Delhi Capitals will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Women's Premier League (WPL) opener in Mumbai on Sunday.

'I wasn't getting the roles I wanted to play and the respect I thought I deserved as a senior actor, so I cut myself off from the industry for a while and moved to the US.'

'There's this one scene in Gulmohar that belongs to Manojji and everyone was excited for him.' 'The evening before we were to shoot it, everyone, from Sharmilaji to the junior most actor, wished him luck.'
'He was suddenly nervous.'
'The next day, 14 actors, from Sharmilaji and Amol Palekar to Suraj Sharma, all watched him perform.' 'It was like being back in film school.'

It is worth thinking about the deeper reasons that make people depend, often against their wishes, upon substances that ruin their health and their relationships, observes Chintan Girish Modi.

'Writers are always nervous.' 'If you go to a party, you will notice that the writers are always in a corner of the party, looking anxious, sweating and tense about something or the other.' 'I am that kind of person.'

Aditya Chopra may be a household name in India, but few have seen his face, recognise his voice or know the brain behind the business outside his tight inner circle. The Romantics makes sure it has its own to brag about when he, finally, appears before the camera, notes Sukanya Verma.

'I don't think 'oh, I have done 534 films' or 'I have 40 years of experience behind me.'

Let us get high on Pathaan and his simple-minded antics, sure, but let us also take a moment to think about Jim who, with that one cunning piece of dialogue, goes on to boldly state that patriotism is a many-hued thing, observes Sreehari Nair.

'The mohabbat Shah Rukh Khan gives out on screen is very important in today's times.'

More than anything else, Pathaan is a silent and subtle statement of Shah Rukh Khan about his place, his commitment to cinema and, if one can say, his politics, observes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.

'I get scared. I feel insecure. I lose confidence many times in the day. But that is why I keep going because the weaker you are, the stronger you get'

'Was Salman Khan the only reason for the success of a film?'

There are so many patriotic songs that make us proud to be Indians.

Shah Rukh Khan's weathered intensity, grizzly charisma and trademark wit lends Pathaan's all-out, devil-may-care antics a sense of purpose that evades mindless acts of mayhem, cheers Sukanya Verma.

Vasan Bala's Cinema Marte Dum Tak shines the spotlight on Vinod Talwar, Dilip Gulati, Kishan Shah and J Neelam. All of them are articulate, witty, and expressive -- talking of their passion for films, the rise and fall of their cinema, observes Deepa Gahlot.

Will 2023 bring back the magic?

'We would love to have more players entering the market because that is how the business will grow.'

Like Slumdog Millionaire, RRR will remain a one-time phenomenon until another big, larger-than-life, Indian film connects with the critics in the West, predicts Aseem Chhabra.

'The number of films released in cinemas in 2022 was closer to 1,200. It could cross 1,500 in 2023, since nearly all big stars in Hindi and regional languages have films lined up this year.'

Large crowds thronged popular boulevards, tourist hubs and entertainment centres across India and many joined special prayers at places of worship on Sunday as people stepped out to celebrate the New Year without COVID-19 restrictions.

Take a look at top picks of all 10 IPL teams

In a year of overwrought spectacles that slavishly sucked up to the audience, I found refuge in a bunch of 'mainstream' Indian films that espoused such old-fashioned values as dedication to craft, close observation and casual bravery, explains Sreehari Nair.

'That innocent viewer, who would meekly lap up anything you served him, does not exist any more.'

Appearing before cheering fans at the star-studded opening ceremony of the Kolkata International Film Festival in Kolkata on Thursday, Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan spoke of staying positive and alive, and on the new crop of historical films being steeped in 'fictionalised jingoism'.

'...and showcased in their original beauty.'

'It was heartbreaking. We couldn't see him like that.'

'I didn't expect much from him when he came on set.' 'But he was just jumping and flying around and I couldn't tell that this was his first action film!'

The controversy about The Kashmir Files may have got all the eyeballs but there was much more to the closing ceremony of the 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India in Goa.

'Depicting the genocide of 3 lakh #KashmiriHindus cannot be called vulgar.'

'This world shows humanity in a fraudulent light.'

Nasty surprises and quirky humour make Monica, O My Darling an intriguing, fun, watch, observes Sukanya Verma. Monica, O My Darling Review.

After a lifetime of showing us what it means to 'act at the top of one's bent and never hit a false note', Mammootty had the good sense, in the third act of his career, to pare down his style, become less mannered, draw directly from life. And getting a performer like that to play characters who seem 'completely dead inside', is, in my view, a betrayal of his legacy, his still-burning ambition, and his still-sharp feelers, observes Sreehari Nair.

If in the current streaming age, audiences can watch the originals, why would they spend their money on second-hand content? Is it possible that mainstream Hindi filmmakers have lost the pulse of their audience, asks Deepa Gahlot.

'We have to do everything in our power to get as many Academy members to watch the film as possible.' 'After that, I am confident, my film will speak for itself.'

'Amitji is not integral to my cinema, he is integral to cinema.'

'After many years of having to find new adjectives to say horrible, I realised I would rather write about things I want to write about.'

'You become a critic because the job entails watching a 100 films a year, out of which there will be five or six good films.' 'It's really a glutton for punishment, but you're also optimistic and want to see exciting things.'

'Calmness and stability has come into my life after being married to Vicky Kaushal.'

'These accusations of my film being a copy only makes our chances at the Academy harder.'

This isn't a compilation of his best films, biggest blockbusters or important milestones but moments that swept Sukanya Verma off the floor, blew her heart into smithereens, regaled her with their sheer silliness, made her laugh till her sides hurt and look at phenke hue paise in disdain.