NL Hafta

Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen have a special guest this week - Abhinandan Sekhri​, connoisseur of Punjabi pop and one of the few people who watched Rock On 2​. The three of them ​discuss the controversial PayTM ads​ and you can find out what Sekhri and Shah Rukh Khan (allegedly)​ ​have in common. There's no bandh on the drama with these three. There's also Ananya Birla​'s new album​ and fans of...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with yet another episode of Just Sports and this week they discuss the latest India vs England test match series, the first match of which India almost lost. Although the match ended in a draw, Khan and Puri wonder if Indian batsmen can handle spinners. While Khan thinks Quinton de Kock is the best wicketkeeper/batsman like Dhoni, but Puri feels that he still nee...

It's a very special episode of the Hafta because for the first time, we turned on both microphones and camera this week when novelist Chetan Bhagat joined us in the Newslaundry office. (If you missed yesterday's Facebook Live with Hafta, you can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/newslaundry/videos/1152934954796459/) Lest you think video killed the podcast star, never fear, there's a lot more...

Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen ​have watched a whole lot of television this week. Koffee with Karan, with Alia Bhatt and Shah​ ​Rukh Khan​, had Pal rolling her eyes and Sen a little worried about Khan's multiple orgasms.​ ​There's another Star show that's got our critics' attention: ​P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke, ​which is director Nikhil Advani's take on the Emmy-winning series, Homeland. Except who...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with their sporty round up. This week on Just Sports, they discuss the tough battle ahead for the top 4 teams in the English Premier League, the upcoming India vs England test cricket series, and why Australia can’t maintain their performance when it comes to test matches. And finally, Andy Murray and does he deserve to be the number one tennis player? All this a...

We open this episode of Hafta with a celebratory shout out to Manisha Pande and Sandeep Pai's 5-part investigative report that won the Ramnath Goenka Award! This week Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan, Anand Ranganathan, Manisha Pande are joined by Sandeep Pai, as they discuss the speeches of Narendra Modi and Indian Express Editor Raj Kamal Jha at the RNG Awards, the #SIMIencounters of Bhopal, Arna...

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil created quite a buzz and now that it is out in theatres, Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen are ready with the verdict. Catch them dissect the movie and analyse the characters, language, location and everything in between. Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh trailer is a mystery on its own and managed to baffle the best of us. The planet is dying and we are concerned- the do...

Back with their sporty round up, Samar Khan and Rahul Puri​ discuss why ​f​ootball cannot have more than one referee​ and​ why is there no uniform DRS (Decision Review System) in ​c​ricket across the globe​.​ ​Shouldn't technology ​level the playing field? Also, while bringing in the happy news of India beating Pakistan to win the Asian Champions Trophy, Khan and Puri also wonder if India is a spe...

The battle between Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata is getting uglier, with both sides airing laundry lists of accusations. Now that we've got Mistry's letter to Tata's trustees floating all over media, it's worth asking why no business journ alists scooped Mistry's removal? To shed more light on the news of the week, R Jagannathan, Editorial Director of Swarajya. Our regular panel is back in attendanc...

What an eventful week! From Black Mirror to a bucket full of short films, including Neeraj Pandey’s Ouch to Danny DeVito’s Curmudgeon, Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen have a lot to say this week. Find out what they think of Aamir Khan’s Dangal, Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dear Zindagi. Also, moving towards the advertising world, Salman Khan has been dropped as Thumbs Up’s b...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with their sporty round up. This week on Just Sports, they discuss how José Mourinho inspired Chelsea F.C. to a thumping win, and if one-day cricket is a dying format. They also wonder if Alastair Cook will play long enough to break Sachin Tendulkar’s records? And finally, they explore Kabaddi and how this rural game has become internationally popular. All this a...

Times Now editor in chief, Arnab Goswami gets ‘Y’ category security, news channels at loggerheads for television ratings, Arnab declares his show to be the greatest and to shed some more light on it, joining us is Sandeep Bhushan, TV journalist and a regular media critic. Madhu Trehan, Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Anand Ranganathan and Vivek Gopal along with our guest, discuss & dissect Karan Johar’s a...

Deepanjana Pal wasn't here but that didn't deter Rajyasree Sen from bringing you the next episode of Awful and Awesome, (Abhinandan Sekhri came to the rescue!). "Befikre" has 23 kisses taking place in it; Priyanka Chopra has apologised for her infamous 'traveler' t-shirt; Bigg Boss has 'commoners' this season; and what's in a (sur)name? (Hint: patriarchy). Listen to Episode 14 and broaden your ent...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with their sporty round up. This time they discuss whether José Mourinho spoiled the Manchester United vs Liverpool game by parking the bus, if physically being present on the field is enough for a sportsperson? Finally, Indian biopics of Sportspersons, why do we get to see only sanitised versions, mostly hero worshiping them? All this and more, discussed and dis...

What makes you an anti-national? Eating beef? Asking the government for details on the surgical strike? Or running an interview with the opposition leader? Recently, NDTV chose to ride the nationalistic wave, along with other channels, and dropped Barkha Dutt’s interview with former home & finance minister P Chidambaram declaring: ‘India above politics’. Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of The...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with their sporty round-up. This time around they discuss the ISL and its level of sports broadcast - why it is below standard and has the risk of becoming the IPL's poorer cousin. The also speculate on the futility of the World Cup qualifiers and if it is time to rethink the format. And why Lewis Hamilton, the reigning formula 1 racing champion, is a man we all...

Should the Indian government release the video footage of the surgical strikes? Should journalists or politicians ask proof of the Indian Armed Forces’ actions? Deepanjana Pal, Madhu Trehan, Anand Ranganathan and Manisha Pande discuss the sustained media coverage of the surgical strikes as it continues to dominate news – there’s the Indian Express scoop and CNN News18’s ‘Global Exclusive’. The tea...

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back with their sporty round-up. At The Ryder Cup, American patriotism raised a few European hackles. Khan and Puri have questions about the Indian Super League (ISL) — is it the Indian Premier League (IPL) of Indian football and what is the ISL’s future? Also, find out more about the murky world of football agents as well as why the BCCI should listen to the Lodha Co...

It's a special episode this week, with author and columnist Chetan Bhagat. Bhagat joins Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen to talk about his new novel, One Indian Girl. This is the first time Bhagat's protagonist is a woman and he's written it in first person. Find out what Bhagat did to get in the average Indian woman's mind (hint: it includes hot wax). Also, dear listeners, you might want to hear...

The big news this week is that for the first time that we can remember, the Indian Army admitted to having conducted a "surgical strike" along the Line of Control. Is this the mooh tod jawab that the country was waiting for after terrorist attacks like the ones we suffered in Poonch and Uri? Lieutenant General HS Panag, a Newslaundry columnist, gives us his expert point of view. While the Army has...

What an eventful week! Bridget Jones’s Baby, the sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary, is out. Leena Yadav’s film Parched released. Netflix’s documentary on Amanda Knox’s controversial murder charges comes out on October 1 and in celebration of the Presidential Debates in America, Audi has a brand new ad that has Rajyasree Sen and Deepanjana Pal in a tizzy. Plus Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’s trailer launched to...

A Manchester United nut and a Liverpool fanatic bring you all the premier league action that unfolded this weekend. Samar Khan and Rahul Puri tell you the score on all things football and cricket. Is R Ashwin the all-rounder Indian cricket has been waiting for? Khan and Puri disagree on whether Manchester United or Liverpool will make it to the top four in this year’s English Premier League. And t...

The recent attack in Uri on a military camp left 17 soldiers dead, many injured. Considering the general emotion floating on social media how prepared are we for war? Is going to war with Pakistan even an option? Can we really abrogate the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan? The answer to all these questions is no, says Kishalay Bhattacharjee, consulting editor of Newslaundry. Abhinandan Sekhri, Ana...

The Emmys were historic this year, and ​Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen watched ​have some highlights for you. Katrina Kaif ​won the Smita Patil Memorial Award,​ and as far as Sen is concerned, it's not worth outraging over. Find out why. ​ ​The documentary ​Bachelor Girls​ tells ​us ​how difficult it is for single women to find a house in Mumbai​. In more exotic news,​ Ellen Page ​and Ian Daniel...

A Manchester United nut and a Liverpool fanatic bring you all the Premier League action that unfolded over the weekend. Liverpool beat Chelsea and that old question came up again: Should Wayne Rooney be playing anymore? Does he deserve to be on the pitch? Closer home, Samar and Rahul turn their attention to the Davis Cup. Is it time to wave goodbye to this tournament? The Indian cricket team will...