, who owned a quaint bookshop in New Delhi.
'Muslim actors like Dilip Kumar thought they had to give themselves Hindu names to be acceptable. Was their caution justified?' 'My view is that Indians, of all faiths, are tolerant. Secular is a complicated word and I do not know if I can use it in this instance. Tolerance is something that is inherently Subcontinental.'
'If 25 black men had been executed illegally in the US in one day, the government would have fallen and the population would have rallied to the victims. In India, those of us who did not applaud the police only yawned,' says Aakar Patel.
'I salute Dixit and Qureshi for playing roles that are not in line with what mainstream Bollywood expects of its female stars,' says Aseem Chhabra, noting how Dedh Ishqiya makes important points in the most nuanced way.
Nandita Das on why she wants to make Manto so badly.
In four years, Rekhta has become the largest online repository for Urdu poetry and literature in the world, says Veenu Sandhu.
'On both sides of our cultural divide, it roused strong emotions that had very little to do with the language and its literature.' 'I felt Sanskrit had been removed from the realm of thought, and made an object of politics and piety, of oppression, of reverence and contempt.' 'It was my aim to avoid these things, and go straight to the language which, as an object for the mind, is among the most exquisite ever made.'
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