'I am as happy with Soha as I was before we got married because we were friends for a very long time.'

But why is everyone getting so het up over what, after all, is a mere film? If you don't like it, don't watch it. Why create a public spectacle over it? asks Virendra Kapoor.

'I was getting paid great money.' 'I was a part of some wonderful films, which I loved making, but I was becoming very complacent with my approach to my work.' 'And I did not want that.'

'Why does it happen that our films don't work there, their films work here?'

A copious amount of blood, beating, crying, saving, sacrificing, nationalism fills up its staggering three hours running time. Emotions run sky high, but you feel nothing, sighs Sukanya Verma.

'What matters to me is that the film is reaching out and touching hearts.' 'An 85-year old man and his 75-year wife, who had never stepped into a cinema, went to see The Kashmir Files.' 'That is my real achievement.'

'I'm a very positive and optimistic human being.' 'You put a pile of garbage in front of me and I will find a flower in it.'

'Once Mohanlal's ever-swelling entourage grasped his enormous worth, once it realized that the innate Mohanlal appeal could be profited from, it set about to exploit, to make uproars, to create the Mohanlal brand.' 'And he wasn't meant to be a brand. He was meant to be an artist, a tireless explorer of the unique seas inside him,' asserts Sreehari Nair.

'The weekend advance booking are extremely encouraging for these movies, and the extended break due to Mahashivratri, will provide a significant impetus.'

Gentle, fiery, magnanimous or disadvantaged, there are many faces of the Bhansali heroine. Sukanya Verma looks at every single one.

'The filmi keeda was always there.' 'I hope I can get even five percent of the love that audiences gave my mother.' 'But I'm here to make my own identity.'

From world cinema to old-fashioned whodunits, it's all there on OTT this week. Sukanya Verma makes her recommendations.

'Oscar has been given to A R Rahman.' Ringa Ringa Ringa, Choli ki peeche kya hai -- What's the difference? Exactly the same. Also, Jai ho.' 'I did Ramba ho in 1985.' 'Rahman combined three of my songs and got Best Original Score.' 'The Ho came from me.' 'Bappi Lahiri brought the Ho to Bollywood.'

'You make a hit, everything is fit.'

'Just the fact that the biggest language at the box office was Telugu and not Hindi is startling.'

Deepika Padukone embodies to perfection the Gehraiyaan in the title, applauds Sukanya Verma.

'Not many know I am a Rajput from Jodhpur.' 'My ancestors shifted to Kolhapur as my great grandfather and grandfather were both engineers.' 'They were called by Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj to build the city of Kolhapur.'

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with experts, and senior ministers and officials of his government to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state and curbs that were put in place to control its spread.

Joginder Tuteja looks at stars with the most movies in the pipeline.

The next 12 months will see many world cinema heavyweights unveiling exciting new films.

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein is watchable for its able cast of reliable veterans and talented youngsters, notes Sukanya Verma.

'Gerson existed at the intersection of principle and conscience. 'One of our conversations turned to his return to India from Brazil. 'He spoke about the choices he made and the things he felt he had failed at. 'What emerged was how he always steadfastly stuck to his beliefs and was true to them and himself. 'The need to -- in Spike Lee's words -- Do The Right Thing.' Director Dev Benegal remembers Gerson da Cunha, 'friend, guide, light'.

'With the media and social media pulling them down every second day, there are no heroes left.' 'What we have are actors and we want to see them play characters which are real, human and identifiable.'

'If you perform well, if you do your best, it stays with the viewer. That's how you grow.'

Bollywood is ready with its line-up of theatre releases, but it remains to be seen whether we will get to watch these movies in theatres this year.

Here are Sukanya Verma's favourite female performances of 2021.

Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.

The cinema industry is staring at a loss of at least Rs 5,000 crore at the box office over the next six months if Omicron proves to be a spoiler.

Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite films, most of them shown at international film festivals held virtually (Berlinale and Rotterdam), hybrid (Toronto) or physical (Cannes and Venice).

'People love watching good stories and as film-makers, it's on us to leave them with something they can take home.'

'They are waiting for the kind of experience they had in the film, the kind of emotion they felt in the film.'

'My mother is a lady with a lot of emotional stability and strength. And wisdom.' 'When I was younger, she would tell me that if I ever refused water to anyone, I would have to drink gutter water.' 'When I grew up, she would say, "Be liberal when you know what you are talking about, and be conservative when you don't".'

The film bears its weight largely on Mohanlal's shoulders who mostly looks tired and old as he delivers his flat, unmemorable lines trying to look passionate, observes Divya Nair.

Buoyed by Sooryavanshi's success, the Hindi film industry is banking on 25-30 big movies lined up with a collective cost tag of Rs 2,000 crore.

'Laxmi and I firmly believed that while working, the egoistic word 'Main (I)' never interferes.'

SRK's persona and brand power has been built over nearly 30 years of public acclaim and love. Brands perhaps believe that his troubles are transitory and that as a human brand he has long legs capable of striding over controversies, explains ad guru Sandeep Goyal.

'I have been exceptionally lucky with my actors, whether it was Sushmita in Aarya or Kartik Aaryan in Dhamaka.'

'Multiplexes will thrive by Q4 if 100% capacity is restored and a third Covid wave doesn't happen.'

Joginder Tuteja looks at the big November hits in the past decade.

The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.