National Governance & Policy
At least 56 people have died in rain-related incidents across Uttar Pradesh as intense monsoon showers continue to batter the state, officials said on Friday. Eight districts are facing flood-like conditions, with authorities shifting residents from affected areas to relief centres and shelter homes as water levels rise and local infrastructure comes under strain.
In a thrilling start to the Asian Games 2026, Gulveer clinched silver in the 10,000m race, while Baranica achieved a historic milestone. Manpreet secured bronze, marking a significant day for Indian athletics.
National Governance & Policy
The Artix 5.0 hotel art fair opens its doors in New Delhi, showcasing 21 rooms filled with innovative works from emerging artists alongside the legacy of veteran KG Subramanyan. This year's edition emphasizes the fusion of tradition and modernity in the Indian art scene.
Macro Economy & Fiscal Policy
India's cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has reached an unprecedented $843 billion from 2014 to 2026, with a record $94.53 billion inflow in the last fiscal year, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
National Governance & Policy
Tourism Minister P.C. Vishnunadh announces a strategic shift in Keralam's tourism approach, emphasizing a holistic experience for visitors through AI and digital tools. This initiative aims to enhance the state's appeal beyond traditional destination-focused packages.
Energy, Power & CleanTech
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari emphasized the potential of ethanol in enhancing farmers' earnings and reducing India's fuel import dependency during the launch of a new bus service in Madhya Pradesh. He highlighted the recent surge in maize prices and the government's ambitious PM e-Bus Sewa initiative.
Society, Crime & Public Affairs
The upcoming byelections in Madurantakam and Dharapuram are poised to challenge the AIADMK's influence over Scheduled Caste voters, a demographic that has shifted significantly since the last assembly elections. With historical context and recent trends, the party's performance could signal its future in Tamil Nadu politics.
Agriculture & Rural Economy
In a significant policy shift, the Indian government has approved the sale of excess and unauthorised Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco crops in Andhra Pradesh, allowing farmers to access authorized auction platforms without facing penalties. This decision aims to alleviate financial pressures on farmers and stabilize the tobacco market in the region.
National Governance & Policy
Mehbooba Mufti has urged secular-minded citizens to participate in a protest organized by the Monitoring Committee for Indian Muslims at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on September 29. The protest aims to address pressing issues faced by the Muslim community in India.
India Entertainment & Culture
YouTube megastar MrBeast joined Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and the team of Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana at a promotional event in Mumbai, where he praised the film and briefly needed help from Kapoor to join in a crowd chant of "Jai Shree Ram." The appearance underscores the makers' increasingly international strategy for the two-part epic, which is being positioned as one of Indian cinema's most ambitious global releases.
India Entertainment & Culture
Amazon Prime's adaptation of Ali Hazelwood's bestselling romance novel brings the familiar pleasures of a grumpy-sunshine rom-com to the screen, anchored by Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman's easy chemistry. But while the film captures the book's emotional core and handles its third-act stakes with more realism than expected, it also moves too quickly for the relationship to fully breathe, leaving book fans with a mixed, if affectionate, response.
Environment, Climate & Weather
David Attenborough's influence in India extends far beyond television, shaping how writers, conservationists and policymakers think about biodiversity, storytelling and environmental responsibility. In reflections shared by Jairam Ramesh, Stephen Alter, Neha Sinha and Ranjit Lal, Attenborough emerges as both a cultural force and a moral reference point in India's ongoing debate over conservation and development.
India Entertainment & Culture
Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for Ray Gunn, Brad Bird's long-gestating animated feature that fuses detective noir with retro-futurist science fiction. Starring Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits, the film follows a private eye pulled into a murder case involving aliens, celebrity scandal and a corrupt metropolis shaped by 1939-era visual style.
The film, which Bird says he conceived more than 30 years ago, will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival before a limited theatrical run in the United States and a global Netflix debut on December 18.
India Entertainment & Culture
The makers of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Love & War have unveiled the first look of Ranbir Kapoor, offering the clearest glimpse yet of the long-delayed period romance. The film, also starring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, is now set for a theatrical release on January 21, 2027.
Startups & Venture Capital
A24 has unveiled the first full trailer for You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's secret three-year documentary about convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Shot after Holmes invited the filmmakers into her home just 34 days before she was due to report to prison, the film appears to probe not only her fraud conviction but also the uneasy boundary between documentary observation and staged reality.
India Entertainment & Culture
Searchlight Pictures has unveiled a new trailer for Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine,' a darkly comic political drama set against the backdrop of Easter Island and the 1973 Chilean coup. Starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as longtime CIA partners whose mission unravels amid secrets, rebellion and history, the film opens in theatres on November 6.
Science, Space & Research
RDU Global's latest culture quiz, "Easy like Sunday morning — Agents of nature," turns the spotlight on the natural world while revealing a distinctly personal voice behind the questions. The quizmaster, a molecular biologist from Madurai, blends science, trivia and music, even while working on a rock ballad titled "Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion."
India Entertainment & Culture
Benedict Cumberbatch has described presenting the Open Planet documentary How to Live on Earth as a deeply energising experience that sharpened his understanding of the natural world. The actor said the film's humour, expert voices and three-part structure helped him avoid imitating Sir David Attenborough while still bringing authority and authenticity to the project.
India Entertainment & Culture
Srikanth Odela's The Paradise arrives with the scale and fury of an epic social drama, but the film struggles to turn its dystopian world-building into genuine emotional force. Despite strong visuals, a politically charged premise and a committed performance by Nani, the review finds the film too distant and repetitive to fully land.
National Governance & Policy
Artist Yugdeepak Soni is presenting Sri Pichwai at Forum Art Gallery in Chennai, bringing a nearly 400-year-old devotional painting tradition from Nathdwara, Rajasthan, into a contemporary urban setting. Rooted in the Pushtimarg tradition and shaped by natural pigments, the exhibition highlights both the beauty of the form and the artist's concern about its future in a fast-moving world.
India Entertainment & Culture
A new culture feature imagines the playlist of Gyro Zeppeli, one of the central figures in Steel Ball Run, the seventh part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Framed as a character study through music, the piece links Gyro's flamboyant discipline, competitive drive and unlikely tenderness to seven songs spanning rock, soul and blues.
India Entertainment & Culture
Actor Rajesh Tailang says his move into Zee5's family drama Bakaiti was driven by a desire to explore lighter, more relatable storytelling after years of intense roles. In a candid interview, he reflects on the difficulty of comedy, the challenge of reinventing on-screen relationships, and the humanistic approach that shapes his performances.
India Entertainment & Culture
The Guardian and French distributor mk2 Films have announced a broad theatrical rollout for the Venice Special Jury Prize-winning documentary NAZA, followed by a free global release on the newspaper's website. The film, which examines Israel's military and intelligence establishment through the lens of investigative reporting, is also at the centre of a political storm in Israel, where officials have attacked its filmmakers and supporters have rallied in their defence.
India Entertainment & Culture
Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj joined actors Keerthy Suresh, Sanand and Rishikanth, along with producer Guneet Monga, in conversation with Meenakshi Shedde at the Toronto International Film Festival 2026. The appearance underscored the growing international visibility of Indian cinema, with the team using the TIFF platform to discuss their film 'Dorothy' and the creative collaboration behind it.
India Entertainment & Culture
Telugu cinema's music landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation, with chartbusters, soulful numbers, nostalgia-driven tracks and experimental soundscapes all competing for attention at once. From Nandini Reddy's recalibrated approach in Maa Inti Bangaaram to the varied albums of The Paradise, Peddi and Dacoit, the industry is increasingly treating songs as both storytelling tools and standalone promotional engines.
India Entertainment & Culture
Actor Mushtaq Khan, a familiar face in more than 500 films and one of Hindi cinema's most recognisable supporting performers, has died at the age of 75 after battling cancer. His son, Mohsin, said Khan was admitted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai after complaining of stomach pain, where doctors discovered the illness and his condition worsened in the final days.
India Entertainment & Culture
A Daily Quiz themed around awards has drawn attention to the enduring public fascination with cinema honours, even as the source material offers no specific winners, nominees or event details. The item functions less as a conventional news report than as a culture prompt, reflecting how awards continue to shape audience engagement with film coverage in India.
India Entertainment & Culture
A Bengaluru performance of Dastan-e-Akhtari brought Begum Akhtar's life into sharp relief through storytelling, live music and a fresh reading of her choices. Narrator Kafeel Jafri and singer Yusra Naqvi used the centuries-old Dastangoi form to explore the ghazal legend not as a tragic figure, but as a woman navigating respectability, love, rebellion and artistic freedom.
India Entertainment & Culture
Manipur shoegaze and psychedelic rock band Lo! Peninsula are bringing a charged mix of haze, protest and emotional release to Bengaluru, where they will perform live for the first time on September 26. Frontman Nitin Shamurailatpam says years of unrest in Manipur, along with the loss of empathy and everyday normalcy, have shaped the band's latest single, Song For The Undead, and their broader artistic outlook.
India Entertainment & Culture
Higher Ground Music Festival is returning for a second edition in Bengaluru after the shutdown of Koramangala venue Fandom forced organisers to recalibrate their plans. The three-day indie event will now be staged at Prism by Octavium off Bannerghatta Road, pairing established acts such as Meg & The Miracles and Suraj Mani with a Breakthrough Stage for emerging artists.
India Entertainment & Culture
Two distinct artistic voices are on view at the MKF Museum of Art in an exhibition that turns inward to examine memory, identity and the small things that shape human life. On Things That Matter brings together works by Isha Valentine and Vidhya Venkatappa, whose different visual languages converge around a shared meditation on what people carry, remember and pass on.
India Entertainment & Culture
More than four decades after his death, lyricist, poet and writer Kannadasan remains a towering presence in Tamil cultural life, with his songs, poems and prose still quoted, debated and celebrated. His work endures not only because of its literary craft, but because he turned complex ideas about love, morality, faith and human purpose into language that ordinary listeners could immediately feel and remember.
India Entertainment & Culture
Five decades after her death, Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum's music continues to resonate across the Arab world and beyond, and Bengaluru-based dancer Debapriya Das is now translating that legacy into movement. Her ensemble Nrityakosh will stage 'To burn to bloom', a 60-minute dance theatre production that revisits Kulthum's artistic journey through Egyptian dance, music, text, visuals and contemporary theatre.
Society, Crime & Public Affairs
Amazon Prime Video's new Reacher spin-off, Neagley, arrives as a brisk, self-contained crime thriller that keeps Alan Ritchson's Reacher at the edges while putting Maria Sten's Frances Neagley firmly at the center. Built around a personal mystery, a quirky investigative team and a suitably twisty conspiracy, the series aims less for reinvention than for dependable, high-velocity entertainment.
India Entertainment & Culture
A series of six-day skill development workshops in and around Araku Valley has brought tribal artisans together with master craftspersons from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to refine traditional skills and explore new forms. The programme, jointly organised by tribal welfare institutions and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, also focused on documenting rare knowledge such as Buddu painting, now preserved by one surviving practitioner.
Environment, Climate & Weather
Deepak Kumar Mishra's 'The Vvaan: Force of the Forest' arrives with a timely premise about ecological preservation, political corruption and the cost of development, but the film's execution is weighed down by soap-opera melodrama, repetitive scares and uneven tonal shifts. Sidharth Malhotra leads a cast that includes Tamannaah Bhatia, Sunil Grover, Anup Soni and Shweta Tiwari in a story that aims for mythic urgency but often settles for formula.
India Entertainment & Culture
Hiphop Tamizha Adhi's Meesaya Murukku 2 sets out to be more than a rise-of-the-underdog story, weaving together gaana music, caste and class barriers, nepo-kid culture and generational conflict. But despite a few affecting moments and a strong central idea, the film struggles with uneven writing, thin characterisation and a crowded narrative that never quite finds its rhythm.
India Entertainment & Culture
What began as a brass band for children from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds has grown into the Sai Symphony Orchestra, India's largest home-grown orchestra and a striking example of music-led social transformation. Under the guidance of Sri Madhusudan Sai and with training from international musicians such as Dimitris Lambrianos, the ensemble has moved from Muddenahalli to Vienna and beyond, while carrying a message of access, discipline and confidence.
Society, Crime & Public Affairs
Vimal Krishna's second feature, 'Anumana Pakshi', returns to the eccentric crime-comedy terrain that powered 'DJ Tillu', but with far less control and charm. Anchored by an overcooked central performance and a script crowded with gimmicks, the Telugu film struggles to turn its premise about suspicion and insecurity into sustained entertainment.
India Entertainment & Culture
The makers of Pooja Meri Jaan have unveiled the trailer for the upcoming film, led by Huma Qureshi and Mrunal Thakur, setting up a courtroom drama built around a young woman's rejection of romantic advances and the fallout that follows. Directed by Navjot Gulati and produced by Maddock Films, the film will stream on Zee5 on October 2.
India Entertainment & Culture
Avinash Balekkala's Kannada debut, Heggana Muddu, begins as a pointed, unsettling study of an arranged marriage shaped by patriarchy, ego and emotional silence. It is lifted by Poorna's increasingly convincing performance, but the film loses momentum when it splits its leads into separate tracks and loses sight of its core conflict.
Society, Crime & Public Affairs
Ian Brennan's latest entry in the Monster franchise revisits the Lizzie Borden case with a lurid, time-jumping approach that critics say collapses under its own sensationalism. Rather than deepening the historical or social context of the infamous Fall River murders, the series is being criticized for reducing women killers to a patchwork of blood, violence and recycled true-crime tropes.
India Entertainment & Culture
Hunkkaar arrives as a restrained, probing social drama that rejects sensationalism even as it confronts rape, blind faith and institutional indifference. Anchored by Aneet Padda's grace as Meenu, the series examines how charisma, mob fury and systemic apathy can compound the trauma of a survivor.
India Entertainment & Culture
Spark marks a striking family-led entry into Indian cinema for the Vashistha family, whose GAP Studios is making its first production with a bilingual investigative drama in Kannada and Hindi. Led by Niranjan Sudhindra in the role of a journalist exposing a major bank scam, the film blends corporate ambition, personal passion and a multi-generational creative effort.
India Entertainment & Culture
Runner pairs Alan Ritchson's bruising screen presence with Owen Wilson's breezy comic timing in a fast-moving action comedy set in Brisbane, Australia. The film delivers sharp chemistry, lively set pieces and an appealing odd-couple dynamic, though its overcooked final stretch and an unwarranted character death blunt some of its momentum.
Society, Crime & Public Affairs
Lance Oppenheim's feature debut turns the rise and collapse of To Catch a Predator into a psychological crime thriller, with Robert Pattinson delivering what the source review calls the best performance of his career as host Chris Hansen. The film probes the uneasy collision of televised virtue, internet vigilantism and self-mythologising righteousness, exposing how moral crusades can become their own form of spectacle.
India Entertainment & Culture
Sudhi Maddison's Malayalam film Dhoomakethu takes a familiar time-loop premise and tries to refresh it with humour, satire and a wedding-day setup. The film works in stretches, buoyed by Sajin Gopu's performance and playful writing, but its weak backstory and uneven middle portions keep it from becoming a fully satisfying outing.
India Entertainment & Culture
Rima Das's Village Rockstars 2 revisits the flood-prone plains of Assam with a quieter, more mournful coming-of-age story that turns survival into an act of resistance. Centered on 17-year-old Dhunu, the film deepens the original's rural lyricism while confronting floods, patriarchy, alcoholism and the false promises of development.
India Entertainment & Culture
Karthik Subbaraj's 'Dorothy' is being hailed as one of his most audacious films yet, with its cleverly concealed queer subtext and emotionally charged storytelling drawing attention even before release. The review argues that the film not only subverts audience expectations but also exposes the persistence of queerphobia in modern Tamil society and online discourse.
India Entertainment & Culture
The 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Keralam opened in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday amid uncertainty over 31 films that the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has denied censor exemption. State officials said they are pursuing legal and administrative steps to secure screening permission, even as the festival proceeds with the disputed titles left out of the published schedule for now.
