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Dhurandar 2: The Revenge is a film that confuses scale with substance and urgency with insight. It speaks loudly, insists constantly, and yet reveals very little beneath its surface. What could have been a layered political thriller collapses into a spectacle of declarations, where characters become mouthpieces, conflicts turn simplistic, and research gives way to convenience. In the end, it is not the weight of its themes that lingers, but the fatigue of its excess.

The success of 53 Muslim candidates in the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025 is an encouraging achievement that deserves recognition. Yet the numbers also reveal a larger structural gap. For a community that makes up nearly 15 percent of India’s population, representation in the country’s most powerful administrative institutions remains significantly lower.

Iran’s endurance under decades of sanctions and isolation shows how societies can navigate prolonged adversity through patience, institutional strength and long term thinking. While the country has its own internal debates and challenges, its resilience offers a moment of reflection. For Indian Muslims, the lesson lies not in imitation but in cultivating confidence, strong institutions and economic empowerment while remaining mindful and steady in difficult times.

Once known primarily as the neighbourhood surrounding Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar has steadily evolved into one of Delhi’s most vibrant localities, shaped by small entrepreneurs, bustling markets, and a street culture that now draws visitors from across the city.

Nearly a century after Gandhi began the Salt March on this day in 1930, the man who once stood at the moral centre of India’s freedom struggle occupies a far more uncertain place in the nation’s imagination. Revered, criticised and frequently reinterpreted, Gandhi today is less a saintly icon than a figure whose ideas continue to provoke debate about the meaning of power, resistance and democracy in modern India.

Habib Jalib did not merely write poetry; he turned it into an act of defiance. In an age of dictatorships and fearful silence, his voice stood with workers, students and ordinary citizens, refusing to legitimise unjust power.

Five piercing Urdu couplets that question the logic of war while defending dignity and justice. Together, they offer a brief yet powerful meditation on resistance, conscience, and the fragile hope for peace.

In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of Qateel Shifai, tracing his journey from modest beginnings to becoming one of Urdu’s most beloved poets and film lyricists. We discuss his romantic idiom, his contribution to cinema, and the enduring resonance of his ghazals.

Nasir Kazmi wrote in a voice shaped by loss and memory. Marked by Partition and migration to Lahore, his poetry finds depth in simple images like rain, night and remembrance. His ghazals are quiet, restrained and intimate, transforming everyday words into lasting echoes of solitude.

The French traveller wrote of approaching Shahjahanabad as its red walls “stretched into the horizon.” Inside, the broad avenues and the splendour of Chandni Chowk startled him—its water channels glinting in the sun, its merchants calling out in many tongues. What struck him most, he noted, was the city's restless energy: courtiers in silk, faqirs in ash, and markets where the world seemed to gather each morning anew.

Ibn Battuta’s chronicles reveal a richly textured India—its swift courier system, its street magicians, and its elaborate royal feasts. He adored the jackfruit, marvelled at how mangoes and ginger were salted and preserved, and recorded everyday meals alongside courtly splendour. His most striking observations centre on Muhammad bin Tughlaq, whom he portrays as brilliant yet ruthlessly erratic, even forcing the entire population of Delhi to march to Daulatabad.

Hansa Mehta was a freedom fighter, reformer and UN delegate who helped make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gender neutral. In 1949, she became India’s first woman to head a co educational university as vice chancellor of Baroda University, introducing progressive faculties and expanding opportunities for women. Her legacy endures in the rights she championed and the institutions she transformed.