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Thursday, August 14, 2025
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Reel Take

Badhaai Do is only a glimpse of what queerness is. It’s a Bollywood token for ‘hatke’ topic

The film had a queer script consultant, and it shows. But in 2022, it's not enough to show a glimpse of a pride walk to show ‘aal izz well’.

Shark Tank has a winning formula. And it’s taken over TV primetime from soap operas

Such has been the impact of the Shark Tank India that BoAt co-founder Aman Gupta’s “hum bhi bana lenge" has even made it to Zomato’s Twitter page.

Forget Gehraiyaan, Dev Anand & Waheeda Rehman’s Guide is the OG film of complex characters

The three-hour-long film is a cocktail of romance, melodrama, brilliant music-dance sequences, and a thought-provoking story.

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s The Great Indian Murder has just enough gas to keep you watching

The Great Indian Murder has the usual tropes of a tried-and-tested political drama with sparks that don't turn into a blazing fire.

Taapsee Pannu’s Looop Lapeta is pacy but then it holds back

Unlike Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, where one could choose different outcomes, in Looop Lapeta, director Aakash Bhatia walks you through the three versions.

Rocket Boys charts India’s ‘tryst with destiny’ — one that Bhabha and Sarabhai took forward

SonyLiv's Rocket Boys begins with Nehru's criticism for ‘favouring' Homi Bhabha, whom the PM knew personally. But the show pays a fitting tribute to 'Nehruvian India'.

Cliched, monotonous, lazy — ‘Why I Killed Gandhi’ is not worth the hype

Based on Nathuram Godse's statement in court, Ashok Tyagi's 'Why I Killed Gandhi' starring NCP MP is an attempt to complicate the legacy of Gandhi's assassinator.

Unpaused: Naya Safar is a brave, honest look back at what Covid turned us into

War Room and Vaikunth stand out in Amazon Prime Video's sequel to the 2020 anthology. Around all the mayhem Covid caused, it's the silence in the show that gets you the most.

Yash Chopra tackled Partition and Hindu fundamentalism in Dharmputra, long before Garm Hava

Romantic heartthrob Shashi Kapoor and King of Romance Yash Chopra's first collaboration in 1961 sensitively handled Hindu-Muslim differences and religious bigotry.

36 Farmhouse shouldn’t have been made. ZEE5 just wanted a film on lockdown

ZEE5’s latest Hindi release, 36 Farmhouse is a purported comedy-drama. But this mistake of debutant Ram Ramesh Sharma should have been left on the cutting room floor.

On Camera

Asim Munir wants to be guardian of the Middle East. He’s fated to fail at home

Countering insurgency needs the Pakistan Army to demonstrate a political will that ties leaders at the centre with those in the borderlands. But it may not have the imagination.

Slashing GST on waste can unlock Rs 1.8 lakh crore, high tax hurting circular economy goals—CSE

Centre for Science and Environment in new report makes case for rationalising GST on waste material, saying most informal operators can’t afford high tax & it also hinders recycling.

India, US troops to undertake joint military exercise next month, first after Op Sindoor

21st edition of annual joint military exercise will be held from 1 to 16 September, aimed at sharing military tech, operational best practices & disaster relief coordination methods.

Modi’s ready to risk it all for farmers. Farm reform can answer Trump with new Green Revolution

Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.