Exclusive: THE WEEK tracks down ULFA top gun Drishti Rajkhowa

Hair dare: Politics can throw up hairy situations, at times literally. Senior BJP leader Nand Kumar Sai, who sports long hair, has announced that he would not get a trim until the Congress loses power in Chhattisgarh. In a counter-challenge, Congress Minister Amarjeet Bhagat has said that if his party does not retain power in the upcoming assembly elections, he would shave off his luxuriant moustache. Talk about lock-ing horns! | Illustrations by Jairaj T.G.

Fall from grace: Remember Arvind Kumar Sharma, Prime Minister Modi’s blue-eyed boy who was asked to take early retirement and hot-foot it to Lucknow to supposedly be the Centre’s eyes and ears? After a non-spectacular start, the Gujarat cadre bureaucrat was recently inducted into the cabinet and given the power portfolio. It is a move that has quite literally plunged the state in darkness as employees went on strike against pay anomalies and the selection process for higher posts. Sharma, instead of defusing the tension, threatened to sack contractual employees. While the strike was called off in 64 hours, it seems that, behind the scenes, every effort is on to establish Sharma as incompetent and thus useless for the state.

Didi had a dream: ATK Mohun Bagan won the latest season of the Indian Super League by defeating Bengaluru FC on March 18. The previous day, apparently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a dream that the team would win. “I had sent a WhatsApp message [about the dream] to one of my ministers,” she said. “Then the final result matched my dream.” A Trinamool Congress leader later quipped that his party chief should now have a dream in which she becomes prime minister.

Love on the agenda: At a recent meeting, Congress leaders complained to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar that he was being unfair to the opposition party. The vice president said this was not true, and that he had great love and affection for the Congress. In response, leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge promptly said, “Mohabbat hamse, shaadi kisi aur se (You love us, but you've married someone else)”. Dhankhar and the others had a hearty laugh at Kharge's poetic retort.

First and foremost: According to a recent celebrity brand valuation analysis, Ranveer Singh has beaten Virat Kohli to become the most valued Indian celebrity of 2022, with a brand value of $181.7 million. Kohli had occupied the top spot for five consecutive years. Closely tailing Singh and Kohli (brand value: $153.6 million) were Akshay Kumar and Alia Bhatt, who remained India’s most valued female celebrity. Meanwhile, south Indian stars Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna made it to the top 25 for the first time. The report was brought out by the corporate investigation and risk consulting firm, Kroll | AFP

A different tune: We all knew that Billie Eilish was a multi-hyphenated powerhouse of talent. And she proves it once again with her acting debut in Swarm, a psychological horror thriller about a black woman’s dark obsession with a pop star. In the show, Eilish plays an unhinged cult leader. “She is so respectful of the craft,” said the show’s star, Dominique Fishback, about Eilish’s performance. “She came in with ideas, wanting to talk about it, being game to rehearse.” Swarm premiered on Amazon Prime Video on March 14. Eilish’s fans can now sing praises of more than her music | Getty Images

Rolling with the times: Earlier, your parents gifted you fancy pens and expensive handbags for scoring good marks in your board exams or getting a good job. Now, you get gifts depending on your social media success. Child actor Riva Arora of Uri: The Surgical Strike fame got gifted with a black Audi worth over Rs44 lakh from her mother for getting 10 million followers on Instagram. Arora, 13, shared a video on Instagram of her posing in front of her shiny new car in a red maxi dress. “New baby in the house,” she captioned it. Other than acting in films like Uri and Gunjan Saxena, Arora is also a teen influencer who has appeared in several music videos | Instagram

Hit wit: Adam Sandler became the 24th comic to be honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour. “As I look at this goofy award, I can’t help but think that one day it just might be the weapon used to bludgeon me to death,” Sandler quipped during his acceptance speech at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Sandler is currently on a stand-up tour across the US. Past recipients of the award include Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin | AP

A tall blooper: In a casual conversation with cricketer and close friend AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli opened up about the butterflies in his stomach when he first met wife Anushka Sharma. It was at an ad shoot in 2013. Desperate to impress her, he made a very unfunny joke about her heels, which earned him no brownie points with the lady. “Out of nervousness, I didn’t realise how tall she was,” he said. “So the first thing I told her when I saw her heels was, ‘Didn’t you get anything higher to wear?’ and she was like, ‘Excuse me?’” Thankfully, her wedges did not drive a serious wedge in their relationship | PTI