Eastwards ho
NITISH KUMAR is not a sprinter. Those who know the Bihar chief minister call him a marathon runner. Defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the help of his foe-turned-ally Lalu Prasad is not just about scoring a hat-trick as chief minister - it's passing yet another milestone on the long, tortuous road to Delhi. In the post-poll scenario, Kumar has indeed emerged as the magnet for leaders opposed to the Congress and the BJP. From Mamata Banerjee to Omar Abdullah and from Arvind Kejriwal to Sitaram Yechuri, everybody is courting Kumar, for in him they see a leader who could take on the might of Narendra Modi in the battle for Delhi in 2019. To be sure, Nitish Kumar is too canny a politician to give Patna up for Delhi unless he is certain of the strength of any eventual political combine forged against Modi's BJP. But then, with the Congress on his side in Bihar, the race for prime ministership clearly begins now.
Hero becomes a dad
WHEN HIS contemporaries are acting opposite women half their age, Aamir Khan is playing dad to grown-up girls in a 2016 film that's already creating quite a stir. Dangal is based on the real-life story of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his daughters to become wrestling champs. Khan put on weight to play Phogat, gaining 28 kilos at one point of time and making it difficult for him to even tie his shoelaces. Now he has to shed the extra kilos for the second leg of shooting, for that part of the film where he is the young Phogat. Wrestling, anyone?
Queen Bee or drone?
AISHWARYA RAI Bachchan is as beautiful as ever - as her 2015 film, Jazbaa, demonstrated. But the Bachchan bahu's screen appearance after a five-year gap hardly caused a ripple. Is she losing her magic? Have marriage and motherhood done the superstar in? The debate will be put to rest one way or the other when Omung Kumar's Sarabjit and Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil are released next year. Till then, let a thousand theories bloom.
Goal time for hockey
THE INDIAN women's hockey team had a Chak De! India moment when it earned an Olympic berth after a gap of 36 years this summer. It will figure in the 12 teams that will fight for a medal at the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro. The men's team is showing signs of life, too. It bagged the bronze medal in the World Hockey League and the Sultan Azlan Shah Trophy in Malaysia earlier this year. Perhaps the men's team - having finished last at the 2012 London Games - will surprise their fans in Rio?
Kerala call
MEET T.M. Thomas Isaac, who may well be the next chief minister of Kerala. The southern state elects a Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and a Congress-led government alternately every five years. In 2016, it's the Left's turn, and there is speculation that the economist-turned-politician, who was finance minister in the V.S. Achuthanandan government, may lead the LDF. The three-time MLA may be selected to keep the two warring camps in Kerala - one led by Achuthanandan and the other by former state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan - happy. A former professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, Isaac is known for spearheading pathbreaking ideas. But what makes him different from many of his colleagues is the fact that he's active on social media. A comrade with a Twitter handle and a Facebook account, that's our man.
Couple take a bow
AKSHAY KUMAR is turning bad; Twinkle Khanna is turning good. The former in a new film; the latter in the world of books. Mr and Mrs Kumar (actually Bhatia) are expected to make headlines next year. He has signed up to play a villain opposite South superstar Rajinikanth in 2.0, a sequel to Robot. And she - now quite a popular blogger and writer - has signed a book for Juggernaut. The novel will be "more funny and fabulous than ever", the publishers say. Clearly, when one scowls, the other laughs.
Son rises - again and again
HE'S SHED his crisp white dhoti for grey trousers, the humble black chappals have been replaced with grey sneakers topped with neon laces, and a pink shirt completes the ensemble. The dark glasses are however firmly in place. This is the new image makeover of M.K. Stalin, former chief minister M. Karunanidhi's 62-year-old son and DMK treasurer.
Stalin, chief minister-in-waiting for many years, is getting ready for the 2016 Assembly elections. He took off on a yatra on a "journey to retrieve the dawn" (the rising sun is the symbol of the DMK party) in September. He travelled around the state hanging out of autorickshaws, driving a scooter, walking in market areas, sipping tea at roadside tea stalls, kissing babies and even lending a helping hand to an elderly woman with her spinning wheel. He's doing all that he can, but the whisper goes that dad is not yet ready to retire. Better to start the campaign at home.
Jail bird to free bird
IF YOU can hear or feel a breeze coming in from the west, it's just a collective sigh of relief from Bollywood's film producers. Sanjay Dutt may be freed in early 2016 for good behaviour, months ahead of the prison sentence that ends later in the year. Jailed for the illegal possession of weapons in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Dutt's absence has been felt in the film industry. And fans of the Munnabhai series have been missing him. You can expect Bollywood to welcome him with open arms when he is released. And, ironically, good friend Salman Khan will be ready to party with him.
Will Singh be king?
THE CAPTAIN steers a ship in stormy seas. After a long campaign, Capt. Amarinder Singh became the head of the Congress in Punjab in 2015, ousting old foe Pratap Singh Bajwa. That gives Singh a prominent place in the party and the state in 2016. You can expect him to be in the news next year - not just as the man leading the party in the polls, slated to be held in 2017, but as someone who can take on the party high command.
He surprised many when he criticised Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for "neglecting" Punjab. But it's not going to be an easy run for Singh. The knives are already out. Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has alleged that Singh supported Khalistani separatists, and accused him of holding Swiss bank accounts. It won't be long before Singh, head of the former royal family of Patiala, unsheaths his sword.
A site to behold
HE MAY be a new dad, but India is one of his babies too. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is encouraging developers at Facebook to work on 2G connections to simulate the average Indian's mobile Internet speed. The interest in India is not surprising really, considering it has 125 million users and is FB's second largest user base. But his plans of introducing India to his Internet.org, which hopes to take afforadble mobile Internet connectivity to poorer countries, has kicked up a furore. Indians are worried that this may break Net neutrality, as service providers and others may push Facebook services instead of giving everybody a level playing field. The relationship, as FB would say, is complicated.
By Debaashish Bhattacharya, Abimanyu Nagarajan and Moumita Chaudhuri in Calcutta; T.V. Jayan, Smitha Verma and Sonia Sarkar in New Delhi; and Kavitha Shanmugam in Chennai
