Was the Prophet misunderstood?
M.S.N. Menon
THE Arabs had a multiplicity of gods and goddesses. Hence the Arab saying: When you enter an Arab village, swear by the god of the village. Al-Azraqui says: There was an idol in every Arab home. More often, of goddesses.

Blend it like Chadha
Gyan Marwah
BACK in 1993, when BBC correspondent and documentary-maker Gurinder Chadha decided to venture into film-making, she had no difficulty selecting a subject. She was an Indian born in Kenya, who later migrated to England, where she has spent all her growing years.

ON THE SANDS OF TIME — 1987
Year of the invisible hero
M.L. Dhawan
GULZAR’S Ijaazat lambasted the concept of live-in relationships. In the film, Naseeruddin Shah loved Anuradha Patel but married Rekha. Rekha handled the situation created by the ‘other woman’ with maturity and pragmatically as she believed in the old saying, ‘If you love someone, set him free’.

CELLULOID CHIT-CHAT
A rare honour
VETERAN film actress and parliamentarian,Shabana Azmi has become the second Indian after Ritwik Ghatak to be honoured with "sidebar tribute" at the New York International Film Festival to be held from September 27 to October 13.