On the day Haiwaan opened to a disastrous Rs 3 crore zone despite Akshay Kumar on the other side of the frame, Filmfare circulated Saif Ali Khan calling Cocktail “100 per cent an inevitable mistake” and a “slightly regressive script choice.” Sacred Games (2018) was the last time Saif felt inevitable. Sartaj Singh gave him gravity on OTT and a second life after the theatrical slump of Phantom, Rangoon, Chef, Kaalakaandi, Baazaar and Laal Kaptaan. The correct next move was to stay a premium second lead and antagonist, the lane that actually worked: Udaybhan in Tanhaji, Bhaira in Devara. Instead he kept testing solo or co-lead theatrical vanity: Jawaani Jaaneman flopped, Bunty Aur Babli 2 collapsed, Vikram Vedha was only average against cost, Adipurush became a national joke even as collections looked large on paper, Jewel Thief went the OTT route with a shrug. Experiments like Go Goa Gone and Kaalakaandi were interesting. They were not openings. Haiwaan is the latest receipt. A Priyadarshan remake of Oppam, Saif as the blind protector, Akshay as the psychopath, and still no buzz, mixed-to-poor reviews, and one of the weakest two-star Fridays of 2026. The reunion after 18 years did not sell tickets. That is not “bad luck.” That is vanished lead pull. After Sacred Games he could have become the reliable second engine. He kept insisting on being the car. The graph is simple. Early-2000s multiplex charm. Mid-career character peak with Omkara, OTT resurrection. Then a string of “I did it so it could get made” choices. Cocktail was a hit despite the role. Haiwaan is a miss because the role is all that’s left. Until the choices get colder and smaller; villain, supporting, one film a year that matters, the openings will keep telling him what the interview already admitted.

Dashing hopes of the BJP, a fragmented opposition, the AAP and the Goa Forward Party have joined forces to create a new alliance called ‘Goa First’ with the hope to win the 2027 Goa Assembly elections. AAP’s national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, said the alliance is an alternative to the BJP and Congress. Kejriwal said voters deserve an option beyond these two major parties, arguing that they pretend to oppose each other during elections while collaborating behind the scenes. The Goa Forward Party, led by former deputy CM Vijai Sardesai, is a regional political outfit. Currently, it holds one seat in the 40-member state Assembly. The AAP has two MLAs. Ironically, for the past two years, Sardesai has wanted to merge the GFP with the Congress and had approached the party through multiple channels. In return, he sought either the post of LoP or the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) presidency. The Congress’s Yuri Alemao, who stayed with the party despite lucrative offers from the BJP, is the current LoP in the Goa Assembly, and the Congress was reluctant to replace him. The BJP has ruled Goa since 2012. In 2017 and 2022, it won because opposition votes were divided among multiple parties. Now in its 15th year the BJP government faces strong anti-incumbency. Allegations of land-transfer irregularities and a multi-crore cash-for-jobs scam have surfaced. The Congress won 11 seats in 2022, but eight of its MLAs defected to the BJP. Most Congress MLAs elected in 2022 came from South Goa, where the State’s Catholic-majority areas supported it. The AAP says it cannot have an understanding with the Congress in Goa, as it is the principal challenger in Punjab. Goa and Punjab go to polls in February-March 2027.

Is the Government reaching out to the Opposition for a special session of Parliament to pass the Delimitation Bill? Sources say Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s office has reached out to Congress chief and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge to see whether a session can be held before October 11, when Navratri begins. It is learnt that Rahul Gandhi is in no mood to help PM Narendra Modi to pass the delimitation bill to usher in women’s quota. The talk is that the government may also consider holding it during Navratri, citing the festival’s association with the worship of Goddess Durga and its symbolism around women’s empowerment. The Govt’s efforts are to secure the two-thirds majority required to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on August 13. A few days ago, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the government had broken its previous record for the longest delay in proroguing both Houses. In response, Kharge wrote to Rijiju, reiterating the demand that the government convene an all-party meeting and disclose the proposed agenda before deciding. The issue of delimitation has remained a major political flashpoint, with the Congress demanding that the Lok Sabha’s existing strength of 543 seats be frozen for the next 25 years and that 33% reservation for women be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. On April 17, during the Budget session, the Constitutional amendment bill (to implement women’s reservation before the 2029) was defeated in the Lok Sabha. The buzz is that the government has opened channels with the DMK, which has 22 Lok Sabha MPs, to vote for the Bill. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether the government has a two-thirds majority. Recently, DMK MP Kanimozhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar met fuelling speculation over opposition consultations on delimitation.

For seventy-two years the National Film Awards behaved as if they were, well, national. Instituted in 1954, they lived mostly in Delhi; Vigyan Bhawan, the President, one capital so that Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Hindi could all take the same train. The one famous exception was 1970 in Madras: awkward, but at least Madras made films. IFFI wandered Mumbai–Delhi–Chennai–Kolkata until someone had the sense to park it in Goa and give the country a Cannes of its own. That was geography in the service of cinema. Now the 72nd ceremony on 22 September 2026 will unfold at Ekta Nagar, formerly Kevadia, under a German aluminium dome in the bus bay of the Statue of Unity. Government has not explained the shift; it has only built the dome. Gujarat’s film industry is not Chennai, not Hyderabad, not Kolkata, and it is certainly not Mumbai. No Indian industry is bigger than Hindi cinema, and no serious map of Indian cinema begins at Narmada district. The last time we moved the awards for cinema, we went to a city that actually produced them. This time we have gone to a monument inaugurated in 2018. The official poetry writes itself. A non-feature on the Statue of Unity wins Best Direction, so the awards will be given in the statue’s shadow. Delhi was national because it belonged to nobody’s industry. Gujarat is “national” because everything else is already moving there. The Swarna Kamal will still shine. It will simply shine next to a souvenir shop. The question is not whether the President can present an award at Ekta Nagar. Of course, she can. The question is why Indian cinema had to become a tourist attraction to receive its own medal.

In a significant move, the Congress leadership has appointed Madhu Goud Yaskhi —a close aide of Rahul Gandhi and prominent OBC leader from Telangana—to head the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC).A former two-term Lok Sabha MP, Yaskhi replaced Praveen Chakravarty who has been leading the body since November 2023. Like Yaskhi , Chakravarti too was close to Rahul but he was too engrossed in much political work and delicate political messaging, handling tricky alliance issues for the party in Tamil Nadu. Chakravarty was among the Congress leaders who had explored a possible alliance with actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) ahead of the Tamil Nadu elections. He had met Vijay before the polls to explore the possibility of a tie-up, though the Congress remained with its long-standing ally DMK, only to finally dump them and join hands with the TVK. That is why perhaps he was eased out of the AIPC charge within months of getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from TN. Party sources pointed out that AIPC, a very “dear project of Rahul Gandhi” was founded in 2017 to reach out to working professionals. Shashi Tharoor had first headed AIPC. He moved out after he had challenged Kharge in the Congress presidential election in 2022. With Yaskhi ’s appointment, the party hopes to connect with the salaried class. Yaskhi ‘s appointment brought a lot of cheer in Telangana considering he had chaired the Telangana Congress Campaign Committee. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy significantly took to X to congratulate Yaskhi and also organised a felicitation for him in the state assembly. On his part, Yaskhi resolved to strengthen “the Congress Party from the state level to the national level and to make Rahul Gandhi Garu the Prime Minister of India,” Yaskhi wrote on his X.

Even though the election dates for Panchayat and Urban Polls to be held in 2027 have not been finalised yet, that has not stopped Odisha’s leading political parties – BJP, BJD and Congress – from getting poll ready. It is learnt that Odisha’s Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi has swung into action for poll preparation that cover Rourkela, Sambalpur and Puri. The immediate task for the Odisha government is to conduct statewide door-to-door surveys for updating the electoral roll. The survey is slated to begin from October 26 to November 7, 2026. The cut-off date for inclusion of new votes has been fixed for January 1, 2027. This explains why BJP’s state and national leaders of about 400 functionaries recently participated in the two day deliberations in Odisha to chalk out a road map on how best to strengthen its numbers in the 2027 Panchayat and Urban Local Body polls. Similarly, two opposition parties BJD and Congress are leaving no stones unturned to put BJP on the backfoot. Political observers say the challenge for ruling BJP is cut out. This is because in the 2022 Panchayat elections, BJD had secured an overwhelming 766 out of 852 Zilla Parishad seats while BJP wrested only 42 seats and Congress was able to manage 37 seats. The challenge for the BJP government led by Mohan Charan Majhi government is: How will he strengthen and secure statewide grass root support in the village panchayat level which is dominated by BJD & Congress?

The women in blue stood out at the Women’s Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament in Dubai. The team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, brooked no opposition from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan after disposing off minnows Thailand and Hong Kong. It proved its supremacy in the Asian region. The women in blue have lost only three of 18 to Pakistan, three of 25 to Bangladesh, and five of 32 to Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals. India has truly roughed up the main Asian opponents, winning all 64 matches together and losing a mere 11. Clearly, the team benefited largely from Shefali Varma’s run-getting ability in her typical belligerent style in Dubai. The next big test for Harmanpreet’s team (don’t know why Diana Edulji is shouting from the rooftop for Harmanpreet to be replaced by Smriti Mandhana in all three formats) will be the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The “Punjabi Kudi” has set her sights on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and she is keen to grab a medal in the USA. All said and done, the Asia Cup has to be labelled a non-competitive event, with Pakistan skittled out for 55, Bangladesh restricted to 109, and Sri Lanka shot out for 111. While India steamrolled five teams, the inevitability of the team refusing to step onto the stage to receive the prize from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi – Pakistan’s Interior Minister – happened, with the women in blue doing what Suryakumar Yadav’s team did after winning the men’s Asia Cup post the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025. Naqvi’s ACC office in Dubai has both cups. Hopefully, the BCCI will be able to get them once Naqvi leaves his post as ACC chief.

Dressed in dashing motor sport white and red regalia, Ajith Kumar waited at the Silverstone Racing Circuit, UK to receive his friend and film contemporary of 34 years, the newly minted Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay. The atmosphere turned charged, adrenalin rushed and frankly dumbfounded. The Karmic destiny of powerful colonialism had turned full circle today…the mesmerising screen magnetism of two super stars held sway. Vijay sprinted few steps to hug and kiss Ajith. One a powerful CM of a highly developed state in India, the other, Ajith Kumar multi-tasking as a Tamil film superstar and formula car racing ace. Both have made significant change from the original careers they excelled in — a luxury not many can aspire for. London it seems, is this week’s popular destination for Tamil filmdom. Radhika Sarathkumar and Trisha too camped there for a film shoot. Radhika may have missed meeting Ajith in Chennai…she made a special effort to see him and have a few happy moments with gentleman Ajith. People in the know are talking about Trisha too …did she miss her co-star Ajith with whom she has done some hit films? Even after the buzz that Vijay’s planned London visit was deferred by the MEA request, to stay back a couple of days as the PM of Malaysia was intending to come to Chennai, Vijay could make it for the inaugural of the start of the Michelin Le Mans Cup race where actor and racer Ajith was competing. TN CM Vijay had recently announced that a thumping new Motor Sports City would come up in Chennai …so he was accompanied by his capo di Aadav Arjuna, Sports Minister to study the logistics and layout of a car race grid. Coincidences often masquerade as plans.

Sony LIV built its reputation on originals that felt bigger than television. Scam 1992 turned Harshad Mehta into a national conversation. Rocket Boys gave Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai the prestige treatment. Maharani and a handful of other series suggested the platform could invent a new Indian drama grammar.; sharper, slower, more ambitious than the daily soap. For a few years that bet looked right. Then the music stopped. With capital tight, Sony LIV has slowed greenlighting of new web shows. Only a few proven franchises are still being nursed. The rest of the slate is being handed back to the old SET playbook: Kaun Banega Crorepati, a revived Crime Patrol fronted by Ajay Devgn, MasterChef, cricket, and regional non-fiction. The same company that once used streaming to escape linear TV is now using linear TV to rescue streaming. Platforms discovered that prestige series are expensive, hard to market, and easy to abandon after two seasons. What travels cheaper and farther is television’s familiar furniture: game shows, crime procedurals, talent formats, and soaps that already have an audience. That is why The Kapil Sharma Show still works as both Saturday night appointment viewing and clip culture. That is why India’s Got Latent, a roast-and-talent panel that looks like late-night television rebuilt for phones, could premiere on YouTube and Netflix at once and become one of 2026’s most-watched Indian titles. That is why Anupamaa and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah keep ranking among the most-watched properties on OTT and why JioHotstar treats multiple Bigg Boss editions as core inventory. OTT did not kill television. It absorbed television’s formats, stars, and economics, then added pause and skip. The living-room screen is now a hybrid: KBC and Crime Patrol sitting next to whatever remains of Scam 1992. The platforms that last will be the ones that stop pretending those two worlds were ever separate.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s India visit on Saturday (Sept 12) and his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi acquired significance beyond the BRICS summit, coming at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has been actively pushing for a thaw between the two Asian powers. Putin’s private message to Modi had been unequivocal: India must move beyond the bitterness over Chinese incursions and anti-India posturing that had strained ties for the present, notwithstanding the personal equation Modi had painstakingly built with Jinping over the years—first as Gujarat Chief Minister and subsequently as Prime Minister. The Russian President’s intervention assumes greater significance against the backdrop of Moscow’s own strategic calculations. With Russia seeking stronger relations with both India and China, Putin has an obvious interest in preventing the two major Asian powers from remaining locked in confrontation. There is also an intriguing economic dimension to this triangular relationship. Chinese shipping vessels have been deployed to carry Russian crude to India, underscoring how geopolitical compulsions can override the otherwise adversarial India-China relationship. For New Delhi, Russian energy remains strategically important; for Beijing, facilitating the movement of Russian crude to the Indian market demonstrates the complexities of its relationship with both Moscow and New Delhi. For Modi, however, forgiving Beijing is hardly a question of forgetting. The relationship carries the baggage of the border dispute and China’s incursions, even as economic and geopolitical realities demand engagement. Xi’s visit—the first to India in seven years—therefore provides an opportunity to reopen a channel that had effectively narrowed after the military tensions on the Line of Actual Control. For Putin, a Modi-Xi rapprochement strengthens the larger Eurasian equation. For Modi, it offers strategic space to engage Beijing without surrendering India’s position...