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India’s most expensive cinematic production—a mega-budget retelling of the beloved Hindu epic Ramayana—has divided film critics and cultural purists even as it draws packed crowds across theatres. While audiences have celebrated its ambitious visual scale and star-studded lineup, the film faces sharp pushback over colloquial language, creative departures from classical texts, and an over-reliance on visual effects at the expense of emotional depth.
The Bombay High Court has ordered the Election Commission to restore six members of a Goa family whose names were deleted from the voter rolls during a recent revision drive. Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar gave officials 10 days to fix the list and criticized an unfair bureaucratic trap where computer rejections forced regular voters into filing forms meant only for first-time electors.
The Democratic Party’s decisive victory in capturing both chambers of the US Congress marks a watershed moment of institutional recalibration against Trumpism. With President Donald Trump framing the midterms as a personal referendum, voters across historically red strongholds—including Texas, Kansas, and the Carolinas—delivered an unmistakable rebuke, restoring constitutional checks and balances and demonstrating democracy’s resilience against extreme polarization.
The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the principal winner in the biennial Legislative Council elections, capturing 13 of 28 Graduate and Teacher seats across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. While the BJP maintained dominance in Western UP and swept three seats in Karnataka, the Samajwadi Party scored key urban victories by retaining both Varanasi seats, the ruling Congress drew a complete blank in Karnataka, and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in Bihar’s Upper House by defeating Congress veteran Madan Mohan Jha in Darbhanga.
The legal troubles of Sumit Ray, former personal assistant to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, compounded on Wednesday as the Kalitala Ashuti police executed a formal ‘shown arrest’ against him in prison. Lodged under Case No. 140/2026 over an alleged job-for-cash racket and illegal filling of the protected ‘MLA Lake’ in the Joka-Raipur belt, Ray faces stringent charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Inland Fisheries Act, and Land Reforms Act, with police preparing to seek his custodial remand before the Alipore Court.
Septuagenarian CPI(M) whole-timer Bipul Dasgupta has emerged as the face of peaceful resistance in West Bengal after standing ground with folded hands against a mob attempting to tear down a Left book stall in Nagerbazar during Durga Puja. The incident, set against a broader ideological row over the festival’s nomenclature, drew widespread condemnation from civil society as well as senior saffron figures including State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta and the RSS, prompting a large solidarity march from Kolkata’s College Street on October 29.
The Congress failed to open its account in the by-elections held for 28 Legislative Council seats across four states, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mock the opposition party with a sharp taunt and an emoji.
A day after the Leader of Opposition rejected traders’ demand to postpone the INDIA bloc’s proposed protest rally, the Chamber of Trade and Industry has written to him again requesting the 10-lakh-strong event be rescheduled after Diwali.
Andhra Pradesh has deployed over 6,000 power department workers and heavy machinery to coastal districts to quickly repair damage caused by incoming cyclonic rains. Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar directed electricity teams to stay on high alert, prioritize hospitals and water plants, and keep emergency hotlines open to prevent long blackouts and keep citizens safe.
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