'I was very wary about stepping into the limelight and the populist role like Sherlock Holmes, but the minute I saw who was involved and read the script and the quality of it I thought: I've got to do this.' Benedict Cumberbatch tells CNN International why he nearly turned down the chance to play Sherlock Homes.
'God had a bigger plan for me. It was never in my mind while growing up that I would end up in Bollywood or India.' Lauren Gottlieb dances into our lives, yet again.
'Let me talk about young Indian startups with their hearts in the right place and how they are proving that innovations that represent 'affordable excellence' -- breaking the myth that 'affordability' and 'excellence' cannot go together -- is indeed possible!' says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, in this fascinating feature.
The way the present government has dealt with appointments of civil servants remains to be a cause for concern.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, convicted in the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday told a court in Mumbai that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba wanted to eliminate Bal Thackeray but the person who was assigned the job to kill the late Shiv Sena chief was arrested.
'There is a storm of unrest brewing as a younger, more educated and independent India grows up. The government needs to realise that force may give them temporary respite but force never is the answer,' says filmmaker Suparn Verma.
When Michel Platini revamped the European Championship, turning the finals from a tough, lean 16-team tournament in 2012 into a flabby, 'roll up, anybody's welcome' 24-side affair in 2016, it was not surprising he ran into a blizzard of rebukes.
'For me, he was a bridge to lifelong friendships in a land where I had none.' 'He helped break barriers of language and suspicion.' Maharaj Damodardas salutes the one and only Rajinikanth!
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Virat Kohli, who turns 28 next month, is already one of India's most accomplished Test captains. Kohli's young Indian team thrashed New Zealand by 178 runs in the second Test on Monday, to dislodge arch-rivals Pakistan from the top spot in Tests rankings. The victory at Eden Gardens was also special for captain Kohli as he joined former legends Sunil Gavaskar and Tiger Pataudi with the number (9) of Test victories for India. Currently placed at 4th spot, Kohli is still some distance away from the 27 wins registered by MS Dhoni or the 21 victories achieved under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, but the 27-year old is slowly catching up with Mohammad Azharuddin (14 Tests wins) to get into the top 3 list. Catch India's Test captain Kohli in conversation with BCCI.tv about his journey as the leader of a young side.
Is the Bharatiya Janata Party back to its hackneyed Hindutva agenda? The question is being raised following the party's decision to entrust the leadership of the party's campaign for the forthcoming state bye-election in Uttar Pradesh to the saffron clad rabble-rouser Mahant Adityanath.
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi fails to live up to the expectations that he has raised, it will be entirely his fault. He should have started by ending the IAS
'The combination of the LeT and the ISI is the most dangerous terrorist challenge in the world because it carries a real and present danger of provoking nuclear war.'
'We will never really lose him because in death, his spirit, trapped in a frail body, has been set free and will surround us like the air we breathe.'
India and Russia on Thursday decided to expand cooperation in various sectors as they signed 16 pacts, including on joint manufacture of 226 military helicopters.
Her book is less of a Hindutva-loving diatribe against the Dynasty than its detractors suggest, but it is still hard to agree with much of what she writes, says Vir Sanghvi on Tavleen Singh's latest book.
'I don't care where I play my 100th Test. I didn't mind where I played my 50th; I don't mind where I play any of my Test matches. Representing my country is a great honour'
Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament and former investment manager Jayant Sinha on Friday said the country has potential to become a $5 trillion economy.
'This has been an ongoing process,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former consul general in San Francisco, 'but I believe a Modi visit to the West Coast can be a force-multiplier.'
'It is folly to think that religious-identity-based politics and a flourishing economy can co-exist in a diverse society.' 'We can fight and kill each other, or fight together and kill poverty. We cannot do both,' says Dasarathi G V.
Meet Cassie de Pecol, a 27-year-old traveller from Connecticut, United States, who visited 196 countries in 18-and-a-half months, making her the fastest person to visit every country in the world.
After a decade of acting in comic films, Riteish Deshmukh finally shows a versatile side with Ek Villain. The days ahead seem busy, with his production ventures and a kitty full of films.
Presenting an excerpt from Vaishnavi Nair's debut book OK Now, Who's My Santa?
Peter's lawyer paints Indrani as a master manipulator, looking to waste the court's time and use the media to manipulate public perception about his client. 'She is "trying to exonerate herself," the lawyer argues, and accuses Indrani of "trying to lay a trap" for Peter "and attempting to malign his reputation"...'
'We are a plural society that for centuries, not for 70 years, has lived in a certain ambience of acceptance.' 'It is under threat,' outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari tells Karan Thapar.
Meet the US Attorney who took on Donald Trump.
'Studying History, we come close to all of the messiness of human life -- we understand what motivates people, what makes them get along or go to war, what dreams they had for themselves and their futures.'
'How can Hindus protest efforts to ban an edition of the Gita in parts of Russia, and force a publisher to withdraw an academic critique of Hinduism, all in the same breath? It makes the Hindu community seem petty, self-serving, and hypocritical. Episodes like this allow Hinduism to be "owned" by the most conservative, intolerant, extremist voices. These people do not speak for me, and they certainly don't represent the form of Hinduism I practice and love," Princeton University's Hindu chaplain Vineet Chander tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
'From the beginning (I have told her) "Whatever it may be -- you are losing or winning -- on the ground you're not going to cry!" She never cried.' '"I don't want you to project that you are a loser. You are a winner".' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com speaks to Leela Raj about her famous daughter, now in the West Indies for the women's T20 World Cup.
'The present government's greatest weakness is its intolerance. Tolerance is the key tenet of democracy. How can any government stop someone from speaking one's mind?'
'The BJP should avoid escalating every local issue and minor provocation into a national crisis and claiming a 'holier than thou' monopoly on patriotism.' 'And the Opposition should avoid paying the government back in the same coin by crying wolf about intolerance at the slightest provocation.'
Retracing the journey that brought coffee from Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh to an upscale caf in the aristocratic district of Le Marais in Paris.
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To no one's surprise, the first question directed at Indian Ambassador to the United States Dr S Jaishankar -- at the end of his first public address since he assumed his duties in December -- was about the controversial Devyani Khobragade episode.
A never-seen-before Rahul Gandhi exuded toughness and aggression. And it was not only about the words he used to castigate the opposition but his dialogue delivery, facial expressions, overall body language that conveyed a different, more confident Gandhi, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
There is no war against Islam, but there is definitely one against Islamic radicalism, says Claude Smadja.
'The director has tried to be neutral. But Talvar won't leave the audience confused, for sure.'
'His Common Man, with his unforgettable bewildered look, will live on for a long time to come, as will so many of his cartoons. They captured important moments in half a century of India's political and social development that no words could.'
'Of the countless protagonists I encountered at the movies in 2015,' says Sukanya Verma, 'these seven are enduringly unique and notable. They possess that extra something that's not always on paper but earns distinction on the silver screen.'
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Expressing happiness over the turnout at his concert in Srinagar's Shalimar Bagh, renowned music conductor Zubin Mehta said performing in Kashmir was a dream come true for him. The Mumbai-born music conductor and German Ambassador Michael Steiner, who organised the concert, spoke to CNN-IBN over what motivated them to come to Kashmir.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his trips to Russia and China, notes that Moscow and New Delhi work together professionally and via a shared common approach on crucial issues.
PM Modi addressed a crowded UNESCO gathering, speaking of the importance of culture.
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