News and Views

The sexual assault case involving former union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, grabbed headlines in August 2019 after the 23-year-old law student who accused him went missing after she posted a video on Facebook alleging a ‘sant samaj’ leader was threatening to kill her and has ruined many girls’ lives.

Ironically, as the case caught nation's attention and was talked about all across, Shahjahanpur, Chinmayanand's stronghold, fell silent. This case left the town unable to decide who is at fault, whom do they support, the girl or Chinmayanand?

I traveled to the heart of the Chinmayanand Rape Case controversy to find out. Tune in to The Big Story!

Host and Reporter: Zijah Sherwani

Editor: Shorbori Purkayastha

Producer: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh, who bid adieu to international cricket earlier this year, has said that he is currently enjoying his life post-retirement. After announcing his retirement in June this year, Yuvraj, who represented India in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is, participated in the Global T20 tournament in Canada and is currently plying his trade in the Abu Dhabi T10 league.

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Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh, who bid adieu to international cricket earlier this year, has said that he is currently enjoying his life post-retirement. After announcing his retirement in June this year, Yuvraj, who represented India in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is, participated in the Global T20 tournament in Canada and is currently plying his trade in the Abu Dhabi T10 league.

She is a tall, fair and pretty woman in her 20s who dreams of getting married and settling down abroad . He, on the other hand, is a 36-year-old shy and average-looking man burdened with family responsibilities and desperate to get married. Motichoor Chaknachoor tells the story of Annie (Athiya Shetty) and Pushpinder Tyagi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who come together despite having completely opposite personalities. Not surprisingly, this results in a host of problems for them and those around them.

Directed by Debamitra Biswal, Motichoor is a mixed bag of some fine performances and a beautifully-created small town milieu while being frustratingly repetitive. Athiya Shetty is a revelation, though.

Her pairing with Nawaz seemed odd initially but ends up being oddly satisfying. The two hail from very different worlds and in the film Pushpinder is everything that Athiya doesn’t want to be. Except that she badly wants the “Dubai-returned” tag that he flaunts.

At one point Nawaz’s Pushpinder even pointedly asks her “kya aap patthar per khadi hain?”

What next? Listen to the podcast for the full review.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She is a tall, fair and pretty woman in her 20s who dreams of getting married and settling down abroad . He, on the other hand, is a 36-year-old shy and average-looking man burdened with family responsibilities and desperate to get married. Motichoor Chaknachoor tells the story of Annie (Athiya Shetty) and Pushpinder Tyagi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who come together despite having completely opposite personalities. Not surprisingly, this results in a host of problems for them and those around them.

Directed by Debamitra Biswal, Motichoor is a mixed bag of some fine performances and a beautifully-created small town milieu while being frustratingly repetitive. Athiya Shetty is a revelation, though.

Her pairing with Nawaz seemed odd initially but ends up being oddly satisfying. The two hail from very different worlds and in the film Pushpinder is everything that Athiya doesn’t want to be. Except that she badly wants the “Dubai-returned” tag that he flaunts.

At one point Nawaz’s Pushpinder even pointedly asks her “kya aap patthar per khadi hain?”

What next? Listen to the podcast for the full review.

Marjaavaan translates to “I will die” and one can easily come to this fatal conclusion after having been numbed by 135 minutes of the film. I was wondering what the problem with the film really is and then it struck me - director Milap Zaveri takes himself too seriously and so does the film. And that’s the problem, because Marjaavaan is actually a closet comedy. It does not mean to be hilarious, but ends us being so.

Everyone in the movie is delegating their work to poor Raghu aka Sidharth Malhotra. There is the water mafia head who Raghu is indebted to because he picked him up from the gutter and brought him up.

So, Raghu ensures that Anna’s (Nassar) dhanda (business) functions smoothly without any hurdles. Arzoo (Rakul Preet Singh) has outsourced the protection of her izzat abroo to Raghu. Zoya (Tara Sutaria) wants him to play the harmonica. 

His friends, who have been tortured by the midget Vishnu (Riteish Deshmukh), wait for Raghu to come out of jail and take revenge. 

Then there is Ravi Kishan playing a cop who also wants Raghu to testify against his boss . Even the cop will not go investigate someone else!

Listen to the podcast for the full review!

Host: Stutee Ghosh

Editor: Zijah Sherwani

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marjaavaan translates to “I will die” and one can easily come to this fatal conclusion after having been numbed by 135 minutes of the film. I was wondering what the problem with the film really is and then it struck me - director Milap Zaveri takes himself too seriously and so does the film. And that’s the problem, because Marjaavaan is actually a closet comedy. It does not mean to be hilarious, but ends us being so.

Everyone in the movie is delegating their work to poor Raghu aka Sidharth Malhotra. There is the water mafia head who Raghu is indebted to because he picked him up from the gutter and brought him up.

So, Raghu ensures that Anna’s (Nassar) dhanda (business) functions smoothly without any hurdles. Arzoo (Rakul Preet Singh) has outsourced the protection of her izzat abroo to Raghu. Zoya (Tara Sutaria) wants him to play the harmonica. 

His friends, who have been tortured by the midget Vishnu (Riteish Deshmukh), wait for Raghu to come out of jail and take revenge. 

Then there is Ravi Kishan playing a cop who also wants Raghu to testify against his boss . Even the cop will not go investigate someone else!

Listen to the podcast for the full review!

Host: Stutee Ghosh

Editor: Zijah Sherwani

There’s bad news on the economic front – GDP rate has slipped drastically to 5 percent and inflation rate has soared. Despite the bold steps taken by the government to revive the economy of late, the desired results haven’t been achieved owing to a rather complex situation.

A few economists discern clear signs of a slowdown while other think it’s the beginning of an economic contraction – begging the question – Is India on the brink of an economic crisis?

Let's take a look at some numbers:

The projected GDP growth rate for the second quarter is 4.25 percent to 4.74 percent.

The actual numbers will be released by the end of November. However, it’s safe to assume India’s GDP growth will languish at around 5 percent. SBI’s already revised its earlier projection of 6.8 percent to 5 percent.

Listen to the podcast for the full story!

Host: Sanjay Pugalia

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s bad news on the economic front – GDP rate has slipped drastically to 5 percent and inflation rate has soared. Despite the bold steps taken by the government to revive the economy of late, the desired results haven’t been achieved owing to a rather complex situation.

A few economists discern clear signs of a slowdown while other think it’s the beginning of an economic contraction – begging the question – Is India on the brink of an economic crisis?

Let's take a look at some numbers:

The projected GDP growth rate for the second quarter is 4.25 percent to 4.74 percent.

The actual numbers will be released by the end of November. However, it’s safe to assume India’s GDP growth will languish at around 5 percent. SBI’s already revised its earlier projection of 6.8 percent to 5 percent.

Listen to the podcast for the full story!

Host: Sanjay Pugalia

The date is 30 January, 1948. A little over five months have passed since India's independence from the British Raj. As the sun sets, the air is electric in Delhi's Birla House.

The reason - Mahatma Gandhi is about to address a prayer meeting. Gandhi walks to the stage from his room, supported by Manuben and Abha, his two grand-nieces.

As he nears the stage, a man wearing khaki breaks loose from the crowd and kneels before them. Manuben says, “Bapu is already late. Why do you embarrass him?”

But the words have barely left her mouth, when three deafening gunshots ring out. Gandhi falls to the floor. Three bullets finding their mark in his torso. The crowd goes numb, for a moment. And then erupts.

The assassin surrenders and asks for the police. He's arrested and taken away.

Moments later a doctor confirms that Mahatma Gandhi is dead.

The assassin's name would be remembered forever in history - Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

This is a special podcast about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and the man who pulled the trigger - Nathuram Godse. Godse was hanged to death on 15 November 1949. The reasons that drove him to assassinate Gandhi have often been misunderstood or plainly misrepresented.

I sat down with Anup Sardesai, the author of Nathuram Godse: The Untold Truth to understand the other side of the story. What happened to him and his family after the assassination? Why did he kill the father of the nation?

Host & Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Guest: Anup Sardesai, Author(Nathuram Godse: The Untold Truth)

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