Super ‘Gill’man Sharpens Third Arrow To His Bow

Delivering in three formats is cricket’s greatest challenge. Not even the best of the modern players were up to scratch in this with Virat Kohli being the one exceptional performer across formats when he had, at one point in his career, an average above 50 in all three forms of the game. The young batsman who seems to be following in his footsteps has a lot to prove that he is capable of handling the triple burden. But that he is trying became clear in the short innings he played before lightning and rain came to disrupt the last of the five T20Is in Australia. Shubman Gill played a gem of an innings, filled with finesse and flair more than premeditated big hitting. He drove through the gaps, particularly through cover, with such elan as to show he can beat the short game without compromising on the technique that has made him a big run maker in ODIs and a performer beginning to match potential with form in Test matches. Gill was pleasing to the eye even as he was tending to the scoreboard without having to hit the ball in anger as his opening partner Abhishek Sharma was aiming to do at the other end. Gill’s classy effort was cut short by the weather, but he has shown the signs that he will chart his own path in T20Is. Soon, probably very soon, Gill might be seen leading Team India in all three formats. (By Tamil Raja)

Kerala Taxi Unions Play Spoilsport To Tourist Boom

At a time when tourism is booming in Kerala, an age-old problem has reared its head, unionisation of the taxi trade. State Tourism Minister PA Mohammed Riyas has depicted a rosy picture of 1.19 crore domestic tourists visiting Kerala in the first half of 2025, which is a 10.5% jump over the previous year. Foreign arrivals too climbed 6.87% to touch 3.83 lakh. Amidst the announcement, came the news of a college professor and her entourage from Mumbai being harassed on their trip to hill station, Munnar. The professor took to social media to highlight that while she had a nice holiday and Malayalees by and large were nice to them, she will not be returning to Kerala. This was due to the harassment they encountered at the hands of the local taxi trade. The visiting team, during their Munnar trip, was not allowed to use rider app vehicles like Uber, Ola etc. In fact, they were physically blocked by local taxi drivers and not allowed to alight at their destination. They were also not allowed to hail an online cab for their return journey. And complaints made to police bore no fruit as both the taxi unions and cops have the full patronage of the CPM party. After the blog went viral some taxi drivers were arrested and cops suspended. Just like mindless trade unionism crippled our industry growth, tourism will also pay the price, warns Jose Dominic, a veteran hotelier and industry leader. This is not a problem limited to tourist destinations. There are unofficial ban zones for online cabs and auto rickshaws at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi airports. The unauthorised curbs on online taxis is not a Marxist phenomenon but also in BJP-run Goa state. (By Our National Editor)

Are Bollywood Producers Silently Paying The Price For Star Entourages?

Star’s entourage is not a new thing in the film industry. In the past, actresses were accompanied by their mothers, makeup/hair dresser and the spot boy. Then the numbers were officially less; but at times the star's family members too travelled and exploited the producers and financially it was a burden for them. Prominent filmmaker Suneel Darshan in a podcast says nowadays star’s entourage is over 26 people and they have all to be taken care of by the producers. Actors like Govinda, Sunny Deol and a few actresses had at least 10 members travelling with them on outdoor shoots.  Today, most stars have an entourage of a dozen people comprising manager’s assistant, makeup artiste, hair stylist, fitness trainer, and chef.  The food department is an additional burden on the producers. Before the entry of food trucks, the stars & their families would make producers order food from 5-star hotels and often take it home. This saw producers come together and tell the big stars to cut down on their entourage numbers or pay from their own pockets. Many stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan even agreed but it is learnt nobody is living up to their words. With Bollywood films taking a big beating at the box office, the industry is going through a correction phase and at such times it makes eminent sense for stars to more than cooperate by at least cutting down on their entourage numbers. (By Our Entertainment Editor)

Why Women In Blue Deserve All Kudos And Goodies!

One and all are keen and eager to join the bandwagon celebrating the Women in Blue team’s spectacular and maiden ICC 50-over World Cup win. The moment skipper Harmanpreet Kaur took the last catch at the DY Patil Stadium in the presence of 45000 spectators, the merrymaking began with the team itself going gung-ho and millions in the country painting the town red so to say. It was a perfect finish to a campaign at home, especially winning three matches at a venue that brings out the best from the team. Only a fortnight ago, the team had tripped at every step -- it lost to South Africa, Australia and England in the league before causing a decisive turnaround arriving at the DY Patil Stadium. Each and every player has been feted by their respective State with the Government of Maharashtra opening its purse strings and giving Rs. 2.25 crore each to Smriti Mandhana, Jemima Rodrigues and Radha Yadav. Its chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the full team will be felicitated at an appropriate time. Maharashtra has gone out of the way to open its heart to Radha Yadhav who has been representing Baroda in white ball competitions in the last 10 years after a solitary season for Mumbai in the BCCI’s Twenty20 tournament. Harmanpreet’s team deserves all the kudos and goodies. She went to the extent of sharing joy with Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, the two stalwarts of women’s cricket who were unlucky not to lift the trophy by their own deeds on the field. Harmanpreet happily allowed them to get their hands on the trophy and feel like champions again! (By G Viswanath)

Gauri Kishen Turns Real Heroine, Trashes A Misogynist Body Shaming Journalist

For serious cinema aficionados, new Tamil releases provide much grist for their passion mill…off beat themes and brilliant execution, new directors and experimental cast, those who climb to stardom fast. The just released film ‘Others’ is one such medico socio psychological thriller which would have garnered praise by itself but heroine Gauri Kishen and her strident response to RS Karthik, well known YouTuber, self-anointed “hero of questions” took it viral, very fast. A double whammy for the film. Karthik was gracing the promo event of Others, themed on Male, Female and Others. Did the boldness and audacity of Others trigger his body shaming query? He asked the Director Abin Hariharan and hero Adithya Madhavan, “What is the weight of Gauri Kishen, who is lifted by the hero in the film?”. Both tried to ignore this rude query, but when the journalist persisted, Gauri took him on “what are you going to do with my weight information? How are you concerned? When Karthik persisted with his justification that heroines like Khushboo and Sarita had responded to such personal questions, Gauri put him in his place, boldly, unashamed. The viral tide of support for her has made him apologise for his insensitivity. Strangely enough, Gauri who plays a crucial doctor’s role in Others, deep down empathised with the theme …we Indians have turned judgemental and crass in taking misogyny to extreme levels …a woman has to be svelte, slim and slender for the male beholder. Thin, Normal and Fat …a woman categorised into shapes that judge their very being with Beauty Queens setting impossible templates. (By Padma Ramnath)

Greens Move PM On Maharashtra Leopard Conflict Crisis

The Maharashtra government’s proposal to translocate leopards, combined with the killing of a leopard in Pune after it was labelled a man-eater, has raised deep concern among environmentalists, who say these responses signal a governance failure in forest and land-use planning. Instead of addressing the factors that push wildlife into human spaces — shrinking habitats, fragmented corridors, unmanaged waste and unregulated expansion into forest-edge zones — the state is opting for short-term actions that risk intensifying conflict rather than resolving it. Leopards are territorial animals that play a stabilising role in ecosystems. When a resident leopard is killed or relocated, its territory does not remain vacant; another leopard moves in, often younger, stressed, and more unpredictable. Studies from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttarakhand show that relocated leopards frequently attempt to return to familiar terrain, travelling through villages and farms and increasing the potential for human encounters. National wildlife guidelines therefore caution against translocation as a routine conflict response. Environmentalists say lessons must be drawn from the cheetah introduction effort in Kuno, where animals struggled to adapt despite extensive planning. Wildlife cannot simply be shifted and expected to adjust; ecosystems require continuity, stable habitat and respect for territorial behaviour. NatConnect Foundation has escalated the issue to the Prime Minister’s Office. The Foundation hopes he will step in to ensure Maharashtra shifts from reactive “animal removal” measures to long-term forest and corridor management, waste regulation, humane stray animal control and trained rapid-response teams. Killing or shifting wildlife is not management — it is symptom control. Environmental advocate Jyoti Nadkarni said: “The leopard is an essential part of the food chain and the wider food web. Removing it disturbs a balance far more complex than we acknowledge. We must think before we act.” (By BN Kumar)

Maharashtra, Telangana Claim Ownership Of Same 14 Villages

The ownership of 14 villages claimed by the Maharashtra and Telangana governments has been under dispute in Chandrapur district which is along the border of the two states. While the revenue department of the Maharashtra government is the claimant of the villages, the same are under the forest department of the Telangana government. The issue has a long history. According to authorities in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has ruled in its favour. Nonetheless, the resolution of the matter is still awaiting a final outcome. Over the years, the villages in Jivti tehsil of Maharashtra occupy nearly 15,000 acres of land. The Maharashtra authorities complain that the villages have been shown by Telangana as part of its territory. Telangana’s Asifabad district forest authorities have been looking after the green cover in the area. Meanwhile, the villagers are reported to be exercising their voting rights in both states. The villages have been at the centre of the dispute, with residents often living under dual administration and having voting rights in both states. Finally, in July 2025, the Maharashtra government has announced that it has started the process to merge these 14 villages into the state’s jurisdiction. While some residents have asked to remain in Telangana to access its welfare schemes, Maharashtra's stance is that the villages are predominantly Marathi-speaking. Due to the lack of a clear administrative structure, the villages have two sarpanchs, two Gram Panchayats and separate schools for Marathi and Telugu speakers. The issue has been holding fire but no immediate solution is forthcoming. (By Dilip Chaware)

Unheard India: Rare Language Films Screened At KIFF

The 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) opened with a strong focus on migration and displacement — themes at the heart of its newly introduced section, ‘Beyond Borders.’ Running from November 6 to 13, the festival will screen 315 films from 39 countries across 21 venues, with Poland as this year’s partner nation. The new segment presents nine films probing the emotional and political dimensions of migration, including Tales of the Wounded Land by Iraqi-French filmmaker Abbas Fahdel, Aisha Can’t Fly Away by Egyptian director Morad Mostafa, Passing Dreams by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, and Palestine 36 by another Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir. Festival chairperson and filmmaker Goutam Ghose described the new section as a response to the global displacement crisis. He noted that migration has emerged as one of the world’s defining challenges, and that filmmakers chronicling such realities take creative and political risks deserving both applause and empathy. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was all praise for the inclusion of ‘Unheard India – Rare Language Films,’ a category honouring voices from linguistic peripheries such as Bodo, Santhali, and Konkani, remarking that cinema without grassroots connections cannot mirror ordinary lives. Mamata also announced the Bangabibhusan — West Bengal’s highest civilian honour — for legendary singer Arati Mukherjee and actor Shatrughan Sinha. (By Tanya Bagchi)