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Exclusive: Pankaj Tripathi’s One-Of-Its-Kind Love Story Will Totally Win You...
Some of the greatest love stories go unseen, unheard and undocumented, simply because they’re ordinary couples living their lives. The Better India is showcasing such stories— everyday people and...
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First Indian Stuntwoman Gets Her Own Biopic: Meet the ‘Sholay Girl’, Reshma...
This International Women’s Day, we introduce you to some truly incredible Indian women whose stories define resilience, courage and inspiration. #BalanceForBetter If there is one film that has...
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Sahir Ludhianvi, The Poet of Peace Whose Lyrics Made a Home in People’s Hearts
In a recent podcast, Javed Akhtar recited these lines from a song in the 1959 film Dhool ka Phool, directed by the legendary BR Chopra and sung by Mohammad Rafi: Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalmaan Banega,...
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When Ladakh’s Original Hero Dared to Take the Plunge Into Bollywood in the 1970s
Ladakh officially opened itself to the world in 1974 when the Government of India first allowed tourists into this strategically sensitive high-altitude region. However, in 1972, a young and ambitious...
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Indians Gave Their Money to Bring These 5 Films to Life. Watched Them Yet?
What could three different films—about a doctor on a white revolution mission; an insomniac and an unemployed youngster—possibly have in common? Well, all these movies saw the light of the day, only...
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Memories of Mogambo: Little-Known Stories About the Legendary Amrish Puri
A deep baritone erupts into thunderous laughter and out of the darkness, enters a towering figure, piercing through the mist with a pair of glowing bulbous eyes, chilling enough to stare down...
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Meet the Director Whose ‘Bomb’ Films Want You To Understand a Woman’s Fears!
“This is our only chance to make men feel the same fear that women feel every day.” This line of dialogue from the film ‘Tottaa Pataaka Item Maal’ is perhaps reflective of similar desires inside many a...
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5 Women Who Challenged the Status Quo To Become ‘Firsts’ in Indian Cinema
While growing up, the majority of the movies I was exposed to, despite their different titles, actors, directors and to some extent story-lines, had a common thread running through them. Most of them...
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Bollywood’s First Empress: Before Madhubala & Nargis, India had Devika Rani
Before Madhubala, Nargis, and Meena Kumari, there was Devika Rani, a star actor and film producer, who co-founded Bombay Talkies, India’s first self-contained film studio, alongside her first husband...
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Amjad Khan: 5 Stories You Didn’t Know About India’s Unforgettable Gabbar!
Yahan se pachas pachas kos door gaon mein … jab bachcha raat ko rota hai, toh maa kehti hai bete so ja … so ja nahi toh Gabbar Singh aa jayega. Dressed in a khaki suit and armed with a belt, when the...
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Bob Biswas To Lajja: 8 Iconic Villains Etched Into Bollywood’s Cinematic History
While his boss is screaming at him, an LIC agent checks the picture of an old lady that flashes across his mobile screen. Later, the agent rings a bell and the same old lady opens the door. “Nomoshkar,...
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Bans & Jail: When Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand & Manoj Kumar Battled The Emergency
Whenever there is massive public unrest against the government of the day, celebrities in India are often put in a tight spot, because both fans and the government elicit their support. It’s a...
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Flawed, Gritty & Liberated: 7 Women-Centric Bollywood Roles from The Last Decade
A hero falls in love with the heroine. Since he crosses hurdles and challenges to ‘get’ her, her world revolves around him. In the end, he ‘rescues’ her from all worldly atrocities and they live...
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Love Is Love: 6 Bollywood Films That Showcased Homosexuality With Dignity
“Main Khullam khulla aaj yeh izhar karta hoon…. aadmi hoon aadmi se pyaar karta hoon..” It is a sign of evolution in Indian cinema when a popular actor and a household name like Ayushmann Khurrana...
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‘Elephant Boy’ Mysore Sabu: Meet India’s First Star on Hollywood’s ‘Walk of...
Thirty-odd years ago, an English film on the staid old Doordarshan channel (remember, it was the only one), was an event. When the papers announced that the offering on a certain Friday evening was...
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Not Just Iconic Paintings, Raja Ravi Varma Helped India Get Our First Film!
For his 2020 calendar collection, G Venket Ram, a Chennai-based photographer, roped in twelve famous personalities from the southern film and dance industries and adapted masterpieces by Raja Ravi...
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How This Self-Made Action Star’s Grit Took Him From Rural Assam to ‘Tanhaji’!
Last month, a friend of mine from Assam who is a cinephile, shared an interesting video clip of a young man exhibiting an array of martial arts skills on the sets of the period drama ‘Tanhaji: The...
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Toronto to Oscars: Meet the One-Woman Army Taking Assamese Cinema to New Heights
A few weeks ago, I watched ‘Bulbul Can Sing’, a coming-of-age film directed by Rima Das, about three teenage friends—Bulbul, Bonnie and Suman—and how they navigate love, life, friendship, questions of...
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Once A House Painter, This Artist’s Stunning Bollywood Murals Are A Must-See...
With The Positive Collective, The Better India’s COVID-19 coverage is available to regional language publications for free. Write to editorial@thebetterindia.com for more details. If you are a...
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10 Years of ‘Udaan’: How ‘Azaadiyan’ Continues to Propel Its Lead Actor’s Life
Vikramaditya Motwane’s stunning directorial debut, Udaan (2010) played a significant role in rejuvenating the spirit of realism of Hindi cinema. Produced by Anurag Kashyap, this landmark coming-of-age...
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