Eleven wagons of the goods train carrying iron ore derailed between Raghavapuram and Ramagundam

Paatal Lok is definitely a must watch show.The credit for its success goes to the writers who enthralled us with their unique characters, but also to the wonderful band of actors who grabbed the opportunity to showcase their frightening raw talent, notes Aseem Chhabra.

'What guides Monsoon Wedding through and through is Mira Nair's openness as a film-maker,' observes Sreehari Nair.

'Your memories will always remain etched in my heart through your films.'

Cinema screens bring in over 60% of the Rs 19,100 crore that Indian films earned in 2019.The reception a film gets in theatres impacts the price of every other revenue stream -- TV, OTT, overseas.Vanita Kohli-Khandekar explains why the theatre business is not doomed and why OTT won't become the first window of release.

'You could see the purity of Wajid's soul when he talked to kids on reality shows.'

'Basuda hardly spoke, but he had a sense of humour and that showed in his films.'

'Songs are a commercial compromise.''I had to invent tricks to fit songs into my films.'

'You were looking for perfection in an incurably imperfect world,' mourns Subhash K Jha who knew Sushant Singh Rajput well.

Sushant finished off his innings in style by scoring high on his last theatrical release, Chichhore, a film that was ironically about suicide not being a solution.

'I once thought Shah Rukh Khan to be the most knowledgeable actor in our industry,' Paresh Rawal once told me.'But Sushant was just as well-informed on any topic under the sun.'Subhash K Jha recalls his many conversations with the actor.

'Isn't 11.3 million Instagram followers and 1.9 million Twitter followers enough to make you feel wanted and loved as a successful star?' 'Can a huge bank balance, a fleet of fancy cars, and a big house assure you happiness and contentment in life?' 'For Sushant, it did not.'

'It's a performance that puts the Bachchan hysteria to shame,' observes Sreehari Nair.

'Sushant Singh Rajput, a bright young lad who had a life beyond films, was probably too good for Bollywood.''To blame his death by suicide on a gang of Bollywood bullies is stretching the point too far,' argues Saibal Chatterjee.

The Rs 19,100 crore 'Indian film industry' is more than its monikers for three simple reasons, feels Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.

The unfortunate thing is that the film will leave a poor impression of the IAF's and indeed of the armed forces's ability to handle sensitive social matters within their professional space, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).

Subhash K Jha remembers a decent, kind, gentle person, who didn't quite get his due.

'You have not understood the heart of the Indian Air Force,' notes IAF Veteran Nitin Welde.

'It's also a movie-crazed kid's idea of a great time,' discovers Sreehari Nair.

'I did not find anything atrociously out of place about the depiction of the IAF's image,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).

Such a person is rare in today's film world, notes Amit Khanna.

'Acting, by definition, is a portrayal of a character other than oneself.''If every role is to be played only by someone answering to that precise description, most professional actors -- of all ethnicities and genders -- would be out of a job,' observes Indira Kannan.

The insatiable greed for money and power is too large, too repugnant to thwart.And no one epitomised that better than Harshad Mehta, notes Dhruv Munjal.

The Social Dilemma shows how social media is turning human beings into lab rats and zombies, notes Chintan Girish Modi.

'Being Aishwarya Rai Bachchan comes with a price.''There will always be those who think her ideal life is a fake.'To them I say, damn your cynicism!,' says Subhash K Jha.

As dry as the martini Bond enjoyed, Connery's 007 was a <em>tour de force</em> of comicbook heroism replete with set pieces and choreographed stunts which he carried off with a Scottish virility, notes Subhash K Jha.

It is the most potent symbol of India's soft power -- more perhaps than the IT industry and our managerial skill, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar

... And sometimes, that's enough, says Sreehari Nair.

'I can write a book about Kamal Haasan. No, make that three books.'

Subhash K Jha gives us an insight into Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya, as it completes 13 years in November.

The passing of Satyajit Ray's renaissance man feels like the snapping of the last connection with a generation that built a nation and defined grace while facing everything life had to throw at them, says Sumit Bhattacharya.

'He always seemed one of us, part of the great aspiring middle class -- his values, his simplicity, even the intellectual snobbery which he could barely hide,' observes Mousumi Sengupta.

'I believe FFI has made a mistake,' notes Aseem Chhabra.

To an award show that's famous for honouring artists belatedly, we have sent as our official entry one of our major film-makers's weakest work yet, feels Sreehari Nair.

The Oscars is prestigious and all artists covet it but ultimately, the business of winning is ruthless and political. And India has seldom risen to the challenge, argues Sukanya Verma.

For Dosanjh to stand by his faith, retain the turban and beard, and yet not trivialise himself in the roles he has essayed, is really his biggest achievement, observes Sandeep Goyal.

Every year, with the good, there are bad movies too.

'He is busy building an image on the social media as an anti-right-winger.''But remember: An actor is only good at what he was born to do,' observes Subhash K Jha.

'This is not a bolt from the blue.'

Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2021.

The failure of Decoupled is that, as it deals almost solely in 'snapshots of insight', it fails to showcase how life flows, how the world goes round, how things unfold, feels Rohit Sathish Nair.

Two men smiling, eyeing each other as they briefly let their guard down, with no care of what the world around them is thinking, that has almost never been shown in a Bollywood film, notes Aseem Chhabra.

Gehraiyaan seems to be aurally thin, which serves as a clue to the larger issues plaguing the movie, observes Rohit Sathish Nair.

Subhash K Jha celebrates Ajay Devgn as the movie star turns 53.

Ram Gopal Varma is 60 today, April 7.Subhash K Jha plots the once brilliant film-maker's declining movies graph.

Jaya is a woman of steel in the truest sense of the word.Despite being the first lady of filmdom, she's as real and rooted to the ground as anyone can get, notes Subhash K Jha on the actor-politician's 74th birthday.

The simplicity of the model that was the original, which allowed it to glide with grace, has been foregone, observes Rohit Sathish Nair.

Badhaai Do carries its audience on the wave of those little farces that come with being queer in India, a land where masculinity still has some say, observes Sreehari Nair.

'If I don't act for a week I become edgy, restless and moody.'Subhash K Jha salutes Manoj Bajpayee, actor extraordinaire, on his 53rd birthday.

Get your lowdown on what's going on in the world of movies with Subhash K Jha.