How Lutyens Delhi is changing in Narendra Modi's new India

Coaching the sleuths: Home Minister Amit Shah may not be a sleuth, but he knows what it takes to be one. At a closed-door meeting with counter-terror officials of the National Investigation Agency, he said that the NIA needs to shed its “police station approach” and act like a central agency with a broad view and mandate. So, rather than having a tunnel vision in probing a single case, the job of the NIA is to find common links, build databases and create standard operating procedures to investigate terror cases. Newly appointed director general of NIA Dinkar Gupta and the top brass are now busy trying to implement the home minister’s vision | Illustrations by Jairaj T.G.

Not on the same page: It is still a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing at the ‘integrated headquarters’ of the armed forces. The Army chief was scheduled to address his customary pre-Army Day press conference at 11am on January 12 at the Manekshaw Centre in Delhi. It so happened that the Air Force chief was also scheduled to deliver a lecture at the same time at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Usually, the offices of the defence chiefs keep each other in the loop about major events and media briefings to avoid a clash. Clearly, that time-honoured practice was ditched this time. Most mediapersons ended up at the Army chief’s presser, and the Air Force chief’s lecture got little airtime. So much for inter-service cooperation!

Gracious gesture: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan perhaps believes in the adage—to err is human, to forgive divine. His large-heartedness was at display recently when he pardoned those who had raised abusive slogans against his mother at a protest by the Karni Sena in Bhopal. The protest videos had gone viral, and an FIR was lodged following which a person was arrested from Haryana. Later, the chief of Karni Sena tendered an apology on social media. Chauhan tweeted that he was disturbed by the use of indecent language for his mother whom he lost in his childhood, but added that he held no grudges against the accused.

Moves to moving: After they grooved to ‘Kamariya’ in Stree, Rajkummar Rao and Nora Fatehi will be next seen in a music video. The duo will feature in the heartbreak anthem—‘Achha Sila Diya’—a revamped version of the popular 1990s song from Bewafa Sanam. This will be the first time Rao will be seen in an independent music video. The teaser presents him as a jilted lover out for revenge. Produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series, the video will be directed by Arvindr Khaira | AFP

Contemporary chronicler: Anjum Hasan, whose Neti, Neti: Not This, Not This (2009) was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, will be out with her new book this year. Titled History’s Angel, the book will be published by Bloomsbury India. Touted as one of the most-awaited books in 2023, it tells the tale of a “middle-aged, mild-mannered history teacher” in Delhi “at a time in India’s history when Muslims are seen either as hapless victims or live threats” | Getty Images

Class cast: Only Murders in the Building just got a bit more interesting. Meryl Streep will join the cast of the Hulu series along with Paul Rudd, who had a cameo in season 2. The award-winning comedy-thriller is headlined by Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. While Gomez made the Streep announcement with an Instagram video, Martin posted a group photo of the five actors, saying that shooting for season 3 had begun. As a fan commented on the video, it will be “only legends in the building”.

Revenge track: Shakira’s new song ‘BZRP Music Sessions #53’ is trending at No 1 on YouTube’s weekly Top 100 Music Videos Global. The video—which had nearly 142 million views on the platform within a week of its January 12 release—also made history as the most watched new Latin song in YouTube history. In the Spanish song, the Colombian pop icon, 45, takes a dig at former partner, retired footballer Gerard Piqué, 35, and his girlfriend Clara Chia, 23. She addresses her own situation—her messy breakup with Piqué last year—but adds that “women no longer cry, women get paid”. Well, she was certainly not kidding. By January 16, the song had reportedly earned her more than $2.5 million (more than 020 crore) from YouTube, Amazon, Spotify and Apple | Reuters

Winning act: Anshuman Jha was adjudged best actor, for his role in the recently released Lakadbaggha, at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York. Directed by Victor Mukherjee, the film revolves around an animal lover vigilante, played by Jha. The actor dedicated the award to Irrfan Khan as it was announced on the late actor’s birthday. “This now inspires me to train doubly hard for Lakadbaggha-Chapter 2,” said Jha. “Yes, we will start filming the sequel in September 2023.” | PTI