Lalita Iyer

 THE KASHMIR FILES If it had been an ordinary movie review, it would have been a breeze. But this is more than a film, with a lot of attention on it in the last couple of weeks. They said that they did not get permission to air the film but when they did, the CBFC had passed the film without a single cut and the PM also posed for a photograph with the team involved in the making of the film.  People not keen on meeting people because of the covid protocol, took the trouble to go to theatres to watch the film and damned the pandemic. Some of them returned because the shows were going housefull. And then everyone has an opinion. And if you still had not watched the film, where have you been is the look given to you. It has become an emotion and after the film there were quite a few wet eyes. I watched the film at the Jubilee Hills Club, who have an awesome screen and a superb sound system. And by sheer accident since we are not members. Saraswati Raj Valabhneni, a friend whisked...

 ELECTIONS AT THE PRESS CLUB, HYDERABAD It happened after two years, considering the pandemic and so the elections at the Press Club was all excitement and enthusiasm. And I use the words loosely for messages for votes are still coming in and probably will till the last vote is counted. Most of my press friends know what and where the Press Club is, but for my other friends, this place is opposite Eenadu office, next to the RTA office with the other side being the residential quarters of Bella Vista, which used to be a royal palace of the Nizam and is now familiarly known as ASCI or Administrative Staff College of India, which imparts training in the field of Civil Services Development. Earlier it used to be opposite the Nizam College, where we used to drink on the terrace, late into the night and the snacks would come from the second floor of the building. Though a couple of chairs have been known to fall from up there, we all found our way back on those narrow stairs. Now the Jou...