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Dharmendra is one of the most celebrated actors of the Indian film industry, is popular for his stunning looks and golden hear​t, a rarest of rare combinations that sets him apart from the rest. He died a couple of weeks short of his 90 th birthday, last week. Though I have never had a conversation with him, he has had a presence in my life, intriguing me like millions of Indians, for all the obvious reasons. Here, I try to look at his life in words of people who knew him ve

Most memories are like dreams — intangible, fuzzy, fleeting and subliminal. However, sometimes, they have an exceptional timelessness that causes them to resurface at the mere hint of reflection. The collective national grief at Dharmendra’s demise impels me to go down memory lane — almost six decades in time. It was a lazy Sunday in the summer holidays of 1969. I sat with a pile of Enid Blytons in the outer courtyard of our old home on Station Road in Lucknow. A strapping ca

​ I was having breakfast in the canteen of the Film Nagar Cultural Centre ( FNCC) with my friend Chandra Shaker Reddy when K S Rama Rao, aka KSR, walked in.  All stood up and greeted him​ as he slowly walked across the hall towards our table at the far end. KSR is one of the most respected producer of Telugu films and happens to be the president of FNCC and this is his fourth term. Chandra Shaker introduced him to me. ‘I don’t know Hindi,’ he said. I retorted in the same tone

There was a singer and an accompanist on the guitar.​ Rohit Solomon played guitar in the way that it felt like an orchestra, I could hear...

Nicholas Roerich at work in Naggar. Photo courtesy: Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York) 8 June 2025. I walked towards the double-storey...

​ Rupak Roy built a house in the middle of nowhere in the Nilgiri hills and started living 35 years ago when he was 35 years of age. It's...

There are very few artists who practice art that essentially entails transcending boundaries, the silos they exist in, and think freely,...

I have never met Ryuichi Sakamoto and will never meet him as I came to know him after his passing. A pianist and a composer, his music...

Bandeep Singh is India’s best photographer of his generation blessed with divine sight; he sees in the way very few can. He’s not doped...

I had a chance encounter with Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh who were seated next to each other on the stage at a literary function in...

​Rita Nanda is one of the youngest persons I have met because she’s a learner. ‘Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing...

Brajesh Singh has led many companies since he was 29 years of age, which was two decades ago. That’s commendable but today I write about...