Entertainment

Ibrahim Ali Khan, son of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, made his big Bollywood debut in March with the OTT film ‘Nadaaniyan,’ alongside Khushi Kapoor. The film was expected to launch the young stars into the spotlight, but instead, it faced a flood of criticism from both viewers and critics. ‘Nadaaniyan‘ was called out for its weak storyline and forgettable performances. The harsh reviews didn’t just stop at the film—they turned personal, with Ibrahim and Khushi becoming targets of trolling online.
Soha Ali Khan steps in with advice
As social media buzzed with harsh comments, Ibrahim’s aunt, actor Soha Ali Khan, has now offered some heartfelt advice in a chat with Nayandeep Rakshit on his YouTube channel. Speaking honestly, she didn’t sugarcoat the reality of the industry and stressed the need for young actors to toughen up.
“Number one, I think you need to have thick skin when you join this world,” Soha said, pointing out how brutal the world of entertainment can be. She added, “You need to be able to digest people’s opinions, or else don’t read the comments. But, I feel, like sometimes, it’s important to read the comments because you can’t just work in a vacuum. You have to be receptive to certain criticism, and you have to work on your craft and go forward.”
Soha’s advice wasn’t just about ignoring the hate. She believes in listening to feedback—even the uncomfortable kind—and using it to grow. In her words, “Be open to criticism, introspect, self-criticize, and work on your craft, but also have a thick skin and don’t let someone’s opinion bring you down. Don’t let your film’s success or failure, perhaps, destroy you in ways, but also recognize where you need to work on something and work on your craft and become better.”

No room for Yes-Men
One of Soha’s strongest pieces of advice was about the kind of people a young actor should keep around. She warned against always being surrounded by people who only give praise.
“There is a lot of hate in the world,” she said. “And actors become easy targets because we put ourselves out there.” She explained that instead of shutting out the world and staying in a bubble of comfort, actors should remain open to all kinds of opinions.
“The only thing that one can do is to have some kind of armor and not shut yourself out to the world, not surround yourself only with love and people who are going to say positive things and be like yes-men,” she said.

A second chance for Ibrahim with ‘Sarzameen’
The storm around ‘Nadaaniyan’ hasn’t stopped Ibrahim from moving forward. He’s already shot his next film, ‘Sarzameen,’ which is being produced by Dharma Productions.

As Bollywood gears up for the release of Kesari: Chapter 2 on April 18, 2025, all eyes are on Akshay Kumar, who steps into the role of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair – a name that may not immediately resonate with many, but one that played a defining role in India’s fight against colonial oppression. 

Directed by debutant Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Karan Johar, the film is based on The Case That Shook the Empire, a historical account written by Nair’s great-grandson, Raghu Palat and his wife, Pushpa Palat. 

File photo of Chettur Sankaran Nair

At its core, the film highlights not only one of the darkest chapters in British colonial history – the Jallianwala Bagh massacre – but also the monumental courtroom battle that followed, spearheaded by a man of unshakeable convictions.

Born in 1857 in Mankara, a village in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair hailed from an aristocratic lineage with close associations to the East India Company. His early education led him to Presidency College, Madras, where he was drawn to the field of law. 

He began his legal career in 1880 at the High Court of Madras under the mentorship of Sir Horatio Shepherd, who would later become Chief Justice. Nair’s brilliance and fierce independence quickly became evident.

Throughout his legal career, Nair was known for his refusal to conform. Early on, he opposed a resolution passed by Indian vakils (lawyers) of Madras that discouraged working under English barristers. For Nair, professional choices should be governed by merit and client interest, not nationalism or peer pressure. His stand led to his boycott by fellow lawyers, but he remained undeterred.

Nair was appointed Advocate-General and later became a judge of the Madras High Court. His judicial tenure was marked by bold judgments upholding inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, as well as rulings that challenged the rigid orthodoxy of caste-based discrimination. His 1914 ruling in Budasna v Fatima, where he held that converts to Hinduism could not be considered outcastes, remains a landmark judgment to this day.

In 1897, he became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress at the time and the only Malayali to hold the position. Nair was not afraid to ruffle feathers – be it among the Anglo-Indian elite, the Brahmin establishment, or the British authorities. 

File photo of Chettur Sankaran Nair

He participated in the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and advocated for increasing Indian participation in governance. By 1915, he was inducted into the Viceroy’s Executive Council, overseeing the education portfolio.

Yet, Nair’s political ideology was as nuanced as his legal career. While he believed in constitutional reform, he was critical of certain aspects of Gandhi’s political methods, particularly civil disobedience. This ideological divergence would later find expression in his controversial book Gandhi and Anarchy.

On April 13, 1919, British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to open fire on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh. 

Hundreds of unarmed civilians, including women and children, were mercilessly gunned down. The massacre became a watershed moment in India’s freedom struggle.

A still from Kesari Chapter 2

At the time, Nair was the only Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Appalled by the government’s justification of the massacre, he resigned in protest – a move unprecedented for its sheer audacity. 

His resignation sent shockwaves through the colonial administration and lent weight to nationalist sentiments across the country. It also led to the removal of martial law in Punjab and the establishment of a committee under Lord William Hunter to investigate the massacre.

In 1922, Nair published Gandhi and Anarchy, where he criticised British colonial rule and laid blame on Michael O’Dwyer, the then-Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, for the atrocities at Jallianwala Bagh. Infuriated, O’Dwyer sued Nair for defamation in an English court.

What followed was a historic trial at the King’s Bench in London. The five-and-a-half-week-long case, the longest-running civil trial of its time, saw Nair being tried in front of an all-English jury presided over by a blatantly biased Justice Henry McCardie. Despite the skewed judicial environment, Nair stood his ground. 

A still from Kesari Chapter 2

His lead counsel, Sir Walter Schwabe, mounted a spirited defence, though repeatedly interrupted by McCardie, who seemed intent on swaying the jury in O’Dwyer’s favour.

Ultimately, the verdict went against Nair – 11 jurors to one. He was fined 500 Pounds and asked to pay trial expenses. Yet, when O’Dwyer offered to waive the penalty in exchange for an apology, Nair refused. 

He would rather pay the price than retract the truth. “If there was another trial, who was to know if 12 other English shopkeepers would not reach the same conclusion?” he said.

Though he lost the case, Nair emerged morally victorious. His defiance brought international attention to British atrocities in India and galvanised nationalist resolve back home. His loss was, in many ways, India’s gain.

Nair died in 1934, leaving behind a legacy that remains woefully under-acknowledged. His descendants continued to serve the nation: his grandson Kunhiraman Palat Candeth played a key role in the liberation of Goa in 1961, and other family members have held distinguished positions in Indian public life.

A still from Kesari Chapter 2

More than just a jurist or a politician, Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was a man who refused to bend to injustice. In an era when many chose the safety of silence, he wielded his voice – and his pen – with courage. 

With Kesari Chapter 2, his story will finally get the cinematic tribute it deserves. In an age of manufactured heroes, here is a real one. And his story, now more than ever, demands to be heard.

Joel and Ellie pause for a moment outside the zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a still from ‘The Last Of Us’ game
| Photo Credit:  Naughty Dog

By the quarantined summer of 2020, I found myself once again in the overgrown ruins of a familiar place. The screen flickered to life. A dilapidated window let in the soft golden light of a desolate world, its serenity pierced by the trembling chords of Gustavo Santaolalla’s music.The Last of Uswas never a happy story. But as I pressed “Start” on the game — now adapted into an acclaimed HBO series featuring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, with Season 2 releasing next week — I found solace not in the hope of salvation. Instead, what hit me was the strangely reassuring idea that after the world fell apart, something tender still remained.

It is curious how often the apocalypse feels like a balm. These stories of crumbling civilisations and lonely survivors should be terrifying. And they are. But for those of us living with the anxieties and overstimulation of modern life, the end of the world can feel almost like a relief. A terrible, beautiful quiet. A chance to breathe.

‘The Last Of Us’ main menu screen
| Photo Credit:
Naughty Dog

WALL·E, for instance, renders its dystopia in pastels, with a lullaby-like feel to its trash-littered Earth. The world has ended, yes, but look at how soft the loneliness is. Look at how kind. 2007’s I Am Legend gives us Will Smith, his trusty dog Sam, and the vast hush of an emptied city, inviting us to consider that solitude might be cleansing when the noise finally stops.

HBO’s Station Eleven dares to believe that even after catastrophe, there will be Shakespeare. That humanity’s most delicate instincts — art, memory, kindness — might survive the day of reckoning. Prime Video’s Fallout goes the other way, embracing a garish, nihilistic abandon. But even in its radioactive playground, there is a strange kind of freedom in the joys of reinvention.

A still from ‘Station Eleven’
| Photo Credit:
HBO Max

Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä paints the end times not as punishment, but as Earth’s immune response — a toxic beauty that makes empathy the rarest and most valuable resource. Meanwhile, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, also slated for a movie adaptation, turns mundane package-delivering gig work into something spiritual, ceremonial and almost mythic. And Zom 100 — a zombie comedy, of all things — suggests that perhaps society itself was the real horror. That in the end, we might greet the apocalypse with open arms and a bucket list.

A still from Hideo Kojima’s ‘Death Stranding’
| Photo Credit:
Kojima Productions

I am not rooting for the world to end. But for an unrelenting culture that feels too fast, too loud, and too much, these stories offer something simpler. Their solitary ruins offer up clarity. Sometimes, in the ruins, we can finally hear ourselves think.

As I await the release of The Last of Us Season 2, I think back on my gaming sessions in the peak of the pandemic. I played in the wee hours, when everything felt paused too — everyone asleep, the street outside deathly still, as if I alone had survived. There was comfort in that stillness, in the game’s long stretches of calm, in the decrepit husks of cities taken over by green, in the way every footstep echoed. It did not feel like I was escaping reality, but more like I had finally found a version of it I could endure. No small talk, no notifications, no depressing fluorescent office lighting — just a gentle sense of collectedness. 

From The Hindu cinema team, a fortnightly column recommending films and shows tied to a mood, theme, or pop-cultural event.

​Shraddha Kapoor – Shyloh and Small, the furry stress-busters

Shraddha’s Lhasa Apso, Shyloh, is her loyal “stress-buster.” He, along with Small, often appears in her social posts, bringing warmth and joy. Shraddha’s love for her pets shines through in every cuddly click she shares with them.

A still from ‘Vidyapati’ 

Directors Esham and Haseen Khan enjoy generating humour out of desperate situations. Imagine a couple who can’t stand each other but are locked inside a house due to a pandemic. That was Ikkat in 2021. Imagine a flashy, greedy, and lazy man becoming a pauper overnight. That’s Vidyapati for you in 2025.

The film’s USP is the unlikely rivalry at its centre. Siddu (Nagabhushana), a small-statured and cowardly man, must take on the burly and intimidating Jaggu (Garuda Ram), a feared goon-for-hire. Why? Siddu, who fooled his actor wife Vidya (played by a measured Malaika Vasupal) by portraying himself as a dream man who is kind and macho in equal measure, gets exposed when Vidya is humiliated by Jaggu’s men one night. Siddu is helpless, with his face covered in shame. The marriage breaks off, and Siddu, who lives off his wife, is reduced to a homeless and penniless man.

The comedy in the movies of Esham and Haseen is physical. The protagonist is often a child trapped in a human body, à la Mr Bean. Siddu’s bizarre actions and plans to become strong enough to face Jaggu will appeal to kids, who are deprived of watching clean comedies.

That said, Vidyapati takes time to find its groove. In the first half, scenes lack brevity. The prolonged stretches dilute the effect of comedy. The film’s writing needed more efficiency. Vidya’s character gets sidelined almost entirely, making us wonder about her state of mind after her split from Siddu.

The movie comes into its own when its themes begin to pop up organically. What happens when a man flying high on free money is brought down to earth? He learns that nothing comes for free. What happens when a man has nothing to lose? He takes risks to fight for survival. 

Nagabhushana holds the movie together in his best performance to date. Ironically, the actor, known for comedic roles, struggles to find consistency in his timing as a showy and self-centred man. Only when Siddu realises his responsibilities, Nagabhushana handles the transformation with fine conviction. The serious actor in him is on full display as he makes you care for Siddu, who accepts his imperfections and begins to mend his life.

Nagabhushana and Malaika Vasupal in ‘Vidyapati’.
| Photo Credit:
Daali Pictures/YouTube

Vidyapati is far from a lazy effort by Esham and Haseen. The action, especially the one inside a Karate school, is slick. The training sequences of a rejuvenated Siddu are rousingly shot with music from Dossmode providing the required effect.

As a revenge drama, Vidyapati reminds you of Dilish Pothan’s beautiful Maheshinte Prathikaaram, where the climactic showdown is stripped of macho tropes. Dhananjaya’s cameo reminds you of Bheedi Thatha from Pa Ranjith’s Sarpatta Parambarai, who instils mental fortitude and the strength to endure pain in his pupil.

Vidyapati offers something for everyone without being an overdose of themes. It succeeds in being a summer release for the families, who crave simple entertainment.

Vidyapati is currently running in theatres

Sharmila Tagore revealed that she had quietly battled cancer in 2023. Fans were in a shock as the film veteran didn’t let the public know the ordeal she went through. Now, Sharmila Tagore’s daughter Soha Ali Khan opened up about that chapter of her life and shared inside details.

In a candid conversation with Nayandeep Rakshit on his YouTube channel, Soha said, “I have had loss in my family. We have been through stressful situations, as everybody does.” She continued, “With my mother, she was one of the very few people to be diagnosed with lung cancer at stage zero, and no chemotherapy, nothing. It was cut out of her and she is, touchwood, fine.”

Sharmila’s health concerns had come into public domain during her appearance on Koffee with Karan (2023), where she appeared alongside her son, Saif Ali Khan. 

Host Karan Johar revealed that Sharmila Tagore was his original choice for the role which Shabana Azmi (eventually) played in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. “I’d offered Sharmilaji the part played by Shabanaji. She was my very first choice. But because of health reasons at that time, she couldn’t say yes. It is a regret I have,” he admitted.

Sharmila Tagore replied, “It was at the height of COVID. They hadn’t really grappled with it at that time, we were not vaccinated. After my cancer… they didn’t want me to take that risk.”

Sharmila Tagore recently acted in a Bengali film titled Puratwan alongside Rituparna Sengupta, which releases today. Her previous film, Gulmohar (2023), where she starred opposite Manoj Bajpayee, received critical acclaim and went on to win three National Awards, including Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Screenplay (Dialogues).

Akshay Kumar’s film ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha‘ was recently criticised by Jaya Bachchan. The actress was present at an event where she commented that nobody would want to go and watch a film with this title. She also called it a flop. Now Akshay Kumar has finally reacted to it. The actor was present at a press conference for his film ‘Kesari 2‘ in the city. Akshay was asked in general about the criticism towards his films with a social message and titles like ‘Padman‘ and ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’.
The actor reacted and said, “Mujhe nai lagta kisi ne criticise kiya hoga. Koi bewakoof hi hoga hoh aisi filmein joh hai padman, toilet ek prem kathaa, kesari, Airlift ya aisi filmon ko criticise kiya hai. Aap hi bataa dijiye. Maine apne dil se banaayi aur yeh film hai joh logon ko bohot saari cheezein bataati hai, samjhaati hai’ (I don’t think anyone has criticised these films. Someone would be really stupid to criticise these films which give such a message to people – be it Padman, Toilet, Airlift, Kesari or now Kesari 2).”
Further the actor was told about Jaya Bachchan’s specific comment. For those not in the know, Jaya Bachchan had said at the India TV Conclave, “Just look at the title of the film; I would never go to watch a film with such a name. Yeh koi naam hai? Is that really a name? She then asked if the audience would be okay to watching a film with such a name. “Among so many people, hardly four people want to watch the film; it’s very sad. Yeh toh flop hai (It is a flop).”
When Akshay was told about this at the press conference, the actor said, “Agar unhone kahaa hai toh sahi hoga, agar Toilet Ek Prem Katha banaake galat kaam kiya hai toh agar keh rahi hai toh sahi hoga (If she has said then it will be true. If she feels we made a mistake by making a film like Toilet Ek Prem Katha, then she could be right).”
Akshay further added, “But we should always try to bring a change with our films, it’s always an effort. Toilet Ek Prem Katha was also an effort from our side to make sure every house should have a toilet inside their home. Even today the Government is showing that film for free at various places and villages. Even Padman has been very empowering.”
The actor will be seen next in ‘Kesari 2’, along with R Madhavan and Ananya Panday.

Karisma Kapoor has shared the sweetest throwback picture with her sister Kareena Kapoor on Instagram. Her upload comes just a day after National Siblings Day. Karisma might have been a tad bit late to join the bandwagon, but her post screamed sibling goals through and through.

The vintage photo showcases Karisma and Kareena Kapoor in their childhood days. The Kapoor sisters, dressed in what appears to be a school uniform, are relishing a meal. Do not miss their adorable expressions. PS: Karisma totally slays the short hair look.

The caption accompanying the snap read, “Missed National Siblings Day yesterday. Always Twinning, Winning and of course Eating together.” Karisma hashtagged the post with the words “Sibling Love”.

Reacting to the adorable click, Kareena Kapoor’s sister-in-law Saba Pataudi dropped three red heart emojis.

Karisma Kapoor shares a beautiful bond with her sister Kareena Kapoor, and it’s always a treat when we get a glimpse of their fam-jam moments. Back in February, the Kapoor siblings – Karisma, Kareena and cousin Ranbir attended Aadar Jain’s wedding festivities. Aadar got married to Alekha Advani on February 21.

Karisma Kapoor dropped a carousel of pictures from Aadar Jain and Alekha Advani’s mehendi ceremony on Instagram. Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor featured in the album too.

In the snaps, Karisma Kapoor looked radiant in a magenta sharara suit. Kareena Kapoor complemented her older sister in a floral-printed dark green A-line kurta.

One slide captured the sisters flashing their mehendi art. They smiled ear-to-ear, radiating pure sibling warmth. Ranbir Kapoor, on the other hand, mimicked a pout by Karisma Kapoor in a million-dollar selfie.

Karisma Kapoor often expresses her deep affection for Kareena Kapoor. Last year at an event in Kolkata, the actress revealed that she felt protective of her younger sister.

Karisma Kapoor said, “She has always had a strong personality. Even as a child, she knew her mind. But to me, she’ll always be my first baby,” as per a report by the Times of India. 

In other news, Karisma Kapoor’s 1994 cult comedy film Andaz Apna Apna is re-releasing in the theatres on April 25.

For someone with such a genre-agnostic filmography—Bengali arthouse cinema, disaster flick, half a dozen comedies—Soha Ali Khan had never attempted a horror. That box is now gratifyingly ticked in Chhorri 2, Vishal Furia’s feminist horror sequel streaming on Prime Video. The film, starring Nushrratt Bharuccha, returns to the sugarcane fields of the first film, introducing Ali Khan as the monstrous, unsettling Daasi Ma, the reverend mother of an underground patriarchal order.

“I was surprised when they approached me for the antagonist,” says Soha, who’s mostly played stately and upstanding citizens. Her husband, actor-director Kunal Keemu, wasn’t as surprised, Soha jokes. “He was like, I can totally see it…”

The Chhorii films operate within a now established sub-genre—the rural supernatural thriller with feminist underpinnings, a terrain mapped by Bulbbul, Kaali Khuhi and Furia’s own Marathi-language Lapachhapi, which he remade in Hindi. Building on themes from the first film, Chhorii 2 rails against female infanticide and child marriage in the Hindi heartland. “As a mother to a girl child, I was disturbed by the mindset and conditioning that Daasi Ma represents,” says Soha. “Of course, it is not something that only happens in far-off places. It happens close to home, amongst families of relative wealth and education.”

Soha Ali Khan as Daasi Ma in ‘Chhorii 2’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Soha, a former banker, made her Hindi film debut in the 2004 romantic comedy Dil Maange More. However, as the daughter of Sharmila Tagore, her tryst with cinema began much earlier. In her memoir, The Perils of Being Moderately Famous, Soha writes lovingly about her 4-second cameo in the 1979 film Dooriya, starring her mother and Bengali cinema icon Uttam Kumar. Given that she was barely a year old at the time, wasn’t it the fastest star-kid launch in history?

“It’s true!” laughs Soha. “I was a little infant in my mother’s arms in a song. That was effectively my debut.”

Her actual debut, it turns out, was meant to be Amol Palekar’s Paheli. A remake of Mani Kaul’s Duvidha (1973), the film was initially called Ghost Ka Dost, and was meant to pair Soha with another newcomer.

“Amol ji wanted to launch me with another young actor. As a student of history, I was taken by the film’s Rajasthan setting and the beautiful costumes I was going to wear. I was so excited that I quit my job at Citigroup overnight and didn’t tell my parents.”

However, once superstar Shah Rukh Khan came on board, the film’s profile increased, and both Soha and her co-star were dropped by Palekar (Rani Mukerji eventually played the female lead in Paheli). “Amol ji called and told me Shah Rukh Khan is doing the role of the hero. I was like, “Oh that’s amazing!” I didn’t realise that he was slowly breaking it to me that I wasn’t playing the girl anymore, because it had gone somewhere else.”

Though she can laugh at it now, the experience left her disappointed. “It wasn’t the best place to be in,” recalls Soha. “I realised that, as a young actor, you shouldn’t quit your job unless you have signed a contract or received a signing amount.”

Soha appeared in several notable films of the aughts—Rang De Basanti, Khoya Khoya Chand, 99. It was an altogether thrilling time for Hindi commercial cinema, with banners like UTV Motion Pictures and its cooler subsidiary, UTV Spotboy, leading the change. Directors like Sudhir Mishra, Raj & DK and Tigmanshu Dhulia did their most essential work in that fertile period. By comparison, the Bollywood of today feels unmoored and homogenized, all sequels and angry historicals.

Soha, who took a break from feature films after 2018’s Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3, is cautiously optimistic about the future.

“While good stories are being rewarded, in theatres as well as on OTT, people are still hesitant to embrace originality. They are looking at what has worked and doing more of the same.” A correction, she adds, is certainly underway in the industry. “Actors are reworking how much money they are asking for. Scripts are being reworked. Speaking for myself, as a female actor in my 40s, I am positive about the quality of roles coming my way. I couldn’t say this, say, ten years ago.”

Trisha Krishnan, who acted in Ajith’s new film Good Bad Ugly, shared a cryptic post on her Instagram Stories. She slammed trolls and called them “anonymous cowardice.”

“Shabaaaaaaa…Toxic people, how do you guys do life or sleep well? Does sitting on social media and posting nonsensical stuff about others really make your day? I really, really feel terrible for you guys and the people you live with or are surrounded by. Anonymous cowardice indeed! God bless you all, really!” she wrote.

Trisha’s post comes right after the release of Good Bad Ugly. While Ajith garnered praise for the film, Trisha’s performance failed to impress a section of the audience. While Trisha didn’t mention Good Bad Ugly in her post, it’s likely that she responded to trolls who criticised her performance in the film.

Many of her fan clubs have shared the note on X and Instagram, claiming it is the actor’s ‘answer’ to the trolling she has been receiving.

Good Bad Ugly also stars Arjun Das, Prasanna, Kaartikeya Dev, Prabhu, Priya Prakash Varrier, Sunil, Rahul Dev, Redin Kingsley, and Raghu Ram. 

The film has been direceted by Adhik Ravichandran. The film follows a retired gangster who goes back to his violent ways when his son is wrongly arrested. Ajith reportedly lost kilograms of weight for his character and sported two different looks in the film. 

Good Bad Ugly marks Trisha’s sixth film with Ajith. They have previously worked together in films like Ji, Kireedam, Mankatha, Yennai Arindhal, and Vidaamuyarchi.