Bhaichand Patel's 'Across the River'

Hindu-Muslim romances, once commonplace in Indian English literature, have all but vanished from its pages—even the latest notable exception, Geetanjali Shree's Our City That Year, is a 1990s Hindi novel recently translated into English. Because of this, the first act of Bhaichand Patel's Across the River feels really strong. The novel's twin protagonists. Seema Chaudhry and Madhu Gupta (a Muslim and a Hindu woman, respectively) have grown up in Old Delhi in nearby-but-segregated lanes. When the college-educated young women snag accounting jobs in the same Noida firm circa 2007, their families brace themselves for 'corrupting influences'. Soon, Seema falls in love with her bigoted Gujarati employer's son Mohan.

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India.com

28 minutes ago

• India.com

This 3-episode crime series will leave you numb, 18 women were hunted by..., climax will send chills down your spine, series is...

OTT platforms keep dropping a bunch of web shows, films, and a few docuseries every now and then, and we are here to help you binge-watch them. And today, we will be sharing another docuseries that will crawl under your skin and stay there. Some stories aren't just disturbing; they're nightmarishly real. Indian Predator: Beast of Bangalore, released in 2022, is one of them. An unflinching look into the twisted life of Karnataka's most feared serial killer: Umesh Reddy. Once a man in uniform, Umesh turned predator, hunting and brutally murdering women between 1996 and 2002. While 18 lives were reportedly lost to his savagery, he was convicted in just nine cases. Bengaluru's years of fear Reddy's crimes weren't just about murder—they were layered with horrifying details: sexual assaults, the chilling pattern of stealing women's clothes, and multiple escapes from police custody. He didn't just commit crimes—he haunted an entire city. His most infamous act? The 1998 murder of a widow in Peenya gripped Bengaluru in a wave of panic. The docuseries captures the fear and chaos through testimonies from victims' families, journalists, and police officers who witnessed the horror unfold firsthand. About the docuseries Directed by Ashwin Rai Shetty and produced by Vice Studios, the three-part docuseries uses dramatic reenactments to immerse viewers in the tense atmosphere of late-'90s Bengaluru. While some viewers felt the dramatisations lacked punch, the series succeeds in tracing Reddy's deeply disturbed psyche and the institutional lapses that let him slip through the cracks more than once. Streaming on… Each episode runs about 40–45 minutes and is available in multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. With a modest IMDb rating of 6.2, it may not be flawless, but it's a hard-hitting chronicle of crime, fear, and a city held hostage by one man's monstrous instincts.

The Hindu

37 minutes ago

• The Hindu

CBFC demands name change for JSK- Janaki Vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has demanded the makers of the film JSK - Janaki Vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi, to change the title of the film. Filmmaker Pravin Narayanan told The Hindu on Sunday that the board's stand had effectively stalled the release of the film scheduled for June 27. When asked about the issue, regional officials of the CBFC were evasive and said that the 'certification process is ongoing.' According to Mr. Narayanan, the Thiruvananthapuram regional office of the CBFC had cleared the censoring of the film on June 18 with a U/A certificate. However, when the regional office forwarded the same to the CBFC headquarters in Mumbai, the higher officials there demanded a change in the title as well as the name of the titular character of Janaki, apparently because the name also refers to the Hindu goddess Sita. 'We were supposed to load the content with the censor certificate attached on June 20 for distribution to release centres across the world. But on that evening, the CBFC officials told the producer that the film won't be certified unless the film and character names are changed. We told them to give us a written document denoting this, so that we can proceed to the review committee. The officials have told us that they will provide this on Monday. We have already spent a lot on publicity events and marketing. The online ticketing process was also about to begin,' said Mr. Narayanan. Minister yet to protest He said that the changes, if forced, would cause immense damage to the film as the mention of the name will have to be removed from several dialogues in the film. Mr. Gopi, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, is yet to comment on the whole issue. He was part of the promotional events of the film over the past week. The film is set to be his first release after taking charge as a Minister. Incidentally, filmmaker M.B. Padmakumar had also recently spoken about the issues he faced from the CBFC over a character in his upcoming film Token Number being named Janaki. The board officials had demanded a change in the name of either Janaki or her lover Abraham. The film was certified a few days ago only after he gave into the board's demands and changed the name Janaki to Jayanthi. FEFKA to protest Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) general secretary and filmmaker lashed out at CBFC and said that the federation will organise protests if the board persists with the demand. 'It would be convenient if the CBFC provides us with a list of names that can be used. I fear that soon they will also ask me not to mention my name in the credits, as it is also a Hindu god's name. We have told the filmmaker to move legally against this,' said Mr. Unnikrishnan. The Kerala Film Producers' Association has also criticised the increasing tendency of censors meddling in the content, which he said is against the CBFC's own guidelines.

Indian Express

an hour ago

• Indian Express

Once a promising young talent, her relationship with director who launched her led to Bollywood actor's downfall and ‘murder'; the case remains open

In Bollywood's rich and extensive history, built by thousands of actors and technicians, there exist certain persons whose personal lives have been more staggering than their professional ones. Not merely due to controversies, but because of the way their lives unfolded and, at times, ended. They have shaken people more deeply with their personal lives than their careers ever did. Actor Priya Rajvansh's story is one such, as she is remembered more for the tragedy that eventually struck her than for the performances she delivered. For the unversed, she was allegedly murdered by people she believed were her own. Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Priya Rajvansh's (née Vera Sunder Singh) father, Sunder Singh, worked in the Forest Department, and his mother was an English woman from whom she inherited her anglicised accent. Vera was a star even in her school days, long before she entered the film industry. By the time she reached college, her fame had only grown as she excelled in every competition she participated in; be it debates, declamations or dramatics. 'She was free and frank with almost everybody in the know of her, but we young students called her a 'freak flirt', of course in whispered tones,' RP Chaddah, who studied in the same college that she did, wrote in The Tribune in April 2000. 'Some city lotharios were so smitten by her youth, charm, energy and beautiful gait, that they started penning paeans of praise in the form of poems and dedicated their books to Vera,' he added. By the time Vera completed college, she had completely fallen in love with theatre and acting. Thus, she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London and honed her craft under the guidance of actor-director Laurence Olivier, columnist Shriniwas Joshi noted in The Tribune. During her time in London, a photo of hers somehow found its way to renowned director Chetan Anand, younger brother of Bollywood legend Dev Anand. This changed her life forever. Soon, Chetan launched her as an actor in his war drama Haqeeqat (1964), rechristening her as Priya Rajvansh. The film, starring Dharmendra in the lead role, received widespread acclaim, and Priya's performance, in particular, impressed many. 'Priya unconsciously followed the method school of acting of Stanislavski much before Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah or Om Puri,' Chaddah noted. However, Haqeeqat also marked the beginning of her much-publicised and somewhat scandalous relationship with the then-recently-separated Chetan Anand. In/voluntarily, she remained bound to that relationship and did not appear in any film for six years after Haqeeqat. She returned only in Heer Raanjha (1970), again directed by Chetan. In fact, in her 22-year career, she acted in only seven films; all under his direction. Her younger brother, Gullu Singh, has described Chetan Anand as a double-edged sword in her life, even going as far as to calling him 'the biggest tragedy' she ever faced. 'Chetan Anand was the man who made Priya, and also the man who marred her. In fact, he was the biggest tragedy that could ever happen to her. Chetan would never allow Priya to be directed by anyone else. The result was fatal for her career. She was cast in Haqeeqat when she was just 22 and then in Heer Ranjha when she was five years older. Time was passing Priya by, but she could never hear its footsteps. My sister's only problem was her sense of over-commitment to Chetan. She lived with him and his inclinations for over 30 years.' Nonetheless, her performance in Heer Raanjha also received praise. She went on to play notable roles in Chetan's subsequent films such as Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Saheb Bahadur (1977), Kudrat (1981) and Haathon Ki Lakeeren (1986) too. However, according to Joshi, 'her anglicised accent and western femininity did not click with the Indian audience.' Thus, Haathon Ki Lakeeren became her final movie and the Shimla-born woman who loved acting more than anything else ultimately gave up on her dreams. Though she continued her relationship with Chetan, Gullu said she never wanted to marry him. They lived together for nearly 30 years without formalising the relationship. 'She was not a live-in; she was too classy and dignified to be termed a mistress. She could be at best called his companion and true lover,' film journalist Sheila Vesuna wrote in An inherently reclusive person, Chetan's death in 1997 caused Priya Rajvansh to withdraw even further into solitude. But his passing was only the beginning of the tragedies that lay ahead in her life. According to The Print, Chetan left behind a will naming Priya and his two sons from his first marriage, Ketan and Vivek Anand, as joint owners of his Juhu bungalow. Though she owned her own apartment in Mumbai, Priya spent most of her time at Chetan's residence. On March 27, 2000, just three years after his passing, she was found dead at the same bungalow under mysterious circumstances. While many theories, including suicide, emerged, the post-mortem confirmed the cause of death as 'asphyxia due to strangulation'. The investigation soon led to Priya Rajvansh's maid, Mala Choudhary, who lived at the bungalow with her three children. During interrogation, she confessed to the crime and revealed that she committed it with the help of her cousin, Ashok Chinnaswami. But the probe didn't end there. It was reportedly discovered that Mala had an 'illicit relationship' with Ketan and had received Rs 4,000 from a 'close family member' to kill Priya. Apparently, the actor had been facing financial issues and was urging Ketan and Vivek to sell the property. Eventually, the investigation implicated the Anand brothers as well. According to a 2002 PTI report, police alleged that the brothers conspired to kill the actor to deprive her of her one-third share of the property. On July 31, 2002, a sessions court sentenced all four accused, including Ketan and Vivek, to life imprisonment. 'The pain is irreversible, but there is still some solace at hand. I still remember the day Chetan's sons, their maid Mala and his aide Ashok were sentenced to life imprisonment for killing my sister. You would not believe how a very close relation of the conspirators turned hostile towards them. The case reversed when the boy who had blown off the fuse on the day of the murder deposed for Priya. He stood up for a woman he never knew. Actually, it was Priya claiming justice from her grave,' Gullu said, following the verdict. However, in November 2002, the Bombay High Court granted bail to the Anand brothers. Reportedly, in 2011, the High Court accepted their appeals against the guilty verdict. According to a 2024 News18 report, the Priya Rajvansh murder case remains open, with no clear motive or confirmed perpetrators in custody. Though she was intensely private, Gullu Singh once remarked that Priya Rajvansh would never be forgotten, particularly owing to the grace with which she lived. 'She was adored by everybody, right from peons to the top bosses. There is no way her memory can go away. Her elegance, her grace and her dignity will always last,' he said. In conversation with Times of India, he recalled, 'She was the Greta Garbo of the Indian screen, a complete recluse but a better actress and more beautiful than Garbo. She was an elegant woman, a real beauty.'