An 80-foot Sitka spruce has arrived in the US capital city of Washington DC.
Also known as the People’s tree, the spruce travelled 700 miles by sea and nearly 4,000 miles by land from Wrangell, Alaska, before arriving in from of the Capitol building.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a draft environmental assessment (EA) proposing an increase in SpaceX’s annual Starship launches. The assessment, published on November 20, outlines the possibility of raising the current limit of five launches per year from Starbase in South Texas to 25 by 2025. This draft also includes approvals for 25 landings of the spacecraft’s Super Heavy booster and upper-stage vehicle at the same site, utilising the launch tower’s “chopstick” catching mechanism.
As per a report by Space.com, SpaceX might get FAA approval for launching 25 Starship spacecrafts in 2025. SpaceX’s Starship, recognised as the largest and most powerful rocket constructed, is central to the company’s vision for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Measuring 400 feet in height and designed for full reusability, the vehicle has been launched six times to date, all from the Starbase facility. During its most recent flight on November 19, 2024, the mission achieved success, though a communications malfunction necessitated the booster to perform a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead of returning to the launch tower.
The FAA’s draft, while outlining these expanded operational capabilities, remains in a preliminary phase. Public consultations will take place in January, with four in-person meetings in South Texas on January 7 and January 9, alongside a virtual session on January 13. Feedback from these discussions will shape the final environmental assessment.
Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein season 2 review: I’m happy to report that Sidharth Sengupta’s romantic crime thriller show has successfully evaded the season 2 curse. The series, starring Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi, Anchal Singh, and Saurabh Shukla, manages to keep the thrills and the pulp of the first season intact. The novelty does wear off, but the politics and philosophical centre remain steadfast.
(Also Read: Aryan Khan’s debut series set in Bollywood to release on Netflix next year. Shah Rukh says, ‘This one’s going to be…’)
Season 2 kicks off exactly where season 1 ended – Purva (Anchal) has been abducted by Jalaan (Arunoday Singh), who threatens her husband Vikrant (Tahir) that he’ll bring her back if her father Akheraj (Saurabh) doesn’t pay ₹100 crore. Hmm, that’s not your usual deal. The catch here is that Vikrant hired Jalaan to kill his wife, but he double-crossed him and now wants more money in exchange.
Sweet subversion has been at the heart of Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, although it may come across as your standard small-town crime thriller fare on the surface. From subverting the popular dance number from Abbas-Mustan’s 1993 hit Baazigar to flipping gender roles in a star-crossed romantic equation, the show’s core screams subversion. Season 2 doesn’t build much on that foundation, but flirts with the same devil with equal gusto. You root for the hero by hoping that the ‘heroine’ never finds her way back.
But at the same time, like the hero, you feel for other characters who got him in that predicament in the first place – particularly both the fathers – Akheraj and Vikrant’s father (Brijendra Kala). Gender roles have been swapped here – the man is stuck in a toxic, deadly marriage with the manipulative, exploitative woman. But even the flip is attributed to the patriarchy – Purva turned out to be entitled and ethically immune because she was raised by her gangster father. In fact, season 2 starts with a flashback sequence in which Purva’s mother rides her car off the edge of a cliff – thus reiterating that the world of this show has no place for matriarchy.
At different points in the show, both the fathers are made to realise how they’ve been grossly unfair with their parenting. Saurabh Shukla’s layered portrayal comes to the fore when he confesses that he never realised that kids can turn out to be weak too. He took pride in the fact that he’s raised children who would never surrender to their vulnerabilities. Similarly, in one scene, Vikrant tells his dad that in his quest for loyalty to the higher chair, he’s willing to sacrifice his entire family. But Brijendra Kala’s impeccable comic timing and perennially concerned demeanour never allow us to hate him. Even though he’s pretty much a perpetrator, unlike his son, he never realised when he devolved from a victim to a co-conspirator.
To go or not go down that spiral is the central conflict of the show, especially for Vikrant. He can conveniently follow in his father’s footsteps and surrender to his fate, or he can even own the twist of fate like his in-laws and embrace his identity of a criminal. But he has other plans. The Vikrant we saw in season 1 held a gun gingerly and couldn’t pull the trigger to save his life. The Vikrant we see in season 2 gets his hands dirty – but the bloodstains never leave him alone, in more ways than one.
Like Sushmita Sen’s titular character in Aarya, we see Vikrant go dark places where he wouldn’t had the circumstances been different. Yet he’s different from Aarya in the sense that she had to protect her family from a dangerous debt that her dead husband had left behind. With Vikrant, his new crime isn’t always to cover up the last one. For him, his eyes are set on a life free of any complications. He manifests living that life with Shikha (Shweta). To him, she represents normalcy, but also agency. He never chose the life he’s been thrown into, and would go lengths to regain the right to make his own choices.
It’s an endless pleasure to watch Tahir Raj Bhasin back on the screen. Only an actor of his depth, screen presence, gravitas, and range could pull off the complex turmoil within Vikrant. The way he harnesses his perceived innonce as a badge of honour or his love at gunpoint as a weapon of choice, Tahir makes Vikrant a man of all shades – victim yet a solution-seeker, full of repent yet determined to do better. Shweta Tripathi has little to do except stay scared, although the relationship with her new partner makes for some sweet moments. Anchal goes all guns blazing despite being stuck in the trope of the daughter who gets kidnapped. Gurmeet Choudhary makes an impressive entry as the dark horse in the mix, one whose equation with Purva remains suggestive at best.
It’s a pity to watch Anant V Joshi, who was excellent in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sleeper hit 12th Fail last year, being reduced to the lowest of caricatures as the protagonist’s sidekick. Him drooling over a white hitwoman/hijacker is shown in downright ridiculous fashion. In fact, the random stroke of another white hitman/hijacker playing flute and declaring his love for Hariprasad Chaurasia fares much better. But these are distractions, which thankfully, are few and far between. Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein continues to be the fast-paced, juicy thrill ride that it promised to be in season 1. The newness loses its way, but Tahir’s tonal consistency rides the series through.
Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein season 2 is now streaming on Netflix India.
Microsoft is believed to be working on new versions of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with significant design and hardware improvements. They are expected to come with Intel’s latest 14th-generation and Qualcomm X series chips. The tech giant is yet to officially reveal launch plans for the laptops but a media report claims that Microsoft is preparing AI-oriented versions of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for the spring. They are said to feature next-gen neural processing unit (NPU), along with Intel and Arm-based options.
A report by Windows Central citing sources states that Microsoft Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will be launched in the spring with a choice of either an Intel or an Arm processor. Both models will reportedly include next-gen NPU silicon. The Arm variant could be powered by a custom version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Series chips. They are said to be marketed as Microsoft’s first true next-gen AI PCs by incorporating AI-enabled features.
Microsoft’s Arm-based PCs, codenamed CADMUS, will reportedly be designed to run the next version of Windows, codenamed Hudson Valley. They will reportedly include Microsoft’s AI Windows experiences for 2024 and offer improved performance, battery life, and security on par with Apple silicon. The Intel version of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will reportedly run on Intel’s 14th Gen processors.
The Surface Laptop 6 will reportedly get an updated design with thinner bezels, rounded display corners, and new ports. It is said to be offered in 13.8-inch and 15-inch display sizes. The rumoured 13.8-inch display would be an upgrade from the 13.5-inch display on the Surface Laptop 5. Further, the upcoming model could offer two USB Type-C ports and a USB Type-A port alongside a magnetic Surface Connect charging port. Microsoft is expected to include a haptic touchpad on the laptop as well. The Surface Laptop 6 is anticipated to sport a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard deck for quickly accessing Windows Copilot.
Microsoft will reportedly provide a brighter display on the Surface Pro 10 with support for HDR content. It is said to feature rounded edges on the display and the screen could have an anti-reflective coating. It might come with a resolution of either 1,440 x 2,160 or 1,920 x 2,880. It is expected to feature an NFC reader for commercial customers and a wider FoV webcam with Windows Studio Effects. In addition to this it might include an updated Type Cover accessory with a dedicated Copilot button.
Like most budget tablets available in India, Infinix’s first tablet, the XPad, has been designed to focus on content consumption, with large displays accompanied by loudspeakers. But adding cellular connectivity at Rs. 12,999 (for the base 4GB + 128GB variant) means you can also place calls with it, adding extra value. We received the top-end 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant for this review, which is priced at Rs. 15,999, which is a competitive price tag for a budget tablet. Indeed, Infinix seems to have gotten the value quotient right from the get-go. However, what makes budget devices interesting is finding out where manufacturers cut corners. And boy, was I in for a few surprises!
Despite its pricing, it’s clear that Infinix has not cut down on quality. The tablet has a metal unibody design which wraps around the sides. Save for the rounded corners and the squarish camera module, all of the tablet’s surfaces are properly flat, including its sides.
The Infinix XPad has a metal unibody design with a textured plastic insert at the top
A third of the tablet’s back is wrapped in brushed aluminium (metal), while a small strip, which also takes up the top, is made out of plastic for radio reception. While the power/volume buttons and SIM card tray are at the top, the rear camera module sits on the back side of this plastic insert, which has a fun concentric circular pattern on it.
While the plastic insert does not gather any fingerprints or smudges due to its textured nature, the metal part does. The good part is that these smudges are only visible at certain angles. The bad part is that they aren’t easy to wipe off.
The tablet offers 4G connectivity and can also be used to place voice calls (via its speakers).
I wish Infinix had included a basic cover case in the box or even sold it as an optional accessory. Since this tablet weighs nearly half a kilo, a foldable case that would also double up as a basic stand would have been useful for keeping it upright while consuming video, which is this tablet’s main selling point. The tablet supports no accessories and only comes with a cable and a charger in the box.
The Infinix XPad’s display shows natural colours. It’s a very basic IPS LCD panel, so you should not expect deep blacks like an AMOLED panel. Viewing angles are limited to the user only because contrast and brightness levels drop significantly when viewed off-centre. The display’s odd 16:10 aspect ratio works well when watching movies, meaning you will see minimal letter-boxing at the top and bottom.
The tablet’s 90Hz refresh rate full-HD+ display is sufficiently bright outdoors
When using the tablet, I noticed that the display never changed its brightness levels depending on the lighting around me. So, I assumed that the adaptive brightness may have been switched off. After some searching, it turns out that the tablet does not have the toggle in its Display settings. Basically, you will have to manually adjust the brightness to your surroundings every single time, which can be a deal breaker for some. Adaptive brightness is a basic feature that’s even found on entry-level smartphones, so it is a bit surprising to see it omitted on this tablet.
Despite its XOS branding, Infinix has done a fabulous job by delivering a severely trimmed-down version of the software. Android 14 on the Infinix XPad is a near-stock experience with a few native Infinix apps like XArena, Folax (AI), and My Health. The only third-party app that cannot be uninstalled is CarlCare (for after-sales support).
Folax AI cannot replace Google’s Gemini that’s already available on most Android devices today
Folax AI is a nice integration for a budget tablet. It basically works using Open AI’s ChatGPT, and so the results are decent, provided you ask the right questions. Setting it up is easy as well and just takes a few clicks. The assistant is voice-operated as well and can be triggered by a voice command. However, with Gemini already being available, I did find the latter (along with Google Assistant) better integrated to handle or check system-related queries, as something as simple as setting a timer was not possible using Folax AI.
When it comes to day-to-day usage, the XPad does a fine job of launching apps and multitasking, but it somehow cannot retain too many apps in memory despite packing 8GB of RAM. Expect older apps in memory to restart after launching more than 6 apps. While overall app switching just about met expectations in terms of smoothness, scrolling within any app was quite stuttery, hinting at the lack of software optimisation and bad GPU performance.
Gaming performance, given the basic budget, is decent. The tablet is better suited for casual games than graphics-intensive ones. Asphalt Legends Unite was playable with several skipped frames at High-quality graphics. However, even at high quality, the graphics lacked good textures, and objects appeared quite blocky on the large display. I then tried Call of Duty: Mobile. The game settings max out at Medium graphics and High frame rate, but touch response when playing the game was too slow for competitive FPS titles.
The 3.5mm headphone jack mainly comes of use when tuning into radio stations via the FM Radio app
As for synthetic benchmarks, the Infinix XPad managed 731 and 1,984 points in Geekbench, which is a lot better than the Redmi Pad SE’s 407 and 1,351 scores. The tablet also managed 4,72,167 points in AnTuTu and 63, 26 and 15fps in GXFBench’s T-Rex, Manhattan 3.1 and Car Chase test suites, respectively.
Since most games maxed out at 60Hz, the 90Hz refresh rate is only useful when browsing through the software interface, but even those interactions felt jerky and stuttery, which was surprising given the near-stock software.
The inclusion of a 3.5mm jack is a good idea at this price point, but most will find the quad-speaker setup sufficient both when watching video or playing games. The tablet also supports Widevine L1 security, and so you can enjoy streaming shows in Full HD resolution. The speakers produce rich, room-filling sound with just enough bass to make the viewing experience enjoyable, even at full volume. The 3.5mm headphone jack does come in use, if you want to listen to FM radio using the FM Radio app.
Unlike most smartphones at this price point, there’s no secure form of biometric authentication on the XPad. The tablet offers a basic passcode unlock, and you will have to punch in a passcode every single time you need to use it, as it lacks even a basic 2D face unlock feature.
After a while, this can get annoying, not to mention that everyone around you will know your passcode given how many times you keep punching it in with onlookers present, be it in an office, at home or even in a local metro/train.
Photographs from the primary camera are passable but don’t pack in much detail and show saturated colours. The selfie camera does a decent job and offers a flash which can be used when placing video calls in low light. Indeed, the presence of a front flash sure makes a solid case for the missing face unlock feature.
Bottom: Selfie camera sample, Top: Primary camera sample (Tap images to expand)
Video recordings produce average detail with flat textures, even in daylight. Stabilisation isn’t great and the camera tends to clip bright areas or objects in contrasted daylight scenes.
The Infinix XPad manages just 7-8 hours of continuous usage if all you do with it is stream movies all day. If you watch movies saved on the tablet’s local storage, it will last 11 hours and 7 minutes, which is basically the result from our video loop battery test. As for charging, the 18W charger takes 3 hours and 5 minutes to fully charge, managing a 21 percent charge in the first 30 minutes. All in all, battery and charging are similar to what the competition offers.
Honor’s Pad X8a (Rs. 9,999) is the only worthy competitor to Infinix’s XPad, as the company also offers an optional (or combo) cover that doubles up as a stand. However, it falls short when it comes to hardware as it is only available with 4GB RAM and 128GB of storage and also lacks cellular connectivity. Honor also does not provide a charger in the box. The Redmi Pad 4G (Rs. 10,999) is also a decent competitor, offers specifications similar (except for a smaller 8.7-inch display) to the Honor tablet, and comes with an optional cover accessory.
As it stands, the Infinix XPad is the only tablet that does what it does in this budget segment, and there’s really no touching it, whether it’s hardware, software or battery life (despite its missing features and performance hiccups). And so, the XPad, despite its flaws, is still easy to recommend as it offers extremely good value for money.
There are plenty of thin and light laptops available in the market these days, but most of them don’t offer a dedicated GPU. Of course, you’ll find some exceptions, such as the HP Omen Transcend 14 (Review) or the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, but the options aren’t too many. Cue the all-new Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i, which has been updated with the Intel Core Ultra CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. You get an ultrabook-like design but enough power to run games and other creative tasks.
I got to try out the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i for about a week where I tried out the laptop for work as well as some light gaming. Is it a good portable workstation that can also double as a gaming machine? Read on to find out.
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i is available at a price tag of around Rs. 1,50,000 for the variant with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB storage, and a 14.5-inch 2.8K resolution display with 120Hz refresh rate. This is the unit that Lenovo sent us for review (model number 14IMH9), but with 32GB RAM, and the company stated that more variants should be available soon.
The laptop offers MIL-STD-810H military test certification for durability
However, you’ll find more variants on the Lenovo India website with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and the Core Ultra 9 185H CPUs. The RAM can also be upgraded to up to 32GB. Unfortunately, we don’t have the pricing for these variants yet. The laptop is available in Tidal Teal and Luna Grey colour options. We received the Tidal Teal option. The packaging is minimal and Lenovo did talk about how they’ve managed to not use any plastic and opted for recycled materials. You get a 140W USB Type-C charger in the box, along with some paperwork.
When it comes to design, the Yoga Pro 7i looks similar to last year’s model. You get curved edges, which makes it easy to carry the device. The laptop features an aluminium chassis that has been tested to MIL-STD-810H standards, as per Lenovo. This means that you can expect the laptop to withstand small drops and not take any damage. The lid and the bottom are made from aluminium and they didn’t have much flex. The lid has minimal branding with the bottom only housing grilles for the intake, two speakers, and rubber feet. The laptop weighs around 1.6 kgs.
The laptop features a 180-degree hinge that lets you place the laptop flat on the table. The hinge feels sturdy, but it doesn’t provide any kind of lift. Opening the lid reveals a glossy 14.5-inch display with slim side bezels and relatively thicker top and bottom bezels. There’s an inverted notch at the top that houses a web camera, IR sensor, and microphones. It’s very easy to open the lid with one hand.
Below the display is a keyboard that is lined on both sides by two more speakers. The laptop has a total of four speakers. A large trackpad sits under the keyboard and it’s a nice one. There’s an etched Lenovo logo on the bottom right corner.
There are enough ports available on the laptop, but a card slot would’ve been welcome
The right edge houses a USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 1), a combo 3.5mm audio jack, a power button, and a toggle for the web camera e-shutter. On the left edge, you’ll find two USB Type-C (3.2 Gen 2) ports and an HDMI 2.1 port. It does miss out on a card slot, though.
Lenovo offers a really nice display on the Yoga Pro 7i. It is a glossy panel, which means that you can’t really use it well outdoors, but the panel is excellent indoors while offering good brightness levels. Our review unit came with a 14.5-inch OLED display that offers 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800) resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 400 nits brightness. The display supports Dolby Vision, HDR, True Black 500 and covers a 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut. The colours are vivid and blacks deep. In a room with no harsh lighting, watching content on this display was a delight.
The keyboard on the Yoga Pro 7i has keys with good spacing and enough travel to make typing comfortable. There’s no number key here, though, but you do get the new Copilot key that can be used to invoke the Microsoft chatbot. The keyboard is backlit, and you can either control the brightness manually or leave it in adaptive mode.
Moving down, you’ll find a large touchpad that offers great response, is smooth to touch thanks to the glass surface, and offers multi-touch support. The feedback on clicks is also good. I had no issues with the touchpad or the keyboard during my time with the laptop.
The speakers’ onboard support Dolby Atmos
You’ll find two speakers placed on either side of the keyboard and two at the bottom of the laptop. However, despite offering a quad-speaker setup, two woofers and two tweeters, the sound doesn’t get super loud. The audio does have some bass to it, but honestly, these speakers aren’t amazing. You also get Dolby Atmos support, which enhances the audio experience when watching content.
The Yoga Pro 7i has a 1080p full-HD web camera that is better than most Windows laptops. The video output looks decent in good lighting conditions, however, it is grainy in lowlight scenarios. The web camera also supports an e-shutter and is paired with an IR and TOF sensor for Windows Hello biometric authentication, which works very well. As soon as you open the lid, the sensor recognises you, even when it’s dark around. The sensors also wake up the screen and initiate login when you approach it, which is pretty neat.
Coming to the specifications, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i is, by all means, an Ultrabook. It’s got enough performance to run most tasks with ease, and you also get the discrete GPU for some light gaming. The laptop is equipped with the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, which is paired with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with 6GB GDDR6 video RAM. You get up to 32GB of RAM, but unfortunately this is soldered to the mainboard and not upgradeable. For storage, there’s 1TB of M.2 storage available on the laptop.
For connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. The laptop houses a 73Wh battery as well, which supports fast charging.
The laptop comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with 6GB DDR6 RAM
As for software, our unit came with Windows 11 Pro out-of-the-box, along with Office Home and Student 2021. There’s also some built-in software from Lenovo and McAfee anti-virus. The laptop comes with some AI enhancements in the form of the Lenovo AI Engine+. This engine is said to help improve performance and battery life based on the creative app that you’re using. There’s also a Creator Zone tool that lets you convert text to images.
In terms of performance, I did not face any issues when running apps such as Chrome, Adobe Lightroom, Slack, and a few others. Most of the time, there’s no lag, but that changes when you start editing videos and playing games. I did notice lag on some rare occasions, such as when editing a 4K video in Davinci Resolve. Although you get an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, it doesn’t offer a high TGP, hence you will face some lag if you try to play demanding games in anything higher than 1080p and max graphics settings. I played Alan Wake 2 and Hogwarts Legacy on the system, but it wasn’t very enjoyable unless I dialled the settings down.
Since this is a thin and light laptop, there is some heating as well, especially when gaming. The laptop did get quite hot during a half-hour session of Alan Wake 2, even with the fans at full blast. However, you can play other less demanding titles with ease, but do expect the laptop to heat up when playing games or editing videos.
Battery life on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i is not bad at all. In Balanced mode, I was able to squeeze out a full day (around 9 hours) of work, which also included some YouTube. As for streaming videos non-stop or binge-watching a short series on Netflix, the laptop will be your companion till the last episode. Of course, I achieved these numbers with the display set to 60Hz, so that also matters.
When the charge gets low, you can quickly charge the laptop thanks to the 140W USB Type-C charger. It took about 1 hour and 40 mins to fully charge the laptop from 10 percent. Overall, the laptop offers good battery life for a system with discrete graphics card.
If you’re in the market for a new slim and powerful ultrabook, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i should be on your list. The laptop is stylish and has a very good display and keyboard, and you get discrete graphics and decent battery life as well. While you can’t play AAA titles at full graphical prowess, you can still run plenty of less demanding games without any issues. This is a good laptop for the money and is easy to recommend.
Samsung Galaxy A55 was launched in India in March this year alongside the Galaxy A35 5G. They run on Android 14-based One UI 6.1 out-of-the-box. They are slated to get four generations of Android OS upgrades and five years of security updates. Samsung is expected to introduce its One UI 7 software update based on the latest Android 15 next year. Now, the Galaxy A55 has been spotted on a benchmarking website with the Android 15 update, well before Samsung has rolled out its One UI 7 beta.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 with the model number Samsung SM-A556E has surfaced on Geekbench. The listing reveals that the phone is running on Android 15. Like all Samsung models, the phone will come with a One UI skin on top. The handset scores 1,161 and 3,369 points on the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
It’s worth noting that the upcoming flagship Samsung Galaxy S25 series of smartphones will likely be the first ones from the company to get the stable version of the Android 15-based One UI 7. The Samsung Galaxy A55 will likely be one of the first mid-range phones to get the update.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with a 6.6-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, 1,000 nits of peak brightness, and Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection. It is powered by a 4nm in-house Exynos 1480 SoC paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage.
Samsung’s Galaxy A55 is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with support for 25W wired fast charging. For optics, it has a triple rear camera unit including a 50-megapixel primary sensor with OIS, a 12-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5-megapixel macro shooter. It carries a 32-megapixel front camera sensor.
The price of the 8GB + 128GB option of the Samsung Galaxy A55 starts in India at Rs. 39,999, while the 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB variants are marked in the country at Rs. 42,999 and Rs. 45,999, respectively. It is offered in Awesome Iceblue and Awesome Navy colourways.
Panaji, Veteran actor Nagarjuna on Friday said his grandmother always wanted to have a girl child and when that didn’t happen, she started dressing up his father and Telugu cinema star Akkineni Nageswara Rao as one.
Nagarjuna recalled his father, fondly known as ANR, would look cute in plaits and believes that’s one of the factors that attracted the late legend to acting.
At an in-conversation session at the International Film Festival of India , the actor shared many anecdotes about ANR, whose birth centenary was observed in September. The film gala is also celebrating the legacy of the Telugu cinema stalwart by showcasing a restored version of his 1953 movie “Devadasu”.
“He came from a very humble family, a farmer’s family. He was born near Andhra Pradesh , a village which didn’t have electricity.
“My grandmother always wanted to have a woman child. She used to dress him up in plaits. He used to look very pretty and cute. We still have a photograph of him dressed as a girl. He looked exactly like my older sister Sathya. I think these were the things which led him to become an actor,” Nagarjuna said.
ANR, whose seven-decade career includes diverse films such as “Vipra Narayana”, “Tenali Krishna”, “Sri Ramadasu”, “LailaMajnu”, and “Balaraju”, started out playing roles of women on stage.
“In those days women were not allowed to be an actor or act on stage. So, he started playing women’s roles. He first became a heroine on stage.
“As fate took its turn, he was at a railway station when famous producer Ghantasala Balaramayya, who was sitting in the train, saw him walking and said ‘nice eyes, nice nose’. Would you like to act? Rest, as they say, is history,” recounted Nagarjuna.
In 1944, ANR got his first film “Sri Seeta Rama Jananam” as a lead. He then moved to Chennai with his older brother as his father had expired by then, Nagarjuna added.
“I distinctly remember him swaying his hips. He thought that was acting because he had done this on stage,” he said.
ANR also faced a lot of mockery from people who made fun of him for his ‘feminine’ mannerisms.
“People made fun of him and that really dejected him. He went to Marina Beach where he said he wanted to kill himself because there was so much laughter and all of that. He told me he went waist deep into the sea water and then something in him told him and he corrected himself,” Nagarjuna said.
The actor said his father, who received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1990 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2011, also worked hard to make his “feeble” voice rougher.
“Somebody told him your voice becomes rougher if you smoke cigars. He didn’t smoke earlier. He also used to go to the beach early in the morning and scream at the ocean for 5-10 minutes to make his voice more hoarse,” he added. On Thursday, Nagarjuna launched the season two of the animation series “Krish, Trish and Baltiboy: Bharat Hain Hum” at IFFI.
The film gala will come to a close on November 28.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
2023 was an incredible year for games, with each month grabbing our attention with a defining entry — be it sequels, remakes, or highly-anticipated blockbusters. Since the Holiday season is here, we asked the folks at Gadgets 360 what their highlights were, only to be met with some truly compelling takes. One of them is an award hoarder pushing the role-playing medium forward and alarming the larger AAA gaming industry, while the other is an indie game about fishing, whose deep waters hide some Lovecraftian horrors. Then there’s a nightmarish twist on Pinocchio’s Tale, new escapades from Marvel’s web crawlers, and Link’s journey back in time to save Hyrule.
With that, here are Gadgets 360’s favourite games of the year, available across PC, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. (In no particular order)
A triumphant distillation of complex Dungeons & Dragons mechanics, it’s actually unreal how Larian Studios managed to immerse us into the Forgotten Realms and make fraternising with devils, deities, and the supernatural feel like the best thing ever. If you’re still whining about its tabletop origins governed by a turn-based combat style, maybe the awards haul will convince you to at least give it a fair shot. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a staggering achievement in player agency, where every decision contorts the world around you, be it landmark events, absurd dialogue options, or romantic flings with its wonderful cast of companions. Befriend a squirrel or punt it into a slobbering mash of blood and flesh, side with the goblins to lead a genocide, or woo a vampire spawn to learn about his torturous and submissive past at the behest of a manipulative master.
The top-notch voice acting and performances make it impossible to not care about your party mates’ plights — an assassin hellbent on proving herself worthy, an amnesiac cleric on a suicide mission, and a Tiefling with an engine for a heart — revealed through sprawling sub-quests and strengthening bonds, in moments that feel personal. The notion that every activity is dependent on the roll of polyhedral dice is certainly intimidating, but that’s the charm of DnD, where every step you take is equally anxiety-inducing as is rewarding. Anything could happen at any given second but that rule also applies to NPCs. Unorthodox tactics such as pushing enemies off cliffs or stabbing them from the back are as viable as facing them head-on with carefully planned attacks and spell loadouts. There’s limitless freedom in how you want to approach a situation — smooth talk your way out of fights, have sex with a bear, turn yourself into a literal wheel of cheese, or pledge allegiance with a squid-faced entity to harness godly powers.
Apologies for endlessly gushing about this game, but it’s just that good! The technical merits are one thing, but the memories I created in these gorgeous lands picking the wildest options and leading my group to comical deaths, while the soothing voice of the dungeon master graphically describes them, is something I’ll cherish for a long time. I must also commend Larian Studios for its unending post-launch support and honest communication with the community to account for pretty much every feedback. The team just went, “Oh, you want to change your character’s appearance in-game? Fine, We’ll add the feature in a future patch.” I can’t recall the last time a developer rewrote an ending just because the fans were unsatisfied, and that’s saying something! — Rahul Chettiyar
Buy: Baldur’s Gate III
Baldur’s Gate 3 was crowned Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2023
Photo Credit: Larian Studios
Insomniac Games have just about perfected the art of churning out high-production value blockbuster games that also clear a certain bar of quality when it comes to storytelling. Spider-Man 2 is no different. It pins down the soul of a Spider-Man story while maintaining an incredibly high level of polish. It takes all the good things from the previous two Spider-Man games from Insomniac and makes them just a little better. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 does not rewrite the playbook. In many ways, it is an iterative sequel that also sticks to tried and tested open-world game design, but it attempts to curate the experience in a way that it never feels like an interminable checklist of chores.
Insomniac clearly put the emphasis on the journeys of both Peter and Miles and the people around the two Spider-Men. The web-swinging duo are the stars of the show, but side characters like MJ, Rio Morales, and Mr. Negative are portrayed with care and attention. Spider-Man 2’s villains, Lizard, Kraven, and Venom, feel fleshed out and imposing. And the expanded New York City map remains a detailed and visually stunning playground to swing around in. I found myself launching the game, even after I’d Platinumed it, just to web-swing and glide around the beautiful map.
Spider-Man 2’s combat remains elastic and fun and flexible, but it shies away from experimentation and complexity. I wish Insomniac added more depth to the fighting, instead of just throwing in a parry mechanic. Spider-Man 2’s story, too, takes the easy way out, avoiding a bolder approach and instead opting for a predictable final act. But most of the gripes are swept away by the sheer quality of the overall package. Insomniac’s Spidey sequel is visually stunning at all times, it tells a fun and engaging story, and it delivers on kinetic set-piece action moments. It’s like rewatching a good Marvel movie, where familiarity is part of the reason why you can pick it up again any time. — Manas Mitul
Buy: Spider-Man 2
The monstrous Venom is the primary antagonist in Spider-Man 2
Photo Credit: Insomniac Games
In a year packed with excellent, genre-defining games, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom defies categorisation. It annihilates genres to mulch and forms something entirely new from the rubble. On the surface, it’s an open-world action-adventure title with an intense focus on exploration and freedom. But when you dive into its depths, quite literally, you find it to be so much more. Tears of the Kingdom packs experiences that aren’t found in video games at all, all while being one of the greatest video games ever made.
To begin with, it throws out all the mechanical tools from Breath of the Wild right out of the window from the get-go. At first, it’s a little disorienting. But soon, the game introduces new ways to play at a measured pace, revealing new powers at Link’s disposal. When you first begin to test out the new Ultrahand ability, which lets you pick up objects in the game world and join them together to build machines, the game is careful to not overwhelm you. Your initial constructions are simple but effective. They help you cross a lake and ride a rail to reach destinations that initially seemed out of bounds. With time, Ultrahand grants you the freedom to build anything you want — a virtual Lego with unlimited blocks and unlimited imagination. You only need to go to r/HyruleEngineering to see some of the incredibly complex constructions players came up with to completely change the nature of the gameplay. From fire-spitting mechs to flying saucers, machines you build in Tears of the Kingdom are the ultimate sandbox you can experience in the medium.
No other game has surprised me as much as TotK. No other game has come even close to providing the kind of variety and freedom as TotK has. And no other game matches TotK in its commitment to creative gameplay. It’s almost as if the game hands over total control to the player, like it was a test build meant for the developers’ eyes only. Tears of the Kingdom provided me game-breaking tools and allowed me to go crazy with them. And it’s a testament to its robustness that it did not buckle under the weight of intense experimentation. And it’s not just its mechanical wonders that make it an all-time great video game. It’s the evocative music, it’s the stunning vistas and beautiful visuals, it’s the layered game world that lets you explore the skies and dive the depths, and it’s the emotional earnestness of it all that could teleport players to the first time they picked up a toy. — Manas Mitul
Buy: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Haters might call this a knockoff, but I think Lies of P carves its own identity in this vast pool of Soulsborne-inspired games. Sure, there are stark similarities to Bloodborne by way of the gothic atmosphere — punctuated by cobblestone streets soaked with blood and oil, fancy lamps, and piles of corpses — but it incorporates some unique mechanics to bolster its hack-and-slash gameplay. Much of this is tied to the lore, which puts you in control of the infamous lying puppet boy Pinocchio, who must unravel the secrets behind a pestilence that’s turning all machinations into frenzied monsters. Dodge-rolling through the interconnected routes of Krat and discovering shortcuts brought flashbacks from the first time I played Dark Souls Remastered — my mouth wide open in immersion as I soaked in the winding level design that tied all key locations together.
Add to that a cast of eccentric NPCs — drawn from Carlo Collodi’s works — spewing tales of a rebellious uprising, where undervalued puppets fight back against their creators, and I was sold on this dark reimagining of a children’s classic. But for most, the highlight of a good souls-like is the punishing boss battles, and oh boy, Lies of P delivers in spades by forcing you to perfect parries to the dot and memorise patterns for what feels like eternity. Understandably, this could be frustrating for newcomers and as such, the game lets you summon spirits outside the arena, in addition to adding a slew of funnily creative weaponry; from stabbing foes with an umbrella to a giant pipe wrench for some heavy damage. Regardless of what build you choose, nothing beats the dopamine hit you get upon painstakingly beating a boss — a FromSoftware staple that developer Neowiz has managed to replicate nicely.
There are some quality-of-life tweaks as well, such as any lost souls from death can be placed outside the boss arena, the ability to regenerate healing items by exerting damage, and special icons that guide you to the next step in an NPC questline. Another thing I adore about Lies of P is how almost every character serves c-nt with their stylish 19th-century France-inspired garments; some of them emanating a strong steampunkish aura that you can’t resist dressing your Pinocchio in. Unlike most RPGs, there are no stats — or shall I say ‘strings’ — attached to clothing, so you can parade around in outlandish donkey masks, top hats, to reindeer antlers, and pair them up with some formal attire without fear of being underpowered. It feels casual in all the right places.
Neowiz completely knocked it out of the park with this release, and I’m already headed to New Game+ to scratch that never-ending Bloodborne itch! — Rahul Chettiyar
Buy: Lies of P
On the surface, Dredge is a simple game about fishing. But dive a little deeper and this little indie gem from Black Salt Games shows up to be a profound adventure about isolation, existence, and the devils that dwell in dark waters. The game starts with you, a fisherman, reaching a small coastal town in a remote archipelago. The locals help you fix up your boat and hand you a list of fish to catch in the sea. The game follows a day-night cycle, with most of the fishing done during the daytime. Nights, on the other hand, are a different affair altogether. While it’s advisable to fish during the day, some special fish only show up at night. Out in the sea, when the sun goes down, strange creatures show up and attack you. As your panic rises in the open sea, you start hallucinating and take on nightmares head on.
As you keep finding rarer fish, you sell your catch to buy upgrades for your boat that make it faster and sturdier. You also slowly get better fishing gear to catch different kinds of fish. You must also manage resources well as your boat has limited space for upgrades and equipment. Aside from your fishing adventures, you can also take up requests and side quests from people living in coastal towns. Your adventures lead you through mysteries of the sea — ghostly ships and lost messages in bottles — as you slowly piece together bits of information to unravel the story.
Low on action and heavy on atmosphere, Dredge became my go to game to play on the Nintendo Switch in bed just before sleeping. There’s a calming quality to its quiet horror and I was drawn towards its mysteries, loading up my boat night after night and heading out to sea to fish. You don’t really know what strange phenomena you may encounter on each trip. But the best part is slowly sailing back to shore after your adventure — your boat loaded with your catch for the day, your lamp flickering in the sea breeze, and the lighthouse guiding you home. — Manas Mitul
Buy: Dredge
Getting ultra-addicted to a roguelite about ocean exploration and fishing wasn’t on my bingo card this year, but here we are. Dave the Diver largely revolves around spearfishing during the day to catch the freshest bounty and managing a local sushi restaurant by night, all of which is presented in a cutesy pixelated art style that you’ll struggle to break free of. Knowing that the gameplay loop could get tiring super fast, developer Mintrocket slowly evolves the game like a Jenga tower by adding new mechanics and character arcs without making it overwhelming. In just a few weeks into your new gig as a fisherman, you’ll have run into a full-blown otaku who helps with weapon crafting, an archaeologist studying underwater mysteries, a biology research student, and an Ash Ketchum cosplayer looking to gather digital cards based on what sealife you caught. Yep, that’s a play on obsessive Pokémon card collectors.
By gradually upgrading my suit and equipment, I got strong enough to make encounters with sharks and other perilous creatures. But back on the surface, I had veered into an even greater challenge — running multiple branches of Bancho’s sushi shop and dealing with a group of relentless dolphin poachers. So, if I wasn’t hastily running around the restaurant serving dishes and pouring matcha tea for impatient customers, I was busy hiring staff and harvesting produce and rice at a nearby farm. Things started to get really intense, so I would chill out by feeding the local cat Momo every once in a while, only to soon discover that he’s got a family in the backyard. As you’d guess, I took them in.
A lot of such smaller interactions in Dave the Diver grow into entire sidequests — be it celebrity chefs challenging Bancho, talking to some mysterious sea people, or even basic fetch missions. I never got bored throughout my playthrough and was always willing to jump back in for that one extra day of fish-hunting by even setting an alarm early in the morning before work. Safe to say, I was OBSESSED… but then Baldur’s Gate 3 launched (welp). — Rahul Chettiyar
Buy: Dave the Diver
Genshin Impact is one of the most popular free-to-play, cross-platform RPG games available today. The game grew in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic — it was launched by publisher miHoYo in 2020 — and has since been updated with several new features, regions, characters, and enemies to the game. This year, gamers were treated to a new region on the map of Teyvat — Fontaine, while regions like Sumeru and the adjoining desert were also expanded with new bosses and domains.
Earlier this year, miHoYo added a new region in the desert that is influenced by Persia with the Gavireh Lajavard update. Gamers also gained more insight into Sumeru’s Dendro Archon, and the map was opened up even further leading to another area to the north of the desert — the new region of Fontaine.
Right off the bat, you can tell that Fontaine is heavily inspired by France, from the names of characters to locations on the map. With a new steampunk aesthetic, Genshin Impact players will have to adapt gameplay to take advantage of new features and explore new regions in the game. The game also introduced Furina, the Archon in charge of the Hydro nation.
Unlike other regions in the game, the waters of Fontaine will not let you drown when you run out of stamina. In fact, you can actually swim underwater indefinitely when you are in Fontaine — your stamina bar appears blue instead of yellow. You can also “borrow” some underwater capabilities from aquatic animals, as your character’s skills do not work while swimming.
Among the more interesting areas added to the game is the Fortress of Meropide, which is a vast prison that can be explored with primary and secondary quests. The game has also added Neuvillette, Furina, Navia, Charlotte, Freminet, and Chevreuse — new characters from Fontaine that you can acquire through the game’s gacha system. — David Delima
Download: Genshin Impact
Locations are consistently updated with new enemies, wildlife, and storylines
Photo Credit: miHoYo
Dragging the revolting themes of a David Cronenberg film thousands of feet down to the ocean floor is a frightening affair for many. But for the grieving sea-faring couple Charlie and Mac, a discovery of such horrid proportions is like striking a goldmine, with the all-consuming darkness of a secret laboratory inviting them with questions and the festering stench of rotting carcasses. As a huge fan of the literary RPG Disco Elysium, I always have a soft spot for isometric games that rely on exploration and environmental storytelling to paint the larger picture. It also helps that I’ve gotten tired of the action-heavy Dead Space-esque route most sci-fi horror games take, where fear is generated from the anticipation of a jumpscare and dim lighting. While the latter is still true for Stasis: Bone Totem, the ability to see a whole room from above urges me to explore every corner and appreciate this gory universe.
One moment I’m learning about a brain implant that uploads memories to a digital afterlife upon death, and then a few hours later, I’m literally knee-deep in a pool of blood, listening to horrifying ritualistic chants from the next room. The art style is stunningly creepy, which is amplified by pulsating effects on living pieces of flesh and particulate matter floating around in the air. The meat of this game, however, is the elaborate puzzles — almost fashioned after a metroidvania wherein you’ll often revisit locations and run around in circles to slot in the new pieces. What’s more interesting is that the lead characters — Charlie, Mac, and an animatronic bear Moses — leverage their skills in breaking objects, repairs, and hacking to work together on convoluted solutions. A lot of this can feel like trial-and-error, but it always felt safe knowing that when I’m stuck, I can simply move the items over to the next character and mess about to see what happens.
Scattered around the underwater facility are datapads, yielding unique side stories about the crude experiments and other bizarre acts committed by scientists before your arrival. All of it is detailed in a neat order — almost like a diary — so it’s easy to decipher the spine-chilling events and connect the dots to the larger tragedy at hand. That said, I do wish that logs were narrated (one robotic voice) so I could just continue playing the game as I listened to them. Besides that, Stasis: Bone Totem is a fantastic indie gem that I simply can’t stop recommending to my friends! — Rahul Chettiyar
Buy: Stasis: Bone Totem
I had never experienced a Final Fantasy game before Final Fantasy XVI, so I dived into the franchise with a blank slate, not really knowing what to expect aside from some of the recurring themes the series is known for. What I got was a sweeping adventure with deep and engaging lore, an emotional story with betrayal and revenge at its heart, and one of the best combat systems in video games all year. FFXVI falters where most modern RPGs excel — it has lacklustre exploration; it has underwhelming loot and character customisation; and it barely offers any meaningful choices. But it puts all its eggs in the basket of its incredibly polished and fun combat. FFXVI boss fights are some of the most epic in video games this year.
FFXVI has an interesting story to tell, too. I found myself wrapped up in the intricacies and politics of Valisthea, the palace intrigue that interjected the action, and shifting loyalties of the land’s kingdoms. As you take on Clive’s journey, you meet friends and foes and form your own group of companions. Clive, who has been on a path of revenge, takes on a higher cause and becomes a leader of the oppressed. The sprawling story, which takes cues from Game of Thrones, spans decades and involves a host of different players at different points. The information overload could easily become overwhelming, but the Active Time Lore system, which brings up contextual information and character bios in real-time with the press of a button, keeps things palatable.
If you’ve never played a Final Fantasy title, FFXVI is an ideal and accessible starting point. Each Final Fantasy game resets the setting and characters, so you can dive in without worrying about previous titles. FFXVI doesn’t quite match up to the diverse offerings of modern RPGs, but the game’s fascinating setting, its excellent combat and monolithic Eikon battles, and its evocative musical score make it one of the best narrative-action titles released this year. — Manas Mitul
Buy: Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI puts you in the shoes of a brooding, likeable protagonist, Clive Rosfield
Photo Credit: Square Enix
Just hours after AR Rahman and Saira Banu announced their divorce, Mohini Dey, AR Rahman’s bassist, revealed her own separation from her husband, Mark Hartsuch.
She has now responded to clarify that there is no connection between the two announcements. Addressing the trolls, Mohini asked for privacy and explained that she had turned down interview requests because she didn’t want to engage with baseless rumors.
Check out her post here:
She wrote, ‘I’ve been getting a humungous amount of requests for interviews and I know exactly what its about so, I have to respectfully turn each one down because I am not interested in fueling into ABSOLUTE BS. I believe my energy is not worth spending on RUMOURS. Kindly, respect my privacy’.
Music composer and singer AR Rahman and his wife, Saira Banu, shocked everyone by announcing their separation after 29 years of marriage. On November 19, just hours after their social media post, Rahman’s bassist, Mohini Dey, also shared the news of her divorce from her husband, Mark Hartsuch.
The timing of both announcements led many netizens to speculate that there might be a connection between the two events.
In response to the rumuors, Rahman and Saira’s lawyer denied any connection between the two separations. Mohini Dey has now addressed the speculation, asking people to respect her privacy and avoid spreading unfounded rumours.
AR Ameen strongly responded to rumors linking his parents’ separation to Mohini Dey, calling his father a “legend” and expressing disappointment over the spread of false information. He firmly dismissed the baseless speculation.
He emphasised the importance of truth and respect when talking about someone’s life and legacy. Ameen urged others to stop spreading misinformation and to honor his father’s dignity, highlighting the profound impact his father has had on so many people.
