Curious Case: By Radhika Bhirani

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com It's been a silver lining in the dark clouds of toxic Twitterverse. But have you wondered what is it about Dulari Kher that brings a smile on your face, gets your giggle on, makes you laugh out a little loud sometimes and perhaps makes you love or miss your parents and grandparents a wee bit more? For the uninitiated, Dulari is the mother of actors Anupam Kher and Raju Kher. Her own unintended journey to becoming a social media sensation, if we may say so, started with her elder son sharing some of her videos first in 2017, with the hashtag #DulariRocks. And that, by now we know, she sure does! There's something so candid, innocent, goofy, endearing and most importantly, slice-of-life about her videos, that it touches a universal chord. The son agrees. "Her connection is amazing. She is a bigger star than I am. People love her so much. Wherever I go, even in America, people ask me about her," Anupam Kher told me a few months ago as w...

Radhika Bhirani for BusinessWorld rbhirani@gmail.com The lockdown exn .tensions have had a cascading effect on the filmmaking ecosystem in India, one of the largest film producing nations in the world, leaving the exhibition sector in a limbo, and accelerating the number of direct-to digital movie releases on streaming platforms  # SUPPORTMOVIETHEATRES. #SAVECINEMA. In the era of hashtags, social media and Covid-19, the Indian film fraternity is making earnest strides to get the badly-hit movie exhibition sector, which employs over 200,000 people directly and accounts for nearly 60 per cent of film business revenues, and the production business, back to its feet. What is happening in the interim is speeding up a tectonic power shift of screens in the country’s Rs 1.82 trillion media and entertainment landscape, on the back of disruptive and engaging content. A nationwide lockdown, implemented by the Indian government in March 2020 to guard people against the novel coronavirus, mean...