Cinema is not just a unifying Indian passion. It is big business and an industry worth Rs 2,500 crore. Bollywood also remains the arena for the greatest of gambles. Specially now as audience tastes seem to have turned fickle. At Rs 50 crore, Devdas is the most expensive Hindi film ever. For an industry in financial crisis, it's a huge risk. As for the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the three stars—Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai—the film will have a major impact on the way their careers progress.

The parliamentary panel is typically wading through evidence even a year after the
bourses scandal.

Post-Goa, a party revamp in the BJP remains a mirage as timeworn leaders block change.
 

New registration plates with a market potential of Rs 7,000 crore raise
familiar controversies.

The move to bring K.P.S.Gill to check the violence in Gujarat may be a case of too little too late.

Buying a cell phone, even a lavish birthday party will now be under the taxman's lens. But there are bigger worries for taxpayers.

Beyond its star-studded campaign Home Trade had nothing—no product and virtually no service.

A mega ritual in Kerala rakes up controversies galore as it tries to beat a celestial deadline.

A coastal town in the state of Kerala celebrates the bicentenary of its
cricket tradition.

Rising infiltration and polls in Jammu and Kashmir put the army in overdrive on
the borders.

After years of neglect, India is taking steps to bring the 20-million overseas Indians back into its fold.

A Bombay High Court ruling seeking valid proof in Muslim divorces is lauded as a
progressive step.

It's a different kind of pill: one with a
camera inside that can help diagnose
intestinal illness.

Changes long overdue in the school education system may finally see college entry being based on grades.

Studies on substance abuse among women convey a scary message: it is no longer a fringe issue.

Competition from road and air forces the Railways to come up with more passenger
friendly schemes.

Instead of harassing taxpayers, why doesn't the finance minister target tax evaders?

India needs to beat its own fears if it is to win another Test in the current series.

Did he say it, did he not? After Gujarat, Prime Minister Vajpayee has been pilloried for equivocating on communal issues.

Is sister Geeta Mehta seeking a slice of the political cake that Naveen Patnaik has already inherited from their late father ?

Amarinder Singh has found himself in a tangle after Sonia Gandhi's tough sermon on rolling back free power to the farmers.

Uttar Pradesh's new advocate-general Satish Chand Mishra on the Ayodhya dispute.

Hanif Kureishi breaks out of the image trap and makes sense of his art and life.

The genius of Tendulkar still remains beyond the grasp of his biographers.

Siachen is the open sesame to the 55-year-old war.

In spite of new sops for
NRIs in his tenure, the ambassador-at-large is
dogged by controversy.

India Calling
 The Visa Squeeze
A Confluence of Talent
Soul Strummer
Newsmakers