'She's chatty, accessible and gregarious but doesn't exude the command and charisma required to attract the viewer's attention or contestant's anxiety' Sukanya Verma on why she is unimpressed with the Happy New Year director's hosting stint on Bigg Boss Halla Bol.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his gesture of congratulating him after winning the Lok Sabha elections, saying he did not expect him to reach out after their "nasty" spat.
Business consultant by profession and an endurance runner by passion, Sumedha Mahajan, author of just-released book Miles to Run Before I Sleep, created history when she ran as the only woman in a team of five from Delhi to Mumbai in 2012. In a conversation with Rediff.com, Sumedha truns the spotlight on the big takeaway from the event that changed her life.
Prominent journalists have been giving the HRD minister a hall pass, asking her about politics and TRP-generating issues rather than focusing on her visions for the country's education sector.
The Congress has never given India a PM who was a prisoner of his or her own image, said Rahul Gandhi at the party's MPs' meet.
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.
Rs 200-cr burden likely for TV rating agencies.
India-Pak face-off saw brands pay up to Rs 20 lakh in last-minute spot buying.
'It would be rude to reject a girl who kisses me. So I kissed Diandra back. There was nothing more than that. I am going to marry the girl that my mother chooses for me.' Bigg Boss 8 winner Gautam Gulati is ready to move on.
'The industry is all about money. It has nothing to do with talent and calibre,' Kay Kay Menon tells Sonil Dedhia/ Rediff.com
'I went to the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mumbai, and a lady starting cursing me. A man in Shirdi temple asked why I had come there when my conduct in Balika Vadhu was wrong! It's not easy. People have liked, hated, liked and again hated me.' Balika Vadhu's Jagya -- Shashank Vyas -- moves on from the show.
As far as the opening episode of Bigg Boss 9 goes, it relies heavily on its superstar host's impish impulses to prevent it from being a complete slog, write Sukanya Verma.
Drashti Dhami on marriage, her TV comeback and how she's balancing it all.
'I may not indulge in chest thumping to express my patriotism every day.' 'I may be cynical about many things happening in our country.' 'I may not roar Bharat Mata Ki Jai at the top of my voice. But I still love my country, just as one loves one's parents with all their weaknesses.' 'Does that make me any less of a patriot?' asks Shobha Warrier.
That most newsrooms, high on the 'exclusive' interview with a fugitive living overseas, are not able to perceive this distrust is a reflection of the disconnect today's media has with reality
Following her spat, 'Aunty National' Irani took to Facebook to speak out against her detractors. Here's the Facebook post in response to her critics which Rediff.com represents verbatim:
Durba Dhyani gets lessons in patriotism from a retired general.
'To identify with the common man, Modi had to look like one.' 'The disastrous suit with his name written on it never made its reappearance.' 'Frequent dress changes during the day, which led Arvind Kejriwal to calculate that Modi spent crores on his attire ever year, too stopped.' 'Instead, a newer Modi emerged: Humble and eager to serve.' Narendra Modi has cleverly repositioned himself as a man of the masses in the past three years, says Aditi Phadnis.
'There is no remorse over the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq or of Pehlu Khan by cow vigilante groups.' 'But should you not have remorse for those who came to kill them?' 'They were Hindus. Do you accept that?' 'That to kill one Pehlu, 20 Hindus have become murderers.' Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Ravish Kumar.
Purab Kohli on fatherhood, Rock On!! 2, POW and more...
Ronit Roy talks about the second season of Adaalat and his upcoming Hollywood and Bollywood projects.
'The mood was very sombre on the sets on the last day when Sanju was around. Imagine what he must have undergone that day!' Director Rensil D'Silva discusses his latest film Ungli.
'When the same rotten paratha is served to someone year after year, it shocks them when all of a sudden there is a change in taste.' Kay Kay Menon justifies why he took up Yudh.
These chat show performers contribute to the noise, not clarity, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
'People, who think Sunny Leone comes with baggage, are all humbug. She has made people look at the porn industry with a lot of respect.' Gautami Kapoor on husband Ram Kapoor, Sunny Leone, and her new TV show, Tere Sheher Mein.
'I have yet to hear a public debate in which someone has not blamed women being out late for the unwelcome attention they get,' says Sherna Gandhy. 'Unfortunately, rape is not seen as the utterly heinous act it is. Not by large numbers of the public who think it is an occupational hazard of being a woman -- nor by the law enforcement agencies.'
'I do not require validation from a hostile media. My conscience is clear.'
'The response to terror is not always reciprocal terror, nor is launching a conventional response the best response.' 'The best response is to make the sponsor pay a price he cannot afford,' says former RA&W chief Vikram Sood.
'Three security challenges could emerge shortly. The possibility (almost bordering on certainty) is as certain as the fact that night follows day: A terrorist attack by a Pakistan-based group. Chinese intrusion on the border.Communal tension/riots.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) explains what the Modi Sarkar needs to be prepared for.
On Monday, soon after the election results were out, Ambassador T P Sreenivasan contributed a column to Rediff.com, 'Lessons for Shashi Tharoor from diminished victory', to which the newly re-elected MP from Thiruvananthapuram responds.
'My parents once went to watch Rajkumar Kohli's Insaniyat Ke Dushman. In the film, I "rape" Anita Raaj. My father was very upset. My mother left the theatre. Years later, my father asked me to do a positive role with a heroine like Hema Malini. Unfortunately, I never got to do that. I played her brother-in-law in Satte Pe Satta. Now in Ramesh Sippy's Shimla Mirch, I am romancing her but my father is not alive to see it.' Shakti Kapoor, straight from the heart.
Pavan Malhotra, one of our finest actors, shows us another side of Bollywood.
'There cannot be any compromise on that. After all, all instrumentalities of the State have been made to serve it. Why was the Constitution made? It was made to serve the cause of India.'
26/11 survivor Anamika Gupta on her unforgettable encounters with the terrorists.