Shatranj Ke Khilari was Satyajit Ray's first Hindi film. The Master set the Premchand story against the backdrop of the First War of Independence in 1857. Bijoya Ray, his wife, reveals fascinating glimpses behind the making of the epic in this exclusive excerpt from her memoir.
'The second Sunday after Sholay's release, Amjad and Shehla had taken Shadaab to Juhu beach. They were strolling leisurely when, to Shehla's shock, he suddenly picked up their son, grabbed her hand and pulled her along, urging her to run. They raced towards their car and had just managed to get in and lock the doors when all hell broke loose. Hundreds started banging on the car, shouting, 'Gabbar Singh bahar niklo!''
'Editor M S Shinde deserves full credit because, I'm told, Ramesh Sippy had shot 300,000 feet of footage, which was brought down to 18,000. 'He died in 2012, in a 126 square foot flat in Dharavi, penniless, a forgotten hero.'
'The way the anticipation is built up for Gabbar Singh's introduction scene with sound, image and details of his personality, like the combat boots he wears.' 'The camera comes so close -- not a tele lens shot, but a wide-angle close-up -- that you can almost smell Gabbar's breath.'
'If you watch songs like Acha Ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jao Na, Lag Ja Gale or Jhumka Gira Re, you'll notice they're not just a distraction. There's a story unfolding within them.'
'Suchitra Sen threatened to leave, with the film only 80 per cent complete.'
Shatranj Ke Khilari was Satyajit Ray's first Hindi film. The Master set the Premchand story against the backdrop of the First War of Independence in 1857. Bijoya Ray, his wife, reveals fascinating glimpses behind the making of the epic in this exclusive excerpt from her memoir.
A retired school headmaster from Jhalda, West Bengal, mourned the loss of his 33-year-old son, an Intelligence Bureau officer, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. The incident sparked outrage and calls for justice as families and political leaders expressed grief and condemned the attack. The victims' families recounted the horrifying details of the attack and praised the courage of a local taxi driver who rescued survivors and provided support.
'What is fascinating about Aamir sir is that the audience in him is still alive and throbbing.' 'He still cries. He still laughs.'
Deven Verma passed away into the ages on December 2. We re-publish an interview done with the veteran actor.
Moushumi Chatterjee on her co-stars and how they guided her throughout her career.
'It hasn't wrinkled because truth doesn't wrinkle. It's like fire; it burns every time you touch it.'
'I didn't like doing jhatak-mataks. I would subconsciously start feeling, 'Oh my God, my makeup man and my driver will be watching this.''
An extensive drug trafficking network operating throughout north India, with a particular focus on Shimla, has been busted following the arrest of two individuals - one from Kolkata and one from Delhi. The syndicate used online platforms for booking drugs, misusing innocent people's accounts and delivering drugs through couriers. Police have frozen 21 accounts associated with the network and arrested 16 individuals, including the kingpin, Sandeep Shah.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
Last Wednesday, protestors demanding demolition of a portion of a mosque in Sanjauli area of Shimla had a scuffle with the police and 10 people were injured.
In a special series, we will put YOU to the test everyday!
A railway staffer has been taken into custody for stealing 10 "harmless" detonators that went off on a track during the passing of a military special train in Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Monday.
Havells India, the country's largest listed consumer electrical company, reported a mixed performance in the 2024-25 (FY25) October-December quarter (Q3). While the top line benefited from festival demand, lower margins impacted operational performance.
With the RLD part of the NDA now, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan would expect an easier contest than five years back when the RLD, SP and BSP had an alliance.
'I have turned my back on film direction. That is a closed chapter. But I will continue to make films because I feel that there is a need in the Indian audience to watch movies of both kinds -- the escapist films that comfort them and also the movies that jolt and trouble them.' Mahesh Bhatt discusses one of his best directed films, Saaransh.
Rehana Sultan was all set to be a path-breaker. The time was right. Hindi cinema had emerged from the 1960s musicals era. But somehow, leading film-makers of the time did not believe Rehana had that cachet. It was Zeenat Aman who ended up being the definitive taboo-trasher of the era. Dinesh Raheja salutes the trendsetter of the 1970s, Rehana Sultan.
As a uniquely multi-hyphenated writer-director-lyricist-author, Gulzar has built a reputation across multiple spheres of film-making and literary creative endeavours. Dinesh Raheja salutes the Master who turns 90 on Sunday.
>The success of Stree 2, which emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film, was significant to PVR Inox's performance in the July-September quarter.
'Do films today even have the courage to question the establishment?'
Sukanya Verma compares yesteryear stars and the contemporary ones at about approximately the same age and the results are glaring.
The agency had last week arrested Alam's personal secretary and state administrative service officer Sanjeev Kumar Lal (52) and the latter's domestic help Jahangir Alam (42) following the seizure of more than Rs 32 crore cash from a flat linked to them.
Zeenat Aman shares pictures from Shammi Kapoor's directorial debut Manoranjan where she played a sex worker, Nisha and spoke in detail about how the moral police had a field day because of her flirtatious and sexy outfits in the film.
Sanjeev Kumar alias Sanjeev 'Mukhiya', an alleged kingpin behind the NEET paper leak, was not only minting money but wanted to become an MP or MLA.
Salim-Javed became the first Hindi film writers who could be considered brands, and they are still boldface names, celebrities in their own right, chronicles Dinesh Raheja.
Two Central Reserve Police Force personnel also sustained injuries during the heavy exchange of fire that happened at Jakurador Karong in the Borobekra sub-division, they said.
'We believe these five days should get roughly about 5 to 5.5 million people or more into the cinemas.'
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two persons including a key accused in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak case who allegedly stole the paper from a National Testing Agency's trunk in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, officials said Tuesday.
Five people were killed and over 45 are missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, where rain washed away many houses, bridges and roads, the officials said on Thursday.
It's been a busy weekend for Bollywood, and Mumbai's heavy rains did not deter them from going about their business.
Amid escalating tensions over the Sinjauli mosque in Shimla, a Muslim welfare committee on Thursday urged the municipal commissioner to seal the unauthorised portion and also offered to demolish it in accordance with a court order.
The statement implicated members of the Mukhiya gang, accused of orchestrating multiple interstate paper leaks, as the source of the leaked answer sheet.
Alamgir Alam had distanced himself from the activities of Lal while speaking to reporters after the ED raids, pointing out that he had earlier served with other ministers of the state government too.
Justice C Hari Shankar said the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act and all other laws seek to neutralise disability so that a differently abled person and his peers stand on equal footing, which is the "heart" of the theory of equal opportunity and the Constitution.
Protestors demanding the demolition of an illegal structure in a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area were lathi-charged by security forces on Wednesday after they broke police barricades during a demonstration.
