Author: Kashmir Newsline

A tribute to the thespian on his birth centenary. In 1934, Indian cinema’s first diva, Devika Rani, and her husband, Himanshu Rai, set up Bombay Talkies, which produced several hit movies with Ashok Kumar and her in the lead in most of them. Brought up and educated in England, Rani, along with Rai, had studied filmmaking in Germany. While she contributed immensely to the development of the early cinema when the talkies had just begun, Rani’s single most important contribution to the Indian film industry would come a decade later when she introduced Yusuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar, who was…

Dilip Kumar embodied the zeitgeist of an era gone by and they don’t make them like that anymore. Shabir Hussain Dilip Kumar’s entry into the world of cinema was as phantasmagorical as his rise to superstardom after some initial hiccups. When the glamorous actor-producer Devika Rani offered him a job in her production house as an actor, he was reluctant but agreed only after Rani quoted a monthly salary of Rs1250, which was a fortune back in the day. He had inhibitions also because his strict father was dismissive of cinema and would never have wanted him to become an…

How a Dilip Kumar fan almost met his icon and yet ended up not getting to meet him ever. Lalit Magazine “Hello, sahab hain kya?” I asked, holding on to the telephone receiver as if my very life depended on the answer from the other end. “Aap kaun bol rahen hain, sir?” The voice on the other end was that of an employee of Dilip Kumar and he wouldn’t hand over the phone to the great man himself unless he knew who I was. This was June 1987. I had taken up a job in Mumbai just a few days back.  When…

A foggy start to winter should already have set the alarm bells ringing in Kashmir. Most part of the day these days is clouded by fog and the night temperatures are sliding below freezing levels. Yet, there is no sense of alarm found in Kashmir’s healthcare system. The winter is the harshest period to live in Kashmir. It impacts physical as well as mental health of the people. The shorter, gloomy days are known to worsen the already fragile mental health of many, while the freezing days and nights harm the respiratory health. While it is still the beginning of…

Review of Lily Swarn Saba’s collection of ghazals. Prof. Zaman Azurda Recently, I happened to read and listen to some poems and ghazals of Lily Swarn Saba. Blessed be the circumstances which bring us the joy of the words and poetry of people living far away while sitting at home. Once upon a time there was a ritual called arsi mushaf at Muslim weddings. The arsi mushaf is the occasion when the groom first sees the face of the bride in a mirror held between them. Now television, different websites and various channels have put a mirror in front of everything.…

Mariya Dar Essentially, all life depends upon the soil. There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together.  —Charles E. Kellogg, USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1938 Soil is fundamental to the existence of life and it has often been referred to as a dynamic living entity as it acts as digestive system by decomposing and recycling the majority of the materials that are added to it, making them accessible for new life. Soil, a naturally occurring body, is a mixture that contains minerals, organic matter and living organisms. It serves as a natural…

The heist that England pulled off at Rawalpindi after a bold declaration is one of a kind and will be talked about for a long time to come. Newsline Staffer To the puritans of the game, Test cricket is the real deal. Every now and then, in the middle of the T20 razmataaz that has overshadowed the longest format, we get to see a thrilling duel that reinforces our belief in Test cricket. On December 5 at Rawalpindi, England sealed a Test match that looked all set for a draw after the first two innings. From the very first day…

The recent attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul should be a concern for all the stakeholders. Shome Basu Terrorist attacks on diplomats is not new in Kabul or elsewhere in Afghanistan. Indian, Russian, American and Pakistani diplomats have always been the prime target. Also, the diplomats from NATO allies aren’t safe but not in as bad a position as these four countries. In a recent attack, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires, Obaid Nizamani, escaped a bid on his life at the Embassy complex in the highly secured Green Zone of Kabul city. His bodyguard was injured in the attack. The assailants…