Portal:India
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Introduction
India (Hindi: Bhārat), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the second-most populous country, the seventh-largest country by land area, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity. Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest, unfolding as the language of the Rigveda, and recording the dawning of Hinduism in India. [disputed ] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin. Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief. In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia. (Full article...)
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Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (pronounced [soːnəm kəˈpuːr ]; née Kapoor; born 9 June 1985) is an Indian film actress who works in Hindi films. She has received a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award, and from 2012–2016, she appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list based on her income and popularity.
Kapoor, the daughter of actor Anil Kapoor, began her career as an assistant director on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2005 highly acclaimed drama Black. She later made her acting debut in Bhansali's romantic drama Saawariya (2007), a box office flop, and had her first commercial successes with the romantic comedy I Hate Luv Storys (2010) and the ensemble romantic comedy-drama Aisha (2010). However, this was followed by a series of commercial failures and repetitive roles, which garnered her negative reviews. The 2013 box office hit Raanjhanaa marked a turning point in Kapoor's career, garnering her praise and Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies. Kapoor had her biggest commercial successes with supporting roles in the biopics Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and Sanju (2018), and a leading role in the romance Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015); the latter two rank among the highest-grossing Bollywood films. Her highly acclaimed portrayal of Neerja Bhanot in the 2016 biographical thriller Neerja won her the National Film Award – Special Mention and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, and she followed it with a starring role in the 2018 female buddy film Veere Di Wedding, both of which rank among the highest-grossing female-led Hindi films.
Kapoor supports the raising awareness of breast cancer and LGBT rights. Known in the media for her outspoken personality, she is frequently credited as one of India's most trendy celebrities. She is married to the businessman, Anand Ahuja. (Full article...)- Lage Raho Munna Bhai (pronounced [ləˈɡeː rəˈɦoː mʊnːaːˈbʱaːi] (
listen); transl. Keep at it, Munna bro!) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is the follow-up to the 2003 film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. with Sanjay Dutt reprising his role as Munna Bhai, a Mumbai underworld don. In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the eponymous lead character starts to see the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi. Through his interactions with Gandhi, he begins to practice what he refers to as Gandhigiri (a neologism for Gandhism) to help ordinary people solve their problems.
The film won widespread critical acclaim from critics and had a number of prominent screenings. It was a box-office success and received a "blockbuster" rating by the website Box Office India after grossing over ₹1.270 billion (equivalent to ₹3.3 billion or US$46 million in 2019) worldwide. It was the recipient of a number of awards, including 4 National Film Awards. Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations, and was screened at the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The film popularised the term Gandhigiri. Vidhu Vinod Chopra submitted the film as an independent entry for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It was later remade in Telugu as Shankar Dada Zindabad (2007). (Full article...)
Typhoon Gay, also known as the Kavali Cyclone of 1989, was a small but powerful tropical cyclone which caused more than 800 fatalities in and around the Gulf of Thailand in November 1989. The worst typhoon to affect the Malay Peninsula in thirty-five years, Gay originated from a monsoon trough over the Gulf of Thailand in early November. Owing to favorable atmospheric conditions, the storm rapidly intensified, attaining winds over 120 km/h (75 mph) by 3 November. Later that day, Gay became the first typhoon since 1891 to make landfall in Thailand, striking Chumphon Province with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). The small storm emerged into the Bay of Bengal and gradually reorganized over the following days as it approached southeastern India. On 8 November, Gay attained its peak intensity as a Category 5-equivalent cyclone with winds of 260 km/h (160 mph). The cyclone then moved ashore near Kavali, Andhra Pradesh. Rapid weakening ensued inland, and Gay dissipated over Maharashtra early on 10 November.
The typhoon's rapid development took hundreds of vessels by surprise, leading to 275 offshore fatalities. Of these, 91 occurred after an oil drilling ship, the Seacrest, capsized amid 6–11 m (20–36 ft) swells. Across the Malay Peninsula, 588 people died from various storm-related incidents. Several towns in coastal Chumphon were destroyed. Losses throughout Thailand totaled ฿11 billion (US$497 million). Striking India as a powerful cyclone, Gay damaged or destroyed about 20,000 homes in Andhra Pradesh, leaving 100,000 people homeless. In that country, 69 deaths and ₹410 million (US$25.3 million) in damage were attributed to Gay. (Full article...)
The political history of the region on the Deccan Plateau in west-central peninsular India (Map 1) that was later divided into Mysore state and Coorg province saw many changes after the fall of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in 1565. The rise of Sultan Haidar Ali in 1761 introduced a new period.
At the height of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Mysore and Coorg region was ruled by diverse chieftains, or rajas ("little kings"). Each raja had the right to govern a small region, but also an obligation to supply soldiers and annual tribute for the empire's needs. After the empire's fall and the subsequent eastward move of the diminished ruling family, many chieftains tried to loosen their imperial bonds and expand their realms. Sensing opportunity amidst the new uncertainty, various powers from the north invaded the region. Among these were the Sultanate of Bijapur to the northwest, the Sultanate of Golconda to the northeast, the newly-formed Maratha empire farther northwest, and the major contemporary empire of India, the Mughal, which bounded all on the north. For much of the 17th century the tussles between the little kings and the big powers, and amongst the little kings, culminated in shifting sovereignties, loyalties, and borders. By the turn of the 18th century, the political landscape had become better defined: the northwestern hills were being ruled by the Nayaka rulers of Ikkeri, the southwestern—in the Western Ghats—by the Rajas of Coorg, the southern plains by the Wodeyar rulers of Mysore, all of which were Hindu dynasties; and the eastern and northeastern regions by the Muslim Nawabs of Arcot and Sira. Of these, Ikkeri and Coorg were independent, Mysore, although much-expanded, was formally a Mughal dependency, and Arcot and Sira, Mughal subahs (or provinces).
Mysore's expansions had been based on unstable alliances. When the alliances began to unravel, as they did during the next half-century, decay set in, presided over by politically and militarily inept kings. The Mughal governor, Nawab of Arcot, in a display of the still remaining reach of a declining Mughal empire, raided the Mysore capital, Seringapatam, to collect unpaid taxes. The Raja of Coorg began a war of attrition over territory in Mysore's western bordering regions. The Maratha empire invaded and exacted concessions of land. In the chaotic last decade of this period, a little-known Muslim cavalryman, Haidar Ali, seized power in Mysore. Under him, and in the decades following, Mysore was to expand again. It was to match all of southern India in size, and to pose the last serious threat to the new rising power on the subcontinent, the English East India Company. (Full article...)
Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश, IAST: Gaṇeśa), also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bali (Indonesia), Malaysia, Philippines and Bangladesh and in countries with large ethnic Indian populations including Fiji, Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists.
Although Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his elephant head. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles; the patron of arts and sciences; and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits.
An elephant–headed anthropomorphic figure on Indo-Greek coins from the 1st century BCE has been proposed by some scholars to be "incipient Ganesha", while others have suggested Ganesha may have been an emerging deity in India and southeast Asia around the 2nd-century CE based on the evidence from archaeological excavations in Mathura and outside India. Most certainly by the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta period, Ganesha was well established and had inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. Hindu mythology identifies him as the restored son of Parvati and Shiva of the Shaivism tradition, but he is a pan-Hindu god found in its various traditions. In the Ganapatya tradition of Hinduism, Ganesha is the supreme deity. The principal texts on Ganesha include the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Brahma Purana and Brahmanda Purana are other two Puranic genre encyclopaedic texts that deal with Ganesh. (Full article...)
Territory of the Western Chalukyas in India (c. 1100 CE) and its capital Kalyani in the modern Bidar district, Karnataka state, India
A large body of Western Chalukya literature in the Kannada language was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire (973–1200 CE) in what is now southern India. This dynasty, which ruled most of the western Deccan in South India is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya Dynasty after its royal capital at Kalyani (now Basavakalyan) and sometimes called the Later Chalukya Dynasty for its theoretical relationship to the 6th-century Chalukya dynasty of Badami. For a brief period (1162–1183), the Kalachuris of Kalyani, a dynasty of kings who had earlier migrated to the Karnataka region from central India and served as vassals for several generations, exploited the growing weakness of their overlords and annexed the Kalyani. Around 1183, the last Chalukya scion, Someshvara IV, overthrew the Kalachuris to regain control of the royal city. But his efforts were in vain, as other prominent Chalukya vassals in the Deccan, the Hoysalas, the Kakatiyas and the Seunas destroyed the remnants of the Chalukya power.
Kannada literature from this period is usually categorised into the linguistic phase called Old-Kannada. It constituted the bulk of the Chalukya court's textual production and pertained mostly to writings relating to the socio-religious development of the Jain faith. The earliest well-known writers belonging to the Shaiva faith are also from this period. Under the patronage of Kalachuri King Bijjala II, whose prime minister was the well-known Kannada poet and social reformer Basavanna, a native form of poetic literature called Vachana literature (lit "utterance", "saying" or "sentence") proliferated. The beginnings of the Vachana poetic tradition in the Kannada-speaking region trace back to the early 11th century. Kannada literature written in the champu metre, composed of prose and verse, was popularised by the Chalukyan court poets. However, with the advent of the Veerashaiva (lit, "brave devotees of the god Shiva") religious movement in the mid-12th century, poets favoured the native tripadi (three-line verse composed of eleven ganas or prosodic units), hadugabba (song-poem) and free verse metres for their poems.
Important literary contributions in Kannada were made not only by court poets, noblemen, royalty, ascetics and saints who wrote in the marga (mainstream) style, but also by commoners and artisans, including cobblers, weavers, cowherds and shepherds who wrote in the desi (folk) style. These Vachana poets (called Vachanakaras) revolutionised Kannada literature, rejecting traditional themes that eulogised kings and noblemen, and writing didactic poems that were closer to the spoken and sung form of the language. In addition to hundreds of male poets, over thirty female poets have been recorded, some of whom wrote along with their husbands. (Full article...)
The frontispiece of the 1920 edition of Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han
Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod (20 March 1782 – 18 November 1835) was an officer of the British East India Company and an Oriental scholar. He combined his official role and his amateur interests to create a series of works about the history and geography of India, and in particular the area then known as Rajputana that corresponds to the present day state of Rajasthan, and which Tod referred to as Rajast'han.
Tod was born in London and educated in Scotland. He joined the East India Company as a military officer and travelled to India in 1799 as a cadet in the Bengal Army. He rose quickly in rank, eventually becoming captain of an escort for an envoy in a Sindian royal court. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, during which Tod was involved in the intelligence department, he was appointed Political Agent for some areas of Rajputana. His task was to help unify the region under the control of the East India Company. During this period Tod conducted most of the research that he would later publish. Tod was initially successful in his official role, but his methods were questioned by other members of the East India Company. Over time, his work was restricted and his areas of oversight were significantly curtailed. In 1823, owing to declining health and reputation, Tod resigned his post as Political Agent and returned to England.
Back home in England, Tod published a number of academic works about Indian history and geography, most notably Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, based on materials collected during his travels. He retired from the military in 1826, and married Julia Clutterbuck that same year. He died in 1835, aged 53. (Full article...)- Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age following her complex relationship with a blind girl, played by Sayani Gupta. Revathi, Kuljeet Singh, and William Moseley play supporting roles. Produced by Bose in partnership with Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Margarita with a Straw was co-written by Bose and Nilesh Maniyar. The film deals with the challenging concepts of sexuality, inclusion, self-love, and self-acceptance.
Bose conceived the idea for the film in January 2011, during a conversation with Malini Chib—her sister and a disability rights activist—about the latter's desire to have a normal sex life. Inspired by Chib's story, Bose wrote the first draft of the film's script. After winning a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award for the draft, she modified the script to reflect her own perspective, incorporating several personal experiences into the narrative. Bose completed the screenplay with co-writer Maniyar and the advisory council of the Sundance Institute.
Bose was keen to cast an actress with cerebral palsy for the central part, but eventually hired Koechlin, who learnt the movements and speech patterns of people with the disorder. Filming took place in Delhi and New York in 2013, with Anne Misawa as the director of photography. The film was selected for the National Film Development Corporation of India's Work-in-Progress Lab initiative during post-production, which was completed in the latter half of 2013. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Mikey McCleary. (Full article...)
The 2000 Sri Lanka cyclone (IMD designation: BOB 06 JTWC designation: 04B) was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Sri Lanka since 1978. The fourth tropical storm and the second severe cyclonic storm of the 2000 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, it developed from an area of disturbed weather on December 25, 2000. It moved westward, and quickly strengthened under favorable conditions to reach top wind speeds of 75 mph (120 km/h). The cyclone hit eastern Sri Lanka at peak strength, then weakened slightly while crossing the island before making landfall over southern India on December 28. The storm degenerated into a remnant low later that day, before merging with another trough on the next day.
The storm was the first cyclone over Sri Lanka with winds of at least hurricane strength since a cyclone of 1978 hit the island in the 1978 season, as well as the first tropical storm to hit the island since 1992. The storm was also the first December tropical cyclone of hurricane intensity in the Bay of Bengal since 1996. It produced heavy rainfall and strong winds, damaging or destroying tens of thousands of houses and leaving up to 500,000 homeless. At least nine people died as a result of the cyclone. (Full article...)
Kalidas (transl. The Servant of Kali, pronounced [kaːɭidaːs]) is a 1931 Indian Tamil- and Telugu-language biographical film directed by H. M. Reddy and produced by Ardeshir Irani. It is notable for being the first sound film in the Tamil and Telugu languages, and the first sound film to be made in a language from South India. It was based on the life of the Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa; it featured P. G. Venkatesan in the title role and T. P. Rajalakshmi as the female lead, with L. V. Prasad, Thevaram Rajambal, T. Susheela Devi, J. Sushila, and M. S. Santhanalakshmi in supporting roles.
Kalidas, principally in Tamil, contained additional dialogue in Telugu and Hindi. While Rajalakshmi spoke Tamil, Venkatesan spoke only Telugu due to his lack of fluency in Tamil, and Prasad spoke only Hindi. Despite its mythological theme, the film featured songs from much later time periods, such as the compositions of Carnatic musician Tyagaraja, publicity songs of the Indian National Congress, and songs about Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian independence movement. The sound was recorded using German-made technology. Kalidas was shot in Bombay on the sets of India's first sound film Alam Ara (1931) and was completed in eight days.
Kalidas was released with high expectations on 31 October 1931, coinciding with Diwali day. It was the only South Indian film to be produced and released that year. Despite numerous technical flaws, it received critical acclaim, with praise for Rajalakshmi's singing performance, and became a major commercial success. The success of Kalidas spawned other films based upon Kālidāsa, including Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955), Mahakavi Kalidasu (1960) and Mahakavi Kalidas (1966). (Full article...)
Padukone at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival
Deepika Padukone (pronounced [d̪iːpɪka pəɖʊkoːɳeː] or [paːɖʊkoːɳ]; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress and producer who works in Hindi films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most popular personalities, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
Padukone, the daughter of the badminton player Prakash Padukone, was born in Copenhagen and raised in Bangalore. As a teenager, she played badminton in national level championships but left her career in the sport to become a fashion model. She soon received offers for film roles and made her acting debut in 2006 as the title character of the Kannada film Aishwarya. Padukone then played a dual role opposite Shah Rukh Khan in her first Bollywood release, the romance Om Shanti Om (2007), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Padukone received praise for her starring role in the romance Love Aaj Kal (2009), but this was followed by a brief setback.
The romantic comedy Cocktail (2012) marked a turning point in her career, and she gained further success with starring roles in the romantic comedies Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Chennai Express (both 2013), the heist comedy Happy New Year (2014), Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), and the Hollywood action film XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017). She also received critical acclaim for playing a character based on Juliet in Bhansali's tragic romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013) and a headstrong architect in the comedy-drama Piku (2015), winning two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. She formed her own company Ka Productions in 2018, under which she produced Chhapaak (2020), in which she also starred as an acid attack survivor. (Full article...)
Hrithik Roshan (English: /ˈrɪtɪk ˈrɒʃən/, born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including six Filmfares, four for Best Actor and one each for Best Debut and Best Actor (Critics). Starting in 2012, he appeared several times in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 based on his income and popularity.
Roshan has frequently collaborated with his father, Rakesh Roshan. He made brief appearances as a child actor in several films in the 1980s and later worked as an assistant director on four of his father's films. His first leading role was in the box-office success Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), for which he received several awards. Performances in the 2000 terrorism drama Fiza and the 2001 ensemble melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... consolidated his reputation but were followed by several poorly received films.
The 2003 science fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya, for which Roshan won two Filmfare Awards, was a turning point in his film career; he also appeared in its sequels: Krrish (2006) and Krrish 3 (2013). He earned praise for his portrayal of a thief in the 2006 adventure film Dhoom 2, Mughal emperor Akbar in the 2008 historical romance Jodhaa Akbar and a quadriplegic in the 2010 drama Guzaarish. He played the lead in the 2011 drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the 2012 revenge film Agneepath, the 2014 action comedy Bang Bang!, the 2019 biopic Super 30, and the 2019 action thriller War. The lattermost ranks as his highest-grossing release. (Full article...)
At the time of Indian independence in 1947, India was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule, and the other under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with control over their internal affairs remaining in the hands of their hereditary rulers. The latter included 562 princely states, having different types of revenue sharing arrangements with the British, often depending on their size, population and local conditions. In addition, there were several colonial enclaves controlled by France and Portugal. The political integration of these territories into India was a declared objective of the Indian National Congress, and the Government of India pursued this over the next decade. Through a combination of factors, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon convinced the rulers of the various princely states to accede to India. Having secured their accession, they then proceeded, in a step-by-step process, to secure and extend the central government's authority over these states and transform their administrations until, by 1956, there was little difference between the territories that had been part of British India and those that had been princely states. Simultaneously, the Government of India, through a combination of military and diplomatic means, acquired de facto and de jure control over the remaining colonial enclaves, which too were integrated into India.
Although this process successfully integrated the vast majority of princely states into India, it was not as successful for a few, notably the former princely states of Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura and Manipur, where active secessionist separatist insurgencies continued to exist due to various reasons. While insurgency in Tripura has been neutralized today, it still continues to exist in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur. (Full article...)- The Bengali Language Movement (Bengali: ভাষা আন্দোলন Bhasha Andolôn) was a political movement in former East Bengal (renamed East Pakistan in 1952 advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan in order to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.
When the Dominion of Pakistan was formed after the separation of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 when the British left, it was composed of various ethnic and linguistic groups, with the geographically non-contiguous East Bengal province having a mainly Bengali population. In 1948, the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956.
The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in East Bengal and later East Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the 6-Point Movement and subsequently the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987. In Bangladesh, 21 February (Ekushey February) is observed as Language Movement Day, a national holiday. The Shaheed Minar monument was constructed near Dhaka Medical College in memory of the movement and its victims. In 1999, UNESCO declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day, in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world. (Full article...) - Akhter Hameed Khan (Urdu: اختر حمید خان, pronounced [ˈəxt̪ər ɦəˈmiːd̪ xaːn]; 15 July 1914 – 9 October 1999) was a Pakistani and social scientist. He promoted participatory rural development in Pakistan and other developing countries, and widely advocated community participation in development. His particular contribution was the establishment of a comprehensive project for rural development, the Comilla Model (1959). It earned him the Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Philippines and an honorary Doctorate of law from Michigan State University.
In the 1980s he started a bottom-up community development initiative of Orangi Pilot Project, based in the outskirts of Karachi, which became a model of participatory development initiatives. He also directed many programmes, from microcredit to self-finance and from housing provision to family planning, for rural communities and urban slums. It earned him international recognition and high honours in Pakistan. Khan was fluent in at least seven languages and dialects. Apart from many scholarly books and articles, he also published a collection of poems and travelogues in Urdu. (Full article...)
The Chalukya dynasty ([tʃaːɭukjə]) was a Classical Indian royal dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty, known as the "Badami Chalukyas", ruled from Vatapi (modern Badami) from the middle of the 6th century. The Badami Chalukyas began to assert their independence at the decline of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi and rapidly rose to prominence during the reign of Pulakeshin II. After the death of Pulakeshin II, the Eastern Chalukyas became an independent kingdom in the eastern Deccan. They ruled from Vengi until about the 11th century. In the western Deccan, the rise of the Rashtrakutas in the middle of the 8th century eclipsed the Chalukyas of Badami before being revived by their descendants, the Western Chalukyas, in the late 10th century. These Western Chalukyas ruled from Kalyani (modern Basavakalyan) until the end of the 12th century.
The rule of the Chalukyas marks an important milestone in the history of South India and a golden age in the history of Karnataka. The political atmosphere in South India shifted from smaller kingdoms to large empires with the ascendancy of Badami Chalukyas. A Southern India-based kingdom took control and consolidated the entire region between the Kaveri and the Narmada rivers. The rise of this empire saw the birth of efficient administration, overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called "Chalukyan architecture". Kannada literature, which had enjoyed royal support in the 9th century Rashtrakuta court found eager patronage from the Western Chalukyas in the Jain and Veerashaiva traditions. The 11th century saw the patronage of Telugu literature under the Eastern Chalukyas. (Full article...)
Priyanka at the 2018 Global Education and Skills Forum
Priyanka Chopra Jonas (pronounced [prɪˈjəŋka ˈtʃoːpɽa]; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress, singer, and film producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid and most popular entertainers. She has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Award and five Filmfare Awards. In 2016, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in the next two years, Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
Although Chopra initially aspired to study aeronautical engineering, she accepted offers to join the Indian film industry, which came as a result of her pageant wins, making her Bollywood debut in The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003). She played the leading lady in the box-office hits Andaaz (2003) and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and received critical acclaim for her breakout role in the 2004 thriller Aitraaz. Chopra established herself with starring roles in the top-grossing productions Krrish and Don (both 2006), and she later reprised her role in their sequels.
Following a brief setback, she garnered success in 2008 for playing a troubled model in the drama Fashion, which won her the National Film Award for Best Actress, and a glamorous journalist in Dostana. Chopra gained wider recognition for portraying a range of characters in the films Kaminey (2009), 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Barfi! (2012), Mary Kom (2014), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Bajirao Mastani (2015). From 2015 to 2018, she starred as Alex Parrish in the ABC thriller series Quantico and returned to Hindi cinema with the biopic The Sky Is Pink (2019). Chopra has also acted in a number of Hollywood films, most notably in the satirical drama The White Tiger (2021), which she also executive produced. (Full article...)
The Hoysala Empire was a Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, India between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu.
The Hoysala rulers were originally from Malenadu, an elevated region in the Western Ghats. In the 12th century, taking advantage of the internecine warfare between the Western Chalukya Empire and Kalachuris of Kalyani, they annexed areas of present-day Karnataka and the fertile areas north of the Kaveri delta in present-day Tamil Nadu. By the 13th century, they governed most of Karnataka, minor parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Deccan Plateau.
The Hoysala era was an important period in the development of art, architecture, and religion in South India. The empire is remembered today primarily for Hoysala architecture. Over a hundred surviving temples are scattered across Karnataka. (Full article...)
Narayan in Delhi in October 2010
Ram Narayan (IPA: [raːm naːˈɾaːjəɳ]; born 25 December 1927), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.
Ramnarayan was born near Udaipur and learned to play the sarangi at an early age. He studied under sarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician. All India Radio, Lahore, hired Ram Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947, but wishing to go beyond accompaniment and frustrated with his supporting role, Ram Narayan moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema.
Ram Narayan became a concert solo artist in 1956 and has since performed at the major music festivals of India. After sitar player Ravi Shankar successfully performed in Western countries, Ram Narayan followed his example. He recorded solo albums and made his first international tour in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brother Chatur Lal, a tabla player who had toured with Shankar in the 1950s. Ram Narayan taught Indian and foreign students and performed, frequently outside India, into the 2000s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005. (Full article...)
Photograph by Alexander Bassano, 1882
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than any previous British monarch. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After both the Duke and his father died in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Though a constitutional monarch, privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism in the United Kingdom temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. She died on the Isle of Wight in 1901. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. (Full article...)
Mukerji promoting Hichki in 2018
Rani Mukerji (pronounced [raːni mʊkʰərdʒi]; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. A recipient of multiple accolades, including seven Filmfare Awards, her roles have been cited in the media as a significant departure from previous screen portrayals of Indian women. Mukerji has featured in listings of the most popular and highest-paid actresses of the 2000s.
Although Mukerji was born into the Mukherjee-Samarth family, in which her parents and relatives were members of the Indian film industry, she did not aspire to pursue a career in film. As a teenager she dabbled with acting by starring in her father's Bengali-language film Biyer Phool and in the social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (both 1996). Mukerji had her first commercial success with the action film Ghulam (1998) and breakthrough with the romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Following a brief setback, the year 2002 marked a turning point for her when she was cast by Yash Raj Films as the star of the drama Saathiya.
Mukerji established herself by starring in several commercially successful romantic films, including Chalte Chalte (2003), Hum Tum (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), and the crime comedy Bunty Aur Babli (2005). She also gained praise for playing an abused wife in the political thriller Yuva (2004), a deaf and blind woman in the drama Black (2005) and a Rajasthani bride in the female-led fantasy Paheli (2005). Mukerji then collaborated with Yash Raj Films on several unsuccessful films which led critics to bemoan her choice of roles. This changed when she played a headstrong journalist in the thriller No One Killed Jessica (2011), and further success came for her starring roles in the thrillers Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012), Mardaani (2014) and its sequel Mardaani 2 (2019), and the comedy-drama Hichki (2018). The lattermost emerged as her highest-grossing release. (Full article...)- Pather Panchali (Bengali pronunciation: [pɔtʰer pãtʃali]; transl. Song of the Little Road) is a 1955 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is based on Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name and is Ray's directorial debut. It features Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta and Chunibala Devi. The first film in The Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali depicts the childhood of the protagonist Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his elder sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta) and the harsh village life of their poor family.
Production was interrupted because of funding problems and it took nearly three years for the film to be completed. The film was shot mainly on location, had a limited budget, featured mostly amateur actors, and was made by an inexperienced crew. The sitar player Ravi Shankar composed the film's soundtrack and score using classical Indian ragas. Subrata Mitra was in charge of the cinematography while editing was handled by Dulal Dutta. Following its premiere on 3 May 1955 during an exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art, Pather Panchali was released in Calcutta later the same year to an enthusiastic reception. A special screening was attended by the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the Prime Minister of India. Critics have praised its realism, humanity, and soul-stirring qualities while others have called its slow pace a drawback, and some have condemned it for romanticising poverty. Scholars have commented on the film's lyrical quality and realism (influenced by Italian neorealism), its portrayal of the poverty and small delights of daily life, and the use of what the author Darius Cooper has termed the "epiphany of wonder", among other themes.
The tale of Apu's life is continued in the two subsequent installments of Ray's trilogy: Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959). Pather Panchali is described as a turning point in Indian cinema, as it was among the films that pioneered the Parallel Cinema movement, which espoused authenticity and social realism. The first film from independent India to attract major international critical attention, it won India's National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1955, the Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, and several other awards, establishing Ray as one of the country's most distinguished filmmakers. It is often featured in lists of the greatest films ever made. (Full article...)
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called Karnata Kingdom, was based in the Deccan Plateau region in South India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, members of a pastoralist cowherd community that claimed Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. At its peak it had subjugated almost all of South India's ruling families and the Sultans of the Deccan region, thus becoming a notable power. It lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a major military defeat in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by the combined armies of the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India. The writings of medieval European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernão Nunes, and Niccolò de' Conti, and the literature in local languages provide crucial information about its history. Archaeological excavations at Vijayanagara have revealed the empire's power and wealth.
The empire's legacy includes many monuments spread over South India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi. Different temple building traditions in South and Central India came together in the Vijayanagara Architecture style. This synthesis inspired architectural innovation in Hindu temples' construction. Efficient administration and vigorous overseas trade brought new technologies such as water management systems for irrigation. The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form. The Vijayanagara Empire created an epoch in the history of Southern India that transcended regionalism by promoting Hinduism as a unifying factor. (Full article...)- Eega (transl. The Fly) is a 2012 Indian fantasy action film written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli. Produced by Korrapati Ranganatha Sai's Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of ₹260 to 400 million, it was filmed simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil languages with the latter titled Naan Ee (transl. I, the Fly). The film stars Sudeep, Nani and Samantha. M. M. Keeravani composed the soundtrack and score. K. K. Senthil Kumar was director of photography and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao edited the film. Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions, respectively. The film's narrative is in the form of a bedtime story told by a father to his daughter. Its protagonist Nani, who is in love with his neighbour Bindu, is murdered by a wealthy businessman named Sudeep, who is attracted to Bindu and considers Nani a rival. Nani reincarnates as a housefly and tries to avenge his death and protect Bindu from an obsessive Sudeep.
The idea for the film originated in the 1990s from a conversation in which Prasad joked with Rajamouli about the idea of a fly seeking revenge against a human. Rajamouli reconsidered the idea after finishing Maryada Ramanna (2010), and Prasad developed it into a script. The film's production began on 7 December 2010 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad. Principal photography began on 22 February 2011 and continued until late February 2012. Makuta VFX and Annapurna Studios oversaw Eega's visual effects and digital intermediate process, respectively.
The two versions of the film, alongside a Malayalam-dubbed version titled Eecha, were released on 6 July 2012 in approximately 1,100 screens globally. The performances of the principal cast, Rajamouli's direction, and visual effects received critical acclaim upon release. Eega was one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year, earning more than ₹1.25 billion. Eega won two National Film Awards (Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Special Effects), five South Filmfare Awards including Best Telugu Film, Best Telugu Director, Best Telugu Actress (Samantha) and Best Telugu Supporting Actor (Sudeep) and three South Indian International Movie Awards. It was screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the Madrid International Film Festival. (Full article...)
Preity G Zinta (pronounced [ˈpriːt̪i ˈzɪɳʈa]; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se.. in 1998, followed by a role in Soldier in the same year. These performances earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna (2000). She subsequently established a career as a leading actress of Hindi cinema with a variety of character types. Some of her roles, deemed culturally defiant, along with her unconventional screen persona have been credited with contributing to a change in the concept of a Hindi film heroine, and won her several accolades.
Following critically appreciated roles in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002), and Armaan (2003), Zinta received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in the drama Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). She went on to play leading roles in two consecutive annual top-grossing films in India, the science fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) and the romantic drama Veer-Zaara (2004). She was later noted for her portrayal of independent, modern Indian women in Salaam Namaste (2005) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), top-grossing productions in overseas markets. Her first international film role was in the Canadian drama Heaven on Earth (2008), for which she was awarded the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Actress. She followed this with a hiatus from acting work for several years, with the exception of her self-produced comeback film, Ishkq in Paris (2013), which failed to leave a mark.
In addition to acting, Zinta is a social activist, television presenter and stage performer. Between 2004 and 2005, she wrote a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia. She is the founder of the production company PZNZ Media, a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Punjab Kings since 2008, and the owner of the South-African T20 Global League cricket team Stellenbosch Kings since 2017. Zinta is known in the Indian media for publicly speaking her mind, and consequently has sparked the occasional controversy. These controversies include her being the sole witness not to retract in court her earlier statements against the Indian mafia during the 2004 Bharat Shah case, for which she was awarded the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award. (Full article...)
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The Toda people are a small pastoral tribe of less than 1,000 people who reside in the Nilgiri hills of Southern India. Shown here is a typical Toda hut, about 3 m (10 ft.) high, 5.5 m (18 ft.) long and 2.7 m (9 ft.) wide. They are built of bamboo fastened with rattan and thatched. The hut has only a tiny (about 0.9 x 0.9 m, 3 x 3 ft.) entrance at the front, which serves as protection from wild animals. Photo credit: Pratheepps | |
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Dhanush is an Indian actor, producer, lyricist and singer known for his work in Tamil cinema. He made his acting debut in 2002 with the coming of age drama, Thulluvadho Ilamai, directed by his father Kasthuri Raja. His role as a mentally-disturbed man in Kaadhal Kondein (2003)—directed by his brother Selvaraghavan—won him critical acclaim. The following year, he starred in Subramaniam Siva's Thiruda Thirudi, a commercial success. This was followed by a series of commercial failures—Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan (2004), Sullan (2004) and Dreams (2004). He had two releases in 2005—Devathaiyai Kanden and Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam.
In 2006, Dhanush starred in the gangster film Pudhupettai, which was critically acclaimed and moderately successful at the box-office. He next collaborated with debutant director Vetrimaaran in Polladhavan (2007). It was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. His subsequent releases—Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008) and Padikkadavan—were box-office successes. He collaborated with Vetrimaaran for the second time in Aadukalam (2011). His role as a rooster fight jockey in the film won him that year's National Film Award for Best Actor and the Best Tamil Actor Award at the 60th Filmfare Awards South. In 2012, he received international attention with the song "Why This Kolaveri Di", which was recorded for Aishwarya R. Dhanush's directorial debut 3. His role as a man who is suffering from bipolar disorder in the film won him his second Filmfare Award. (Full article...)
Mohammad Azharuddin is a former international cricketer who represented and captained the Indian cricket team. Considered to be one of the greatest batsman to emerge from Indian cricket, he was well known for his "wristy strokeplay". A right-handed middle order batsman, Azharuddin scored 29 international centuries before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) accused him of match-fixing in 2000, which marked the end of his cricket career. In a career that spanned 15 years, he played 99 Tests and 334 One Day Internationals (ODI) accumulating 6,215 and 9,378 runs respectively. Azharuddin was the first cricketer to score 9,000 runs in ODI cricket and remained the leading run-scorer until October 2000. He was named the "Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year" before being included by Wisden as one of their five Cricketers of the Year in 1991.
Azharuddin made his Test and ODI debuts during England's 1984–85 tour of India. In Tests, he made centuries against all nations except West Indies and Zimbabwe. In his first Test appearance Azharuddin made 110, thus becoming the eighth Indian player to score a century on debut. With scores of 105 and 122 in the subsequent matches of the series, he became the first player to score a century in each of his first three Tests. Azharuddin equalled the record of Kapil Dev for the fastest century by an Indian in Test cricket, when he scored a century from 74 balls against South Africa in 1996. His highest score of 199 came against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986. Azharuddin's 22 Test centuries were made at fifteen cricket grounds, nine of which were outside India. He scored a century in his last Test innings—against South Africa—in March 2000. As of May 2021, he is joint thirty-first among all-time century makers in Test cricket, and sixth in the equivalent list for India. (Full article...)
Vidya Balan is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Hindi films. She has received several awards, including a National Film Award, six Filmfare Awards, six Screen Awards, four International Indian Film Academy Awards, and five awards each from the Producers Guild and Zee Cine award ceremonies.
Vidya made her acting debut in 2003 with a leading role in the Bengali film Bhalo Theko, for which she won the Anandalok Award for Best Actress. In 2005, she had her first Bollywood release with the musical drama Parineeta, which garnered her a Best Female Debut award and a Best Actress nomination at the Filmfare Awards ceremony. For the role of a radio jockey in the 2006 comedy film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, she was nominated for the IIFA Award for Best Actress. In 2007, Vidya featured in five films. She portrayed a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis in the semi-biographical drama Guru and a dissociative identity disorder patient in the psychological thriller Bhool Bhulaiyaa. For the latter, she was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. (Full article...)
The Dirty Picture is a 2011 Indian biographical drama film directed by Milan Luthria and produced by Shobha and Ekta Kapoor. Inspired by the lives of such actresses as Silk Smitha and Disco Shanti, the film narrates the rise and fall of a dancing girl in Tamil cinema. The Dirty Picture features Vidya Balan in the lead role, and co-stars Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah. Rajat Arora wrote the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics for the film and Vishal–Shekhar composed the music.
Made on a budget between ₹170 million (US$2.4 million) and ₹180 million (US$2.5 million), The Dirty Picture was released worldwide on 2 December 2011, and earned ₹1.14 billion (US$16 million). The film garnered awards and nominations in several categories, with particular praise for Vidya's performance, the dialogues, and the costume design by Niharika Khan. As of 2012, the film has won 51 awards. (Full article...)
Kapil Dev is a former Test and One Day International (ODI) cricketer who represented India between 1978 and 1994. He took 24 five-wicket hauls during his international career. In cricket, a five-wicket haul—also known as a five-for or fifer—refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and fewer than 40 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm fast bowler, Kapil Dev took 434 wickets in Test cricket and 253 in ODIs. With 23 five-wicket hauls in Tests, he has the third highest number of international five-wicket hauls among Indian cricketers as of 2012, after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Kapil Dev was named by the Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1983 and Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002. Eight years later, the International Cricket Council (ICC) inducted him into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. As of 2012, Kapil Dev also holds the record for being the only player to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored over 5,000 runs in Tests.
Kapil Dev made his Test and ODI debuts against Pakistan, both in 1978. His first five-wicket haul came a year later against England during the first Test of India's tour. His career-best bowling figures in an innings of nine for 83 was achieved in 1983 against the West Indies in Ahmedabad. In Tests, Kapil Dev was most successful against Pakistan and Australia, with seven five-wicket hauls against each of them. He took his only five-wicket haul in ODIs against Australia during the 1983 Cricket World Cup. (Full article...)
Shruti Haasan is an Indian actress, composer and playback singer who works in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil films. Born into the prominent Haasan family, she is the daughter of actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika. Shruti Haasan started her career as a playback singer at the age of six in the 1992 Tamil film Thevar Magan. She later made a cameo appearance in her father's Tamil-Hindi bilingual directorial Hey Ram (2000). Haasan's first major appearance was in the Hindi film Luck (2009), in which she played a dual role of a woman avenging her twin sister's death. She played the female lead in the films Anaganaga O Dheerudu and 7aum Arivu; both were released in 2011 and together earned her the Best Female Debut – South at the 59th Filmfare Awards South ceremony. Her subsequent releases Oh My Friend (2011) and 3 (2012) were commercially unsuccessful. The latter earned her a nomination for the Best Actress – Tamil at the 60th Filmfare Awards South ceremony. A turning point came in Haasan's career with Harish Shankar's commercially successful Telugu film Gabbar Singh (2012). The release was followed by a series of successful films such as Balupu (2013) and Yevadu (2014). She received her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in Race Gurram (2014).
In 2015, Haasan played the female lead in five films: Gabbar Is Back and Welcome Back in Hindi, Srimanthudu in Telugu, and Puli and Vedalam in Tamil. Except Puli, the rest of the releases achieved commercial success. She earned a nomination for the Best Actress – Telugu award at the 63rd Filmfare Awards South ceremony for her performance in Srimanthudu. The following year, she had two releases: Rocky Handsome and Premam. The latter, a Telugu remake of the 2015 Malayalam-language film of the same name, drew criticism for Haasan's casting before its release. She played the role of a young college lecturer with a slightly stern approach towards her students. The remake gained positive critical reception, and earned average returns. Her Tamil film Si3 had a delayed theatrical release in 2017; it was a commercial success. (Full article...)
Yash Raj Films (abbreviated as YRF) is an Indian entertainment company, established by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970, that produces and distributes motion pictures. As of 2019, the company has produced 78 Hindi films, including three that are yet to be released, and one Tamil film. YRF started a film distribution business in 1997 and in addition to distributing their own productions, the company has handled the domestic and/or international distribution of over 40 films from other companies.
YRF's first release came in 1973 with the Chopra-directed Daag: A Poem of Love, a drama about bigamy, starring Rajesh Khanna, Raakhee and Sharmila Tagore. The company had four more releases in the 1970s, including the family drama Kabhie Kabhie and the action film Kaala Patthar, both of which starred Amitabh Bachchan. YRF's sole commercial success in the 1980s was the Sridevi-starring romance Chandni. The year 1995 marked the directorial debut of Chopra's elder son Aditya Chopra with the highly successful romantic drama Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, the film has the longest theatrical run in Indian cinema history. Other successful releases of the 1990s were Darr (1993) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), both starring Khan. (Full article...)
Rajinikanth is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 160 films, predominantly in Tamil cinema. He began his film career by playing antagonistic and supporting roles before graduating to a lead actor. After starring in numerous commercially successful films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in the popular culture of Tamil Nadu. Writing for Slate, Grady Hendrix called him the "biggest movie star you've probably never heard of." Rajinikanth has also worked in other Indian film industries such as Bollywood, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali.
He made his cinematic debut with K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a minor role of an abusive husband. He had his first major role in Balachander's Telugu drama film Anthuleni Katha (1976), and got his breakthrough in Tamil with Moondru Mudichu (1976)—also directed by Balachander. His style and mannerisms in the latter earned recognition from the audience. In 1977, he acted in 15 films, playing negative characters in most of them, including Avargal, 16 Vayathinile, Aadu Puli Attam and Gaayathri. He had positive roles in Kavikkuyil, the Kannada film Sahodarara Savaal, and the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi, in which he played the protagonist for the first time in his career. His role as a failed lover in S. P. Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977) won him critical acclaim. In 1978, he was cast as the main lead in the Tamil film Bairavi. The same year, he received critical acclaim for his roles in Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan; the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor. He made his Malayalam cinema debut with I. V. Sasi's fantasy Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum (1979), an adaptation of a story from One Thousand and One Nights. By the end of the decade, he had worked in all South Indian languages and established a career in Tamil cinema. (Full article...)- The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a domestic, annual Twenty20 cricket tournament in India, organized by the IPL Governing Council, under the aegis of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It is the most watched Twenty20 tournament and the second-best paying sporting league globally.
IPL was established in 2008 and currently consists of eight teams in eight cities across India. The inaugural IPL season was won by Rajasthan Royals. As of November 2020, there have been thirteen seasons of the IPL tournament. The latest season was conducted from October to November 2020, with Mumbai Indians winning the title. (Full article...)
Trisha is an Indian actress and model, active primarily in Tamil and Telugu films. She was first seen in 1999 in a supporting role in Jodi, then in the music video of Falguni Pathak's song "Meri Chunar Udd Udd Jaye". The first project she accepted as a lead actress was Priyadarshan's Lesa Lesa, but a delay in the film's release meant that her first appearance in a lead role was in Ameer's directorial debut Mounam Pesiyadhe in 2002, which was a commercial success. The following year, she appeared as a terminally ill woman in Manasellam, which was a commercial failure.
Trisha's next release in 2003 was Hari's action film, Saamy in which she played a soft-spoken Brahmin girl and attracted praise for her performance. The film became a major commercial success, resulting in Trisha receiving new offers, including those from several high-budget productions. Lesa Lesa, which was to have been her debut as a lead actress, was released next. This romantic musical, based on the 1998 Malayalam film Summer in Bethlehem, earned her the ITFA Best New Actress Award. Following Lesa Lesa, she starred in Alai and Enakku 20 Unakku 18 both of which were commercial failures. She made her debut in Telugu cinema in the same year with Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu, which was also unsuccessful. Her next Telugu release was Varsham in 2004. It was a major success, and won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award (Telugu). It also resulted in her receiving more offers for roles in Telugu films. (Full article...)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major parties in the political system of the Republic of India, the other being the Indian National Congress (INC). , it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament. Established in 1980, the BJP's platform is generally considered as the right-wing of the political spectrum. , 45 BJP leaders have held the position of a chief minister, out of which twelve are incumbent.
A chief minister is the head of government of each of the twenty-eight states and three union territories (UTs) (Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state legislative assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given he/she has the assembly's confidence, the chief minister's term is usually for a maximum of five years; there are no limits to the number of terms he/she can serve. (Full article...)- Vishwaroopam is a 2013 Indian spy thriller film directed by Kamal Haasan. Besides starring in the lead role with Pooja Kumar, Haasan co-produced the film with S. Chandrahaasan and Prasad V. Potluri, and co-wrote the script with Atul Tiwari. Andrea Jeremiah, Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur and Nassar play supporting roles in the film. The film's story revolves around Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri, a spy from India's intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing, stopping a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists led by Omar (Bose) from triggering a dirty bomb made by scraping caesium from oncological equipment in New York City. A bilingual film, made in Tamil and Hindi (as Vishwaroop), the soundtrack and score were composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. Sanu Varghese and Mahesh Narayanan were in charge of the film's cinematography and editing respectively. Lalgudi N. Ilaiyaraaja and Boontawee 'Thor' Taweepasas were in charge of art direction while Birju Maharaj handled the choreography.
Vishwaroopam was made on a budget of ₹950 million. The film was released on 25 January 2013 worldwide except Tamil Nadu where it was banned due to protest by Islamic organisations which cited that Muslims were depicted in a negative manner. The ban on the film was lifted and it released on 7 February 2013 after a mutual agreement between Haasan and the organisations; the Hindi version was released on 1 February 2013. Both versions received generally positive reviews and were commercial successes at the box office, collectively grossing ₹2.2 billion overall. (Full article...) 
Virender Sehwag scored 23 centuries in Test matches and 15 in One Day Internationals for India.
Virender Sehwag is an Indian cricketer whose aggressive batting has found success at the top of the batting order. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs) on 23 occasions in Test cricket and in 15 One Day International (ODI) matches but has not scored a century in a Twenty20 international.
In Tests, Sehwag has scored centuries against all the Test-cricket playing nations except Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and is sixth on the list of leading Test century makers for India. In 2001, he became the eleventh Indian player to score a century on Test debut, with 105 runs against South Africa. His centuries have been scored at fourteen cricket grounds, eight of which were outside India. He has made six scores of 200 runs or more, of which a record three have come against Pakistan. One such innings, the 254 in Lahore, had him involved in a 410-run partnership with Rahul Dravid, which came within 3 runs of breaking the record for the highest first-wicket partnership in Tests, set by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad. The innings took only 247 balls and was the highest score at faster than a run a ball. Sehwag is the first Indian to score a triple century (300 or more runs), and has done so twice—309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004 and 319 against South Africa in Chennai in 2008. The latter is the fastest triple century in Test cricket, the 300 coming up off just 278 balls, and is also the highest score with a strike rate over 100. It was also rated as one of the top 10 Test innings of all time by the ICC rankings, and received special mention along with his 201* in Galle, in which he carried his bat as he was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008. He is one of the only four batsmen to score two triple centuries, alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle. He scored 12 centuries that have been converted to scores of 150 or greater, a record for the most consecutive hundreds of over 150. He has been dismissed fivetimes in the nineties. (Full article...)
Kangana Ranaut walking the ramp at Signature International Fashion Weekend
Kangana Ranaut is an Indian actress who appears in predominantly in Hindi films. She has received several awards, including the Padma Shri, fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, four National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, three International Indian Film Academy Awards, and one award each from the Screen, Zee Cine and Producers Guild award ceremony.
Ranaut made her acting debut in 2006 with a leading role in the thriller Gangster, for which she was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, among other debut awards. Her portrayals of a character based on actress Parveen Babi in Woh Lamhe (2006) and a shrewd socialite in Life in a... Metro (2007) were lauded, with the latter earning her a Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female. Ranaut won numerous awards, including the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare Award in the same category for her role as a substance abusing supermodel in the drama Fashion (2008). Also in 2008, she featured as a village girl in Dhaam Dhoom, her first Tamil film. (Full article...)
The 2019 recipient Vijay Sethupathi
The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actor (Hindi pronunciation: [rədʒət̪ kəməl]), is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), an organisation set up by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A national panel appointed annually by the DFF selects the actor who has given the best performance in a supporting role within Indian cinema. The award is presented by the President of India at a ceremony held in New Delhi.
The winner is given a "Rajat Kamal" (Silver Lotus) certificate and a cash prize of ₹50,000 (US$700). Including ties and repeat winners, the government of India has presented a total of 32 Best Supporting Actor awards to 29 different actors. Although Indian cinema produces films in more than 20 languages, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in one or more of seven major languages: Hindi (17 awards), Tamil (9 awards), Bengali (3 awards), Malayalam (3 awards), Marathi (3 awards), Telugu (1 award), Kannada (1 award). (Full article...)
Dookudu (English: Aggression) is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Srinu Vaitla, and jointly produced by Ram Achanta, Gopi Achanta and Anil Sunkara. The film features Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, and Sonu Sood in the lead roles, and Brahmanandam, and M. S. Narayana in supporting roles. It was edited by M. R. Varma and the cinematography was provided by K. V. Guhan and Prasad Murella. The film's musical and background score were composed by S. Thaman.
Partially inspired by the 2003 German tragicomedy film Good Bye, Lenin!, Dookudu revolves around the life of police officer Ajay Kumar (Mahesh). His father Shankar Narayana (Prakash Raj) awakes from a coma, which he has been in for many years after an accident, but his health remains perilous. To aid his recovery, Kumar masquerades as a Member of the Legislative Assembly fulfilling his father's ambition for him. (Full article...)- Aadukalam (transl. Arena) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran and produced by S. Kathiresan. Vetrimaaran co-wrote the dialogues with Vikram Sugumaran. The film stars Dhanush and Taapsee Pannu in the lead roles with Kishore, V. I. S. Jayapalan, Naren, and Murugadoss playing supporting roles. The musical score was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar while the cinematography and editing were respectively handled by Velraj and Kishore Te. The film's story revolves around Karuppu who is the understudy of an experienced cockfighter, Pettaikaran. When Karuppu wins in a cockfight against Pettaikaran's rival Rathnasamy, Pettaikaran, who is initially happy, becomes jealous of Karuppu's newfound popularity and plots his downfall. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Pandem Kollu.
Produced on a budget of ₹150-200 million, Aadukalam was released on 14 January 2011 and grossed ₹300 million according to a February 2011 report by The Economic Times. The film garnered awards and nominations in several categories, with particular praise for its direction, screenplay, Dhanush's performance, music, cinematography, and editing. The film has won 33 awards from 52 nominations. (Full article...) 
Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh garnered several awards and nominations for their performances in Bajirao Mastani
Bajirao Mastani is a 2015 Indian epic historical romance film directed and scored by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was a co-production between Bhansali Productions and Eros International. The film stars Ranveer Singh as Bajirao I, Deepika Padukone as Mastani, and Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai. Tanvi Azmi, Aditya Pancholi, Vaibbhav Tatwawdi and Milind Soman playing supporting roles. The screenplay was written by Prakash R. Kapadia, and the cinematography provided by Sudeep Chatterjee. Based on the Marathi novel Raau by Nagnath S. Inamdar, the film narrates the story of the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani.
Made on a budget of ₹1.25 billion (US$18 million), the film was released on 18 December 2015 to positive reviews from critics. As of May 2016, Bajirao Mastani has grossed over ₹3.6 billion (US$50 million) at the box-office, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. The film garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for Bhansali's direction and music, the performances of Chopra and Singh, its cinematography, art direction, and costume design. (Full article...)
The Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) was awarded to 153 members of the British Indian Army and civilians under its command, from 1857 until independence in 1947. The Victoria Cross is a military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories. It takes precedence over all other Orders, decorations and medals. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and to civilians under military command. The VC is traditionally presented to the recipient by the British monarch during an investiture at Buckingham Palace, though in a large number of cases this was not possible and it was presented in the field by a prominent civil or military official. The VC was introduced in Great Britain on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War.
Indian troops were not originally eligible for the VC, because since 1837 they had been eligible for the Indian Order of Merit—the oldest British gallantry award for general issue. When the VC was created, Indian troops were still controlled by the British East India Company, and did not come under Crown control until 1860. European officers and men serving with the East India Company were not eligible for the Indian Order of Merit; the VC was extended to cover them in October 1857. It was only at the end of the 19th century that calls for Indian troops to be awarded the VC intensified. Indian troops became eligible for the award in 1911. The first awards to Indian troops appeared in the London Gazette on 7 December 1914 to Darwan Singh Negi and Khudadad Khan. Negi was presented with the VC by King George V two days earlier, on 5 December 1914, during a visit to troops in France. He is one of a small number of soldiers presented with his award before it appeared in the London Gazette. (Full article...)
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The recipients receive a Sanad, a certificate signed by the President of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association. The recipients are announced every year on Republic Day (26 January) and registered in The Gazette of India—a publication used for official government notices and released weekly by the Department of Publication, under the Ministry of Urban Development. The conferral of the award is not considered official without its publication in the Gazette. The name of recipient, whose award have been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, is archived and they are required to surrender their medal when their name is struck from the register; none of the conferments of Padma Bhushan during 1954–1959 have been revoked or restored. The recommendations are received from all the state and the union territory governments, as well as from Ministries of the Government of India, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan awardees, the Institutes of Excellence, the Ministers, the Chief Ministers and the Governors of State, and the Members of Parliament including private individuals.
When instituted in 1954, the Padma Bhushan was classified as "Dusra Varg" (Class II) under the three-tier Padma Vibhushan awards, which were preceded by the Bharat Ratna in hierarchy. The original specification of the award was a circle made of standard silver 1+3⁄8 inches (35 mm) in diameter, with rims on both the sides. A centrally located lotus flower was embossed on the obverse side of the medal and the text "Padma Vibhushan" written in Devanagari script was inscribed above the lotus along the upper edge of the medal. A floral wreath was embossed along the lower edge and a lotus wreath at the top along the upper edge. The State Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the text "Desh Seva" in Devanagari Script on the lower edge. The medal was suspended by a pink riband 1+1⁄4 inches (32 mm) in width divided into three equal segments by two white vertical lines. (Full article...)- India is a union of 28 states and 8 union territories. As of 2011, with an estimated population of 1.2 billion, India is the world's second most populous country after the People's Republic of China. India occupies 2.4% of the world's area and is home to 17.5% of the world's population. The Indo-Gangetic plains have one of the world's biggest stretches of fertile flat-deep alluvium and are among the most densely populated areas of the world. The eastern and western coastal regions of Deccan Plateau are also densely populated regions of India. The Thar Desert in western Rajasthan is one of the least densely populated deserts in the world. The northern and north-eastern states along the Himalayas contain cold arid deserts with fertile valleys. These states have relatively less population density due to indomitable physical barriers. (Full article...)
Khan at an event for Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 2015
Salman Khan is an Indian actor, singer, writer, producer and television personality known for his work in Hindi/Urdu films. Khan made his debut in 1988 with a supporting role in the family drama Biwi Ho To Aisi, following which he had his breakthrough role in Sooraj Barjatya's blockbuster romance Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), for which he earned a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. During the early 1990s, Khan starred in the action drama Baaghi: A Rebel for Love (1990), the action film Patthar Ke Phool (1991), and the romance Saajan (1991), all of which were financially successful. However, his other releases during this period, including Suryavanshi (1992), Jaagruti (1992), and Dil Tera Aashiq (1993), failed commercially, resulting in a brief setback in his career.
In 1994, Khan featured in the Barjatya-directed family drama Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, which proved to be the Highest-grossing Bollywood film to that point; the success of the film established his career in Bollywood. Also that year, he featured alongside Aamir Khan in the comedy Andaz Apna Apna, which despite being a box-office flop has developed a cult status in India. Khan went on to play with Shah Rukh Khan in Rakesh Roshan's melodramatic thriller Karan Arjun (1995), which emerged as the year's second highest-grossing Hindi film. In 1998, Khan featured in Sohail Khan's Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, and appeared briefly in the romantic drama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, both of which ranked among the top-earning Bollywood productions of 1998. For the latter, he was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1999, he starred in three commercially successful productions: the comedy Biwi No.1, the romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and the family drama Hum Saath-Saath Hain. (Full article...)
Bhanu Athaiya became the first Indian to win an Academy Award for designing the costumes for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982).
Several Indian individuals and films have received or been nominated for the Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars) in different categories. , 13 Indians have been nominated and eight have won Oscars including in the scientific and technical category.
At the 30th Academy Awards, Mehboob Khan's 1957 Hindi-language film Mother India was India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film category. It was nominated alongside four other films and lost to the Italian film Nights of Cabiria (1957) by one vote. In 1982, The National Film Development Corporation of India was instrumental in co-producing Richard Attenborough's biographical film Gandhi. At the 55th Academy Awards, Bhanu Athaiya became the first Indian to win an Academy Award for designing the costumes. Ravi Shankar was nominated for Best Original Score for the same film. As of 2021, apart from Mother India, only two Indian films have been nominated for the Oscars—Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001). (Full article...)
Dharma Productions is an Indian production company established by Yash Johar in 1976. As of 2020, the company has produced 54 Hindi films, including seven that have yet to be released. A large number of the films were co-produced with companies such as UTV Motion Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. In addition, Dharma Productions has presented five regional language films from other companies.
Dharma Productions' first release came in 1980 with the Raj Khosla–directed Dostana, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and Zeenat Aman, which was a commercial success. However, their subsequent releases, Duniya (1984) and Muqaddar Ka Faisla (1987) performed poorly at the box office. Their first release of the 1990s, the Bachchan-starring thriller Agneepath (1990) garnered critical acclaim but was a commercial failure. The company's next releases were the thriller Gumrah (1993) and the comedy Duplicate (1998), both directed by Mahesh Bhatt. In 1998, Yash Johar's son, Karan Johar made his directorial debut with the romantic drama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukerji. The film was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1998, and established Dharma Productions as a leading production company in India. Their subsequent releases, the ensemble melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), the comedy drama Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and the romance Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), all starring Khan, were popular among the Indian diaspora worldwide and emerged as top-grossing Hindi films in overseas sales. (Full article...)
Sheoo Mewalal, the first hat-trick scorer for India since independence
The first player ever to score a hat-trick (three or more goals in a match) for India in an international football match was R. Lumsden. He achieved the feat in a friendly match against Australia on 24 September 1938, at the Sydney Showground, although India lost the match 5–4. This is the only instance when India have lost a game in which a player scored a hat-trick for the team. Lumsden was the only footballer to score a hat-trick for India before independence. Since independence in 1947, ten Indian players have scored a hat-trick in an international football match. No Indian player has ever scored more than three goals in a single game. The first player after independence to score a hat-trick for India was Sheoo Mewalal in a 4–0 victory over Burma in the 1952 Colombo Quadrangular Tournament.
K. Appalaraju and Sunil Chhetri are the only Indian footballers to have scored a hat-trick more than once. Appalaraju achieved the feat twice in the two-legged tie against Ceylon during the 1964 Olympic Qualifiers. Chhetri has achieved the feat three times, the latest of which came in India's 5–0 victory over Chinese Taipei in the opening match of the 2018 Intercontinental Cup. This is also the most recent instance of an Indian player scoring a hat-trick in an international football match. Chhetri's first hat-trick came in the final of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup against Tajikistan, which helped India not only to win the cup but also to qualify directly for the AFC Asian Cup in 2011, the first time in 27 years that the team reached the final tournament. (Full article...)
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Avro 504 trainers made up some of the Imperial Gift
The Imperial Gift was the donation of aircraft from British surplus stocks after the First World War to the Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Empire of India. On 29 May 1919, the British Cabinet agreed to give 100 aircraft to each of these countries plus replacements for aircraft donated by these countries to Britain during the war. These aircraft formed the core of newly established air forces in several of the countries.
In Canada the 100 Imperial Gift aircraft supplemented by another 20 and other related spares, supplies and equipment were used to establish the Canadian Air Force from 1920 and the later Royal Canadian Air Force from 1924. Australia's 100 aircraft, supplemented by an additional 28 and related supplies and other equipment, were used to establish the Royal Australian Air Force in 1921. New Zealand initially refused the Imperial Gift but later accepted a reduced allotment of 34 aircraft. Most were loaned to private aviation companies, but were returned to the government in the mid-1920s to constitute the New Zealand Permanent Air Force. South Africa's 100 Imperial Gift aircraft and related items, supplemented by another 13, led to the establishment of the South African Air Force in 1920. The colonial government of India accepted 100 aircraft but did not use them to establish their own air force. Twenty were allocated to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in India, while 80 were used by various civil government departments or sold to commercial and private operators. (Full article...)
Chandrayaan-2 (candra-yāna, transl. "mooncraft"; pronunciation) is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the Vikram lander, and the Pragyan lunar rover, all of which were developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map and study the variations in lunar surface composition, as well as the location and abundance of lunar water.
The spacecraft was launched on its mission to the Moon from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh on 22 July 2019 at 09:13:12 UTC by a GSLV Mark III-M1. The craft reached the Moon's orbit on 20 August 2019 and began orbital positioning manoeuvres for the landing of the Vikram lander. The lander and the rover were scheduled to land on the near side of the Moon, in the south polar region at a latitude of about 70° south on 6 September 2019 and conduct scientific experiments for one lunar day, which approximates to two Earth weeks. A successful soft landing would have made India the fourth country after the Luna 9 (Soviet Union), Surveyor 1 (United States) and Chang'e 3 (China) to do so.
However, the lander deviated from its intended trajectory while attempting to land on 6 September 2019 which caused a 'hard landing'. According to a failure analysis report submitted to ISRO, the crash was caused by a software glitch. ISRO may re-attempt a landing in 2022 with Chandrayaan-3. (Full article...)
Genelia Deshmukh (née D'Souza; born 5 August 1987) is an Indian film actress and model. She predominantly appeared in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil films. After gaining wide attention in a Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan, Genelia began her acting career with the box-office hit Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003. She was recognized for her role in Boys the same year, and later established herself in Telugu cinema by acting in several Telugu films during 2003–2012.
Genelia received her first Filmfare Award in 2006 for her performance in the Telugu romantic film, Bommarillu, which earned her critical acclaim. In 2008, she gave critically acclaimed performances in Santosh Subramaniam, a Tamil remake of Bommarillu, and the Bollywood movie Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. Having acted in several commercially successful movies in Telugu and Tamil, Genelia has established herself as one of the leading actresses of the South Indian film industry. In addition to mainstream acting, Genelia has hosted the television show Big Switch, and has been the brand ambassador of Fanta, Virgin Mobile India, Fastrack, LG Mobiles, Garnier Light, Margo, and Perk in India. (Full article...)- Don, also known as Don: The Chase Begins Again, is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Farhan Akhtar. The film was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Akhtar's production company Excel Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra, with Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Isha Koppikar, and Om Puri appearing in supporting roles. Don is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name, and follows the titular criminal's look-alike who has been sent on a clandestine mission to impersonate Don after he is wounded in a chase, and to infiltrate the plans of the drug mafia.
In remaking the film from a new perspective, Farhan Akhtar wanted to give a contemporary style and treatment to the original film and make a film that he believed would be perfectly suited to modern times. The director later bought the rights and conceived his adaptation as an homage to the original film and its cast and crew, and to the 1970s era in general. He co-wrote the screenplay with his father, Javed Akhtar, who had also written the original script with Salim Khan. He kept the basic plot but introduced some changes that included an international setting and a different ending. Principal photography commenced in Mumbai, before moving to Malaysia, where 80% of the filming was done. The soundtrack was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar.
The film was released on 20 October 2006, coinciding with the Diwali festive season, clashing with Jaan-E-Mann starring Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta. It was generally well received by critics, with praise for Khan and Chopra's performances, the action sequences, music, production design, and cinematography. A major commercial success, Don grossed over ₹1.06 billion at the box-office against a production and marketing budget of ₹400 million and was the fifth highest-grossing Indian film of 2006. Don was awarded Best Asian Film at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. The film also received nine nominations at the 52nd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Actor for Shahrukh Khan. A sequel entitled Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011. (Full article...)
Śāriputra (Sanskrit: शारिपुत्र; Tibetan: ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་, Pali: Sāriputta, lit. "the son of Śāri", born Upatiṣya, Pali: Upatissa) was one of the top disciples of the Buddha. He is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief male disciples, together with Maudgalyāyana (Pali: Moggallāna). Śāriputra had a key leadership role in the ministry of the Buddha and is considered in many Buddhist schools to have been important in the development of the Buddhist Abhidharma. He frequently appears in Mahayana sutras, and in some sutras, is used as a counterpoint to represent the Hinayana school of Buddhism.
Buddhist texts relate that Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana were childhood friends who became spiritual wanderers in their youth. After having searched for spiritual truth with other contemporary teachers, they came into contact with the teachings of the Buddha and ordained as monks under him, after which the Buddha declared the friends his two chief disciples. Śāriputra was said to have attained enlightenment as an arhat two weeks after ordaining. As chief disciple Śāriputra assumed a leadership role in the Sangha, doing tasks like looking after monks, assigning them objects of meditation, and clarifying points of doctrine. He was the first disciple the Buddha allowed to ordain other monks. Śāriputra died shortly before the Buddha in his hometown and was cremated. According to Buddhist texts, his relics were then enshrined at Jetavana Monastery. Archaeological findings from the 1800s suggest his relics may have been redistributed across the Indian subcontinent by subsequent kings.
Śāriputra is regarded as an important and wise disciple of the Buddha, particularly in Theravada Buddhism where he is given a status close to a second Buddha. In Buddhist art, he is often depicted alongside the Buddha, usually to his right. Śāriputra was known for his strict adherence to the Buddhist monastic rules, as well as for his wisdom and teaching ability, giving him the title "General of the Dharma" (Sanskrit: Dharmasenāpati; Pali: Dhammasenāpati). Śāriputra is considered the disciple of the Buddha who was foremost in wisdom. His female counterpart was Kṣemā (Pali: Khemā). (Full article...)
Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: [ˈʊtːəɾ pɾəˈdeːʃ] (listen); lit. 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With roughly 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during British rule, and was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950, giving it the acronym UP. The state is divided into 18 divisions and 75 districts, with the capital being Lucknow and financial & industrial capital being Kanpur. On 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand), was carved from the state's Himalayan hill region. The two major rivers of the state, the Ganges and Yamuna, join at Triveni Sangam in Allahabad and flow further east as Ganges. Other prominent rivers are Gomti and Saryu. The forest cover in the state is 6.09% of the state's geographical area.
The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the west, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to the northwest, Uttarakhand and an international border with Nepal to the north, Bihar to the east, Madhya Pradesh to the south, and touches the states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to the southeast. It covers 240,928 km2 (93,023 sq mi), equal to 7.34% of the total area of India, and is the fourth-largest Indian state by area. Though long known for sugar production, the state's economy is now dominated by the services industry. The service sector comprises travel and tourism, hotel industry, real estate, insurance and financial consultancies. The economy of Uttar Pradesh is the second-largest state economy in India with ₹21.73 lakh crore (US$300 billion) in gross domestic product and a per capita GSDP of ₹95,000 (US$1,300).President's rule has been imposed in Uttar Pradesh ten times since 1968, for different reasons and for a total of 1,700 days. The state has currently two international airports, Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport (Lucknow) and Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport (Varanasi). Kanpur Central is the biggest railway station in Uttar Pradesh and one of the five Central railway stations in India. Allahabad Junction is the headquarters of the North Central Railway and Gorakhpur Railway Station serves as the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway. The High Court of the state is located in Allahabad.
Inhabitants of the state are called either Awadhi, Bagheli, Bhojpuri, Braji, Bundeli, Kannauji, or Rohilkhandi depending upon their region of origin. Hinduism is practised by more than three-fourths of the population, with Islam being the next largest religious group. Hindi is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state, along with Urdu. Uttar Pradesh was home to most of the mainstream political entities that have existed in ancient and medieval India including Maurya Empire, Harsha Empire, Gupta Empire, Pala Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire as well as many other empires. At the time of Indian independence movement in the early 20th century, there were three major princely states in Uttar Pradesh – Ramgadi, Rampur and Benares. The state houses several holy Hindu temples and pilgrimage centres. Uttar Pradesh has three World Heritage sites and ranks first tourist destinations in India. Uttar Pradesh has several historical, natural, and religious tourist destinations, such as Ayodhya, Aligarh, Agra, Kushinagar, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Vrindavan. (Full article...)- Dookudu (transl. Aggression) is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Srinu Vaitla and written by Vaitla, Kona Venkat, and Gopimohan. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj and Sonu Sood alongside Brahmanandam who played a supporting role. It is produced by Ram Achanta, Gopi Achanta, and Anil Sunkara under the banner 14 Reels Entertainment. S. Thaman composed the music while K. V. Guhan handled the cinematography after Prasad Murella left the project in mid-way. The film is partially inspired by the 2003 German tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin!.
Production began on 28 June 2010 at Hyderabad. Shooting began on 22 October 2010 in Turkey and lasted till mid-September 2011. The film was predominantly shot in Hyderabad, with portions shot in Mumbai, Gujarat, Istanbul, Dubai, and Switzerland. The film released on 23 September 2011 on 1800 screens worldwide.
Upon release, Dookudu received positive reviews and was commercially successful. The film was cited as "The biggest hit you've never heard of" by the Los Angeles Times. The film collected a distributor share of ₹65 crores in its lifetime and grossed more than ₹101 crore in its lifetime making it the highest grossing Telugu film of that year. (Full article...) - Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001), commonly known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.
Narayan's mentor and friend Graham Greene was instrumental in getting publishers for Narayan's first four books including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher. The fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in Swami and Friends. The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and Sahitya Academy Award winner The Guide was adapted for the film (winning a Filmfare Award for Best Film) and for Broadway.
Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. He has been compared to William Faulkner who created a similar fictional town and likewise explored with humor and compassion the energy of ordinary life. Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy de Maupassant because of his ability to compress a narrative. (Full article...)
The Anuradhapura Kingdom (Sinhala: අනුරාධපුර රාජධානිය, translit: Anurādhapura Rājadhāniya, Tamil: அனுராதபுர இராச்சியம்), named for its capital city, was the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka and Sinhalese people. Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 377 BC, the kingdom's authority extended throughout the country, although several independent areas emerged from time to time, which grew more numerous towards the end of the kingdom. Nonetheless, the king of Anuradhapura was seen as the supreme ruler of the country throughout the Anuradhapura period. Buddhism played a strong role in the Anuradhapura period, influencing its culture, laws, and methods of governance. Society and culture were revolutionized when the faith was introduced during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa; this cultural change was further strengthened by the arrival of the Tooth Relic of the Buddha in Sri Lanka and the patronage extended by her rulers.
Invasions from South India were a constant threat throughout the Anuradhapura period. Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Because the kingdom was largely based on agriculture, the construction of irrigation works was a major achievement of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, ensuring water supply in the dry zone and helping the country grow mostly self-sufficient. Several kings, most notably Vasabha and Mahasena, built large reservoirs and canals, which created a vast and complex irrigation network in the Rajarata area throughout the Anuradhapura period. These constructions are an indication of the advanced technical and engineering skills used to create them. The famous paintings and structures at Sigiriya; the Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavana stupas, and other large stupas; large buildings like the Lovamahapaya; and religious works (like the numerous Buddha statues) are landmarks demonstrating the Anuradhapura period's advancement in sculpting. (Full article...)- Moodu Pani (English: The Mist) is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written, directed and filmed by Balu Mahendra. Starring his then wife Shoba and Pratap, with N. Viswanathan, Ganthimathi, Mohan and Bhanu Chander in supporting roles, it is based on two novels: Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan (1978) by Rajendra Kumar, and The Collector (1963) by John Fowles. The film follows Chandru (Pratap), who has a strong hatred towards prostitutes and would kill any such woman he encounters. He falls in love with Rekha (Shoba) and believes marrying her will end his psychological distress.
Moodu Pani was the third directorial venture of Mahendra and his second in Tamil after Azhiyatha Kolangal (1979). It also marked Mohan's debut in Tamil cinema, and the last film Shoba acted in before her death. Principal photography took place between January and April 1980, mostly in Udupi, Bangalore and Ooty. The film's similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho (1960) have been widely discussed. The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, this being his 100th film, and his brother Gangai Amaran was the main lyricist.
Moodu Pani was released on 6 November 1980, during the Diwali holiday frame. The film received critical acclaim, with particular praise for the performances of Pratap and Shoba, and Ilaiyaraaja's music; the song "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" attained immense popularity. It was a commercial success, running for over 200 days in theatres, and responsible for a resurgence of the thriller genre in Tamil cinema at that point. Despite the film propelling Pratap to stardom, it also led to him being typecast in similar roles. (Full article...)
The Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple or Thiruvellarai Temple in Thiruvellarai, a village in the outskirts of Tiruchirappalli in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Pundarikakshan and his consort Lakshmi as Pankajavalli.
According to legends, the temple is said to have been built by Sibi Chakravarthy, king of Ayodhya in Treta Yuga 15 lakh years ago. This temple is older than Srirangam temple. The temple has three inscriptions in its two rock-cut caves, two dating from the period of Nandivarman II (732–796 AD) and the other to that of Dantivarman (796–847). It also has Pallava sculptural depictions of Narasimha and Varaha, two of the ten avatarss of Vishnu.
A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and six of its seven bodies of water. The rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower, is unfinished. A swastika shaped temple tank built in 800 AD by Kamban Araiyan during the reign of Dantivarman is outside the temple complex. The Vijayanagar and Nayak kings commissioned paintings on the walls of the shrine of Pudarikakshan, some of which are still present. (Full article...)- Andhadhun (transl. Blindly) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language black comedy crime thriller film co-written and directed by Sriram Raghavan, produced by Matchbox Pictures, and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. The film stars Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, and Radhika Apte, and tells the story of a blind piano player who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the murder of a former film actor.
The script of Andhadhun was written by Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, Yogesh Chandekar and Hemanth M Rao. The film was edited by Surti, and K. U. Mohanan was its director of photography. Amit Trivedi composed songs for the film and Jaideep Sahni wrote the lyrics. Raftaar and Girish Nakod co-wrote the title song as guest composers.
In 2013, Rao suggested to Raghavan that he watch L'Accordeur (The Piano Tuner), a 2010 French short film about a blind pianist. Raghavan liked the film and decided to base a script on it. Khurrana was cast in the lead role after he contacted Raghavan and expressed an interest in working with him. The film was shot in Pune in 44 days spread over more than a year; principal photography began in June 2017 and ended on 17 July 2018. (Full article...) - Dor (transl. String) is a 2006 Indian drama film written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and features Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade as the lead actors. The film is an official adaptation of the Malayalam film, Perumazhakkalam (2004) and was well received by the critics after its release on 22 September 2006. Dor, which also released on a DVD, garnered rave reviews from critics and film buffs.
Dor, which was produced by Elahe Hiptoola, had cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee and editing by Sanjib Datta. For a film that had Hindi as the predominant language with a sporadic use of Urdu, Salim–Sulaiman composed the background score.
The story is about two women who come from different backgrounds and how fate brings them together. Meera (Ayesha Takia), a young woman who becomes a widow shortly after marriage, is trapped by tradition. Zeenat (Gul Panag), on the other hand, faces the daunting task of saving the life of her husband, who is on trial for murder. A bahuroopiya (Shreyas Talpade) helps her reach Meera, who holds the "string" to Zeenat's hope. The companionship that develops between Meera and Zeenat results in redemption for both. (Full article...) - Jainism (/ˈdʒeɪnɪzəm/), traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion that traces its spiritual ideas and history through a succession of twenty-four leaders or Tirthankaras, with the first in current time cycle being Rishabhanatha, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third tirthankara Parshvanatha whom historians date to 8th century BCE, and the 24th tirthankara, Mahavira around 600 BCE. Jainism is considered to be an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every time cycle of the cosmology.
The main religious premises of the Jain dharma are ahiṃsā (non-violence), anekāntavāda (many-sidedness), aparigraha (non-attachment) and asceticism (abstinence from sensual pleasures). Devout Jains take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (sexual continence), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle. Parasparopagraho jīvānām (the function of souls is to help one another) is its motto and the Ṇamōkāra mantra is its most common and basic prayer.
Jain dharma is one of the world's oldest continuously-practiced religions. It has two major ancient sub-traditions, Digambaras and Śvētāmbaras, with different views on ascetic practices, gender and which texts can be considered canonical; both have mendicants supported by laypersons (śrāvakas and śrāvikas). The Śvētāmbara tradition in turn has three parts – Mandirvāsī, Terapanthi and Sthānakavasī. The religion has between four and five million followers, mostly in India. Outside India, some of the largest communities are in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Jain Dharma is growing in Japan, where more than 5,000 ethnic Japanese families have converted to Jainism in the 2010-2020 decade. Major festivals include Paryushana and Das Lakshana, Ashtanika, Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, Akshaya Tritiya, and Dipawali. (Full article...) - The Voice is an Indian singing reality talent show, based on the original Dutch version of the program created by John de Mol and is part of a wider international franchise. The series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists' performances. Each coach guides their team of selected artists through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach.
The show first aired on 6 June 2015 on &TV and has aired for three seasons; it has produced three winners: Pawandeep Rajan, Farhan Sabir and Sumit Saini.
The first season of the series received positive reviews; one critic called the show "delightful", while another said that some of the participants on the show displayed fantastic singing. Due to the show's huge success, the channel announced a junior version of it which was aired on 23 July 2016. (Full article...) - Company is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language gangster film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Jaideep Sahni. The film stars Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn, debutant Vivek Oberoi, Manisha Koirala, and Antara Mali. It is the second film in the Indian Gangster trilogy, and a sequel to Satya (1998). Company follows Chandu, a henchman of a gangster named Malik, with whom he forms a rapport that eventually falls apart after tension arises between them.
Varma conceived the idea of the film after meeting a man named Haneef, who had been in prison for five years after the 1993 Bombay bombings and was a close aid of the mobster and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Haneef told Varma about the fallout between Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan. Varma also had much information which he used in the film, especially about police procedures he could not use in Satya since it was too much for one film. The film was made in several locations of Mumbai, Mombasa, Nairobi, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. Hemant Chaturvedi served as the director of photography while Chandan Arora edited the film.
Company was released on 12 April 2002 with a positive response. It was commercially successful, grossing ₹25.02 crore against its production budget of ₹7 crore. It was screened at Austin Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, and the Fribourg International Film Festival. The film won six awards at the 48th Filmfare Awards, including the Best Supporting Actor and Best Male Debut for Oberoi, and Critics Award for Best Actor for Devgn. (Full article...) - Aayirathil Oruvan (transl. One man in a thousand) is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language fantasy action-adventure film written and directed by Selvaraghavan and produced by R. Ravindran. The film stars Karthi, Andrea Jeremiah and Reemma Sen in the lead with Parthiepan playing a pivotal role. It revolves around three characters, Muthu (Karthi), Lavanya (Andrea Jeremiah) and Anitha (Reemma Sen) who embark on an adventure to search for a missing archaeologist. It is inspired loosely by the historical decline of the Tamil Chola dynasty and the rise of the Tamil Pandya dynasty.
The film's principal photography commenced on July 2007, and continued till 2008; shooting of the film took place in various locations with 2,000 extras in areas including Chalakudy, Kerala and Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and also filmed in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. The title Aayirathil Oruvan is taken from the 1965 film of the same name. The cinematography was handled by Ramji and editing work is done by Kola Bhaskar. The film's background score and soundtrack album is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, replacing Selvaraghavan's usual collaborator Yuvan Shankar Raja, whom he composed for his earlier films. The soundtrack received rave critical acclaim and emerged as one of the composer's best works till date.
The film languished in development hell due to slow progress of the shoot and the extensive pre-and post-production works, evading release dates ranging one year, Aayirathil Oruvan was released during the Thai Pongal festival, on 14 January 2010. The distribution rights were bought by Ayngaran International. Though the original film length was 181 minutes, it was then trimmed to 154 minutes for the theatrical release. Upon release, the film garnered mixed reviews, but later developed a cult status over the following years. At the 58th Filmfare Awards South, the film won Best Supporting Actor award for R. Parthiepan. (Full article...) 
A painting of Ravana kidnapping Sita by Raja Ravi Varma. Some versions of the Ramayana narrate that Maya Sita was kidnapped by Ravana instead of the real Sita.
In some adaptations of the Hindu epic Ramayana, Maya Sita (Sanskrit: माया सीता, "illusional Sita") or Chaya Sita (छाया सीता, "shadow Sita") is the illusionary duplicate of the goddess Sita (the heroine in the texts), who is abducted by the demon-king Ravana of Lanka instead of the real Sita.
In the Ramayana, Sita – the consort of Rama (the prince of Ayodhya and an avatar of the god Vishnu) – is seized by Ravana and imprisoned in Lanka, until she is rescued by Rama, who slays her captor. Sita undergoes Agni Pariksha (an ordeal of fire) by which she proves her chastity before she is accepted by Rama. In some versions of the epic, the fire-god Agni creates Maya Sita, who takes Sita's place and is abducted by Ravana and suffers his captivity, while the real Sita hides in the fire. At Agni Pariksha, Maya Sita and the real Sita exchange places again. While some texts mention that Maya Sita is destroyed in the flames of Agni Pariksha, others narrate how she is blessed and reborn as the epic heroine Draupadi or the goddess Padmavati. Some scriptures also mention her previous birth being Vedavati, a woman Ravana tries to molest.
The Maya Sita motif saves Sita – the chief goddess of Rama-centric sects – from falling prey to Ravana's plot of abduction and safeguards her purity. Similar doubles or surrogates of Sita and other goddesses are found in various tales of Hindu mythology. (Full article...)
Mangalore /mæŋɡəˈlɔːr/, officially Mangaluru ([ˈmaŋɡəɭuːɾu] (listen)), is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about 352 km (219 mi) west of Bangalore, the state capital, 15 km (9 mi) north of Karnataka - Kerala border, 297 km (184 mi) south of Goa and 400 km (248 mi) north of Kochi. Mangalore is the state's only city to have all four modes of transport—air, road, rail and sea. The population of the urban agglomeration was 619,664 national census of India. It is best known for being one of the locations of the Indian strategic petroleum reserves.
The city developed as a port in the Arabian Sea during ancient times; it has since developed into a major port of India that handles 75 per cent of India's coffee and cashew exports, and is the country's seventh largest container port. Mangalore has been ruled by several major powers, including the Kadambas, Alupas, Vijayanagar Empire, Keladi Nayaks and the Portuguese. The city was a source of contention between the British and the Kingdom of Mysore rulers Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and was eventually annexed by the British in 1799. Mangalore remained part of the Madras Presidency until India's independence in 1947 and was unified with Mysore State (now called Karnataka) in 1956.
Mangalore is also the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district, and is a commercial, industrial, educational, healthcare and startup hub. This city's International Airport is the second-largest and second-busiest airport in Karnataka. Mangalore City Corporation is responsible for the civic administration, which manages the 60 wards of the city. The city's landscape is characterised by rolling hills, coconut palms, rivers and hard laterite soil. India's first 3D planetarium with 8K resolution display is situated in this city. Mangalore is also included in the Smart Cities Mission list and is among the 100 smart cities to be developed in India. The city has an average elevation of 22 m (72 ft) above mean sea level. Mangalore has a tropical monsoon climate and is under the influence of the southwest monsoon. , Mangalore was ranked the 48th best city to live in the world by a US survey, and the only Indian city in the top 50. (Full article...)
The Battle of Vizagapatam was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars. A French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois in the ship of the line Marengo attacked the British Royal Navy fourth rate ship HMS Centurion and two East Indiaman merchant ships anchored in the harbour roads. Linois was engaged in an extended raiding campaign, which had already involved operations in the South China Sea, in the Mozambique Channel, off Ceylon and along the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal. The French squadron had fought one notable engagement, at the Battle of Pulo Aura on 15 February 1804, in which Linois had attacked the Honourable East India Company's (HEIC) China Fleet, a large convoy of well-armed merchant ships carrying cargo worth £8 million. Linois failed to press the attack and withdrew with the convoy at his mercy, invoking the anger of Napoleon when the news reached France.
Since his failure at Pulo Aura, Linois had been cruising the Indian Ocean, and during August and September 1804 had seized a number of valuable merchant ships as his squadron travelled north from Ceylon along the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal. From a ship captured off Masulipatam, Linois learned of the presence of the East Indiamen at Vizagapatam and determined to attack, unaware that British Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier had replaced the small frigate HMS Wilhelmina with the larger Centurion as the convoy's escort. Arriving off the port at 06:00, Linois advanced on the convoy, causing one of the East Indiamen to drive ashore in panic. The other merchant vessel failed to support the outnumbered Centurion and was captured, but Centurion continued fighting alone. Initially supported by the fire of gun batteries on shore, Centurion later moved out of their range while engaging the French flagship Marengo, which remained well offshore to avoid the coastal shoals. After an engagement lasting four hours Marengo withdrew, the badly damaged Centurion attempting to pursue but without success. Linois's squadron was forced to return to Île de France in the aftermath of the engagement, where Marengo required six months of repairs. (Full article...)
The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) in length with a wingspan of 110 to 135 cm (43 to 53 in). It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the tail and the flight feathers in the wings are black, contrasting with the white wing-coverts. It is a migratory bird, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and breeding in southeastern Europe and central Asia, though there are small resident populations in North Africa. It has a loud honking call.
The ruddy shelduck mostly inhabits inland water-bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. The male and female form a lasting pair bond and the nest may be well away from water, in a crevice or hole in a cliff, tree or similar site. A clutch of about eight eggs is laid and is incubated solely by the female for about four weeks. The young are cared for by both parents and fledge about eight weeks after hatching.
In central and eastern Asia, populations are steady or rising, but in Europe they are generally in decline. Altogether, the birds have a wide range and large total population, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed their conservation status as being of "least concern". (Full article...)
Manilal Nabhubhai Dwivedi (pronounced [məɲilal nəbʰubʰai dvivedi] (listen); 26 September 1858 – 1 October 1898) was a Gujarati-language writer, philosopher, and social thinker from British India, commonly referred to as Manilal in literary circles. He was an influential figure in 19th-century Gujarati literature, and was one of several Gujarati writers and educators involved in the debate over social reforms, focusing on issues such as the status of women, child marriage, and the question of whether widows could remarry. He held Eastern civilisation in high esteem, and resisted the influence of Western civilisation, a position which drew him into conflicts with other social reformers of a less conservative outlook. He considered himself a "reformer along religious lines".
Manilal's writings belong to the Pandit Yuga, or "Scholar Era" – a time in which Gujarati writers explored their traditional literature, culture and religion in order to redefine contemporary Indian identity when it was subject to challenge from the influential Western model introduced under colonial rule. His works include Atmanimajjan, a collection of poems on the theme of love in the context of Advaita (non-duality) philosophy; Kanta, a play combining Sanskrit and English dramatic techniques; Nrusinhavatar, a play based on Sanskrit dramatic traditions; Pranavinimaya, a study of yoga and mysticism; and Siddhantasara, a historical critique of the world's religious philosophies. His faith in Shankara's Advaita philosophy provided the fundamental underpinning for his philosophical thought. He was invited to present a paper at the first Parliament of World Religions, held in Chicago in 1893, but financial considerations made his participation there impossible.
Manilal's beliefs led him to search for perfection and love in his friendships with men and women, though he was often disappointed by his experiences. He married at the age of thirteen and had two children, but his wife left him in 1890. He had multiple sexual relationships with women, and also visited brothels, where he contracted syphilis. He suffered from frequent bouts of serious illnesses throughout his life and died prematurely at 40. Narmad, the founder of modern Gujarati literature, considered Manilal his intellectual heir. Manilal elaborated upon Narmad's line of thinking through his writings in the monthlies Priyamvada and Sudarshan, which he edited from 1885 until his death. (Full article...)
Mahadevi Varma (Hindi: महादेवी वर्मा), (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet and a novelist. She is considered as one of the four major pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature. She has been also addressed as the Modern Meera. Poet Nirala had once called her "Saraswati in the vast temple of Hindi Literature". Varma had witnessed India both before and after independence. She was one of those poets who worked for the wider society of India. Not only her poetry but also her social upliftment work and welfare development among women were also depicted deeply in her writings. These largely influenced not only the readers but also the critics especially through her novel Deepshikha.
She developed a soft vocabulary in the Hindi poetry of Khadi Boli, which before her was considered possible only in Braj bhasha. For this, she chose the soft words of Sanskrit and Bangla and adapted to Hindi. She was well-versed in music. The beauty of her songs lies in the tone that captures the euphemistic style of sharp expressions. She started her career with teaching. She was the Principal of Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth. She was married, but she chose to live an ascetic life. She was also a skilled painter and creative translator. She had the distinction of receiving all the important awards in Hindi literature. As the most popular female litterateur of the last century, she remained revered throughout her life. The year 2007 was celebrated as her birth centenary. Later, Google also celebrated the day through its Google Doodle. (Full article...)
Shivaji Rao Gaekwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. In addition to acting, he has also worked as a producer and screenwriter. He has won many award including,four Tamil Nadu State Film Best Actor Awards and a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award. The Government of India has honored him with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016). He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 4th Vijay Awards. At the 45th International Film Festival of India (2014), he was conferred with the "Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year". At the 50th edition of the International Film Festival of India (2019), he was honoured with the Icon of Global Jubilee award. He is the second-highest grossing actor in Tamil cinema history, behind M. G. Ramachandran. At the 67th National Film Awards, he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
Following his debut in K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, Rajinikanth's acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films. The Suresh Krissna-directed Baashha (1995) in which Rajinikanth played a crime boss, was a major commercial success in his career and earned him a 'god-like' status in Tamil Nadu. Sivaji (2007) was the third Indian film to enter the 100 Crore Club. He played dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot, in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018), both being India's most expensive production at the time of their release, and among the one of highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
Rajinikanth is widely regarded as one of the popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. His popularity has been attributed to his uniquely styled dialogues and idiosyncrasies in films, as well as his political statements and philanthropy. A philanthropist, he undertook a day-long fast in 2002 to protest the Government of Karnataka's decision to not release Kaveri River water into Tamil Nadu, and donated ₹10 million (US$140,000) toward a plan to interlink Indian rivers. Rajinikanth is the only Indian actor to be featured in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus, in a lesson titled From Bus Conductor to Superstar. In 2015, a film about his fandom, For the Love of a Man, premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. On 31 December 2017, he announced entry into politics and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies. (Full article...)
Sen at success bash of "ALTBalaji"
Riya Sen (born Dev Varma;) is an Indian film actress and model.
Sen comes from a royal background; her father Bharat Dev Varma hails from the royal family of Tripura. He was the son of Ila Devi, a princess of Cooch Behar and nephew of Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. Sen's mother Moon Moon Sen and grandmother Suchitra sen were reputed veteran actors. She began her acting career in 1991 as a child actress in the film Vishkanya. Her first commercial success in her film career was with Style, a 2001 Hindi low-budget comedy directed by N. Chandra. Some of her other notable films include producer Pritish Nandy's musical film, Jhankaar Beats (2003) in Hinglish, and Malayalam horror film Ananthabhadram (2005).
Riya Sen was first recognised as a model when she performed in Falguni Pathak's music video Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at the age of seventeen in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in music videos, television commercials, fashion shows, and on magazine covers. Sen has worked as an activist and appeared in an AIDS awareness music video with the aim of dispelling popular myths about the disease. She also helped raise funds for pediatric eye-care and underprivileged children. (Full article...)
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News
- 13 May 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic
- Russia reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in 16 Indian students studying at Ulyanovsk State University. (Reuters)
- 12 May 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in India
- India reports a record 4,205 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 254,197. (The Times of India)
- The World Health Organization says that the B.1.617 variant first detected in India in October has now been detected in more than 4,500 samples from 44 countries that were uploaded to an open-access database. (Khaleej Times)
- 11 May 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic
- The Philippines reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant first detected in India in two Filipino seafarers who travelled to Oman and the United Arab Emirates. (CNA)
- 10 May 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in India
- COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, COVID-19 lockdown in India
Did you know...
- ... that in 2019, despite a nationwide ban in India, an estimated more than ₹900 crore (US$130 million) was wagered on cockfighting in Andhra Pradesh in just three days?
- ... that badminton player P. V. Sindhu became the inaugural recipient of the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award in 2020?
- ... that international cricketer Rohit Sharma is the rhino ambassador for WWF-India?
- ... that Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to use green corridors to expedite organ transplants?
- ... that Sarika Kale, a kho kho player who has struggled financially for years, won ₹51,000 for her performance as captain of the India national team at the Third Asian Kho-Kho Championship?
- ... that after the Indian team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, their manager PR Man Singh ensured that Wisden Cricket Monthly editor David Frith would "eat his words"?
- ... that 50 books from a total of more than 150 authored by Pakistani historian Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri are about the Indian scholar and independence activist Abul Kalam Azad?
- ... that Iqbal Qureshi composed the music for the 1964 film Cha Cha Cha, the first Indian film to feature Western dance?
- ... that under India's new education policy, students will be allowed to combine fashion studies with physics, or baking courses with chemistry?
- ... that Zeng Rongsheng organized a Sino-American joint investigation of the geology of the Tibetan Plateau and examined the collision process of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate?
- ... that the first cookbook edited by Maria Guarnaschelli helped introduce American cooks to Indian cuisine?
- ... that sprinter Milkha Singh refused to accept the Arjuna Award, one of India's top sporting honours, citing undeserving awardees?
- ... that Myra MacDonald, whose career as a foreign correspondent for Reuters spanned virtually three decades, and who covered South Asia for a long time, wrote three books on India and Pakistan?
- ... that Adruti Laxmibai introduced free education for girls in the Indian state of Odisha?
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