Tharoor later told reporters in the national capital that he heard about the award on Tuesday and that he was not going for the ceremony.
Film folk like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Karan Johar, Vicky Kaushal and Pritam attend RSS' centenary celebrations in Mumbai.
Film folk turned up in large numbers to celebrate Producer and real estate developer Anand Pandit's 62nd birthday in Mumbai over the weekend.
Shashi Tharoor categorically stated that he would not accept an award named after VD Savarkar, nor attend a related event, even as a senior party colleague wanted the Congress MP to not accept any honour named after the ideologue whom he claimed "bowed before the British."
"I owe it to Veer Savarkar, to his spirit, to his legacy and to his untold story so that I tell it well and it reaches people, and people absorb it and feel what he went through and all the sacrifices that he made, which have been brushed under the carpet."
Ahmedabad proposed as host city for 2031 World Athletics C''ships and 2028 World U20 C''ships
Mandaviya was accompanied by officials from the Swimming Federation of India (SFI).
India claimed four bronze medals on the final day to wrap up their most successful Asian Aquatics Championships with 13 medals even as China asserted their dominance by winning a staggering 49 medals, including 38 gold, in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
With the kind of money and talent that has gone into making this movie, a really good biopic of a personality like Savarkar could be made. But this film is lost in polemics, as is the case with almost every biopic and period drama today, observes Utkarsh Mishra.
Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj dazzled on the opening day of the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships, clinching the 200m freestyle silver medal in the elite continental competition in over 16 years, in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
India's Mehak Sharma won a silver medal in women's +86kg category while Lovepreet Singh settled for a bronze in men's +110kg on the concluding day of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships
A post by the oil ministry featuring V.D. Savarkar alongside Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters has drawn criticism from the Congress party, accusing the BJP of distorting history.
As Hrithik Roshan announces his plans to turn direct films, one looks forward to an altogether different grammar coming into action.
A local Shiv Sena (UBT) leader has threatened to blacken Rahul Gandhi's face for his remarks about freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, sparking a strong reaction from Congress leaders in Maharashtra. The threat, made by Bala Darade, a deputy city unit chief of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in Nashik, could put the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) under strain. The Congress leadership has condemned the threat, stating that their party believes in non-violence but is capable of responding to such threats.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded the Bharat Ratna for Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, calling for the highest civilian honor to be bestowed upon the late leader on the occasion of his 99th birth anniversary. Party leader Sanjay Raut criticized the BJP-led government for awarding the Bharat Ratna to individuals he deemed undeserving and argued that Thackeray, who he described as the "sower of Hindutva seeds," deserves the honor. Raut also emphasized the significance of Thackeray's upcoming birth centenary, asserting that awarding him the Bharat Ratna before the centenary would also be an honor for Veer Savarkar.
Members of a Buddhist outfit allegedly vandalised road signboards named after Mughal and Delhi Sultanate rulers in Lutyens' Delhi on Friday. The Bharatiya Baudh Sangh members covered the signboards that come under the jurisdiction of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) with black spray paint. Veer Savarkar Marg was pasted over the signboard of Shahjahan Road, Ahilya Bai Marg was pasted over Tughlaq Lane, Maharishi Valmiki Marg was pasted over Akbar Road and Balasaheb Thackeray Marg over Humayun Road. The incident follows the March 20 defacement of Akbar Road's signboard by unidentified individuals protesting the alleged vandalism of Maharana Pratap's statue at Kashmiri Gate ISBT.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to the memory of freedom fighter V D Savarkar in Marseille, France, where Savarkar had attempted a daring escape from British custody in 1910. Modi also inaugurated a new Indian Consulate in the city, marking a significant step in strengthening India-France ties. The prime minister's visit includes a series of engagements with French President Emmanuel Macron, including a visit to the Mazargues War Cemetery to honor Indian soldiers who died in the World Wars. They will also tour the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.
Neither films were rejected by the audience, something that has happened with so many recent, mid-budget films.
Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ashish Shelar attacked the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi ahead of his upcoming visit to Maharashtra and sought an apology for his remarks on 'reservation ' and 'Veer Savarkar'.
'Everyone should understand that Laapataa Ladies is not the only best film in India.' 'It is one of the best films out of these 29 entries.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf offers a ready reckoner on Javed Akhtar's great great grandfather Fazl e Haq Khairabadi who fought the British empire during the 1857 Mutiny and was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in Port Blair.
'He surprised us by telling us he wanted to make a career in acting.' 'We were scared since we knew nothing of this profession but then, he landed a role in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding.' 'After seeing him holding his own on screen, we decided to let the boy pursue his passion.'
'Jaat is not just a community, an agent, or an individual; it's an emotion.'
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde wondered whether Indira Gandhi was also anti-Constitution as she had praised Savarkar as a "remarkable son of India".
Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies has been picked as India's official entry for Oscars 2025.
'One hopes the younger generation sees Savarkar him for what he was and does not view him through a distorted prism.' 'This is the least one could do for someone who devoted his whole life to Indian freedom struggle, elimination of caste, succour to Dalits, and instilling of strategic culture in India,' says Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
A court in Maharashtra's Nashik district has summoned Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for his alleged objectionable remarks against Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party as an 'aapda' (disaster) for Delhi, saying this 'aapda' had taken the national capital in its grip in the past 10 years.
Many of our leading men and women are also all for dramatic physical transformation for the sake of artistic authenticity.
Last Friday saw the release of India's 'most violent film ever', Kill.
Power couples and STARS at a wedding reception.
There was so much glamour on the red carpet at the Zee Cine awards held in Mumbai on Sunday, March 10!
'The Opposition thinks since the ruling party is following Savarkar's Hindutva philosophy, they want to regain their lost political mileage (by attacking Savarkar).' 'By doing so, they think they will get their power back.'
Manoj Bajpayee's 100th film earned Rs 6 million in its first weekend.
In her first engagement in Port Blair, the President laid a wreath at the Martyrs Column and visited the Cellular Jail complex and museum. She also witnessed the light and sound show at the Cellular Jail.
Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday didn't join his cabinet colleagues Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in visiting the Nagpur-based memorial of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder.
May offers a mix of original Web series and digital movie premieres on OTT.
Rahul Gandhi can never be Savarkar even by a long shot because the freedom fighter neither travelled abroad for six months of the year nor sought help from foreigners against his country, Thakur said.
Shah said the decision was taken to free the nation from colonial imprints as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands had an "unparalleled place" in the country's freedom struggle and history.
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