Ankur Pathak
@aktalkies
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Journalist | Writer, Modern Love Mumbai | DA: Faraaz, Scoop, The Buckingham Murders | Hopeful Romantic | Bombay Boy | Former @HuffPostIndia Alum @berlin_talents
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Joined May 2011
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Over a course of several months, I spoke to the woman who was sexually assaulted by Queen director Vikas Bahl. Her traumatic testimony was corroborated by several people from the industry, including Kashyap, who says he failed her. Here's her story:
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A phenomenal night at Mumbai’s Carter Rd. The directors (Kashyap, Bhardwaj, Sinha, Akhtar) calmly directed, the singers and poets sang and recited, the actors (Richa, Taapsee, Dia, Swara, Ali) chimed in, the audiences watched and participated. Truly a Bombay blockbuster.
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Was in an Uber. Muslim driver. From Vrindavan. Studied in a school that was in a temple. We talk as I’m headed to a protest venue. “Sir, main hospital mein nahi, chaar-pai pe paida hua hoon. Maa baap unpad. Kahan se laoon kagaz?” Could sense his anxiety. He kept talking (1)
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“I love her even more. She is a source of my strength even though she is the one in jail. She is my life partner, the mother of our child. To go through such a horrid experience together only strengthens our relationship,” Saboor Sirwal, Safoora’s husband
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Entering 30s so tricky. Relationships are still fickle and nobody prepares you for the emotional toll of seeing parents grow old and vulnerable. While you are busy chasing your dreams, one day you return home to see that those you derived your strength from have become so fragile
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Will never forget what I witnessed in Bombay tonight. Writers, directors, actors, journalists, everyone came together to oppose hate propelled by a govt at war with its own people. You bring the guns, we'll get the words. You get bigotry, and we'll slay it with poetry.
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Uber driver asked if he can make a call using his headphones (so he could still drive). I asked who to. He said, 'to my wife. Got married 2 months ago. She doesn't like to eat without me. So I keep her company while she has dinner." Now wife's dinning, dude's driving, I'm MELTING
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Happy birthday
@iamsrk
your charm lies in the fact where every journalist believes that they got the best SRK interview. But I lucked out massively. Asked for 20 mins, got 3 hours 🙃 And an answer to ever question (without a PR nudging on the shoulder)
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He said that he shared a video on his FB about condemning the attack on JNU and his childhood buddy commented, “Goli marni chahiye saalon ko.” I’ve never seen anyone breakdown the way he did, as he narrated that. “Mere bhai hai wo. Saath mein badey hue. Kaisa ban gaya aisa woh?”
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there are stars, superstars and then there's Shah Rukh Khan.
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Absolutely exhilarating what Pathaan is managing to do. Timeline has turned festive. People sharing stories of hooting whistling screaming with joy. A slap on the faces of those who sell hate for a living. You’ve pathetic troll farms. We’ve Shah Rukh Khan.
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Yesterday, I made this thread about Mom's pension being stalled, made an appeal to the I&B Minister
@smritiirani
, requesting her to intervene. Mrs. Irani responded promptly, kept in touch, even filled me in on updates. Today, Mom's papers were cleared. Thank you so much, Ma'am.
My mother, Kamlesh Pathak, who is everything to me, retired from All India Radio on Jan 31. That woman worked tirelessly for 30 years, saving her leaves, working overtime, everything. On retirement, she was to get a sizeable corpus (pension+gratuity+leave encashment) (1/n)
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"But I don't blame him ya, how much can a govt. really do," said a cousin safely huddled up in New York (he's not even a citizen), having received both jabs of Moderna, planning a trip to Florida because "it's getting a bit stuffy in here."
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Spoke of how as a young boy he hung out in Vrindavan, played cricket and chupa-chuppi with his Hindu friends. Then they grew up, kept in touch on FB. Recently a lot of them started unfriending him/commenting nasty things on his TL. “Bachpan ke yaaron ko mazhab kab se dikne laga?”
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So the Modi govt has organised a 'CAA dinner' with top Bollywood stars to 'discuss' the Act tomorrow. The invitation, which we reviewed, says meeting will have an 'inclusive' approach. Funnily those critical of the CAA have been left out of the guest list
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A Zoya Akhtar frame.
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One of my closest friends is looking for a house in and around Andheri. This is the standard response across platforms since he’s, well, Muslim. Any leads will be appreciated. PS: is there no action one can take against this kind of blatant discrimination?
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“It’s extremely sad that Rang De Basanti is relevant today,” Mehra said. “It doesn’t make me happy. The film was about change and the change within. That didn’t quite happen. We’ve regressed back in time.”
#LongRead
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UPDATE:
@smritiirani
personally called up Mom, has assured her that she'll get the issue sorted asap (by tomorrow). Currently, paperwork is being processed. Will update here once the matter is fully resolved. Thanks y'all for the support, Smritiji is personally following it up.
My mother, Kamlesh Pathak, who is everything to me, retired from All India Radio on Jan 31. That woman worked tirelessly for 30 years, saving her leaves, working overtime, everything. On retirement, she was to get a sizeable corpus (pension+gratuity+leave encashment) (1/n)
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Seeing posts by people who know SRK and from those who don’t is so wholesome. Khan taught generations of Indians what it feels like to love and to be loved. It’s paying off. So potent is the power of that love, Modi’s hate factory doesn’t stand a bloody chance. It never will.
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Don’t even get started on the toxic work culture at that place: there are employees who’ve quit citing harassment, abuse, lack of pay, and punishing work hours. A cheap ripoff sitting on the moral high horse is peak South Bombay entitlement. Hope it comes out one day.
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just wanted y’all to know that the actor who (among other parts) also played the iconic Ibu Hatella in Gunda (Harish Patel) has a part in Marvel’s The Eternals, glimpses of which we saw in the new lineup. Never give up on that dream
😅💯👏🏼
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There’s a story of an entire country in these two pictures.
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Over the last few weeks, I spoke to those close to Rhea and Sushant Singh Rajput to put together this exhaustive account of the couple's life in the past year, how they met, fell in love and grappled with an illness they were compelled to keep a secret
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Films that flopped at the box office but are actually great
Films that flopped at the box office but are actually great.
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Superb: for those thinking this is for ‘promotion’ lol this is a country where not speaking out is *the* promotion strategy, not standing at JNU behind a woman who was attacked by state-sponsored goons. This moment in time is bigger than box office. Hope other stars follow suit.
Actress
@deepikapadukone
at
#JNU
to express solidarity with students and teachers after Sunday's violence.
He meets JNUSU President
@aishe_ghosh
with folded hands in JNU!
@ReallySwara
@anubhavsinha
@anuragkashyap72
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what was a moment/scene in a Hindi film which shook the earth beneath you? I rem vividly when Kangana Ranaut's Shonali walked the ramp in Fashion, I was shaking. Iconic. That whole Mar Javan bit -- a runway show set to a deeply melancholic song -- captured the film's essence.
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Bhakts want to trend
#boycottbollywood
Hahahaha why don’t you start with asking your PM to do so first? I can assure you that many of them will be relieved 😅
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Protests to show solidarity with Jamia, AMU students at Mumbai University, Main Gate, Kalina campus at 4 pm today. Be there, Bombay. RT to spread the word/fight fascism.
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What Shah Rukh Khan told me in an interview in July 2016.
Crowd outside Mannat, Oct 2021.
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Months after Fan had a dismal run at the box office I met
@iamsrk
who was in a mood. I asked him what I always wanted to: does he fear that a day will come when he will be standing on the balcony of Mannat and there won’t be anybody outside it? His answer:
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My latest story is on Rajkumar Hirani, who has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked on Sanju. A very difficult story that took months of work, finally out:
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The collective burden of taking a stand often falls on Bollywood's usual suspects: Kashyap, Swara Bhasker, Richa Chadha, Mohd Zeeshan, Anubhav Sinha. It's unfair. Because the rest benefit from the fight of the few while they bear very real repercussions:
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👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 how many stars/studios are gonna pull out of Medianet, say no to Filmfare covers, drop Femina/Zoom/Radio Mirchi interviews and appearances at award shows, a time when Times is acutely desperate for their presence? Hit them where it hurts. Then we’ll talk.
This “Bollywood lawsuit” against Times Now is a pure eyewash.
The industry is based out of Mumbai & so are Times Now/Republic. Why was the suit filed in Delhi HC?
Also, are we to really believe that Bollywood doesn’t have the clout to sit across a table & confront Vineet Jain?
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I’m convinced that Disha Patani actually lives in the Maldives and occasionally comes to Bombay for a vacation and that too only to have sea-food at Bastion.
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we live in a country where 56 grams of ganja can land you in jail but organising and inciting a mob to demolish a religious site that led to large-scale riots?
Oh no you’re good.
ALL ACQUITTED: CBI court acquits all those accused of criminal conspiracy in the 28-year-old Babri Masjid demolition case.
#BabriVerdict
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COWIN has crashed. Shocking. Didn't see this coming at all.
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went over to Mom’s for the weekend and she greeted me with this 😭😭😭
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Hain? Who has abnormalised this in the first place? Can we cancel the word normalise because it’s really getting out of hand
Can we normalise eating street foods together???(also the way he looked at her!😭
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A Roadies winner has a National Award today. Never underestimate where Roadies can take you in life, okay? Okay.
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.
@priyankachopra
is extraordinary in The Sky is Pink. This is a wholesome performance by an artist at the peak of their craft with not a beat out of place. She digs into the role with all her might and is an absolute joy to watch. Her career best.
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no decent seats available for
#Brahmastra
this Sunday at any of the major chains. And yet I am grinning. When a film’s collective victory feels like a personal one, even when you’ve nothing to do with that film, you know you’re in the right business 💙
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Those who can afford it please leave Mumbai. This
@mybmc
has singularly turned it into an apocalyptic hellhole. No corner spared. Perfectly sound stretches broken, broken ones remain unrepaired. One is left paralysed by the civic body’s rot and failure.
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The story of how the suits at Viacom tried to coerce Sriram Raghavan into writing a more 'audience-friendly' ending for
#Andhadhun
, their reluctance in promoting the thriller when he didn't, and how the director fought it all to make the best film of 2018
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how is Ranveer Singh at Cannes and at Karan Johar’s birthday at the same time
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That the person who’d hop skip and jump on the busiest of local trains while you trailed them now hold onto the railings, treading slowly and tentatively, while you disappear ahead in the crowd. The inevitability of it all feels so unfair. Like I’m not done yet. I need you.
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Feel so proud of producer Anushka Sharma. From NH 10 to Pari, Paatal Lok and Bulbbul, her work is remarkably consistent. Worth celebrating the fact that she’s introducing/platforming new filmmakers who aren’t scared to embrace newer, adventurous forms of storytelling 👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼
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Soon after arriving in Mumbai, Pratik Gandhi realised only romantics in movies survived on dreams, real life involved pesky landlords. From 🕺at kitty parties to failed auditions Mumbai exacted a punishing amount of labour before rewarding his perseverance
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Yes,
@HuffPostIndia
is ceasing operations today. Our work will be back on the global site after a migration process. It’s been a dream run with a dream team. Thank you all for the love. Here’s a little note from me :)
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I think the only explanation of such blind devotion is perhaps a romantic obsession with Modi. The bhakts are in a toxic relationship with a man who has such a frightening hold over them, they'd let him get away with murde...oh wait.
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Siddhant Chaturvedi’s stinging reply to Ananya Pandey’s self-pitying rant gets 20/20 🔥 Boss line by MC Sher:
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the meltdown that the sanghi-journo-trade circuits are having over
#Bheed
teaser is SO predictable. Itna nervous breakdown tab nahi hua (when people were dying in 1000s) jitna ek 2-minute ke teaser ko dekh ke ho raha hai. The depiction makes you angry and not the reality of it?
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the cancel-proof therapist we deserve
“Achhe achhe nikal gaye, kaun yaad rakhta hai bhidu?” Class
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At
#ThugsOfHindostan
presser, when asked about Tanushree Dutta, Amitabh Bachchan said, "Neither am I Tanushree, not am I Nana Patekar, so how can I comment on this?" Wayyy to show solidarity for your colleagues, Bollywood. This country's superstars make us so proud.
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My 76-year-old maasi with co-morbidity (diabetes) is severely sick with COVID in Bhopal. Urgently seeking bed with oxygen. She hasn’t been able to eat, is throwing up. Any verified leads will be appreciated. Patient: Indira Mishra. Call Prakhar +91 73542 10459 or DM me! Pls RT 🙏
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@gaurangbanodha
@ShwetaKukreja_
bhai aisa lag raha hai seedha Paatal Lok mein jaa rahi hai wo
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Juhu Chawla at a BJP event in Mumbai to protest against the “tukde tukde” gang. Chants of “Kashmir Hamara Hai” The organisers then proceeded to garland a statue of Veer Savarkar.
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how can the Gen Z kids even take their heartbreaks seriously when they haven’t been exposed to Aatif Aslam’s Tere Bin at an age when it mattered the most ??? Alexa increase the DARD.
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It’s crazy how the love for Gully Boy is going in all directions — MC Sher being drooled over, the 3 Vijay’s — Varma, Raaz and Maurya — getting their own share of limelight, Alia Ranveer universally loved, Zoya is Queen 🐝 when was the last time a film generated this much love?
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“He had the most interesting face. He could be vulnerable, he could be cruel,” I spoke to directors Imtiaz Ali, Rahul Dholakia, Feroz Khan and others who worked with Asif Basra, an actor who many agreed didn’t quite get his due and deserved a lot more
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Bulbbul upends fairy-tale templates by vanquishing saviours and putting female pain at the center of the narrative. Anvita Dutt crafts her scenes with such lyrical precision, it’s like Bhansali went on an exile, discovered his freak, returned as a goth kid
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Over Skype calls that lasted several hours, I interviewed Jitendra Kumar or apna Jeetu for a profile. His story is straight out of a Bollywood melodrama: racist boss, rigid father, repeated rejections. And yet in the end, the hero wins. This is that story:
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In 'Gulabo Sitabo’s' Lucknow, the fights are petty, but the curses have dignity, the characters might be at war, but the film is a love story. Between people and spaces, writers and places. Review:
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I spent the early part of the year reconstructing the story of Dil Chahta Hai - how a film about 3 Bombay boys turned into a cultural milestone in Hindi cinema against which we’d measure our friendships, heartbreaks, Goa plans. Here’s an oral history
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My mother, Kamlesh Pathak, who is everything to me, retired from All India Radio on Jan 31. That woman worked tirelessly for 30 years, saving her leaves, working overtime, everything. On retirement, she was to get a sizeable corpus (pension+gratuity+leave encashment) (1/n)
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After a rude jolt of reality, Irrfan is back in the palaces of fiction, reclaiming his life, one shot at a time. I spent some time on the sets of his new film in Udaipur to observe him in his artistic space and discovered an indefatigable star. Profile
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TIL that my gym religiously plays Dus Bahane as the final track of the night, 5 mins before closing, and all gym bros collectively lose their minds. If it was possible to audition on a treadmill, it’s happening at Waves Lokhandwala.
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the biggest challenge in writing the review of an
@ayushmannk
movie is consistently spelling his name right. Yep.
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@adrierising
restaurants should dump the QR code menus introduced post pandemic. The physical menus I need or it’s very stressful to order.
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How did Abhay Deol, who came to define a new kind of Hindi film hero, one who didn’t feel the pressure of being an alpha, fall off the wave he rode with such consistency? I asked him and those who worked with him closely, to arrive at an answer. Profile:
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In a year of Rangoon, Jagga Jasoos, Newton (all exquisitely shot films), the Zee Cine Award for Best Cinematography went to — wait for it — Golmaal Again.
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In a new low, the Indian censor board has asked Fox to blur alcohol bottles/glasses from James Mangold’s ‘Ford v Ferrari’ that releases in India this Friday. Looks hideous and distracting. Somebody in CBFC needs to get a drink.
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Irrfan: the night before he died, a person close to him told me that everybody has given up. Not him. He fought. He wanted to live. With trembling fingers, I wrote an obit. My Dad saw it and said, "Kaisa job hai yaar. You've to declare a person dead before a doctor can." Sobbed.
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I want to violently slam my screen shut when I hear Shashank Arora’s voiceover in Made in Heaven. Why’s he reading out the synopsis of the episode we’ve just watched.
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Spent the past week having several long conversations with Juhi Chaturvedi, first before Gulabo Sitabo's release and then after watching it. We spoke about houses and cities and lived realities making their way quietly into stories. Profile:
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‘Aatm Nirbhar’ is going to be my standard response to every single person who asks me why am I still single 🍁
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Couples ka alag hi chal raha hai
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As the very idea of dissent is criminalised, had a long chat with Rakeysh Mehra abt how the idea of Rang De Basanti germinated, the drama to get it cleared from Delhi, and whether he thinks he can make a film as anti-establishment as RDB in today’s India
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Had a loooong post-release chat with Zoya Akhtar on Gully Boy’s politics, risks of examining socioeconomic oppression from a privileged position, the performances, whether there was intentional brown-facing, Alia’s bursts of violence, everything. Read!
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spoke to Farah Khan abt Sushmita Sen and oh my god, so many stories from Main Hoon Na. So obviously, Tumse Milke Dil Ka Hai Jo Haal Kya Kahein is now playing in loop. This still when she first appears and
@iamsrk
pretty much loses it. Hormones exploding like fireworks. Peak Farah
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Aparna Purohit, head of originals at Prime Video hasn't hesitated in passing over 'projects' that've come with stars attached but a story missing, several people said. How does she do it? I chased the story-chaser to chart out her story, from AD to boss:
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In Sep, I was at the AIB office to do a profile. Days later,
#MeToo
hit India and AIB, which had built itself as a woke enterprise, vanished into Internet oblivion. I spent the next few months putting together the story of what led to their sudden demise
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For so long, YRF monopolised Punjab by showing it as the land of the large-hearted, lassi-loving, bhangda-dancing, balley-balley stereotypes.
#PaatalLok
presents such a strong counter to that narrative, pulling the mustard-coloured rug from the feet of old-school escapist fare.
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A laundary service in Andheri has taken my clothes and have disappeared ?????
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Only in Bollywood can sexual harassers come back more powerful than they used to be before allegations against them were exposed.
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