deepEndsHere

Not a review. Just some observations about The Family Man Season 3: I couldn't feel the emotional strength this time around when compared to S1 and S2. Suchi's character has been reduced to nothing. If you remember, S1 and S2 ensured she had her own life and a different plot. Now, they amalgamated it with Srikanth's just for that one last scene where we could feel her and the kids are in danger. Moreover, I feel Srikanth himself has a reduced screen presence this time. Also, JK has ZERO clutch scenes. They have ended the season on a cliffhanger to keep Jaideep's character alive and kicking for S4. I'm afraid it is not a good idea coz now they have to start all over and repeat the goosechase between Srikanth and Rukma. When you don't conclude a story after seven episodes and your next season takes years to come out, viewers don't really appreciate it.

If you cannot notice AI generated or AI-assisted shots in the #RamayanaTeaser , the problem is not with me, it is with you.

I have a favourite Aamir Khan story that should have absolutely been the crown jewel of my Bollywood book, if I ever get around to writing one. And given that I spent 12 years in the trenches as a Hindi film journalist and critic for The Telegraph, believe me, I have quite a few stories. But this one. This one is different. Dhobi Ghat had just released. I reviewed it for t2, the entertainment supplement of The Telegraph. I wrote that while Monica Dogra, Prateik Babbar, and Kriti Malhotra slipped into their characters like second skin — effortlessly, organically, exactly what Kiran Rao's debut needed — Aamir Khan stuck out like a sore thumb. He hadn't found the sur of the film. He was, in my honest critical opinion, miscast. The review ran on Saturday. Monday evening. Late. My phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number. "Hi Pratim, when can I call? Aamir." I went cold. I knew what film people do when you don't align with them creatively. They get vengeful. They get vindictive. They have long memories and longer grudges. And this wasn't just any film person. This was Aamir Khan. The perfectionist. The man who doesn't do anything without a reason. With slightly unsteady fingers, I typed back: "Hi Aamir, we can speak now." He called immediately. In that inimitable style of his — measured, unhurried, punctuated with those trademark pauses that make you hang on every single word — he said he had read my review. I braced myself. He said he completely agreed with me. I'm sorry — what? Aamir Khan had called me, a film critic, to say I was right about his performance being off. I couldn't process it. Here was one of the biggest stars in Indian cinema, a man with nothing to prove to anyone, voluntarily picking up the phone to validate a critic's assessment of his own shortcomings. The silence on my end must have been deafening. And then he said it. The line I will never forget: "I was the worst of the four." He ended the call with four words that have stayed with me ever since: "Keep writing what you feel." Years later, when I heard that he had auditioned for Kiran Rao's second film — Lapataa Ladies, which he was producing — and that she had ultimately gone with Ravi Kishen for the role instead, something clicked into place quietly inside me. No ego. No entitlement. Just a man who understood his own limitations well enough to let go. Nothing had changed. He was still that guy.

Let me save you the suspense 😊 🔴 2G “Scam” → All 19 accused ACQUITTED. Court said prosecution “miserably failed.” 🔴 CWG “Scam” → ED filed closure report. Kalmadi got CLEAN CHIT; April 2025. 🔴 Coal “Scam” → Former Coal Secy acquitted multiple times in 2024-25. Now for BJP’s “golden era”: ⚡ Electoral Bonds → SC declared UNCONSTITUTIONAL ⚡ Companies under CBI probe donated crores → got ₹lakh crore contracts back ⚡ PM CARES → ₹3,700+ crore collected. Zero CAG audit. Zero RTI. Courts settled the “scams.” But nobody’s settling Electoral Bonds yet. You sure you want to play this game? 🙂

Religion. Has killed more humans than all infections combined. Infections have vaccines though. A vaccine for religion is rationalism and humanism, which seems to be rare these days and awaiting rediscovery.

CBFC screened this film. Found ZERO objectionable content. Still killed it, orally. No written rejection. Because they know this censorship can’t survive judicial scrutiny. US, UK, France, Italy; all screened it. ALL have diplomatic ties with Israel. Only Modi’s India believes a murdered 6-year-old is a “diplomatic threat.” The film won Venice’s Grand Jury Prize. It’s Oscar-nominated. And this government is more worried about Netanyahu’s comfort than Article 19(1)(a) of our own Constitution. The “world’s largest democracy”, too fragile to let its citizens watch a child’s truth. Suppressing art to protect a foreign government’s image isn’t foreign policy. It’s surrender.

@MovieReview_Hub Netflix didn't dump Kaala Paani, the government did.

Netflix really needs to re-evaluate who’s making renewal decisions because this ain’t it. 🤦‍♂️ You had #KaalaPaani — a gripping, high-concept survival drama with strong performances, layered storytelling, and actual audience engagement. The kind of show people talk about, recommend, and revisit. And what did you do? Cancel the 2nd season. But somehow #TheRoyals — a glossy, predictable, surface-level drama — gets renewed? Based on what exactly… vibes? This just proves one thing: either there is favouritism in project approval of Netflix or they don't understand numbers and have zero knowledge of movies/series.

One of the biggest Mandela effects (phenomenon where a large group of people collectively misremember the same detail) on Indian social media is the widespread belief that Mir Ranjan Negi was the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team when it won the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The mandela effect here is so strong that it is very likely that if you ask Grok or ChatGPT who was the coach, it is likly to tell you it is Mir Ranjan Negi (which in part is due to lack of extensive reporting on sports in India barring cricket). But he was not. The head coach of that team was Gurdial Singh Bhangu (who is also the first hockey coach to receive the Dronacharya Award, India’s highest sporting honour for coaches). The team had M.K. Kaushik as a mentor during the preparation camp. Kaushik was the coach of Indian Men's Hockey team in 1998 Asian Games when team won gold medal the event after 30 years. And due to his expeience with training many women players at SAI, New Delhi, he was asked to assist as a mentor. He became second hockey coach to be awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2002, the same year India won that historic gold. He took over the coaching for Women's team from Gurdial Bhangu in 2002 just after the event. When Yash Raj Films began work on Chak De! India, the screenplay writer Jaideep Sahni loosely based the character of Kabir Khan on M.K. Kaushik, who had just taken over as the full-time head coach of the women’s team in 2002. Several details in the film came directly from Kaushik’s life. Even the scooter used by Shah Rukh Khan’s character was Kaushik’s. So where does Mir Ranjan Negi fit in and why does almost everyone remember him as the coach? Mir Ranjan Negi was the goalkeeping coach of the 2002 women’s team. His association with the gold medal was real, but his elevation in public memory had little to do with coaching hierarchy and everything to do with being at the right place and the right time. YRF wanted Kaushik to be the consultant for hockey scenes in the movie and prepare the cast for shooting. But Kaushik was actively coaching the national team so he couldn’t commit time as an on-field consultant during the film’s shooting. He suggested Mir Ranjan Negi (who at that point did not have a coaching job and needed something positive going for him in his life after losing his 19-year old son to a bike accident) to help YRF with hockey-specific inputs. Mir Ranjan Negi was close to Kaushik since they both played together for the national team and Mir was goalkeeping coach for the 1998 Asian Games too. Once Negi became involved with the film, he realised that Kabir Khan’s fictional backstory closely resembled his own real-life experience particularly the events of the 1982 Asian Games, where India lost 7–1 to Pakistan and Negi, then the national team goalkeeper, was accused of match-fixing, which was partly due to his first-name 'Mir' which can be perceived as a Muslim name. What’s crucial to note is this: the screenplay was already written by then. Chak De! India was not based on Mir Ranjan Negi’s life. But the film’s marketing machinery latched onto the emotional overlap. Negi accompanied the cast on reality shows and promotional tours. This was the early era of Indian reality TV, when personal struggle narratives were aggressively foregrounded. Even Jaideep Sahni later expressed discomfort at how someone who was only coincidentally associated with the real team began receiving disproportionate limelight, as if the film were an adaptation of his life. Even Mr. Mir has since clarified multiple times that the movie was not his biopic at all. However two decades later, Gurdial Singh Bhangu, the actual head coach, is barely remembered. M.K. Kaushik, also almost forgotten, passed away during COVID. While Mir Ranjan Negi remains in public memory synonymous with the 2002 triumph.

No true cricket lover is happy with this final, even those who support India.

This game is dead. Every cricketing organization has been sold so that India can win two consecutive world cups.

For the first time, I'm going to say this. I experienced something worse than Ayurveda and Homeopathy misinformation on social media. And it's a huge problem just slowly and steadily growing under every skeptics nose. It's more difficult to tackle, much more difficult to debunk. And it's very specifically on Instagram. The ones who spread this medical and health misinformation are educated, charismatic, seemingly intelligent, updated for their needs, and converse beautifully. People think these influencers have substance when all they are...are pretty painted shallow graves. They have huge following, they appeal to emotion, tradition, (fringe) science and nationalism. They use scientific jargons much more than doctors normally do and the average social media user falls hook, line, and sinker. As a science communicator, if you debunk their claims or expose their fraud, their supporters will swarm you like flies and exhaust you with threats, vulgarity, racism and gaslighting. They are a well oiled machinary that work against science and logic. Irrationalists in sheeps clothing. It's tough to take them down because it feels like you are up against a hive mind. They remind me of the quote: "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups," which highlights the danger of mob mentality, where collective, irrational, and uncritical thinking can lead to surprisingly destructive outcomes. Watch out for this. Bro Science.

First impression after starting ACCUSED on Netflix: Pratibha Ranta looks like Konkona Sen Sharma's daughter, man! How can you make an onscreen pair out of them?

"Papa bohot saare log maar rahe hain, mujhe bacha lo." 15 yr old Tehzeem implored. His father Umardeen fought the mob and saved his child but he was shot dead himself. May his killer rot in jail and hell Really heartbreaking story by @AlizaNoor1501. #read-more" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">thequint.com/news/politics/…

> This is the capital of Vishwaguru, Delhi > Matches are organised in a stadium > People buy cold drinks at 10× the market price inside the stadium > Some people leave their cold drinks in glasses > Staff refill those leftover drinks into new bottles and sell them again > This is how we maintain topnotch hygiene in our vishwaguru

@Lonely_prabh Asked my source in YRF. He said OP is doing engagement farming and Alpha will release in theaters only. I have more to share but I don't want to use the exact abuses shared by my source for you.

A so-called biggest women superstar's upcoming movie is shifted to ott 😂 and the reason is not #Dhurandhar . Here's the real reason (as per source)👇 ⭐ "One action scene that involves Alia using a non-existing, (invented-by-the-yrf) AI-based gadget looks so cheap and boomer-vibes that the crew laughed out loud during a take's review 😂 ⭐ It is believed that the director was promised a unique voice in the beginning, and #AliaBhatt was told this would be like a slick, high-budget, sexy version of Raazi, but the end project is like " toonpur ka superhero" 🤣 ⭐ Interestingly not a single ott platform wants to buy this crap, yrf wants to sell it on lord bobby's name but nothing works as of now. ⭐ so you've to wait for some trolling material. Until then, prepare your mind 😜 #Alpha

Ashwini Kumar, a BLO in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh was threatened, abuse and assaulted allegedly by local BJP leaders for not conceding to their demand of signing in Form 7 to delete names of genuine Muslim voters.

"Whoever can, should make Miyan suffer. If the rickshaw fare is ₹5, pay ₹4" Assam CM brazenly prompting economic apartheid !

I had heard so many good things about choosing @delhivery for small businesses. Decided to go with it for mine, but inhone first pickup mein hi hug diya. Aisa haga ki ab inhe hagne ka mauka nahi doonga main next time. The word 'commitment' means nothing to them.

Your life is good because you are not a seller on Amazon and Flipkart. As a consumer, you have no idea how these two platforms, especially Flipkart, exploit small sellers/businesses. Imagine an ass being forcefully put on a hot tawa. That ass is the seller's ass.

More than Indians, Bangladeshis need to watch #Border2.

@theskindoctor13 Aur laao One Party System.

In Gr Noida, techie Yuvraj Mehta’s car plunged into a deep, water-filled construction ditch amid dense fog, after unmarked and poorly barricaded road concealed the hazard. He called his father, told him what had happened, and kept saying, “Papa mujhe bacha lo.” His father immediately contacted the emergency teams. Police and the fire brigade arrived, but they didn’t have the necessary equipment. So they started calling, someone called someone else, who called another someone. A full-scale calling festival followed. Eventually, even the NDRF team arrived. But due to dense fog and lack of equipments, they were unable to spot him. From the top his slowly submerging car, he repeatedly kept calling his father and saying, “Papa mujhe bacha lena, please,” and even kept flashing his phone light, but he was not located. None of the emergency teams had the courage to go down into the ditch and search for him. Finally, a Flipkart delivery guy passing by volunteered to go into the ditch with a rope tied around his body. He went inside, kept searching, and finally found Yuvraj. He marked the spot, though according to him, Yuvraj was already dead by then. He informed the emergency teams of the exact location, after which the body was recovered, approximately five hours after the accident, out of which he was alive for initial two hours. Locals and his family slammed the authorities for failing to install basic reflectors, barricades, or lighting at the known danger site, about which complaints had been raised earlier as well, and for the slow, inadequate emergency response, prompting an FIR against the builders and public outrage over glaring negligence. System to badlega nahi, lekin Yuvraj ka balidan vyarth nahi gaya. Authorities have now installed barricades and reflectors. Wahan Yuvraj ka putla aur banwa dein, to sarkari justice served ho jayega.