India’s film industry, said to be the largest globally with some 1,000 movies produced each year, earns around $2 billion from legitimate sources such as screening at theatres, home videos and TV rights. But with $2.7 billion, piracy earns 35 per cent more, and a way out has proved elusive. Red Chillies Entertainment, a production house promoted by actor Shah …

Daler Mehndi (Born: 18 Aug 1967) is a bhangra / pop singer from India. Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India. Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung in several Bollywood movies. His international popularity has grown in recent years allowing him to tour …

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War Memorial: Punjab Govt. has done a good job here at Chapar Chiri, Mohali (Near Kharar) They have erected a war memorial in the memory of a great warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur who took respectable revenge for the brutal execution of Chote Sahibzade. Banda Singh Bahadur (born Lachman Dev, also known as Banda Bairagi, Banda …

Sunil Dutt (Hindi: सुनील दत्त, June 6, 1928 – May 25, 2005), born as Balraj Dutt was an Indian Hindi movie actor, producer, director and politician. He was the cabinet minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Manmohan Singh government (2004-2005). His son, Sanjay Dutt, is currently also a Bollywood star. In 1984 he joined the Congress party and …

Publisher: Penguin Books Pages: 305 Price: Rs. 599 This is a fascinating story of the Indian revolutionary movement, focussing mainly on the charismatic Bhagat Singh and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) and how the group influenced and radicalized the Congress, speeding up the race for independence. In contrast to popular belief that the revolutionary movement and the Congress struggle …

Arijit Singh, is an Indian playback singer. He was one of top six contestants in reality-singing series, Fame Gurukul in 2005 and became an assistant to music director Pritam. Known for his soulful voice that reverberates with romantic songs, Arijit Singh is setting new trends in the music industry, by stirring up unforgetable notes for the young hearts. Arijit was …

Alka Yagnik [Born: March 20, 1966, Kolkata] is one of the most talented singers of Bollywood. She was born to a Gujarati family on the 20th of March in Calcutta (now Kolkata). She comes from a music background. Both her parents were actively involved in classical music. Since the late 1980s, she has been one of the most leading playback …

Each canvas draws a comparison between the simple life left behind in small towns and the urbanised, mechanical existence we’ve carved for ourselves. Nails of Time, the exhibition of paintings and installations by Ram Partap, is a walk down the memory lane only to come to terms with reality that surrounds us. Although captions would have helped, several symbolic elements …

Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 408; Price: Rs.499 With global food shortage peaking in the past decade, American author Joel K. Bourne Jr. paints the vision of an apocalyptic future for humankind if concerted efforts are not made to ward off what Robert Malthus had predicted as the coming of an “agricultural Armageddon.” The ideas of the 18th century economist, Malthus, …

The works of Sita Ram, who illustrated the world around for Lord Hastings, reveal his ability to distinguish sight from insight So little is known about Indian painters of the past that, whenever from their world of silence, one hears another whisper, another faint sound, one feels grateful. Perhaps, even a bit relieved. For, far too long has one lived …