Portal:India

Parent portals : Geography / Asia / India

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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country as of June 2023; and since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. 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 near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. (Full article...)

National Anthem of India

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  Gemini (/dʒɛminɪ/) is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language crime action film written and directed by Saran with Pon Elango as assistant director. This film was produced by AVM Productions. The film stars Vikram in the main lead role, while Kiran Rathod, Murali, Kalabhavan Mani, Vinu Chakravarthy, Manorama and Thennavan portray significant roles. Based on gang wars in Chennai, the film delves into the lives of outlaws and the roles the police and society play in their rehabilitation and acceptance.
  
  In early 2001, rival gangsters "Vellai" Ravi and Chera reformed themselves with the patronage of a police officer. Saran was inspired by this incident and scripted a story based on it. Production began shortly afterwards in December the same year and was completed by March 2002. The film was shot mainly at the AVM Studios in Chennai, while two song sequences were filmed in Switzerland. The film had cinematography by A. Venkatesh and editing by Suresh Urs while the soundtrack was scored by Bharadwaj. (Full article...)
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  Nanakramguda skyline

  
  Hyderabad (/ˈhaɪdərəbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; ISO: Haidarābād, Telugu: [ˈɦaɪ̯daɾaːbaːd] ^ⓘ, Urdu: [ˈɦɛːdəɾaːbaːd]) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies 650 km² (250 sq mi) on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of 542 m (1,778 ft), much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including the Hussain Sagar lake, predating the city's founding, in the north of the city centre. According to the 2011 census of India, Hyderabad is the fourth-most populous city in India with a population of 6.9 million residents within the city limits, and has a population of 9.7 million residents in the metropolitan region, making it the sixth-most populous metropolitan area in India. With an output of US$ 95 billion, Hyderabad has the sixth-largest urban economy in India.
  
  The Qutb Shahi dynasty's Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah established Hyderabad in 1591 to extend the capital beyond the fortified Golconda. In 1687, the city was annexed by the Mughals. In 1724, Asaf Jah I, the Mughal viceroy, declared his sovereignty and founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty, also known as the Nizams. Hyderabad served as the imperial capital of the Asaf Jahis from 1769 to 1948. As the capital of the princely state of Hyderabad, the city housed the British Residency and cantonment until Indian independence in 1947. Hyderabad was annexed by the Indian Union in 1948 and continued as a capital of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1956. After the introduction of the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, Hyderabad was made the capital of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split to form the state of Telangana, and Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states with a transitional arrangement scheduled to end in 2024. Since 1956, the city has housed the Rashtrapati Nilayam, the winter office of the president of India. (Full article...)
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  Waiting is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Anu Menon. Produced by Priti Gupta and Manish Mundra under the banner of Ishka Films and Drishyam Films respectively, the film was co-written by Menon and James Ruzicka, and stars Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin. Waiting focuses on the relationship between two people from different walks of life who befriend each other in a hospital, while nursing their respective comatose spouses. Rajat Kapoor, Suhasini Maniratnam, Arjun Mathur, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee and Rajeev Ravindranathan play supporting roles in the film.
  
  The development of the film began in June 2014, when Menon signed Koechlin and Shah for an untitled project. Principal photography started in November 2014 in the South Indian coastal city of Kochi; Neha Parti served as the cinematographer for the film. New Zealand-based singer-songwriter Mikey McCleary composed the film's score. Nitin Baid and Apurva Asrani edited the film, and Atika Chohan wrote the dialogue. Waiting also marked the Hindi film debut of the prominent South Indian actress-director Suhasini Maniratnam. Koechlin also made her debut as a lyricist with the film's soundtrack, writing the song "Waiting for You". (Full article...)
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  Lage Raho Munna Bhai (pronounced [ləˈɡeː rəˈɦoː mʊnːaːˈbʱaːi] ^ⓘ; translation: Keep Going, Munna Bro) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films. A sequel to Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), the film is the second installment of the Munna Bhai series. Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi reprised their roles as the titular Munna Bhai and Circuit, respectively. New additions to the cast include Vidya Balan, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Dia Mirza, while several actors from the original, notably Jimmy Sheirgill and Boman Irani, appear in new roles.
  
  In this film, the eponymous lead character, a don in the Mumbai underworld, begins to see visions 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. (Full article...)
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  Eega(transl. The Fly) is a 2012 Indian Telugu-Tamil Bilingual fantasy action film written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli. The film was produced by Sai Korrapati's Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of ₹30–40 crore (US$6–7 million). It was filmed simultaneously in Tamil with the title Naan Ee (transl. I, the Fly). The film stars Nani, Samantha, and Sudeepa. M. M. Keeravani composed the songs and the background score, while K. K. Senthil Kumar was the director of photography. Janardhana 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 industrialist 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. (Full article...)
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  Kapadia in 2018

  
  Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father's efforts to launch her in the film industry. She was discovered at age 14 by the filmmaker Raj Kapoor, who cast her in the title role of his teen romance Bobby (1973), which opened to major commercial success and gained her wide public recognition. Shortly before the film's release in 1973, she married the actor Rajesh Khanna and quit acting. Their daughters, Twinkle and Rinke Khanna, both briefly worked as actresses in their youth. Kapadia returned to films in 1984, two years after her separation from Khanna. Her comeback film Saagar, which was released a year later, revived her career. Both Bobby and Saagar won her Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. Through her work over the next decade, she established herself as one of Hindi cinema's leading actresses.
  
  While her initial roles often relied on her perceived beauty and sex appeal, Kapadia was keen to challenge herself and expand her range. She was among the first actresses who starred in women-centred Hindi action films but found greater favour with critics when she took on more dramatic roles in both mainstream and neorealist parallel cinema. Appearing in films ranging from marital dramas to literary adaptations, she played troubled women sometimes deemed reflective of her personal experience, and received acclaim for her performances in Kaash (1987), Drishti (1990), Lekin... (1991), and Rudaali (1993). For her role as a professional mourner in Rudaali, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award. She also had supporting roles in the crime dramas Prahaar (1991), Angaar (1992), Gardish (1993) and Krantiveer (1994), the latter securing her another Filmfare Award. (Full article...)
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  Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford CBE FBA FSA (28 October 1886 – 28 November 1957) was a British archaeologist who specialised in the archaeology of prehistoric Britain and Sudan. A keen proponent of aerial archaeology, he spent most of his career as the archaeological officer of the Ordnance Survey (OS) and also wrote a range of books on archaeological subjects.
  
  Born in Bombay, British India, to a wealthy middle-class Scottish family, Crawford moved to England as an infant and was raised by his aunts in London and Hampshire. He studied geography at Keble College, Oxford, and worked briefly in that field before devoting himself professionally to archaeology. Employed by the philanthropist Henry Wellcome, Crawford oversaw the excavation of Abu Geili in Sudan before returning to England shortly before the First World War. During the conflict he served in both the London Scottish Regiment and the Royal Flying Corps, where he was involved in ground and aerial reconnaissance along the Western Front. After an injury forced a period of convalescence in England, he returned to the Western Front, where he was captured by the German Army in 1918 and held as a prisoner of war until the end of the conflict. (Full article...)
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  Andha Naal (pronounced [an̪da naːɭ] transl. That Day) is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language mystery-thriller film, produced by A. V. Meiyappan and directed by S. Balachander. It is the first film noir in Tamil cinema, and the first Tamil film to be made without songs, dance, or stunt sequences. Set in the milieu of World War II, the story is about the killing of a radio engineer Rajan (Sivaji Ganesan). The suspects are Rajan's wife Usha (Pandari Bai), the neighbour Chinnaiya Pillai (P. D. Sambandam), Rajan's brother Pattabi (T. K. Balachandran), Rajan's sister-in-law Hema (Menaka), and Rajan's mistress Ambujam (K. Sooryakala). Each one's account of the incident points to a new suspect.
  
  Balachander watched Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) at a film festival, was inspired by it and wrote a play in the same narrative style, but the script was rejected by All India Radio; Meiyappan later agreed to produce it as the film that would later be titled Andha Naal under AVM Productions. The screenplay was written by Javar Seetharaman, who also played a prominent role as an investigative officer in the film. The cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and the background score was composed by AVM's own music troupe, Saraswathy Stores Orchestra. The film was shorter than most contemporaneous Tamil films. It was the only film directed by Balachander for AVM. (Full article...)
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  Kaif promoting Bharat in 2019

  
  Katrina Kaif (pronounced [kəˈʈriːna kɛːf]; born Katrina Turquotte, 16 July 1983) is a British actress who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has received accolades, including four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, in addition to three Filmfare nominations. Though reception to her acting has varied, she is noted for her action film roles and her dancing ability.
  
  Born in British Hong Kong, Kaif lived in several countries before she moved to London for three years. She received her first modelling assignment as a teenager and later pursued a career as a fashion model. At a fashion show in London, Indian filmmaker Kaizad Gustad cast her in Boom (2003), a critical and commercial failure. While Kaif established a successful modelling career in India, she initially had difficulty finding film roles due to her poor command of Hindi. After appearing in the Telugu film Malliswari (2004), Kaif earned commercial success in Bollywood with the romantic comedies Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005) and Namastey London (2007). Further success followed with a series of box-office hits, but she was criticised for her acting, repetitive roles, and inclination to male-dominated films. (Full article...)
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  Reginald Heber (21 April 1783 – 3 April 1826) was an English Anglican bishop, a man of letters, and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich landowner and cleric, Heber gained fame at the University of Oxford as a poet. After graduation he made an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and Central Europe. Ordained in 1807, he took over his father's old parish, Hodnet, Shropshire. He also wrote hymns and general literature, including a study of the works of the 17th-century cleric Jeremy Taylor.
  
  He was consecrated Bishop of Calcutta in October 1823. He travelled widely and worked to improve the spiritual and general living conditions of his flock. Arduous duties, a hostile climate and poor health led to his collapse and death after less than three years in India. Memorials were erected there and in St Paul's Cathedral, London. A collection of his hymns appeared soon after his death. "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" remains popular for Trinity Sunday, while "Brightest and Best" is frequently sung during Epiphany. (Full article...)
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  Taare Zameen Par (lit. 'Stars on Earth'), also known as Like Stars on Earth in English, is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced and directed by Aamir Khan. It stars Khan himself, with Darsheel Safary, Tanay Chheda, Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra. It explores the life and imagination of Ishaan (Safary), an artistically gifted 8-year-old boy whose poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school, where a new art teacher Nikumbh (Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his reading disorder. The film focuses on raising awareness about autism and psychiatric disability in children.
  
  Creative director and writer Amole Gupte developed the idea with his wife Deepa Bhatia, who was the film's editor. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the score, and Prasoon Joshi wrote the lyrics for many of the songs. Principal photography took place in Mumbai, and in Panchgani's New Era High School, where some of the school's students participated in the filming. (Full article...)
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  Darjeeling (/dɑːrˈdʒiːlɪŋ/, Nepali: [ˈdard͡ziliŋ], Bengali: [ˈdarˌdʒiliŋ]) is a city in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of 2,045 metres (6,709 ft). To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, to the east the Kingdom of Bhutan, to the north the Indian state of Sikkim, and farther north the Tibet Autonomous Region region of China. Bangladesh lies to the south and southeast, and most of the state of West Bengal lies to the south and southwest, connected to the Darjeeling region by a narrow tract. Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, rises to the north and is prominently visible on clear days.
  
  In the early 19th century, during East India Company rule in India, Darjeeling was identified as a potential summer retreat for British officials, soldiers and their families. The narrow mountain ridge was leased from the Kingdom of Sikkim, and eventually annexed to British India. Experimentation with growing tea on the slopes below Darjeeling was highly successful. Thousands of labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal to clear the forests, build European-style cottages and work in the tea plantations. The widespread deforestation displaced the indigenous peoples. Residential schools were established in and around Darjeeling for the education of children of the domiciled British in India. By the late-19th century, a novel narrow-gauge mountain railway, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, was bringing summer residents into the town and carrying a freight of tea out for export to the world. After India's independence in 1947, as the British left Darjeeling, its cottages were purchased by wealthy Indians from the plains and its tea plantations by out-of-town Indian business owners and conglomerates. (Full article...)
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  Monier Williams, elected as the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit in 1860; this photograph was taken by Lewis Carroll.

  
  The election in 1860 for the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford was a competition between two candidates offering different approaches to Sanskrit scholarship. One was Monier Williams, an Oxford-educated Englishman who had spent 14 years teaching Sanskrit to those preparing to work in British India for the East India Company. The other, Max Müller, was a German-born lecturer at Oxford specialising in comparative philology, the science of language. He had spent many years working on an edition of the Rig Veda (an ancient collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns) and had gained an international reputation for his scholarship. Williams, in contrast, worked on later material and had little time for the "continental" school of Sanskrit scholarship that Müller exemplified. Williams regarded the study of Sanskrit as a means to an end, namely the conversion of India to Christianity. In Müller's opinion, his own work, while it would assist missionaries, was also valuable as an end in itself.
  
  The election came at a time of public debate about Britain's role in India in the wake of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Opinions were divided on whether greater efforts should be made to convert India or whether to remain sensitive to local culture and traditions. Both men battled for the votes of the electorate (the Convocation of the university, consisting of over 3,700 graduates) through manifestos and newspaper correspondence. Williams laid great stress in his campaign on the intention of the original founder of the chair, that the holder should assist in converting India through dissemination of the Christian scriptures. Müller's view was that his work on the Rig Veda was of great value for missionary work, and published testimonials accordingly. He also wanted to teach wider subjects such as Indian history and literature to assist missionaries, scholars, and civil servants – a proposal that Williams criticised as not in accordance with the original benefactor's wishes. The rival campaigns took out newspaper advertisements and circulated manifestos, and different newspapers backed each man. Although generally regarded as superior to Williams in scholarship, Müller had the double disadvantage (in the eyes of some) of being German and having liberal Christian views. Some of the newspaper pronouncements in favour of Williams were based on a claimed national interest of having an Englishman as Boden professor to assist with the work of governing and converting India. (Full article...)
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  Greatest extent of the Chalukya Empire, 636 AD, 740 AD

  
  The Chalukya dynasty ([tʃaːɭukjə]) was a Classical Indian 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...)
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  Padukone at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

  
  Deepika Padukone (pronounced [d̪iːpɪkaː pəɖʊkoːɳeː]; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She is India's highest-paid actress, as of 2023, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018 and awarded her the Time100 Impact Award in 2022.
  
  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. (Full article...)
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  A female African bush elephant in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

  
  Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), the African forest elephant (L. cyclotis), and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.
  
  Elephants are scattered throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia and are found in different habitats, including savannahs, forests, deserts, and marshes. They are herbivorous, and they stay near water when it is accessible. They are considered to be keystone species, due to their impact on their environments. Elephants have a fission–fusion society, in which multiple family groups come together to socialise. Females (cows) tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. The leader of a female group, usually the oldest cow, is known as the matriarch. (Full article...)
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  Chandralekha (also spelt Chandraleka) is a 1948 Indian historical adventure film produced and directed by S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios. Starring T. R. Rajakumari, M. K. Radha and Ranjan, the film follows two brothers (Veerasimhan and Sasankan) who fight over ruling their father's kingdom and marrying a village dancer, Chandralekha.
  
  Development began during the early 1940s when, after two successive box-office hits, Vasan announced that his next film would be entitled Chandralekha. However, when he launched an advertising campaign for the film he only had the name of the heroine from a storyline he had rejected. Veppathur Kittoo (one of Vasan's storyboard artists) developed a story based on a chapter of George W. M. Reynolds' novel, Robert Macaire: or, The French bandit in England. Original director T. G. Raghavachari left the film more than halfway through because of disagreements with Vasan, who took over in his directorial debut. (Full article...)
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  Kapoor Khan in 2023

  
  Kareena Kapoor Khan (pronounced [kəˈriːna kəˈpuːr xɑːn]; née Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient of several awards, including six Filmfare Awards, and as of 2024, is one of Hindi cinema's highest-paid actresses.
  
  Born into the Kapoor family, she is the daughter of actors Babita and Randhir Kapoor, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. After making her acting debut in 2000 in Refugee, Kapoor established herself the following year with several roles, including in the top-grossing drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.... This was followed by a series of commercial failures and negative reviews for her repetitive roles. An against-type performance as a sex worker in the 2004 drama Chameli marked a turning point in her career. She earned critical recognition for her portrayal of a riot victim in the 2004 drama Dev and a character based on Desdemona in the 2006 crime film Omkara. Her performance as a loquacious woman in the romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007) earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. (Full article...)
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  Indian roller, Gujarat

  
  The Indian roller (Coracias benghalensis) is a bird of the family Coraciidae. It is 30–34 cm (12–13 in) long with a wingspan of 65–74 cm (26–29 in) and weighs 166–176 g (5.9–6.2 oz). The face and throat are pinkish, the head and back are brown, with blue on the rump and contrasting light and dark blue on the wings and tail. The bright blue markings on the wing are prominent in flight. The sexes are similar in appearance. Two subspecies are recognised.
  
  The Indian roller occurs widely from West Asia to the Indian subcontinent. Often found perched on roadside trees and wires, it is common in open grassland and scrub forest habitats, and has adapted well to human-modified landscapes. It mainly feeds on insects, especially beetles. The species is best known for the aerobatic displays of males during the breeding season. Adult males and females form pair bonds and raise the young together. The female lays 3–5 eggs in a cavity or crevice, which is lined with a thin mat of straw or feathers. The roller is the state bird of three Indian states. It is listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)
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  Nil Battey Sannata (lit. 'Zero Divided by Zero Equals Nothing'; slang for "Good for Nothing"), released internationally as The New Classmate, is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari in her feature debut. Produced by Aanand L. Rai, Ajay Rai, and Alan McAlex under the banners of Colour Yellow Productions and JAR Pictures, the film was co-written by Iyer, Neeraj Singh, Pranjal Choudhary, and Nitesh Tiwari. Swara Bhaskar starred as Chanda Sahay, a high-school drop-out household maid and single mother of a sullen young girl named Apeksha, played by Riya Shukla. The film's theme is a person's right to dream and change their lives, irrespective of social status.
  
  Released in India on 22 April 2016, Nil Battey Sannata was distributed by Eros International and garnered critical and audience acclaim. Reviewers praised most aspects of the production, especially its narrative and realism, and the performances of the cast, Bhaskar's in particular. At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, Iyer won the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director, while Bhaskar and Shukla won the Screen Awards for Best Actress (Critics) and Best Child Artist respectively. The film did well at the box-office, collecting a total of around ₹69 million (US$800,000) during its entire theatrical run. The same year, the film was remade in Tamil as Amma Kanakku, with Iyer returning to direct. The following year, it was remade in Malayalam as Udaharanam Sujatha. (Full article...)
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  Enthiran (transl. Robot) is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language epic science fiction action film co-written and directed by S. Shankar. It is the first installment in the Enthiran film series. The film stars Rajinikanth in the main dual lead role as a scientist and the robot he created. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Danny Denzongpa, Santhanam and Karunas play supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman while the dialogues, cinematography, editing and art direction were handled by Madhan Karky, R. Rathnavelu, Anthony and Sabu Cyril respectively. The story revolves around the struggle of a scientist named Vaseegaran to control his sophisticated android robot named Chitti, after Chitti's software is upgraded to give it the ability to comprehend and exhibit human emotions and to commission it to the Indian Army. The project backfires when Chitti falls in love with Vaseegaran's girlfriend Sana, and is manipulated by Vaseegaran's mentor Bohra into becoming homicidal.
  
  After being stalled in the development phase for nearly a decade, the film's principal photography began in 2008 and lasted two years. The film marked the debut of Legacy Effects studio (which was responsible for the film's prosthetic make-up and animatronics) in Indian cinema. Enthiran was released worldwide on 1 October 2010. Produced by Kalanithi Maran, it was the most expensive Indian film at the time of its release. (Full article...)
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  Tripura (/ˈtrɪpʊrə, -ərə/) is a state in northeastern India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers 10,491 km² (4,051 sq mi); and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 3.67 million. It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east and by Bangladesh to the north, south and west. Tripura is divided into 8 districts and 23 sub-divisions, where Agartala is the capital and the largest city in the state. Tripura has 19 different tribal communities with a majority Bengali population. Bengali, English and Kokborok are the state's official languages.
  
  The area of modern Tripura — ruled for several centuries by the Manikya Dynasty — was part of the Tripuri Kingdom (also known as Hill Tippera). It became a princely state under the British Raj during its tenure, and acceded to independent India in 1947. It merged with India in 1949 and was designated as a 'Part C State' (union territory). It became a full-fledged state of India in 1972. (Full article...)
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  Khan in 2018

  
  Shah Rukh Khan (pronounced [ˈʃɑːɦɾʊx xɑːn] ^ⓘ; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has appeared in more than 100 films, and earned numerous accolades, including 14 Filmfare Awards. He has been awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India, as well as the Order of Arts and Letters and Legion of Honour by the Government of France. Khan has a significant following in Asia and the Indian diaspora worldwide. In terms of audience size and income, several media outlets have described him as one of the most successful film stars in the world. Many of his films thematise Indian national identity and connections with diaspora communities, or gender, racial, social and religious differences and grievances.
  
  Khan began his career with appearances in several television series in the late 1980s and made his Bollywood debut in 1992 with the musical romance Deewana. He was initially recognised for playing villainous roles in the films Baazigar (1993) and Darr (1993). Khan established himself by starring in a series of top-grossing romantic films, including Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). He earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of an alcoholic in the period romantic drama Devdas (2002), a NASA scientist in the social drama Swades (2004), a hockey coach in the sports drama Chak De! India (2007), and a man with Asperger syndrome in the drama My Name Is Khan (2010). Further commercial successes came with the romances Om Shanti Om (2007) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), and with his expansion to comedies in Chennai Express (2013) and Happy New Year (2014). Following a brief setback and hiatus, Khan made a career comeback with the 2023 action thrillers Pathaan and Jawan, both of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Core Western Ganga Territory

  
  Western Ganga was an important ruling dynasty of ancient Karnataka in India which lasted from about 350 to 999 CE. They are known as "Western Gangas" to distinguish them from the Eastern Gangas who in later centuries ruled over Kalinga (modern Odisha and Northern Andhra Pradesh). The general belief is that the Western Gangas began their rule during a time when multiple native clans asserted their freedom due to the weakening of the Pallava empire in South India, a geo-political event sometimes attributed to the southern conquests of Samudra Gupta. The Western Ganga sovereignty lasted from about 350 to 550 CE, initially ruling from Kolar and later, moving their capital to Talakadu on the banks of the Kaveri River in modern Mysore district.
  
  After the rise of the imperial Chalukyas of Badami, the Gangas accepted Chalukya overlordship and fought for the cause of their overlords against the Pallavas of Kanchi. The Chalukyas were replaced by the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta in 753 CE as the dominant power in the Deccan. After a century of struggle for autonomy, the Western Gangas finally accepted Rashtrakuta overlordship and successfully fought alongside them against their foes, the Chola Dynasty of Tanjavur. In the late 10th century, north of Tungabhadra river, the Rashtrakutas were replaced by the emerging Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola Dynasty saw renewed power south of the Kaveri river. The defeat of the Western Gangas by Cholas around 1000 resulted in the end of the Ganga influence over the region. (Full article...)
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  Profile of a Hoysala temple at Somanathapura

  
  Hoysala architecture is the building style in Hindu temple architecture developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region. Large and small temples built during this era remain as examples of the Hoysala architectural style, including the Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. These three temples were accorded UNESCO world heritage site status in 2023. Other examples of Hoysala craftsmanship are the temples at Belavadi, Amruthapura, Hosaholalu, Mosale, Arasikere, Basaralu, Kikkeri and Nuggehalli. Study of the Hoysala architectural style has revealed a negligible Indo-Aryan influence while the impact of Southern Indian style is more distinct.
  
  Temples built prior to Hoysala independence in the mid-12th century reflect significant Western Chalukya influences, while later temples retain some features salient to Western Chalukya architecture but have additional inventive decoration and ornamentation, features unique to Hoysala artisans. Some three hundred temples are known to survive in present-day Karnataka state and many more are mentioned in inscriptions, though only about seventy have been documented. The greatest concentration of these are in the Malnad (hill) districts, the native home of the Hoysala kings. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

• 
  Catopsilia pyranthe

  Photo: Joydeep

  Catopsilia pyranthe is a medium sized butterfly of the family Pieridae. It is found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia. This male was photographed in West Bengal, India.
• 
  Fire breathing

  Photo credit: Luc Viatour

  A fire breather in the "Jaipur Maharaja Brass Band" of India. Fire breathing, which is said to have originated in India, is the act of creating a large flame by spraying, with one's mouth, a flammable liquid upon an open flame. A number of legendary creatures are said to possess innate capabilities for fire breathing, most notably dragons.
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  Arundhati Roy

  Photograph: Augustus Binu

  Arundhati Roy (b. 1961) is an Indian author and political activist who won the 1997 Man Booker Prize with her debut novel The God of Small Things. Born in Shillong, Meghalaya, Roy wrote several screenplays in the late 1980s after meeting (and later marrying) director Pradip Krishen. She wrote The God of Small Things over a four-year period ending in 1996; it was published the following year and received positive international reviews, although in India the work was controversial. She has continued to write essays and articles, but has yet to publish another novel.
• 
  Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy

  Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

  Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy is a pharmacy college in Bangalore, India. Established in 1983, it is under the purview of the Al-Ameen Educational Society.
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  K. T. Thomas

  Photograph credit: Augustus Binu

  K. T. Thomas (born 30 January 1937) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, known for his strong opinions on Indian socio-political matters. He was selected as a district and sessions judge in 1977, and became a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1985. A decade later, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, on which he served until retiring in 2002. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2007 for services in the field of social affairs.
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  Gondi people

  Photo: Yann

  Women of the Gondi, the largest tribe of Indian aboriginals in central India. They are classified as a Scheduled Tribe in most Indian states. The Gondi language is related to Telugu and other Dravidian languages. About half of Gonds speak Gondi languages, while the rest speak Indo-Aryan languages including Hindi. For many years during the British colonial period, the Gonds were considered to have performed human sacrifices, although this notion was later discredited.
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  Siberian rubythroat

  Photograph: JJ Harrison

  The Siberian rubythroat (Luscinia calliope) is a small passerine bird generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher of the family Muscicapidae. This migratory insectivorous species breeds in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in Siberia, where it nests near the ground. It winters in Thailand, India and Indonesia. It is an extremely rare vagrant to Western Europe and the Aleutian Islands.
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  Bangalore Town Hall

  Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

  Bangalore Town Hall is a neoclassical municipal building in Bangalore, India. It is sometimes known, after a former president of Bangalore, as the Sir K. P. Puttanna Chetty Town Hall. Built by Mirza Ismail in 1935, it underwent renovations in 1990 at a cost of ₹6.5 million (US$371,400 at the time).
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  Brahmaea wallichii

  Photograph: Arthur Chapman; edit: Papa Lima Whiskey and Ryan Kaldari

  Brahmaea wallichii, also known as the owl moth, is a moth from the family Brahmaeidae. With a wingspan of about 90–160 mm (3.5–6.3 in), it is one of the largest species of Brahmin moth. This nocturnal species is found in India, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Taiwan and Japan.
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  Chandiroor Divakaran

  Photograph: Augustus Binu

  Chandiroor Divakaran (b. 1946) is a Malayalam–language poet and folk song writer from Kerala, India. He has published numerous collections of poetry since his debut collection, Radha, in 1965.
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  Danaus genutia

  Photograph: Vengolis

  Danaus genutia, also known as the common tiger or striped tiger, is a species of butterfly found throughout India as well as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, South-East Asia and Australia. It is a member of the Danainae group of brush-footed butterflies. Both sexes have tawny wings with veins marked with broad black bands, and the male has a pouch on its hindwing. The butterfly is found in scrub jungles, fallow land adjacent to habitation, and deciduous forests, preferring areas of moderate to heavy rainfall. Its most common food plants in peninsular India are small herbs, twiners and creepers from the family Asclepiadaceae. The caterpillar of D. genutia obtains poison by eating poisonous plants, which make the caterpillar and butterfly taste unpleasant to predators. It has some 16 subspecies and although its evolutionary relationships are not completely resolved, it appears to be most closely related to the Malay tiger (D. affinis) and the white tiger.
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  Nataraja

  Photo: Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  A statue of the Hindu god Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. In this form, Shiva performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for the god Brahma to start the process of creation. A Telugu and Tamil concept, Shiva was first depicted as Nataraja in the famous Chola bronzes and sculptures of Chidambaram. The form is present in most Shiva temples in South India, and is the main deity in Chidambaram Temple, the foremost Shaivist temple.
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  Round ribbontail ray

  Photograph credit: Rucha Karkarey; edited by John Harrison

  The round ribbontail ray (Taeniura meyeni) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found throughout the nearshore waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Reaching 1.8 m (6 ft) across, this large ray is characterized by a thick, rounded pectoral fin disc covered by small tubercles on top, and a relatively short tail bearing a single venomous spine. The ray is well-camouflaged when lying on the seabed; it is largely nocturnal, and preys on molluscs, crustaceans and bony fish. Mature females bear litters of up to seven pups, which are fed during gestation on "uterine milk", a product secreted by the walls of the oviduct. This round ribbontail ray was photographed in Lakshadweep, India.
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  Pigment

  Photo credit: Dan Brady

  Pigments for sale at a market stall in Goa, India. Many pigments used in manufacturing and the visual arts are dry colourants, ground into a fine powder. This powder is then added to a vehicle or matrix, a relatively neutral or colorless material that acts as a binder, before it is applied. Unlike a dye, a pigment generally is insoluble.
• 
  Papilio polymnestor

  Photograph credit: Jeevan Jose

  Papilio polymnestor, the blue Mormon, is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in southern India and Sri Lanka. It is a woodland species, often seen on forest paths and near streams. The larvae feed on trees in the family Rutaceae, such as citrus. Young larvae are green with white markings and position themselves on the upper surface of leaves, relying on their cryptic colouring, which resembles bird droppings, for protection. Older larvae seek less conspicuous locations, and have a unique habit of securing their balance by weaving silk on the substratum. This adult male P. polymnestor butterfly was photographed in the Indian state of Kerala.

Featured list –

This is a Featured list, which the Wikipedia community considers to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

• 
  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...)
• 

  

  Kapoor in 2022

  
  Ranbir Kapoor is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He worked as an assistant director on the films Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) and Black (2005), before making his acting debut opposite Sonam Kapoor in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic drama Saawariya (2007). It earned Kapoor the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He established himself in 2009 with leading roles in three films—the coming-of-age drama Wake Up Sid, the comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and the drama Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his combined work in these three films. In 2010, Kapoor played a character based on Arjuna and Michael Corleone in the commercially successful political thriller Raajneeti.
  
  From 2011 to 2013, Kapoor's releases were among the highest-grossing Hindi films of their respective years. In Imtiaz Ali's musical Rockstar (2011), he played an aspiring singer, and in Anurag Basu's comedy-drama Barfi! (2012), he starred as a joyful deaf and mute man. His performance in both films was critically acclaimed and he earned two consecutive Best Actor awards at Filmfare and the former also earned him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. The romantic comedy Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) further established him as a star. (Full article...)
• 

  

  Kapadia at the Pichvai Exhibition in New Delhi, 2018

  
  Dimple Kapadia is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Hindi films. She was discovered by Raj Kapoor at age 14, who gave her the title role in his teen romance Bobby (1973), opposite his son Rishi Kapoor. The film became a massive commercial success and made her an overnight star. Her role as a Christian teenager from Goa established her as a youth fashion icon and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Kapadia retired from acting following her marriage to Indian actor Rajesh Khanna earlier in 1973, and returned to the film industry in 1984, after her separation from Khanna. The release of her comeback film, Saagar, was delayed, with Zakhmi Sher becoming the second film of her career. Released in 1985, Saagar earned her a second Best Actress award at Filmfare, and she went on to establish herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema in the 1980s and early 1990s. The early roles she played following her return included the Hitchcockian thriller Aitbaar (1985), for which she received positive reviews, and the commercially successful action films Arjun (1985) and Janbaaz (1986). During this period, she acted in several films in South India, which she admitted to having made for financial gain and dismissed their quality.
  
  Many of Kapadia's early roles relied on her perceived beauty, and she would struggle to be taken seriously as an actress. She made a decision to accept more serious roles, and won acclaim for her role in the marital drama Kaash (1987). Financial success came with films like Insaniyat Ke Dushman (1987), Insaaf (1987), in which she played double roles; the controversial revenge saga Zakhmi Aurat (1988), in which she played an avenging rape victim; and Ram Lakhan (1989). She started the next decade by venturing into neorealist art films, known in India as parallel cinema, including Drishti (1990), Lekin... (1990), and Rudaali (1993). All these films won her critical praise, and her role as a professional mourner in the latter earned her a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. She further essayed character parts in Prahaar (1991), Angaar (1992), Gardish (1993), and Krantiveer (1994), which garnered her a fourth Filmfare Award, in the Best Supporting Actress category. (Full article...)
• 
  Paradesi (transl. Vagabond) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language period drama film written, produced and directed by Bala. The film features Atharvaa and Vedhika in the lead roles, with Sai Dhanshika, Uday Karthik, Riythvika and Jerry in supporting roles. The soundtrack and score were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. The cinematography was handled by Chezhiyan, while Kishore Te and L. V. K. Das were in charge of the editing. Based on Paul Harris Daniel's 1969 novel Red Tea, the film's story revolves around Raasa (Atharvaa), an unemployed villager who is misled into bonded labour at a tea plantation after being promised generous accommodation and wages by its supervisor (Jerry).
  
  Paradesi was made on a budget of ₹400 million and was released on 15 March 2013 to critical acclaim, but failed at the box office. The film won 37 awards from 59 nominations; its direction, performances of the cast members, music, cinematography, and costumes have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  The 2022 recipient: Mithun Chakraborty

  
  The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The recipient is honoured for their "great and outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema" and is selected by a committee consisting of eminent personalities from the Indian film industry. The award comprises a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of ₹1,000,000 (US$12,000).
  
  Presented first in 1969, the award was introduced by the Government of India to commemorate Dadasaheb Phalke's contribution to Indian cinema. Phalke (1870–1944), who is popularly known as and often regarded as "the father of Indian cinema", was an Indian filmmaker who directed India's first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913). (Full article...)
• 

  

  Sanjay Dutt at Mumbai Airport

  
  Sanjay Dutt is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films as well as a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Punjabi films. He made his acting debut in 1981, opposite Tina Ambani, in his father Sunil Dutt's romantic action film Rocky (1981). Rocky was ranked at tenth highest-grossing Bollywood films of 1981. After appearing in a series of box office flops, he starred in Mahesh Bhatt's crime thriller film Naam (1986). Dutt received critical acclaim for his performance, and it became a turning point in his career.
  
  In 1991, Dutt appeared in Lawrence D'Souza's Indian romantic drama film Saajan (1991), starring alongside Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan. For his performance, Dutt was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance in Khalnayak (1993). Dutt won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor—for portraying a young man who later becomes a gangster in Vaastav: The Reality (1999). He also received critical acclaim for his performance. Dutt next appeared in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's crime thriller film Mission Kashmir (2000). For his performance, Dutt was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. (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$2.0 million) and ₹180 million (US$2.1 million), The Dirty Picture was released worldwide on 2 December 2011, and earned ₹1.14 billion (US$13 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...)
• 
  Test cricket is the longest form of cricket. The women's variant of the game includes four innings to be completed over four days of play with eleven players in each side. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. However, India did not play Test cricket until 1973 when the Women's Cricket Association of India was formed. The Indian women's team played their first Test match in 1976, against the West Indies. The Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006 as part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket.
  
  India have played 41 Tests, starting with their first Test in 1976. They first won a Test in Patna (1976), in front of over 25,000 spectators, against the West Indies but did not win again until 2002, when they won against South Africa. The team has remained unbeaten since 2006, over the course of three Test matches. (Full article...)
• 

  

  Rajinikanth at the audio release of Enthiran (2010)

  
  
  Rajinikanth is an Indian actor, film producer, screenwriter and also a playback singer who has appeared 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 Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
  
  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...)
• 

  

  Ashwin has taken a pair of five-wicket hauls in a match on four occasions.

  
  
  In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and as of October 2024 only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Ravichandran Ashwin – a right-arm off break bowler – is a Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricketer who represents the India national cricket team. In a 2016 interview, former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan described Ashwin as the "best current Test spinner". As of September 2024, Ashwin has taken 37 five-wicket hauls in international cricket; he ranks joint-fourth in the all-time list, and joint-first among his countrymen.
  
  Ashwin made his Test debut in November 2011 against the West Indies. He took nine wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings. India won the match and his performance earned him the man of the match honour. His career-best figures of seven wickets for 59 runs came against New Zealand in October 2016; in the process he also became the fifth bowler to take six five-wicket hauls against them. He has picked up ten or more wickets in a match on seven occasions. Ashwin made his ODI and T20I debuts in June 2010 against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, respectively, and is yet to take a five-wicket haul in both formats. His four wickets for 25 runs against the United Arab Emirates in the 2015 World Cup remain his best in ODIs, while his figures of four wickets for 8 runs against Sri Lanka are his best in T20Is. (Full article...)
• 
  Kaththi (transl. Knife) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by AR Murugadoss. The film stars Vijay and Samantha Ruth Prabhu while Sathish, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Tota Roy Chowdhury play supporting roles. The film focuses on the attempts made by a petty thief Kathiresan (Vijay), the look-alike of a jailed hydrology graduate Jeevanandham (Vijay), to lead a rebellion by farmers from the latter's village, Thanoothu. Kathiresan helps them fight against Chirag (Mukesh), the owner of a soft drink company who has exploited Thanoothu's water resources for his own profit. Produced by Allirajah Subaskaran and K. Karunamoorthy under their production company Lyca Productions, the soundtrack and score were composed by Anirudh Ravichander. George C. Williams and A. Sreekar Prasad were in charge of the cinematography and editing respectively.
  
  Produced on a budget of ₹700 million, Kaththi was released on 22 October 2014 to critical acclaim. It was commercially successful, grossing ₹1.3 billion worldwide. The film won 14 awards from 33 nominations; its direction, story, screenplay, performances of the cast members, music, choreography and stunt direction have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  Mohammad Azharuddin is a former international cricketer who represented and captained the India national 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 January 2025, he is joint thirty-first among all-time century makers in Test cricket, and sixth in the equivalent list for India. (Full article...)
• 
  Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film directed by Ram Madhvani and produced by Atul Kasbekar. The film stars Sonam Kapoor as Neerja Bhanot and features Shekhar Ravjiani, Shabana Azmi and Yogendra Tiku among others in supporting roles. The film's script and screenplay were penned by Saiwyn Quadras, the dialogue was written by Sanyuktha Chawla Sheikh, and the editing was handled by Monisha R Baldawa. Set in Karachi, the plot of Neerja centres on the Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization's hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of the flight's head purser, Neerja Bhanot, who died saving passengers on the hijacked flight.
  
  Made on a budget of ₹200 million (US$3.1 million), Neerja was released on 19 February 2016, and grossed ₹1.35 billion (US$16 million) worldwide. The film won 31 awards from 45 nominations; its direction and performances of the cast members have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Padma Vibhushan medal attached with a pink ribbon

  
  The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for the "exceptional and distinguished service", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The Padma Vibhushan award recipients are announced every year on Republic Day and registered in The Gazette of India—a publication released weekly by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Urban Development used for official government notices. The conferral of the award is not considered official without its publication in the Gazette. Recipients whose awards have been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, are also registered in the Gazette and are required to surrender their medals when their names are struck from the register. As of 2020, none of the conferments of Padma Vibhushan have been revoked or restored. The recommendations are received from all the state and the union territory governments, the Ministries of the Government, the Bharat Ratna and previous Padma Vibhushan award recipients, the Institutes of Excellence, the Ministers, the Chief Ministers and the Governors of State, and the Members of Parliament including private individuals. The recommendations received during 1 May and 15 September of every year are submitted to the Padma Awards Committee, constituted by the Prime Minister. The committee recommendations are later submitted to the Prime Minister and the President for the further approval.
  
  When instituted in 1954, the Padma Vibhushan was classified as "Pahela Varg" (Class I) under the three-tier Padma Vibhushan awards; preceded by the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, and followed by "Dusra Varg" (Class II), and "Tisra Varg" (Class III). On 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest of the three, followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri. The criteria includes "exceptional and distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" but excluding those working with the Public sector undertakings with the exception of doctors and scientists. The 1954 statutes did not allow posthumous awards but this was subsequently modified in the January 1955 statute. The award, along with other personal civil honours, was briefly suspended twice in its history; for the first time in July 1977 when Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister. The suspension was rescinded on 25 January 1980, after Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. The civilian awards were suspended again in mid-1992, when two Public-Interest Litigations were filed in the High Courts questioning the civilian awards being "Titles" per an interpretation of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution. The awards were reintroduced by the Supreme Court in December 1995, following the conclusion of the litigation. (Full article...)
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  Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language thriller-drama film directed by Dileesh Pothan. The film stars Fahadh Faasil, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Nimisha Sajayan, Alencier Ley Lopez, Vettukili Prakash, and Sibi Thomas. It was written by Sajeev Pazhoor along with Syam Pushkaran who was also creative director. Bijibal composed the music while Rajeev Ravi handled the cinematography.
  
  Produced on a budget of ₹65 million, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum was released on 30 June 2017 and grossed ₹175 million in Kerala. The film was cited as one of the "Top 5 Malayalam movies in 2017" and "The 25 best Malayalam films of the decade" by The Hindu. The film garnered awards and nominations in several categories, with particular praise for its direction, screenplay and Fahadh's performance. The film won 36 awards from 45 nominations. (Full article...)
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  The national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the chief executive authority of the BJP, and fills a number of roles, including chairing meetings of the National Executive of the party and appointing the presidents of party subsidiaries, such its youth wing and farmer's wing. Any candidate for the presidency needs to have been a member of the party for at least 15 years. The president is nominally elected by an electoral college composed of members drawn from the party's National and State councils, but in practice is a consensus choice of senior members of the party. The term of the president is three years long, and individuals may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The president usually does not also hold a post within a government, and party chiefs have resigned the position to assume posts in Cabinet.
  
  After the party's foundation in 1980, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became its first president. He later became the prime minister of India, the only BJP president to serve in that position to date. In 1986, Lal Krishna Advani was sworn in as the party president and has been the longest serving president over three different periods. As of 2022, 11 people have served as the president of the BJP, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah who have also served two terms. J. P. Nadda is the most recent president, having been appointed in January 2020. (Full article...)
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  The Mizoram Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of Mizoram state in Northeast India. The seat of the legislative assembly is at Aizawl, the capital of the state. The assembly comprises 40 members directly elected from single-seat constituencies. It sits for a term of five years, unless it is dissolved earlier. Early dissolution of state assemblies happens when the governing party (or alliance) loses confidence of the assembly. This leads to either the President's Rule being imposed on the state, or early elections being called. Mizoram is the fourth-smallest state in India, covering 21,081 km² (8,139 sq mi); and the second-least populous state with a population of 1.10 million. The Mizoram Legislative Assembly has existed since 1972, when it had 30 constituencies.
  
  Since the independence of India, the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) have been given Reservation status, guaranteeing political representation, and the Constitution lays down the general principles of positive discrimination for STs and SCs. The 2011 census of India stated that the indigenous population constitutes 95% of the state's total population. The Scheduled Tribes have been granted a reservation of 39 seats in the Mizoram assembly, leaving only one (Aizawl East-I) unreserved. (Full article...)
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  Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest Indian filmmakers, he is credited with redefining the "range and depth of Tamil cinema". As of 2019, he has directed 28 films, and produced over 15 under his production company Madras Talkies.
  
  Mani Ratnam made his directorial debut, without formal training or education in filmmaking, with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1983). The critically acclaimed film, which he also wrote, won him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay. Then he entered Malayalam film industry with Unaroo, which was based on then prevailing trade union politics. His first Tamil film Pagal Nilavu (1985) was a commercial failure, but immediately followed Idaya Kovil (1985) found theatrical success. The following year, he made the romantic drama Mouna Ragam, which narrated the story of a young woman who is forced into an arranged marriage by her family. The critical and commercial success of the film established him as a leading filmmaker in Tamil cinema. His next release Nayakan, starring Kamal Haasan, was inspired by the life of the Bombay-based gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar. The film was submitted by India as its official entry for the 60th Academy Awards. Later in 2005, Nayakan was included in Time's "All-Time 100 Movies" list. Mani Ratnam followed this with the tragic romance Geethanjali (1989), which marked his Telugu cinema debut; the tragedy Anjali (1990), which narrated the story of an autistic child; and the crime drama Thalapathi (1991), loosely adapted from the Indian epic Mahabharata. In 1992, he made the romantic thriller Roja for Kavithalayaa Productions. The film was dubbed into many Indian languages, including Hindi, and its widespread success brought national recognition to Mani Ratnam. Three years later, he made Bombay (1995), which was based on the 1992–93 Bombay riots. Although controversial for its depiction of religious riots, the film met with wide critical acclaim and became commercially successful in India. (Full article...)
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  Thani Oruvan is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Mohan Raja, who also co-wrote the screenplay and dialogues with the duo Subha. The film features Jayam Ravi, Arvind Swami and Nayanthara in the lead roles. Thambi Ramaiah, Ganesh Venkatraman, Mugdha Godse and Nassar play supporting roles. The film's story focuses on Mithran (Ravi), an IPS officer, who learns of the plans of scientist and businessman Siddharth Abhimanyu (Swami) to sabotage a deal to make generic medicines available at low cost for poor people. Siddharth succeeds in his plan and begins indulging in a game of cat and mouse with Mithran. The rest of the story revolves around how Mithran overcomes the obstacles set by Siddharth. Produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram, Kalpathi S. Ganesh and Kalpathi S. Suresh under their company AGS Entertainment, the film's soundtrack and score were composed by Hiphop Tamizha. Ramji and Gopi Krishna handled the cinematography and editing respectively.
  
  Made on a budget of ₹200 million, Thani Oruvan was released on 28 August 2015 and received positive reviews. It was commercially successful, grossing ₹1.05 billion worldwide. The film won 21 awards from 37 nominations; its direction, story, screenplay, performances of the cast members and music have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
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  Suriya in 2011

  
  Suriya is an Indian actor and film producer who works primarily in Tamil cinema. He made a commercially successful cinematic debut in Vasanth's Nerrukku Ner (1997). After few critical and commercial failures, Suriya collaborated with Vasanth again in Poovellam Kettuppar (1999), his first film with his future wife Jyothika.
  
  In 2001, Suriya starred in Bala's Nandha as an ex-convict trying to find his place in society. The film was critically acclaimed and became a turning point in his career. His roles as a police officer in Gautham Vasudev Menon's Kaakha Kaakha (which became his first blockbuster) and a con artist in Bala's Pithamagan, established him as one of Tamil cinema's leading actors. Suriya's performances in both films were praised, winning him a Best Actor nomination for the former and the Best Supporting Actor for Pithamagan at the 51st Filmfare Awards South. The following year, he played dual roles—a hunchback and a college student—in Perazhagan. Suriya's performance was again praised, and he received his first Filmfare Best Actor award. He was also acclaimed for his performance as a student leader in Mani Ratnam's Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004). (Full article...)
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  Shah Rukh Khan (left) and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan garnered several awards and nominations for their performances in Devdas (2002).

  
  Devdas is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language epic romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit, while Kirron Kher, Smita Jaykar and Vijayendra Ghatge play supporting roles. The film's story focuses on Devdas (Khan), a Bachelor of Law student who later becomes an alcoholic after his family rejects his relationship with Paro (Rai Bachchan), Devdas' childhood friend. The film was produced by Bharat Shah for his company Mega Bollywood, and its screenplay was written by Bhansali and Prakash Ranjit Kapadia, who also wrote the dialogue. The soundtrack for Devdas was composed by Ismail Darbar and Birju Maharaj, who co-wrote the lyrics with Nusrat Badr and Sameer Anjaan. Binod Pradhan and Bela Sehgal completed the cinematography and editing, respectively, while Nitin Chandrakant Desai handled the production design.
  
  Made on a budget of ₹500 million (US$5.8 million), Devdas premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2002 and was released worldwide on 12 July that year. It received mixed reviews from critics, but emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, earning ₹998.8 million (US$12 million). The film won 61 awards from 91 nominations; its direction, music, performances of the cast members, screenplay, cinematography, choreography, costumes and production design have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
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  Karan Johar, the son of founder Yash Johar, has directed seven films for Dharma Productions, as of 2023

  
  Dharma Productions is an Indian production company established by Yash Johar in 1976. As of 2024, the company has produced 63 Hindi films, including three that have yet to be released. A large number of the films were co-produced with companies such as Red Chillies Entertainment and Star Studios. In addition, Dharma Productions has presented six other-Indian language films from other companies. The most frequent collaborations of the company have been with the actors Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Sanjay Dutt.
  
  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, Rani Mukerji and Salman Khan. 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 family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), and the romantic dramas Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), all starring Khan, were top-grossing Hindi films in domestic and overseas markets. (Full article...)
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  The prime minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India and chair of the Union Council of Ministers. Although the president of India is the constitutional, nominal, and ceremonial head of state, in practice and ordinarily, the executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers. The prime minister is the leader elected by the party with a majority in the lower house of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha, which is the main legislative body in the Republic of India. The prime minister and their cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha. The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister ranks third in the order of precedence.
  The prime minister is appointed by the president of India; however, the prime minister has to enjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who are directly elected every five years, unless a prime minister resigns. The prime minister is the presiding member of the Council of Ministers of the Union government. The prime minister unilaterally controls the selection and dismissal of members of the council; and allocation of posts to members within the government. This council, which is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha as per Article 75(3), assists the president regarding the operations under the latter's powers; however, by the virtue of Article 74 of the Constitution, such 'aid and advice' tendered by the council is binding. (Full article...)
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  Bachchan in 2013

  
  Abhishek Bachchan is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. He made his acting debut opposite Kareena Kapoor in J. P. Dutta's war drama Refugee (2000), where his portrayal of the titular unnamed refugee earned a nomination for the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. However, the film was a box office debacle alike his subsequent films, including Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai (2001), and Shararat (2002). His career prospects improved in 2004, when he played a gangster in Mani Ratnam's political drama Yuva and a police officer in Sanjay Gadhvi's action thriller Dhoom. The former won him his first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the latter became one of the highest-grossing films of the year and his first commercial success.
  
  In 2005, Bachchan teamed up with his father twice in Ram Gopal Varma's thriller Sarkar and the crime comedy Bunty Aur Babli. The latter was the second highest-grossing film of the year, and his performance in Sarkar earned him a second Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, he appeared in the Bengali film Antarmahal (2005). 2006 proved to be key for Bachchan, as he received his third consecutive Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in Karan Johar's musical romance Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), and reprised his role in the action sequel Dhoom 2 (2006), which became the highest grossing Bollywood film to that point. Bachchan next starred alongside Aishwarya Rai in Ratnam's critically and commercially successful drama Guru (2007), a biopic inspired by the life of businessman Dhirubhai Ambani. His title role in the film was positively received. (Full article...)
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  The Sudan Block of NDA

  
  The Indian National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint services academy of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three armed forces (the Army, the Navy and the Air Force) train together before beginning pre-commission training at their respective service academies (Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA) for army, navy, and air force cadets respectively). Established in 1954 and located in vicinity of Khadakwasla Dam, near Pune, it is the world's first tri-service academy.
  
  NDA is not the only officer training academy in India. Besides NDA, which is tri-service academy, the Indian Army's IMA, Officers Training Academy (OTA), Army Cadet College (ACC), the Indian Navy's INA, and the Air Force's AFA are the other officer training academies of India. Besides cadets from NDA, these academies accept cadets separately from several streams. Apart from these, the Indian Army has three establishments for technical stream which include College of Military Engineering (CME), Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), and Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME). Although cadets are imparted technical training at these three academies, they are commissioned through OTA, Gaya. Excluding all these establishments, which are meant for combat arms, the Indian Army has other commissioning academies for support services such as the Medical Corps, and the Judge Advocate General's Department for example. (Full article...)

Good article –

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

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  Gurkha paratroopers check their equipment before being dropped on a series of strategic points around Rangoon

  
  The Battle of Elephant Point was an airborne operation at the mouth of the Rangoon River conducted by a composite Gurkha airborne battalion that took place on 1 May 1945. In March 1945, plans were made for an assault on Rangoon, the capital of Burma, as a stepping-stone on the way to recapturing Malaya and Singapore. Initial plans for the assault on the city had called for a purely land-based approach by British Fourteenth Army, but concerns about heavy Japanese resistance led to this being modified with the addition of a joint amphibious-airborne assault. This assault, led by 26th Indian Division, would sail up the Rangoon River, but before it could do so, the river would have to be cleared of Japanese and British mines. In order to achieve this, coastal defences along the river would have to be neutralized, including a battery at Elephant Point.
  
  This task was given to the 44th Indian Airborne Division. However, as the division was in the middle of a reorganisation, a composite battalion was formed from two Gurkha parachute battalions. The battalion assembled and trained throughout April, and was then dropped near Elephant Point early in the morning of 1 May. As it advanced towards the battery one of the battalion's companies was attacked by American bombers, causing a number of casualties. Despite this friendly fire incident, and torrential rain, the battalion successfully assaulted Elephant Point, neutralising the battery there after a fierce firefight. The battalion held the area around Elephant Point until 2 May, when the 26th Indian Division conducted its amphibious assault up the river and secured Rangoon. (Full article...)
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  Kaminey (English: Scoundrels) is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language action film written and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and produced by Ronnie Screwvala under UTV Motion Pictures, featuring Shahid Kapoor in a dual role, alongside Priyanka Chopra and Amole Gupte in the lead roles. Set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, Kaminey follows a rivalry between a pair of twins, one with a lisp and the other with a stutter, over the course of a single day.
  
  Bhardwaj bought the original script of Kaminey for US$4,000 from Kenyan writer Cajetan Boy—whom he had mentored at a scriptwriting workshop in Uganda, later collaborating with screewnwriters Sabrina Dhawan, Abhishek Chaubey and Supratik Sen to modify it. Kaminey was released on 14 August 2009 and became a box-office success worldwide, grossing over ₹710 million (US$8.2 million) against a production and marketing budget of ₹350 million (US$4.0 million). The film's soundtrack album, composed by Bhardwaj, also became a commercial success, with the song "Dhan Te Nan" topping the charts on various platforms. (Full article...)
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  Hichki (pronounced [ɦɪtʃʰkɪ]; transl. Hiccup) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film co-written and directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra and produced by Aditya Chopra and Maneesh Sharma under the former's banner of Yash Raj Films. Based on American motivational speaker Brad Cohen's autobiography Front of the Class, it stars Rani Mukerji in her comeback appearance as Naina Mathur, an aspiring teacher who was rejected by many schools because of her Tourette syndrome until she is accepted at the St. Notker's School, her alma mater. She is assigned to teach students from a nearby slum in the class 9F, which was created by the Government of India to fill a quota for the underprivileged.
  
  Malhotra struggled to find a studio to finance Hichki, since the film, which had begun scripting in 2013 after he acquired the rights to Front of the Class, was felt to lack potential for the box office. Chopra and Sharma later insisted on producing Hichki with Malhotra as director. Principal photography was handled by Avinash Arun and took place in Mumbai between April and June 2017, with Meenal Agarwal as the art director and Vaibhavi Merchant providing the choreography. The film was edited by Shweta Venkat Matthew. Jasleen Royal and Hitesh Sonik composed the soundtrack and background score, respectively. (Full article...)
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  In Jamtra, Madhya Pradesh, India

  
  The Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius), also known as the greater Indian fruit bat, is a species of flying fox native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the largest bats in the world. It is of interest as a disease vector, as it is capable of transmitting several viruses to humans. It is nocturnal and feeds mainly on ripe fruits, such as mangoes and bananas, and nectar. This species is often regarded as vermin due to its destructive tendencies towards fruit farms, but the benefits of its pollination and seed propagation often outweigh the impacts of its fruit consumption. (Full article...)
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  Kalpataru, the divine tree of life being guarded by mythical creatures at the 8th century Pawon temple, a Buddhist temple in Java, Indonesia.

  
  
  Kalpavriksha (Sanskrit: कल्पवृक्ष, lit. 'age tree', Kalpavṛkṣa) is a wish-fulfilling divine tree in religions like Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. In Buddhism, another term, ratnavṛkṣa (jeweled tree), is also common. Its earliest descriptions are mentioned in Sanskrit literature. It is also a popular theme in Jain cosmology and Buddhism.
  
  The Kalpavriksha originated during the Samudra Manthana or the "churning of the ocean" along with Kamadhenu, the divine cow, providing for all needs. The king of the gods, Indra, returned with this tree to his paradise. Kalpavriksha is also identified with many trees such as parijata (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), Ficus benghalensis, Acacia, Madhuca longifolia, Prosopis cineraria, Diploknema butyracea, and mulberry tree (Morus nigra tree). The tree is also extolled in iconography and literature. (Full article...)
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  Vishnudevananda Saraswati (31 December 1927 – 9 November 1993, birth name Kuttan Nair) was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams (ISYVC). He established the Sivananda Yoga Teachers' Training Course, possibly the first yoga teacher training programs in the West. His books The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga (1960) and Meditation and Mantras (1978) established him as an authority on Hatha and Raja yoga. Vishnudevananda was a peace activist who rode in several "peace flights" over places of conflict, including the Berlin Wall prior to German reunification.
  
  In 2007, his long-serving assistant, Julie Salter, reported sexual abuse against her by the guru; she published details of her experiences in 2019, leading at least 3 other women to report their experiences of similar abuse by Vishnudevananda. (Full article...)
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  Maharaj Kumar Hitendra Singh Narayan (1 July 1890 – 7 November 1920), commonly anglicised as Prince Hitendra Narayan, played first-class cricket for Somerset in 1909 and 1910. He later played in first-class matches for teams brought together by his brother, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar.
  
  Known variously in his cricket career as "Kumar Narayan" or "Hitendra Narayan", he was educated at Eton College and Cambridge University and was a forceful right-handed batsman. His four first-class matches for Somerset in 1909 and 1910 were not successful, with a top score of just 16 in his first game, against the 1909 Australians. In 1918, he played three matches for his brother's scratch side against teams composed largely of expatriate Englishmen. The matches have first-class status although all three were of only two-days' duration; Narayan was not successful in any of them as a batsman. (Full article...)
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  Shiva as Sharabha subduing Narasimha, panel view from Munneswaram temple in Sri Lanka

  
  
  Sharabha (Sanskrit: शरभ, Śarabha) or Sarabha is an eight-legged part-lion and part-bird deity in Hindu religion, who is described as more powerful than a lion or an elephant, possessing the ability to clear a valley in one jump in Sanskrit literature. In later literature, Sharabha is described as an eight-legged deer.
  
  The Shiva scriptures narrate that the deity Shiva assumed the form of Sharabha to pacify Narasimha - the fierce man-lion avatar of Vishnu worshipped by the Vaishnava sect. This form is popularly known as Sharabheshvara ("Lord Sharabha") or Sharabheshvaramurti. Vaishnavas refute the portrayal of Narasimha as being destroyed by Shiva-Sharabha, and regard Sharabha as a name of Vishnu. Some Vaishnava scriptures such as the Narasimha Purana suggest that Vishnu assumed the form of the ferocious two-headed bird Gandabherunda, who in turn defeated Sharabha. (Full article...)
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  The cyclone on 29 October at its record peak intensity, as it made landfall on Odisha

  
  The 1999 Odisha cyclone (IMD designation BOB 06, JTWC designation 05B) was the most intense recorded tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean and among the most destructive in the region. The 1999 Odisha cyclone organized into a tropical depression in the Andaman Sea on 25 October, though its origins could be traced back to an area of convection in the Sulu Sea four days prior. The disturbance gradually strengthened as it took a west-northwesterly path, reaching cyclonic storm strength the next day. Aided by highly favorable conditions, the storm rapidly intensified, attaining super cyclonic storm intensity on 28 October, before peaking on the next day with winds of 260 km/h (160 mph) and a record-low pressure of 912 mbar (hPa; 26.93 inHg). The storm maintained this intensity as it made landfall on Odisha on 29 October. The cyclone steadily weakened due to persistent land interaction and dry air, remaining quasi-stationary for two days before slowly drifting offshore as a much weaker system; the storm dissipated on 4 November over the Bay of Bengal.
  
  Although its primary effects were felt in a localized area of India, the outer fringes of the super cyclone impacted Myanmar and Bangladesh. Ten people were killed in the former, while two were killed in the latter by the storm's rainbands. The storm was the most severe to strike Odisha in the 20th century, raking the state and adjacent areas with high storm surge, powerful winds, and torrential rainfall. The storm's impacts exacerbated the damage caused by a very severe cyclone that struck the same region less than two weeks earlier. The 5–6 m (16–20 ft) surge brought water up to 35 km (20 mi) inland, carrying along with it coastal debris and inundating towns and villages. The surge combined with heavy rains to produce widespread flooding, damaging around 1.6 million homes and causing rivers to breach 20,005 flood embankments. The storm's effects destroyed numerous crops, including sugar cane, rice, and other winter-time harvests. Although estimates of the death toll varied significantly—at times suggesting 30,000 fatalities—the Government of India enumerated 9,887 fatalities in the country, of which a majority were caused by storm surge; over 8,000 deaths occurred in Jagatsinghpur. The total damage cost of the destruction wrought by the super cyclone amounted to US$4.44 billion. (Full article...)
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  The central panel portrays Yama, aided by Chitragupta and Yamadutas, judging the dead. Other panels depict various realms/hells of Naraka.

  
  
  Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक), also called Yamaloka, is the Hindu equivalent of Hell, where sinners are tormented after death. It is also the abode of Yama, the god of Death. It is described as located in the south of the universe and beneath the earth.
  
  The number and names of hells, as well as the type of sinners sent to a particular hell, varies from text to text; however, many scriptures describe 28 hells. After death, messengers of Yama called Yamadutas bring all beings to the court of Yama, where he weighs the virtues and the vices of the being and passes a judgement, sending the virtuous to Svarga (heaven) and the sinners to one of the hells. The stay in Svarga or Naraka is generally described as temporary. After the quantum of punishment is over, the souls are reborn as lower or higher beings as per their merits (the exception being Hindu philosopher Madhvacharya, who believes in eternal damnation of the Tamo-yogyas in Andhantamas). (Full article...)
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  The Mumbai Mirror is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare and municipal administration. The founding editor of the paper was Meenal Baghel who is credited for developing an aggressive public service oriented editorial outlook for the paper that it had till its downsizing in 2020. In 2017, it had a readership of over 1.8 million which made it the fifth most widely read English language newspaper in the country.
  
  The newspaper is owned by The Times Group, the publisher of The Times of India. It was launched as part of a ringfencing tactic against competitors in the city of Mumbai. The paper's growth in circulation and positive editorial reception inspired the creation of other city specific newspapers such as the Bangalore Mirror, Pune Mirror and Ahmedabad Mirror. (Full article...)
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  Ebrahim in 2010

  
  Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim OLG (1 July 1937 – 6 December 2021) was a South African anti-apartheid activist of Indian origin who was a member of the African National Congress's armed wing uMkhonto we Sizwe. He was tried in the Pietermaritzburg sabotage trials of 1963 and was sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment at the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison.
  
  Popularly known as Ebie, he served as a lawmaker in the first democratically elected government of South Africa in 1994 and also served as the country's deputy minister for international relations between 2009 and 2014. (Full article...)
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  Paiyaa (transl. Boy) is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action-adventure film directed by N. Lingusamy and produced by N. Subash Chandra Bose under the banner Thirrupathi Brothers. The film stars Karthi and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles, while Milind Soman, Jagan and Sonia Deepti appear in supporting roles. The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, and the cinematography and editing were handled by R. Madhi and Anthony, respectively.
  
  Following a lengthy pre-production phase, during which the film underwent major changes in its main cast and technical crew, it began shooting in December 2008 at various locations throughout South India, most notably in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. (Full article...)
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  Lakshmana Meets with Tara (leftmost), her husband Sugriva (2nd from left) and Hanuman (rightmost) in the Palace of Kishkinda

  
  In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, Tārā, lit. 'star') is the Queen of Kishkindha and the wife of the vanara King Vali. After being widowed, she becomes the Queen of Sugriva, Vali's younger brother.
  
  Tara is described as the daughter of the vanara physician Sushena in the Ramayana, and in later sources, as an apsara (celestial nymph) who rises from the churning of the milky ocean. She marries Vali. After Vali is presumed dead in a battle with a demon, his brother Sugriva becomes king and appropriates Tara; however, Vali returns and regains Tara and exiles his brother, accusing him of treachery. (Full article...)
• 
  Love Sex Aur Dhokha (transl. Love, Sex and Betrayal), also known by the initialism LSD, is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language anthology found footage drama film directed and written by Dibakar Banerjee, and co-written by Kanu Behl. Jointly produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, and Priya Sreedharan under the banner of ALT Entertainment, the film stars mostly newcomers including Anshuman Jha, Nushrat Bharucha, Rajkummar Rao, Neha Chauhan, Amit Sial, Herry Tangri and Ashish Sharma. It has three separate but interlinked stories about an honour killing, an MMS scandal, and sting operations.
  
  Banerjee conceived the film after he came across several video clips containing sexual content including the DPS MMS clip and wanted to explore what led to that situation. He then wrote two short stories, which he later expanded into three. The film was made entirely using digital formats with different cameras, including a handycam, an amateur film camera, a security camera, an underwater camera, and spy cameras. Nikos Andritsakis served as the film's cinematographer and Namrata Rao was its editor. The film's soundtrack was composed by Sneha Khanwalkar and the lyrics were written by Banerjee. (Full article...)
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  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; Hindustani pronunciation: [bʱaːɾətiːjə dʒənətaː paːɾʈiː] ^ⓘ lit. 'Indian People's Party') is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP was born out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
  
  The party's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician Syama Prasad Mukherjee, after he left Hindu Mahasabha to form a party as the political wing of RSS. After the Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the Janata Party; it defeated the then-incumbent Indian National Congress in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the modern-day BJP. Although initially unsuccessful—winning only two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the movement around Ram Janmabhoomi in Uttar Pradesh. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest political party in the Parliament in 1996; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under its then-leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lasted for only 13 days. (Full article...)
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  View of the Kodandarama Swamy Temple in Vontimitta

  
  Kodandarama Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Rama, located in Vontimitta town in Vontimitta Mandalam of Kadapa District in the Indian state of Andhra. The temple, an example of Vijayanagara architectural style, is dated to the 16th century. It is stated to be the largest temple in the region. It is located at a distance of 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Kadapa and is close to Rajampet. The temple and its adjoining buildings are one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance. (Full article...)
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  Hillary in c. 1953

  
  Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal.
  
  Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II and was wounded in an accident. Prior to the Everest expedition, Hillary had been part of the British reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 as well as an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. (Full article...)
• 
  Gopala Gopala is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language satirical comedy drama film directed by Kishore Kumar Pardasani. The film is produced by D. Suresh Babu and Sharrath Marar under the Suresh Productions and North Star Entertainment banners. It stars Venkatesh, Pawan Kalyan, Shriya Saran, and Mithun Chakraborty while Ashish Vidyarthi and Posani Krishna Murali play supporting roles. The film is a remake of the 2012 Hindi film OMG – Oh My God! which was itself based on the Gujarati stage play Kanji Viruddh Kanji which is in turn inspired from 2001 Australian film The Man Who Sued God.
  
  It follows the story of an atheist, Gopala Rao (Venkatesh), who sues God after losing his shop in an earthquake. Religious organisations revolt against him and Lord Vishnu visits him as his human guide, under his incarnation Krishna (Kalyan). (Full article...)
• 
  Vikram Vedha is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Pushkar–Gayathri and produced by YNOT Studios. The film, which is inspired by the Indian folktale Baital Pachisi, stars R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi in titular roles, alongside Shraddha Srinath, Kathir, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Prem, Achyuth Kumar, Hareesh Peradi and Vivek Prasanna. In the film, Inspector Vikram sets out to track down and kill Vedha, a gangster. After voluntarily surrendering himself, Vedha tells Vikram three stories which change his perceptions of good and evil.
  
  In January 2015, Sashikanth revealed that he would be producing a film directed by Pushkar–Gayathri. Following a year of development on the script throughout 2015, Madhavan and Sethupathi were selected to play the lead roles in February 2016. Principal photography began in November of the same year and was completed by January 2017. The film was shot mainly in North Chennai, with the area being used as its backdrop. Sam C. S. composed the soundtrack and score, while P. S. Vinod and A. Richard Kevin handled the cinematography and editing respectively. (Full article...)
• 
  Nartanasala (transl. The dance pavilion) is a 1963 Indian Telugu-language Hindu mythological film directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao and written by Samudrala Sr. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, Savitri, S. V. Ranga Rao, and Relangi while Mukkamala, Mikkilineni and Dandamudi Rajagopal play supporting roles among others. Susarla Dakshinamurthi composed the film's soundtrack and background score. M. A. Rahman and S. P. S. Veerappa served as the cinematographer and editor respectively. T. V. S. Sarma was the film's art director. The film was produced by actress C. Lakshmi Rajyam and her husband C. Sridhar Rao under the Rajyam Pictures banner.
  
  Based on the Virata Parva of the Indian epic Mahabharata, Nartanasala focused on the trials of the Pandavas in the last year of their exile. The Pandavas assumed different identities and lived incognito in Virata's Matsya Kingdom. The Kauravas wished to reveal the Pandavas' real identities so that they would repeat another exile of 13 years in a cyclic fashion. The issues faced by the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi at Matsya due to various factors, notably Virata's brother-in-law Kichaka form the rest of the story. (Full article...)
• 
  India sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was the nation's seventh appearance in a Winter Olympic Games. The Indian delegation consisted of four athletes, two in alpine skiing, one in cross-country skiing, and one in luge. Their best performance in any event was 25th by luger Shiva Keshavan in the men's singles. (Full article...)
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  Major Somnath Sharma on a 2003 stamp of India

  
  Somnath Sharma, PVC (31 January 1923 – 3 November 1947), was an Indian military officer and the first recipient of India's highest military decoration, Param Vir Chakra (PVC), which he was awarded posthumously.
  
  Sharma was commissioned into the 8th Battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment, in 1942. He served in Burma during the Arakan Campaign in World War II, for which he was mentioned in despatches. Fighting in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948, Somnath Sharma was killed in action on 3 November 1947 while repulsing Pakistani infiltrators near Srinagar Airport. For his gallantry and sacrifice during the Battle of Badgam, he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra. (Full article...)
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  The Madras Presidency or Madras State, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (state) of British Raj and later the Republic of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including all of present-day Andhra Pradesh, almost all of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in the modern day. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the presidency and Ooty (Udagamandalam) was the summer capital.
  
  The Madras State was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore to the northwest, the Kingdom of Cochin and Kingdom of Travancore to the southwest, the Kingdom of Pudukkottai in the center, and the Hyderabad State to the north. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay State (Konkan Districts) and Central States (modern Madhya Pradesh). (Full article...)
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  Aurobindo, c. 1900

  
  Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, Educationalist
  and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as Bande Mataram. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British colonial rule, until 1910 was one of its influential leaders, and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.
  
  Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, in Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and became increasingly involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. He was arrested in the aftermath of a number of bombings linked to his organization in a public trial where he faced charges of treason for Alipore Conspiracy. However, Sri Aurobindo could only be convicted and imprisoned for writing articles against British colonial rule in India. He was released when no evidence could be provided, following the murder of a prosecution witness, Narendranath Goswami, during the trial. During his stay in the jail, he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. (Full article...)

News

20 January 2025 – 2024 Kolkata rape and murder

A court in Kolkata, India, sentences a 33-year-old police volunteer to life in prison for raping and murdering a medical trainee in August 2024. (DW)

17 January 2025 – Naxalite–Maoist insurgency

Twelve Naxalites are killed in a police raid in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, India. (Al Jazeera)

16 January 2025 – 2025 in spaceflight

The twin satellites SDX01 and SDX02 of the SpaDeX mission, launched in December by the Indian Space Research Organisation, successfully conduct India's first spacecraft docking, with India becoming the fourth country to successfully dock a spacecraft after the United States, Russia, and China. (BBC News)

11 January 2025 – 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season

France places the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte on red alert due to approaching Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi, roughly one month after the French overseas department was devastated by Cyclone Chido. (Reuters)

8 January 2025 – Deadly human stampedes in Hindu temples

Six people are killed and over forty others are injured in a stampede at the Hindu Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. (AP) (Business Today)

Did you know...

• ... that a Bangladeshi diplomatic mission in India was attacked by Hindu extremists protesting the arrest of a Hindu monk?
• ... that Arthur France founded the Leeds West Indian Carnival, the first Caribbean carnival in Europe, in 1967?
• ... that Barren Island, located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is the only active volcano in India?
• ... that a judge is threatening to shut down Wikipedia in India over a defamation lawsuit?
• ... that the apricot dress of Jacqueline Kennedy kept its shape in India's hot weather?
• ... that Indian violin player Dwaram Durga Prasad Rao, a recipient of India's highest award for the performing arts, was once an apprentice to a painter?

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