1 year ago
'Aap Ki Kachehri' may be extended owing to popularity
New Delhi, Jan 8 - Reality show 'Aap Ki Kachehri' featuring former top cop Kiran Bedi might be extended by 52 episodes owing to its popularity among the audience. Siddharth Basu, who heads Synergy Adlabs, the production house behind the show, revealed that STAR Plus has invited them to extend the series, originally commissioned for 52 episodes. 'We are looking closely at the feasibility,' he tol ... read more

1 year ago
B.R. Chopra - master of socially relevant filmmaking
Mumbai, Nov 5 - He's the man who gave us 'Naya Daur' in the 1950s that dealt with the conflict between man and machine as well as the kitschy 'Mahabharat' in the 1980s that brought the epic alive on the small screen. Baldev Raj Chopra, the iconoclast filmmaker, managed to successfully strike a balance between socially relevant and commercial cinema. Chopra, who crossed over from Lahore to New De ... read more

1 year ago
Servants and masters -- the Chatterley trial
It was one of the defining legal battles of the twentieth century. A courtroom drama which tackled issues of class, gender relations, sexuality, morality and censorship head on. But though thousands of words have been penned debating the literary merits of the book since it appeared on our shelves, the famous obscenity trial which led to the publication of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover h ... read more

1 year ago
Test Sobhraj for HIV, agony aunt advises fiancee
Kathmandu, July 26 - After facing brickbats and reported torture threats over her controversial engagement to yesteryear's criminal mastermind Charles Sobhraj, it is now the turn of his 20-year-old Nepali fiancee to receive unsolicited advice. Ask your betrothed to undergo an HIV test, an agony aunt has advised Nihita Biswas, the high school student who shot to the headlines worldwide this month ... read more

1 year ago
'Shaurya', brilliant film on army, valour and conscience
Film: 'Shaurya'; Cast: Rahul Bose, Javed Jaffrey, Kay Kay Menon, Minissha Lamba, Deepak Dobriyal; Director: Samar Khan; Rating: *** 1/2 It takes vision and courage to make a film about the de-escalating valour and plummeting morale of the Indian Army. 'Shaurya' is about the army, but it isn't a war film. The battles are all fought at the level of individual conscience. But never does it get prea ... read more

1 year ago
Bollywood romance with men in uniform continues
New Delhi, Mar 30 - Powerful fables of valour and courage of the Indian armed forces have always made for a good script for the Hindi film industry in war times. But the men in uniform seem to be hot favourites even in peacetime and the latest to hit the marquee is 'Shaurya'. Releasing Friday 'Shaurya', which is journalist-turned-director Samar Khan's second directorial venture, is the latest mo ... read more

1 year ago
Don't rip off Hollywood films: Ravi Chopra
Mumbai, March 7 - Even as Bollywood producers continue to remake, rip off, adapt and modify films from foreign sources, producer-director Ravi Chopra is at peace for having lawfully purchased the rights of Jonathan Lynn's 1992 courtroom drama 'My Cousin Vinny'. Chopra's film is titled 'Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai' and stars Govinda, Lara Dutta, Tabu and Boman Irani. 'The film hardly looks like 'My Cou ... read more

1 year ago
'Michael Clayton' a cleverly crafted moral fable
Film: 'Michael Clayton'; Cast: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack; Director: Tony Gilroy; Rating:*** There is an arresting interlude in the first 40 minutes of this engaging, though not gripping, drama on legalese - where that interesting and charismatic actor George Clooney drives his fantasy-ridden son to school. You can tell from Clooney's responses to his ... read more

New Delhi | 2 years ago
Supreme Court to examine ordinance on Delhi colonies
New Delhi, Oct 8 - The Supreme Court Monday decided to examine the central government's ordinance granting 15,000 unauthorised colonies in New Delhi immunity from demolition and other punitive measures till the end of the next year.A bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat issued notices to the union urban development ministry, the Delhi government, the Delhi Development Authority -, the Municipal ... read more

Berlin | 2 years ago
Germans still fascinated by the Baader-Meinhof gang
Berlin, Aug 31 - Hanns Martin Schleyer had almost reached home when his driver braked hard to avoid a car that cut in front of him and a pushchair that rolled across the other side of the road.The police escort vehicle following the head of West Germany's powerful employers' association did not have time to stop and slammed into the back of Schleyer's Mercedes. Suddenly a group of terrorists appea ... read more