Can a film and the voice of its actor really influence us, and change our lives? I like to believe so, says Aseem Chhabra.
Here are Aseem Chhabra's picks -- 'films that mattered to me, entertained me and will stay with me through the year.'
'Before my scene with Amitabh Bachchan, my father asked me, "You are acting opposite Amitji. Are you scared?"' 'I foolishly said, "No. He is an actor and so am I. He will say his lines and I will say mine. Why should I be scared?".'
'For people who are fed on nothing else but the media, what were prejudices become facts of life.' 'What my neighbour may see as just news, for me is a source of fear, living as I do, surrounded by non-Muslims.' 'So I would say it is important to talk to a Muslim, be it your neighbour or your colleague.' 'Have that conversation about what's happening to Muslims.'
Dumb and Dumber To seems to be desperately trying to carve out an audience for itself in a world that has moved on.
Photographs from moments that shaped the world last week.
Nitish 'sent his emissary, Prashant Kishor, to me on five different occasions.' 'Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party's support to the JD-U, the latter would pull out of the BJP alliance and rejoin the Mahagathbandhan.' A revealing excerpt from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Gopalganj To Raisina: My Political Journey.
'She won the first prize in the state for chanting shlokas from the Gita.'
.gif)
The film has it's fair share of comic moments but they are few and far between to keep the audience engaged.
'After it was finished, Shah Jahan visited the Taj only twice.' 'There is a letter from Aurangzeb to him after a visit, reporting that the dome was leaking and needed to be fixed.' 'Shah Jahan wasn't bothered: He had moved on to designing his next project, Shahjahanabad,' reveals Aakar Patel.
Heard of poshitis, text neck? See what you can do to alter your habits and lead a healthy life.
Our busy schedules, our living conditions where sunlight is often a luxury, pollution as also social mores that frown upon exposure are collectively responsible.
Satyajit Ray. Films from Italy, Iceland and Albania feature on Aseem Chhabra's list.
In what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind in the United Kingdom, an Indian woman who had an arranged marriage with a mentally disabled British Sikh man has been warned that she faces life in prison if she were to sleep with her husband.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who will demit office as the Chief Justice of India in a week's time, has etched his name in the annals of history by giving finality to one of the most politically and religiously sensitive cases, the Ayodhya land dispute, which dates back to even before the Supreme Court came into existence in 1950.
'The entire journey was beautifully nourished and I was very lucky that Lion came out the way it did. Otherwise, I would have really regretted it.' Priyanka Bose is ready to take her film Lion to the Oscars.
'If somebody drinks heavily or has obesity and diabetes, the first step is to see a physician for assessing if they have liver disease.' 'And, if so, how much damage has been done to their liver.'
A sedentary lifestyle can strain your metabolism, where you end up burning only one calorie per minute!
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he regretted causing pain to people by not choosing the "right words" sometimes and uttering "wrong thing" even as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton termed the statement as a mere "well-written phrase".
The 84-year-old Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner has given some of the best talents to Indian cinema.
'In a competitive industry where no one has a formula for success other than the actor's personal appeal, the need to dominate the news cycle in the interim between films is so overpowering that even the otherwise sober stars can suffer a Ghajini moment,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Indian-origin Dr Vivek H Murthy expresses his reservations on marijuana, now legalised in two US states
Phil Hughes, who died on Thursday aged 25, will forever be remembered as one of Australian cricket's free spirits.
Siddhartha Kaul, president of SOS Children's Villages International that has been involved in earthquake relief work in Nepal, speaks to Rashme Sehgal.
'I believe politics was imposed on it by the censor board, when it gave the film's trailer an A certificate, hoping to deny children, teenagers the opportunity to watch it during prime time television shows,' says Aseem Chhabra.
Her great grandfather began sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra. Her grandfather was an eight time MP. Her uncle is currently leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly. Her cousin joined the BJP on Tuesday, March 12. Nila Vikhe Patil, who could one day become prime minister of Sweden, unravels her India connections in an e-mail interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
After working on Mr India and Sagar, Partho Sen-Gupta left to study filmmaking in France at 26. He returns with the dark and moody Sunrise.
Who were they? What led them to mass murder?
Here are edited excerpts from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Kanimozhi's speech during which she pushed for sending the bill to a Select Committee, arguing that further examination was required to decide whether the age for punitive action should be reduced to 16 years from the current level of 18 years.
Zayn James Doddi loves cooking. As do these other young chefs. Take a look.
'Kumbalangi Nights is a movie that respects women, but most importantly, it's a movie that loves them,' says Sreehari Nair.
The Juvenile Justice Act that exempts minors from severe punishment could be changed to deliver tougher punishment to juveniles accused of heinous crimes like rape and murder, reports Anita Katyal
'There appears to be in the Indian polity a link between being Single and being of prime ministerial timber. It is a trend, a preponderance -- not a statistical verity,' says Dr Shashi K Pande.
'I changed because I wanted to excel myself at every point. It's important to look good and take care of yourself as there is so much competition. I have not done any surgery. My lips have always been like this. Today, my face is exactly how it was, when I was 16.' Shama Sikander up, close and personal.
'The new Indian cinema has still not found its voice and identity. It's trapped under the deadwood weight of Bollywood and popular Indian cinema.'
The United Nations has expressed concern over the killing and maiming of children who continue to be recruited and used as human shields by Maoists in India and over the threat of sexual violence against girls within Naxalite ranks.
'He was a magnificent looking man -- perhaps the best looking international actor of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, even in the current century. And quite definitely the first actor from Asia to make it big in the West,' says Aseem Chhabra.
Most adult Indians should have access to bank deposits, credit and remittance facilities as well as insurance and mutual fund products in the next decade, and technology will play a big role in this transformation, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'A lot of people in the West think that India has a very conservative culture, so we don't show much intimacy and sex in movies here. But I always say that, without sex, India won't have a population of over 1.2 billion people.'
You'd wonder what madness seized Rahul that he has decided to play to the BJP's strengths, says Shekhar Gupta.
