Not only did Alia Bhatt take the wind out of the sails of her detractors by sending herself up with great style - she proved just how smart she was by doing so, thus re-casting herself as not only smart but also cool

Bollywood laughs at itself

Business Standard

On a cold winter evening, in a land far far away, a man offers a shawl to his hostess, the lady seated besides him, a formal occasion. She rises, blushes in delight, her warm, surprised smile breaking through the frost in the stiff proceedings. The lady's husband, the host of the evening, meanwhile, doesn't appear to have noticed this little exchange between his wife and one of his chief guests, a dashing man, legendary for his virility and machismo. He is schmoozing with his Big Cool American friend at that moment when this exquisite little pantomime of age-old chivalry is performed. But the lady, shrugging off  the newly-accepted shawl as gracefully as she does her momentary fluster, has already indicated to an attentive aide seated strategically behind her that she is uncomfortable with this act of chivalry and in what, perhaps, is going to be some of the most viewed four seconds of footage for a long time, is seen swiftly, almost magically, removing the shawl and cladding herself i

When a shawl raises heat

The "Swamy versus Go-Swami" slugfest has given rise to a swathe of biting satire in the cyber world: "Sanjay Jha urges Subramanian Swamy to tutor him for Arnab's Newshour," said Faking News. "SS knocking out AG in his own show," said reddit.com

Pants on fire

Our life is about the lifestyle choices we make

Choosing a lifestyle

Having captured media attention when he [Shah Rukh Khan] displayed a six-pack for Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om, seven years later he was determined to better his feat in the soon-to-be-released Happy New Year

A feat of epic proportions

Come, let us sweep the country clean of the dirt with our new brooms. That mess of old files, papers and memorabilia under your desk and over your cupboard. Separate the things you need to keep from the stuff that you need to discard. File the former, assign the rest to trash bags and put it away for disposal.Not too tough, was it? It's the getting down to it and starting somewhere that's important.And now, while your initial tentative swipe at cleaning out the Augean stables of your life has just been given a fillip, why don't you look a little further?That pile of old newspapers, bottles, last birthday's cards and wrapping paper and spam mailers that have been lying in the corner of your kitchen?Approach them tentatively, respectfully (it doesn't bite) and before anyone is aware of your intention, swoop  up the whole thing (yes, even the card from your favourite niece and the wrapping paper that you think you will recycle), throw the whole lot out without a second glance or a twinge

New brooms

What if Modi and Obama were to meet, for the first time, at a bar?

Business as usual

Deepika Padukone took on a leading newspaper for sexist comments against her

Internet revenge

Old hostilities were set aside, grudges buried and every one showed up with a smile and a determination to celebrate Teacher's Day

A political Teacher's Day

That an actress could laugh at herself, take on her negative image with such panache and use humour so intelligently has made the clip an Internet phenomenon. In one fell swoop, Bhatt managed to counter all her critics

A new approach to spin

Williams, it is believed, also suffered from mounting anxiety about his finances

Falling stars

There was an urgency in Modi's words, a sense of accountability, a feeling of transparency, a realisation that this man was here to do a job for us

Change in grammar

Will the war of words between Ratan Tata and West Bengal Industries and Finance Minister Amit Mitra make a difference to the way Kolkata - and West Bengal - is perceived?The whole business of name calling between the two of them began pretty innocuously as these things do, with the lofty and shy business leader, still one of the most respected in the country, weighing in on West Bengal's industrial development (or lack of it).Addressing a Ladies Study Group organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Tata had said: "It has been about two years since I came to Kolkata … While driving from Rajarhat, I saw it is an unbelievable change in terms of new buildings. But it still looks like countryside under development. I do not see much signs of industrial development."These gentle words, some of praise, some of concern, prompted Mitra to launch a fulsome attack on Tata, calling him delusional, off his mind, and making snide remarks about his hobbies.Of course, all this is not without its

For Kolkata, with love

The future business leaders could opt for the old Indian way of their grandparents, the 'live simply, splurge abroad and do lots of charity' approach or the Pillai-Mallya-Mehta 'spend it like its growing on trees' routeNow that 'King of Good Times' Vijay Mallya's celebrated lifestyle appears to have gone belly up and not a day passes when the sorry state of his business affairs isn't in the news, has the time finally come to admit that conspicuous consumption and ostentatious living just don't work in India?There was a time when business barons were taught austerity, parsimony and restraint. A billionaire recalls how his generation was brought up on the morally upright tale of his flamboyant uncle who came to nought. "Every care was taken to impress upon us that we should not follow his footsteps," he recalled.To be sure, the post-Independent India, fuelled by the engine of Gandhian self-denial   and Nehruvian socialism, recoiled from the ogre of extravagance. But around the nineties,

Creating a corporate Image

So, Aashirwad has been sold. Rajesh Khanna's legendary  sea- facing Carter Road bungalow in Mumbai, a repository of   glamour, heartbreak and nostalgia, which had in the past few years become the subject of an ugly battle between his family and his alleged mistress, has been sold to a Mumbai businessman for Rs 90 crore.Of course, it had seen  better days. As Bollywood's first superstar, Khanna had evoked unprecedented fan worship after he had given a run of 15 box office hits between 1969 and 1971. Young girls had etched his name in blood; mob hysteria followed him wherever he went; and, of course, Bollywood beat a path to his door with its accompanying chamchas, cliques and coteries.My school was a stone's throw from Aashirwad and the school bus took the long winding road past his home each day. To say that the bus tilted dangerously to one side as we schoolgirls jostled to get a peek behind those high walls and imposing gates would not be an exaggeration.We lived on the fringes of Bo

The end of an era

Being a late entrant to the club culture, thanks to my parent's leftist leanings, I still look upon its extreme idiosyncrasies and silliness with wonder.Therefore, the recent furore following the refusal of entry to the Madras High Court  Justice,  D Hariparanthaman, by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Club for wearing a dhoti has not surprised me.Clubs have their rules. And no matter how spurious and offensive they are, members have to abide by them until they can get them changed.Club-culture snobbery is a particularly urban Indian phenomenon. The British colonialists founded islands of peace and refuge where they could recreate their lifestyles from back home: billiards and bridge, waiters who bent low and said 'Ji hai' when serving the Camparis, and cricket on the lawns. Club culture was 'a thing of beauty and a joy forever' for our imperialist rulers.I only truly understood club culture when I moved to Kolkata from Mumbai in the early 1980s. Now married and removed from my paren

Club-culture snobbery

"I have just got official communication that what the Congress VP was doing was something that is aligned to our policy.  We don't define it as 'sleep'. We would like to call it a 'power nap'"

Sleeping on the job

These are but the outer manifestations of a culture in which we are expected to fit into 140 characters our hourly declarations and anthems to the world

The culture of brevity

The business and showbiz combination 
that fell apart

A Preity Nessy affair

Not only is this a huge blow to the people whose livelihood the bars ensured, it is not going to achieve the clean- up the moral police hopes for either

Dance on the dark side

Perhaps the pendulum has swung one way for too long and has started its swing back

Malavika Sangghvi