Mithun Chakraborty started from scratch in bit roles and had no Godfather backing him. Yet, remarkably, his career now straddles six decades and he continues to win acclaim, observes Dinesh Raheja.

Briti Chatterjee sings Bangla folk songs on her handmade Dotara. This Durga Pujo, she is booked for 17 shows in pandals across Kolkata.

This Muri Ghonto recipe has its origins in former East Bengal, present-day Bangladesh.

IMAGES from the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday

'Holding on to superstardom is far more difficult than the struggle to get there.'

'I was always a reluctant actress. I still am.'

'In Raktobeej, I had a lot of physical action to do, so that was a new challenge.' 'We didn't want the action scenes to be over-the-top.' 'We wanted to make the action raw and real.'

'Salilda and my brother Hridaynath would deliberately make my compositions tough.' 'Their logic was, "You can do it, so why should we not compose accordingly?",' Lata Mangeshkar, who would have turned 94 today, September 28, 2023, once told Subhash K Jha.

The inquiry committee formed by Jadavpur University to probe into the circumstances leading to the death of a fresher has concluded that the victim was singled out for severe pre-planned ragging, which included possible sexual abuse.

The resolution under Rule 169 was tabled in the assembly, proposing to observe Poila Baisakh, as "Bangla Diwas" and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Banglar Mati, Banglar Jol (Bengal's soil, Bengal's water) as the state song.

'It's amazing how many different kinds of patriotic songs we have in our country.'

The series has many flashbacks, detailed and pointless backstories, too much information and needless characters so the unlikely romance is lost underneath the frenzy, observes Deepa Gahlot.

Instead of feeling her desperation, despair or extreme acts stemming from a mother's primal need to protect her brood, what comes through is hollow theatrics, feels Sukanya Verma.

'He made me feel like a crorepati even without sitting in the hot seat.'

Three persons, including the president and general secretary of the Assam Miya Parishad, have been detained for their alleged association with terror outfits, police said.

'I sang... God knows how many songs I sang for him! Most definitely, 50-100 songs.'

Legendary Bengali semi-classical singer Sandhya Mukherjee, who had worked with leading music directors such as S D Burman, Naushad and Salil Chaudhury died on Tuesday evening following a massive cardiac arrest, leaving behind millions of mourning fans of all ages across borders.

While the BJP distanced itself from the article, the TMC also rubbished allegations of "understanding with the saffron camp" but the Congress said that the "cat is now out of the bag".

Unesco on Wednesday accorded heritage status to Kolkata's Durga puja festival, bringing glory to the country, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauding the move.

Theek nahi lagta, a song written by Lata Mangeshkar's favourite lyricist Gulzar, was believed to have been lost.

'I joined Hrishida when I was 17.' 'He left me with a lifetime of memories.'

'That he found it worth his while to repeat me within a year said something about my abilities as actor.'

'Directors like Buddhada don't tell you, "Do this, do that." They just guide you and you get it right.'

Did you know that the original choice for the title role in Piku was not Deepika Padukone? It was Parineeti Chopra.

'Rafi was singing for Hanuman and I was singing for Ravan.' 'C Ramachandra corrected Rafisaab and he became red in the face.' 'I asked Anna (Ramachandra), "How could you do this?"' 'He replied, "How could I not do this? My song was being spoilt".'

On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.

'For the first time one single party is getting 49% which is a record of its own.'

Belying all expectations, the Trinamool Congress registreted a landslide victory in West Bengal assembly elections, overcoming the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party after a bitter campaign that had turned into a virtual duel between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress overcame the might of the BJP and is all set to be CM for a third term.

Realising, that there was a ground swell of anger against several lower level TMC leaders who were often accused of petty corruption in execution of public welfare schemes, Kishor designed the 'Didi Ke Bolo' (Tell Didi) campaign under which citizens could directly approach Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with their grievances.

Irrfan never stopped being hopeful about the endless possibilities open to actors and film-makers in Indian cinema.

Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.

'If the chief minister says there are areas in her home state where she cannot enter, where has she driven the state to!'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking en bloc voting by Muslims for the Trinamool Congress and said had his party made a similar appeal to Hindus, it would have been criticised and censured.

The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.

Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting in all the 30 seats, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist is in the fray in 15 and its alliance partners of Sanjukta Morcha the Congress and ISF are competing in 13 and two seats respectively.

Over 1.54 crore voters in the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam will exercise their franchise in the 1st phase of polling

When the BJP forms government in Bengal, the chief minister will be a son of the soil, he said at the rally amid loud cheers from his supporters.

'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'

Kishor, whose team I-PAC is working in planning TMC's election campaign, in his latest tweet said that one of the key battles for democracy in the country will be fought in the West Bengal.