Did Sonia Gandhi refuse to accept editorial changes proposed by Penguin Random House India for publishing her memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love? Sonia apparently did not agree to suggestions to tone down her criticism of PM Narendra Modi and the BJP. Both Sonia and Penguin decided to drop the project. On August 28, the company released a statement on Instagram that said: “Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish ‘Belonging’ because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances.” Penguin also said that, as publisher, it is their prerogative and responsibility to fact-check and provide authors with recommendations in the best interests of their books, calling it “a normal part” of the publishing process. Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi lashed out at Penguin, calling its response a “weak statement,” adding that “Penguin India is more than happy to publish Exam Warriors and several books on RSS.” Exam Warriors is a book by Modi, published in 2018. “No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India,” he added. With Penguin India pulling out, several publishers are said to be interested in the book. HarperCollins is reportedly close to finalising an agreement to publish and distribute the memoir in India, Hindustan Times reported. The memoir is scheduled for an international release on November 10 through Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Knopf earlier announced an initial print run of 1 lakh copies. The memoir is expected to narrate Sonia’s journey from her childhood in post-war Italy to her move to India and marriage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Earlier this year, Penguin had issued a statement that it had “not printed” former Army Chief General M M Naravane’s memoirs titled Four Stars of Destiny but a hard copy of the title was flashed by Rahul...

Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi for about half an hour on August 27 and discussed, among other things, his meeting with Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on August 23. DKS apparently clarified to Rahul that he met Adani in his official capacity. He told Rahul it was not a personal matter, citing Adani Group’s investments in the state. Why did he have to clarify, Congress leaders asked? Was Rahul unhappy that his meeting with Adani had become a controversy? The BJP has accused the Congress of double standards and hypocrisy. Many leaders questioned Congress-run state governments’ engagement with the Adani Group, given Rahul’s frequent public criticisms and attacks on the conglomerate at the national level. DKS maintained that Adani met him because he had become CM and “they are doing a lot of work in Karnataka, giving jobs.” Adani met the CM at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru. It raised eyebrows in political and business circles, because Gautam Adani is the lowest bidder for the State government-proposed road tunnel project in Bengaluru. Adani Enterprises Ltd’s bid for the proposed road tunnel project was Rs 22,267 crore, while the State government estimate was Rs 17, 698 crore — Rs 4, 600 crore above official expectation. The proposed 16.75-km tunnel road is to link the area from Central Silk Board to Hebbal in Bengaluru city; the proposed road tunnel project will be implemented under the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model. In addition to being the lowest bidder for the tunnel project, Adani Group operates Mangalore International Airport in Dakshina Kannada, the Udupi Thermal Power Plant, and is also investing in renewable energy.

The great alacrity shown by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in reassuring and actually helping the pilgrims who were stranded in Nepal after the deluge there is universally lauded. The latest example is the safe return to Kathmandu of 37 pilgrims from the state who were caught up in Saga, Tibet, after completing the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, thanks to his initiative. The 37 pilgrims are from Thane, Pune, Alibaug, Raigad, and Dombivli areas. They got stranded in Saga during their return journey. As their India flight from Kathmandu is at 2 pm on 29 August, they were desperate to come back to Kathmandu on time. They and their kin contacted CMO and Fadnavis alerted the Union government immediately. This prompt action made their safe return to Kathmandu possible. Earlier, Fadnavis arranged the travel of 106 Nagpur pilgrims from Kathmandu for Danapur in Bihar soon after disaster struck. Following the CM’s phone call, Nepal MP Sandeep Rana arranged four mini-buses for their trip to Bihar, from where their return journey by train was also arranged. Not to be left behind, state deputy CM Eknath Shinde, too, swung into action. He video called Shiv Sena leader Megha Chorge and her colleagues, who were stranded in Pokhara near Kathmandu. Shinde reassured them that all possible assistance will be rushed to them. Sena’s disaster management cell, too, was activated for relief work. Sena activist Rahul Kanal, along with a team of Shiv Sainiks, left for Nepal to offer help. At present, round the clock communication is maintained to trace the missing Maharashtra pilgrims, whose return is awaited anxiously.

Rattled by the response generated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with young girls in Pune earlier this month, Maharashtra BJP has decided to counter the impact by holding a meeting of its prominent workers from across the state in Pune on Monday (Aug 31). Although Pune has been a stronghold of the BJP for a long time, Rahul’s selection of the historic town took BJP strategists by surprise. Moreover, as the meeting was well attended, it boosted the Congress party morale. The BJP meeting will be thus important, from another perspective as well. Newly appointed Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan will get an opportunity to interact with rank and file since this will be the first major meeting under his leadership. Of course, the focus of the conclave will remain chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, whose consummate handling of the political and administrative challenges has given rise to the speculation that he will be shifted to New Delhi soon. Fadnavis has time and again declared that he will be happy to remain in Maharashtra but his admirers and detractors, alike, keep on repeating the prediction. As there is no major election in the state for the next two or three years, Fadnavis has ample opportunity to consolidate his position and propel the state in the race to attract more and more FDI, besides concentrating on increasing the state’s agricultural productivity. All these issues will be on the agenda for the Monday meeting.

Tamil Nadu is a place of dramatic, inevitable soothsayers who are frequently consulted and their electrifying predictions even more frequently published. Vijay’s resident astro (humiliatingly relieved of his government post) has scanned his palm leaves and cowries to predict that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections will send TVK and Vijay to the Centre as PM. Don’t be quick to whack your thighs and pooh pooh this. Rickey Radhan Pandit Vettrivel was quoted extensively in the party-owned TV channel by its MD Singaravadivelan in a candid interview. “TVK will play a pivotal role in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections for bringing together the critical MP numbers…a sweep by Vijay in TN, Keralam, and the other Southern States too. By 2028, TVK will mount its Viswaroopam taking its seat numbers to 60.” Congress and other alliance partners will naturally up their ante. “Panditji is not hinting that alliance will get greedy…or that other parties may see exodus…but it can happen.” Further astro swoop talk …Kavita will wrest power in Telangana, get 10 seats. In AP, the vanquished Jagan may get another 10 MPs. UP’s Akhilesh Yadav, 50 seats.  Dalapathi Vijay whips up a total of 130 plus and the PM ‘s chair. Saving grace …he did not outright claim that Congress will play a cameo/guest role. Do we hear a chorus of OMG chants? Cinema and politics when shaken and stirred by astrology…a high like no other.

The long-simmering public feud between Kangana Ranaut and Taapsee Pannu flared up once again in August 2026, yet this time Taapsee offered a refreshingly mature way out. At the trailer preview of her Netflix film Gandhari in Mumbai, when reporters asked about Kangana’s latest jibes, Taapsee did not retaliate. Instead she turned the mirror on the media itself. “Aap khatam kyun nahi hone dete yeh baat?” she asked. “Koi question puchna hum dono se band karega jab yeh wala, toh yeh issue bhi khatam ho jayega. Aap sab logon ko maza aa raha hai yeh sab dekh ke, isiliye wahi sawaal puch rahe hain. Aise sawaal puchna agar aap band kar dete, toh yeh baat kab ki khatam ho jati.” In plain words: stop asking the two of us the same questions and the controversy will die a natural death. The roots of this “imaginary conflict,” as Taapsee has often described it, go back to 2019. After she praised the trailer of Kangana’s Judgementall Hai Kya without tagging her, Kangana’s sister Rangoli Chandel branded Taapsee a “sasti copy.” The label stuck and returned repeatedly. In 2020, amid the heated nepotism debate following Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, Kangana publicly labelled Taapsee and other outsiders “B-grade actresses” and “needy.” The two women have never even met, yet the narrative of rivalry has been kept alive for seven years. The latest round began when Taapsee, speaking at the India Today Women Summit, observed that their differing opinions simply reflected different upbringings and worldviews. Kangana took offence, accusing Taapsee of ridiculing her parents and background. In Instagram stories she revived the “sasti copy” dig, dismissed Gandhari as a “B-grade film.” In an industry that thrives on endless drama, Taapsee’s calm insistence that silence is the best answer stands out as genuine maturity.

Tukaram Mundhe, the man to respect these days, came, saw, and conquered a packed audience on the Terrace of the Mumbai Press Club at Azad Maidan on Wednesday (Aug 26) afternoon.  It was quite unusual of the Chairman of the Press Club, S Balakrishnan, to prod the Fourth Estate members to give a round of applause, which they are not trained for, to the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration Commissioner. The chairman, who was sweating a quarter of an hour before the scheduled start of the interactive session because of the lack of head count, stoked Mundhe’s ego by saying that in the last few months he had crashed through the popularity chart of cinema superstars, including Amitabh Bachchan. The true-blue journalist clapped hard and long before Mundhe said he is not a celebrity and was only doing a job expected of him as the chief boss of FDA, Maharashtra. He proceeded to educate the curious journalists on the nitty-gritty of the FDA Commissioner’s duties, which have been discussed at national conferences for FDA departments across the country, and that violations in Maharashtra in particular dominated the chatter a couple of years ago. Mundhe, who was asked over one hundred questions, said reading is his hobby and that he would like to go trekking in the Himalayas, time permitting. Mundhe 51, cleared the IAS in 2005 and has been tossed about across the State like a yo-yo over 20 times. He doesn’t discriminate between the haves — the rich and the mighty and have-nots! He was game to field all questions, although he was initially told that his first visit to the watering hole of journalists in Mumbai was only for a chit-chat sort of. The journalists were pleased as punch; a lady even described him as her hero!  

Days before its Netflix premiere, Taapsee Pannu’s Gandhari has exploded into one of the sharpest copyright storms in recent OTT history, and this does not feel like manufactured noise. It feels like a serious allegation that refuses to die. Writer Kalyan Bandi, an IIT Madras alumnus and government inspector, claims he wrote, registered, and pitched a story titled Gandhari as far back as 2019. His concept: a mother who transforms into a fierce, almost divine force while battling a child-trafficking racket. He says he shared the material with Monika Shergill who was then at Voot and now a senior Netflix executive. He registered the treatment with the Screenwriters Association. When Netflix announced Gandhari, written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, with an eerily similar core, Bandi sent a formal legal notice seeking credit and compensation. He has repeatedly said money is secondary; what he wants is acknowledgement that the idea was his. A second writer, Raghav Desai, has also claimed he pitched a near-identical Mahabharata-inspired mother-revenge narrative to the makers in 2024. Two independent claims. Same title. Same emotional spine. Same platform. Kathha Pictures and Kanika Dhillon have issued firm denials, calling the film an original work and the allegations “false and unverified.” Netflix has stated the earlier pitch was “very different.” Yet the optics remain damaging: a registered story, documented outreach to a future Netflix executive, and a high-profile film that lands with the exact same title and thematic DNA. In an industry where ideas routinely circulate without protection, this case cuts deeper. Copyright clarity is rarely black-and-white, but registration, written pitches, and legal notices raise legitimate questions that cannot be dismissed as mere publicity hunger. Whether the film ultimately clears the legal and ethical cloud remains to be seen, but the allegation itself is no longer easy to ignore.

Kite flying is a traditional pastime in Delhi. It seems to have peaked in recent times amidst buzz that PM Modi will reshuffle his Cabinet post BRICS Leaders’ Summit on September 11-12. Speculations are rife about leaders who will join Team Modi with BJP organisation revamped under new BJP chief Nitin Nabin. There is much expectation that some leaders could be moved to Raj Bhavan and Governors who have spent more than two terms — such as Anandiben Patel (UP) and R N Ravi (West Bengal) — could be replaced. Modi’s PMO may also see new faces with his principal secretary Dr P K Mishra — who is not keeping too well — may hang his boots. The Gujarat cadre officer who has been Modi’s key aide since 2014 could be made a Governor. Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan could eventually emerge as Principal Secretary. In an interesting development, there is a talk N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Group, may find a place in Team Modi. It gained currency with Chandra’s decision “not to seek another term” when his current tenure ends on February 20, 2027. PM Modi may be keen on having a person of Chandra’s eminence as part of his team because he possesses a rare domain expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, and industrial policy. Modi, it is learnt, was impressed with Chandra for his role in Ram Temple work and in construction of new Parliament building. Though L&T handled the temple’s main structural building and design execution pro bono, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd acted as the Project Management Consultant for the project. As for the New Parliament, Tata Projects Ltd won the main execution contract for approximately Rs 862 crore. Lead Architect: HCP Design, Planning and Management (led by architect Bimal Patel) designed the triangular complex.

In the high-stakes world of pan-Indian mega films, visibility is oxygen. Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups is proving the point. Just days before its worldwide release on 26 August, a pre-release event in Hyderabad turned chaotic when a speaker stand collapsed after fans climbed it for a better view, injuring four people. The mishap made national headlines, yet instead of denting momentum, it amplified the film’s presence. Advance bookings were already strong in India and the US; the incident simply poured fuel on an existing fire. Discussions around competing titles such as Batwara 1947, Awarapan 2 and even Hollywood releases like Spiderman: Brand New Day’ quietened as conversations pivoted to Toxic. The trailer’s striking visuals, the dual-role promise, the multilingual scale, shot in English and Kannada, releasing in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and the ambitious global rollout had already created curiosity. The unfortunate Hyderabad episode added an extra layer of real-time urgency and human drama that social media and news cycles thrive on. Suddenly everyone is talking about the film, the star’s on-stage concern for the injured. Positive trailer reactions, star power and booking numbers build the base; unexpected events; whether controversies, crowd chaos or viral clips, keep the title trending. History shows that films which dominate the cultural conversation in the last week often convert curiosity into footfalls. The phrase “any publicity is good publicity” is not cynicism here. Toxic entered the final countdown already armed with strong pre-sales. The Hyderabad incident, however regrettable for those hurt, ensured the title remained impossible to ignore. In the business of big-screen spectacles, that kind of sustained visibility is often the difference between a solid opening and a phenomenon.