Karina Pandya

Everywhere on the ground lay sleeping natives-- hundreds and hundreds. They lay stretched at full length and tightly wrapped in blankets, heads and all. Their attitude and rigidity counterfeited death. Mark Twain, on a nocturnal drive through Bombay in 1896. “A three-year old orphan remains unattended to because her mother “cannot” attend to her…This is the reality in Mumbai’s slum life. Struggling everyday to survive, in these slum houses, there are at a minimum 6-8 people living together in cramped up tiny spaces.   Clean water is not accessible. Lighting…of course –its not there! To make things worse, there is permanently a very bad smell in the air.  There are no ‘hygienic latrines’ and the only option is to use ‘hanging latrines’, which are dangerous – because sometimes a child can fall into the latrine and get injured. 15-20 families have to share one sanitary latrine. So, how can you remain healthy after using this water?” This is the rea...

Cast:   Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Shishir Sharma, Soni Razdan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Rajit Kapur, Arif Zakaria, Ashwath Bhatt, Amruta Khanvilkar Music Lyricist : Gulzar with S-E-L ( Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) Director:  Meghna Gulzar Produced by: Vineet Jain ,  Karan Johar , Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta (under the banners of  Dharma Productions  and Junglee Pictures.) --> Shooting Locations: Doodhpathri, Patiali, Malerkotla and Nabha  Based on Harinder Sikka’s novel, Calling Sehmat, Raazi is also about a Kashmiri girl (Sehmat) who is married to a Pakistani soldier ( Iqbal Syed) in order to extract information for the Indian Intelligence Bureau during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan tension period. Redefining what patriotism is all about, this film has got elements of love, betrayal and patriotism in it and takes us back to the two-nation theory, which has been existent for decades, and gone through many rami...

When you think of some of the finest novels such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol or Great Expectations who comes to mind and what do you think of? When you think of great works of art such as The Starry Night and The Potato Eaters whom do you think of? What comes to your mind when you think of the American writer, editor and literary critic- Edgar Allan Poe? Although they all come from diverse backgrounds, time periods and places; there is one common factor, unifying them all and that is epilepsy.  Surprising, yet true and so is the case for many other prominent figures such as Neil Young who lives with epilepsy, who can be quoted   “Epilepsy has taught me that we are not in control of ourselves”; the 26 th President of the United States of America - Theodore Roosevelt and his lesser-known brother Elliot and legendary performer and Grammy Award-winner - Prince and the woman who made waves on “Britain’s Got Talent Susan Boyl...