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Book Excerpts

Dilip Kumar as ‘Pyaasa’ hero is what Guru Dutt wanted. But first day of shoot changed it all

In ‘Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story’, Yasser Usman writes how Guru Dutt ended up playing Pyaasa’s Vijay, even though Dilip Kumar was supposed to portray him.

Britain had become paranoid of India-US friendship. Nehru’s letter to Roosevelt didn’t help

In ‘A Matter Of Trust’, Meenakshi Ahamed writes that Nehru had reached out to US President Roosevelt for American help in the lead up to World War-II

‘Bhakts’ or ‘Liberals’ — friendship changed in Modi’s India. Tech will make it worse for GenZ

In ‘India 2030’, Sandipan Deb, as part of the volume of 20 essays, predicts how ideology and technology will widen political polarisation over the next decade.

‘No real clue’ — What Rana Kapoor told me when I asked him why Yes Bank failed

In ‘Yes Man’, Pavan C. Lall traces the rise and fall of Rana Kapoor, and how one of the largest private banks in India ran out of cash.

What made Hindu and Muslim women take up prostitution? The British really wanted to know

In ‘Indian Sex Life’, Durba Mitra traces the colonial origins of modern thought and how women’s sexuality was seen as a space for state intervention.

Cocktail of Mao and Hitler — how 1968’s Ankhen defined Bollywood villains

In ‘Purab aur Paschim: Colonials, Neighbours and Others’, Arun Gupta pays an ode to Bollywood & its portrayal of evil through the persona of the villain.

What LTTE chief Prabhakaran told me about women writing for newspapers

‘In the Shadow of a Sword’ is a memoir by Thamizhini, a former LTTE leader in Sri Lanka who gave an inside account of the brutality of it all.

Mangni and Nikaah — how Assamese Muslim marriages combine Hindu and Islamic traditions

In ‘The Identity Quotient’, Zafri Mudasser Nofil studies indigenous Muslims of Assam and how they have contributed to the composite heritage of the state.

If CJI meets the PM more regularly, a lot of issues could be resolved — Pranab Mukherjee

In ‘The Presidential Years’, former President Pranab Mukherjee had written about why India needs more frequent interactions between the executive and the judiciary.

How we got houses for journalists in Delhi from Lal Bahadur Shastri

In ‘Reporting India’, veteran journalist Prem Prakash writes about the history of Delhi’s Gulmohar Park.

On Camera

Trump’s 28 points for Ukraine add up to a no-go at peace

Two questions are pertinent: Why does the Trump administration keep making the same mistakes on the peace proposal? And what does a hurried peace plan mean on the ground?

At Charcha 2025: Local entrepreneurship, not just big IT, will drive next wave of distributed AI work

While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.

Tejas fighter aircraft crashes at Dubai Air Show, IAF confirms pilot’s death

This is the second such incident after a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas had crashed into a hostel on the outskirts of Jaisalmer in March last year.

INDIA has a Congress-sized hole. And the fix begins with a little humility

Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.