Guess who Vajpayee turned to negotiate peace during Kargil war? Dilip Kumar!

September 8, 2015

Lahore, Sep 8: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee complained to Nawaz Sharif after the outbreak of the Kargil conflict that he had been shabbily treated and made the Pakistan premier speak with Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar who pleaded for controlling the situation, says a new book.

Dilip KumarNarrating a startling anecdote recounted to him by Saeed Mehdi, the ex-Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Sharif at the time of the Kargil War in May 1999, former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri says, "According to Saeed, one day he was sitting with PM Sharif when the telephone bell rang and the ADC informed the PM that the Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee wished to speak with him urgently."

During their talks, Vajpayee expressed his grievances that he had been shabbily treated by Sharif after having been invited to Lahore, Kasuri writes in his book 'Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove'.

Sharif looked surprised at the words of Vajpayee, who complained that while he had been received in Lahore with such warmth, Pakistan had wasted no time in occupying Kargil.

Sharif said he was not aware of what Vajpayee was saying to him and promised to get back to him after talking to Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf.

Before the conversation could end, Vajpayee told Sharif that he would like him to speak to somebody who was sitting next to him during their conversation, Kasuri writes.

Sharif was astonished when heard the voice of Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan originally from Peshawar), who said, "Mian Sahib, we did not expect this from you since you have always claimed to be a great supporter of peace between Pakistan and India", Kasuri writes in the book.

Let me tell you as an Indian Muslim that in case of tension between Pakistan and India, Indian Muslims become very insecure and they find it difficult to even leave their homes. Please do something to control this situation, Dilip, a recipient of Pakistan's highest civilian honour Nishan-e-Imtiaz, told Sharif.

Kasuri feels that he has made his point, "if even the great icon Dilip Kumar, as an Indian Muslim, felt insecure in case of tensions between India and Pakistan", it would not be hard to imagine the difficulties faced by ordinary Muslims in periods of tension between the two countries.

The former foreign minister says that he has seen first-hand that it is possible to have a meaningful peace process between the two countries and how quickly such a process could change the paradigm of relations between them.

He concludes with his conviction that peace is possible between two countries and that it would have a very positive impact on the status of minorities in both the countries.

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News Network
April 2,2020

Mumbai, Apr 2: Ramayan, the over three-decade-old TV series based on Hindu mythology, garnered 170 million viewers in four shows over the last weekend in its new avatar, the BARC said on Thursday.

This catapulted the Ramanand Sagar production as the highest watched serial in the Hindi general entertainment space ever, the Broadcast Audience Research Council said.

The show was relaunched last Saturday amid the gloomy times of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lot of thrust laid by the government machinery to popularise the series.

BARC's chief executive Sunil Lulla said the numbers notched up by the series was a bit surprising and called the move as a brilliant one by the Prasar Bharti.

He said eventually, we will also see advertisers flock the series which will be running for a few more days.

The inaugural show of the series on Saturday morning had 34 million viewers glued to their TV sets watching and enjoyed a rating of 3.4 per cent, while a telecast the same evening had 45 million viewers and a rating of 5.2 per cent.

The show bettered its performance on Sunday, with 40 million and 51 million people watching it in the morning and evening telecasts, respectively.

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News Netowrk
July 10,2020

New Delhi, Jul 10: Actor Bhumi Pednekar, who is staying indoors like many other Bollywood celebrities, on Friday said that she has learned to prioritise what is important to her amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

"One thing that I have learnt about myself is that I love isolation. I love being by myself. I saw a lot of people complaining that they are bored at home or that they cannot go out. I am an extrovert, I am a very social person but this quarantine has led me to realise that I do prefer my isolation over meeting people because I haven't really been in touch with people," she said.

"I have kind of been catching over my reading, not seen much television but started watching shows. I have spent a lot of time with my mom and honesty there were days when I did nothing," she added.

The 'Pati Patni Aur Woh' actor further said that it was important loving oneself and enjoying one's own company.

"I have kind of prioritised what I feel is important in life. I have re-educated myself. But the biggest learning has been that I love being alone. And maybe I have kind of enjoyed this state because as actors you are constantly surrounded by people whether you are promoting or shooting a film," she said.

"Your immediate entourage is also like a team of quite a few people. You are constantly over the phone, you are constantly over social media," she added.

Pednekar was last seen in Karan Johar's horror film 'Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship,'.

She will next be seen in another horror thriller, 'Durgavati.'

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News Network
January 13,2020

Mumbai, Jan 13: On the ongoing protests against new Citizenship Law, Bollywood actor Zeeshan Ayub said that everyone has been exposed and the common man has understood everything and the right-wing people cannot make a fool out of them by giving vague statements.

Talking to ANI, Zeeshan said, "Law is supposed to give the citizenship but the way in which the criteria have been changed is the trouble here."

Disagreeing to the continuous statements put forward by the BJP government that CAA is not a hindrance to the citizenship, the actor further said, Things are clear now, people have now understood the facts, the people and the intention behind are now exposed,.. they can't make a fool out of common people any more."

Zeeshan said it actually the other way round, those people are the ones who are misleading the general public by fluctuating their own statements. "Home minister said something, the next day something else is being said in the Ram leela..people are getting confused., the 'Ranjahanna' actor added.

He further said, "Earlier it was Hindu-Muslim propaganda, but that didn't work, so now you are making it a case between two political parties.. basically you are changing your own statements." When asked about his take on the ongoing JNU Violence, the actor said the members of the alleged political party itself have come out and explained their part in the case and yet no action has been taken.

The actor finally said that people should develop a sense of humanity.

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