Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s epic historical drama Padmaavat is finally scheduled to be released on January 25 after many hassles and controversies. The film not only gave way to a nationwide debate but also changed the landscape of Bollywood in terms of box office clashes.

Padmaavat, which was earlier scheduled to be released on December 1, 2017, was postponed due to Karni Sena’s protests, alleging that the film has distorted history and hurt the sentiments of the Rajput community, leaving a question mark over the film’s fate.

Finally, on January 15th, the film got its release date after CBFC cleared the film with some cuts and changes.

Apparently, Padmaavat‘s release date changed the course of action for many films and the makers of film are ensuring that it gets a solo release as there is a lot at stake. This is for the first time that one film has made other film’s change their release date so that there is no clash with Bhansali’s epic film.

Padmaavat vs Aiyaary vs Pad Man

The first two films to announce their release dates around Republic Day were Aiyaary and Pad Man. Aiyaary featuring Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee was scheduled to release on January 26 and Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man chose January 25. Things became more complicated when Padmaavat got its release date on January 25, hence, creating a triple clash at the box office.

#Padmaavat, releasing on 25th January 2018 in theatres near you. Now also in 3D, Imax 3D, Tamil & Telugu. @RanveerOfficial @deepikapadukone @shahidkapoor @aditiraohydari @Viacom18Movies @Bhansali_Prod @TSeries https://t.co/SAb0qMD6ig

— Padmaavat (@filmpadmaavat) January 19, 2018

This republic week, watch our Pagla Superhero become famous! #PadMan in cinemas on 25th January. https://t.co/RadMK4xpyr

Book your tickets here: https://t.co/95hsi9MuFE pic.x.com/wWm4sL44Dk

— KriArj Entertainment (@kriarj) January 19, 2018

Only 3 weeks left for #Aiyaary! #AiyaaryIn3Weeks#Aiyaary in cinemas on 26.01.18
@neerajpofficial @BajpayeeManoj @S1dharthM @Rakulpreet @Pooja_Chopra_ @AnupamPkher #NaseeruddinShah @_AdilHussain @ShitalBhatiaFFW @RelianceEnt @FFW_Official @PlanC_Studios pic.x.com/3LhqHNwfxK

— Aiyaary (@aiyaary) January 5, 2018

Aiyaary pushes release date to February 9

It’s OFFICIAL… #Aiyaary shifted to 9 Feb 2018… Neeraj Pandey directs… Stars Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee, Rakul Preet Singh, Pooja Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher.

A post shared by Taran Adarsh (@taranadarsh) on Jan 8, 2018 at 3:01am PST

Director Neeraj Pandey realised that not only the business of his espionage thriller will suffer in this bout but also there is no point of clashing with two films at the same time. The makers of Aiyaary withdrew from what was supposed to be the biggest Bollywood clash ever and shifted the release date of their film to February 9 from January 26. Now, it was Padmaavat vs Pad Man on January 25 at the box office.

Bhansali urges Akshay to push release date of Pad Man

On January 19 at Verosova Festival in Mumbai, Bhansali and Akshay held a special press conference for media to announce that the makers of Pad Man have decided to shift their release date to February 9. Reason? Mutual respect1 Akshay, who is close friends with Bhansali, understood the need of why Padmaavat should get a solo release date on January 25 and made the decision of shifting his film’s release date instantly.

#BreakingNews: #PadMan postponed… Shifted to 9 Feb 2018.

A post shared by Taran Adarsh (@taranadarsh) on Jan 19, 2018 at 5:00am PST

Back to ‘Aiyaary’ vs ‘Pad Man’

While Padmaavat is now scheduled for solo release on January 25, Akshay’s decision landed back him to the initial point. Clash with Pandey’s Aiyaary. The makers of Aiyaary are now going to face its former competition on a date which they booked first. Pad Man and Aiyaary is back against each other at the box office. Apparently, the happenings in B-town because of these three films has made it quite problematic for another film, whose release date has been postponed for an indefinite period of time.

Looks like you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks longer to witness our #Aiyaary. Now in cinemas on Feb 9https://t.co/UVW6YvTYiv#AiyaaryReleasingOnFeb9 @aiyaary @S1dharthM @BajpayeeManoj @Rakulpreet @Pooja_Chopra_ @AnupamPkher @ShitalBhatiaFFW

— Neeraj Pandey (@neerajpofficial) January 13, 2018

Get ready for #PadMan, coming to theatres on 9th February, 2018.@akshaykumar @sonamakapoor @radhika_apte @mrsfunnybones @SonyPicsIndia @kriarj #RBalki pic.x.com/ldwO5orTOb

— Pad Man (@PadManTheFilm) January 19, 2018

… Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) suffers

‘Sonu Ke…‘ featuring Kartik Aryan and Nushrat Bharucha was scheduled for release on February 9 before all this confusion. But with Padmaavat‘s release date things indeed changed for all these films. When Aiyaaryannounced February 9 as its release date, SKTKS had to face a tough competition from Pandey’s spy thriller. But the film’s release date changed when Akshay made the announcement of Pad Man releasing on February 9. So, now it’s Aiyaary vs Pad Man vs SKTKS! But to avoid such a big clash with two prominent films, the makers of the film decided to postpone their date from February 9. For now, SKTKS has no official release date as of now.

#LatestUpdate… #SonuKeTituKiSweety, which was slated for 9 Feb 2018 release, has not moved its date yet… The film, starring Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha and Sunny Singh, will be releasing along with #Padman and #Aiyaary.

A post shared by Taran Adarsh (@taranadarsh) on Jan 19, 2018 at 9:06pm PST

Probably it’s safe to say that Padmaavat indeed changed the landscape of Bollywood’s box office clashes.

IB ACIO Tier 1 results 2017 has been declared on the official website mha.nic.in . Candidates willing to check their results 2017 have to visit the official website and follow the instructions to get their results.

Before entering the IB ACIO result website candidates are advised to keep the important information including roll number, registration number and other required details along with them.

IB ACIO Tier 1 examination 2017 took place across the examination centers on October 15, 2017. It has been informed that the IB ACIO Tier 2 examination will take place across the examination hall on Feb 25, 2018.

It has also been added that the IB ACIO 2018 Tier 2 examination will take place across 13 centers.

The Congress in Kerala on Saturday slammed the CPI-M for “playing spoilsport” in the effort to form a secular front to fight the BJP.

Speaking to IANS, state Congress president M.M. Hassan said it is very clear that a section of the CPI-M in Kerala appears adamant that there should be no such front to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“CPI-M party veteran V.S. Achuthanandan has written to the party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury that they should decide on working with the Congress, but Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is all supreme in the party now, does not want it. This is being done purposely to please the BJP, as his SNC Lavalin case has now come up in the Supreme Court. He (Vijayan) is also hoping that by taking this stand, he will get the Centre to help Kerala when it comes to assistance,” said Hassan.

The CPI-M central committee meeting is currently underway in Kolkata, and the single point of discussion currently is should they engage in any tie up with the Congress. While Yechury wants it, his predecessor Prakash Karat and the Kerala unit of the party is dead against the idea.

“Just look at the discussions going on in their party meetings, where they are praising China and North Korea, which is ridiculous. All along the CPI-M has been critical of the economic policies of the Congress party here. While the policies in China and North Korea are acceptable to them, they feel allergic to the policies of the Congress party. We really fail to understand the logic of the CPI-M. We feel that they have lost connect with reality,” said Hassan, and added that there’s a “B team” of the BJP in the CPI-M here.

The fourth edition of the India International Science Festival is scheduled to be held in Lucknow. The exact dates and other details will be decided later.

The decision to hold the Festival in Lucknow was taken at the first preparatory meeting for the 4th India International Science Festival (IISF) chaired by Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

Officials of Ministries of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and DG, CSIR and representatives of Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA), the partner organisation for the festival, were among those who attended the meeting.

The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi in December, 2015. The mega S&T expo attracted more than 3 lakh people.

India had also set a Guinness Book of World Records, when 2000 school students performed two experiments at the festival.

The second festival was held at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi in December, 2016, while the third in the series was held in October, 2017, in Chennai.

Google has suspended its fact-check feature in its Search and news results after its algorithm wrongly linked a Washington Post fact check to a Daily Caller article about US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation team, the media reported.

Noting that the feature proved to be too faulty for public use, Google attributed the decision to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation after it published a story lambasting the tech giant for wrongly appending a Washington Post Fact Checker debunk to one of its stories.

“We launched the reviewed claims feature at the end of last year as an experiment with the aim of helping people quickly learn more about news publications,” online news portal The Daily Signal quoted a Google spokeswoman as saying.

“We said previously that we encountered challenges in our systems that maps fact checks to publishers and on further examination it’s clear that we are unable to deliver the quality we’d like for users,” she added.

Google rolled out the fact-check tool last year in order to highlight articles in its Search and news results that have been fact-checked.

When a search query returns a result that has been reviewed, Google displays who made the claim and if a third-party organisation has found it to be true, false or somewhere in between.

A spokesperson for Google later clarified to Poynter news platform that the tech company was not ending its fact-checking efforts but just the “Reviewed Claims” section of its Knowledge Panel feature.

“Fact checks from independent organisations will still appear alongside articles in search and Google News,” the company was quoted as saying.

Google has removed that single purported fact check at the time of The Daily Caller News Foundation’s initial inquiries.

The Election Commission’s (EC) decision to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs for holding office of profit, was its chief, A.K. Jyoti’s parting gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said here on Saturday.

Addressing media, Rai also said that the party will launch a campaign against BJP’s decisions to allow FDI in retail and the sealing drive in the city.

On Friday, the EC recommended to President Ram Nath Kovind to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs for holding offices of profit as Parliamentary Secretaries, triggering calls for resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The President is bound to act in accordance with the poll panel’s recommendation.

On Saturday, Rai said that Jyoti was Principal Secretary in Gujarat when Modi was the state’s Chief Minister and he was Modi’s closest officer.

“The disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs was his gift to Modi. What is the reason for this gift? Why it has been given? Aam Aadmi Party and the country want to know this,” the senior leader said.

“Everyone in the country has only one question on their mind: What was the compulsion for him to take the decision with only two days to retire,” Rai asked.

The leader also rubbished claims that the AAP MLAs were given multiple chances to appear before the EC and said that lies were being spread in the media.

Rai said that all notices given by the EC were replied by AAP’s lawyers and added that even during the the British rule, people were heard before giving punishments.

Holding out a purported order from the EC, Rai said that the EC had not given a date of hearing for the AAP MLAs, after March 13, 2017.

The EC gave its opinion to the President on a complaint by advocate Prashant Patel, a member of the Hindu Legal Cell, in June 2015, who petitioned then President Pranab Mukherjee alleging illegality in the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries.

The decision led to calls by the Congress and BJP — who have been demanding the disqualification — for Kejriwal’s resignation.

Later on Friday, the Delhi High Court refused to grant interim relief to AAP MLAs against the Election Commission’s recommendation.

The Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif is all set to drop a new film with Aamir Khan. The upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan will feature Katrina and Aamir once again after Dhoom 3.

The actress recently revealed her look in a song from the film. Katrina Kaif, who joined Instagram last year and is quite active in the social media, uploaded an Instagram story to give a sneak peek of the song from the sets of ‘Thugs of Hindostan.’

Katrina has got ‘alta’ applied on her hands, jhumkas were dangling from her ears. Both the actors have been shooting for the song with choreographed by Prabhudeva in the YRF studios. According to reports, it would be a wedding song that is why Katrina had alta on her hands and feet.

 Earlier, she posted a picture from the sets with Aamir Khan and Prabhudeva while shooting for a song.

#Thugs

A post shared by Katrina Kaif (@katrinakaif) on Jan 13, 2018 at 12:46am PST

The film will be released in Diwali 2018 produced under the Yash Raj banner. Thugs of Hindostan is being directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya.  

Telugu movie Awe that was the maiden production venture for producer Nani had started its promotional activities earlier this month but has now stopped as the movie will not be releasing on the same date as before.

Awe was due for release on 2 February 2018 but the release of the film was postponed to a later date because of a number of other films being released in the same week. Now, Nani and his team are looking for a new date to re-schedule the film release.

Awe has a new concept that has been directed by Prashanth Varma who is making his directional debut with this movie. Awe stars Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal, Eesha, Regina, Priyadarshi and Avasarala Srinivas Rao.

Producer Nani and Actor Ravi Teja have lent their voice to the film. As per reports, actor/producer Nani will not be acting in the film.

Attacking the Election Commission (EC) a day after it disqualified 20 AAP MLAs for holding office of profit, the Shiv Sena on Saturday termed the decision questionable doubting if there was any ulterior motive behind the move.

“There is a question mark on decision of Election Commission. Questioning Election Commission is common when decisions like these come,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said.

“Election Commission is itself responsible for it,” Raut added.

On Friday, the EC recommended to President Ram Nath Kovind to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs for holding offices of profit as Parliamentary Secretaries, triggering calls for resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The President is bound to act in accordance with the poll panel’s recommendation.

The EC gave its opinion to the President on a complaint by advocate Prashant Patel, a member of the Hindu Legal Cell, in June 2015, who petitioned then President Pranab Mukherjee alleging illegality in the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries.

The decision led to calls by the Congress and BJP — who have been demanding the disqualification — for Kejriwal’s resignation.

Later on Friday, the Delhi High Court refused to grant interim relief to AAP MLAs against the Election Commission’s recommendation.

UK-based Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House Group is set to make an “unconditional and comprehensive offer” for the assets of two flagship French steel businesses.

The offer, to be made in court next week, is aimed at securing the jobs of close to 1,600 employees at six operations across France, as well as many supplier jobs.

Liberty plans to invest more than USD 366 millions over five years to stabilise and grow the business, including capital investment of USD 122 million to upgrade the sites and expand output.

“The market synergies between Asco Industries and our existing speciality steels business are compelling and we know that, by working together and complementing each other in the market, both businesses will grow and prosper,” Gupta said.

He said the move will lead to Liberty, part of a wider GFG Alliance, implementing its GreenSteel and GreenAluminium strategies in France.

“The pro-business policies of the [French President] Macron government make France an exciting and attractive place for industrial investors such as us and we want to be part of the energetic new environment that is emerging,” he noted.

Under the proposal confirmed yesterday, Liberty has committed to protect the jobs of over 1,500 permanent employees and around 60 apprentices and pursue a wide-ranging development plan which complements its existing speciality steels business.

The company will apply its GreenSteel sustainable production strategy to the French operations utilising recycled metal in the manufacture of technically advanced and engineering products.

“We firmly believe that Pworking together with the Ascometal and Ascoval teams, we can realise our strategy in France and build a globally-recognised manufacturer of speciality steels,” said Chief Executive of Liberty Steel UK Jon Bolton.

Liberty’s latest announcement follows a recent statement that the company has made a binding offer to acquire the 570- worker Aluminium Dunkerque Europe’s largest aluminium smelter from Rio Tinto as part of a 2-billion-euro investment that will create thousands of new jobs at the site and in the wider economy.

In common with the Asco strategy, Liberty’s plans for Aluminium Dunkerque are linked in part to projected growth in the international automotive market.

Liberty Speciality Steels’ offer to acquire the Asco Industries and Ascoval businesses will be formally presented to the court on January 24, with a decision expected soon afterwards.

Liberty Speciality Steels, part of the Liberty House Group, is a member of the GFG Alliance, a London-headquartered international group of businesses founded and owned by the Gupta family, with a revenue of over 10 billion dollars and 12,000 staff.

China’s gender imbalance was further reduced in 2017 due to the introduction of the “second-child policy”, experts said on Saturday.

At the end of 2017, China had 32.66 million more males than females as opposed to 33.59 million a year earlier, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the data by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The gender imbalance continued to decline over the last five years, dropping by around 1.2 million annually, with the largest reduction seen in 2017, official data showed.

Chen Jian, deputy head with China Society of Economic Reform, attributed the improvement in China’s gender balance to the introduction of the “second-child policy”, which helped reduce the number of selective abortions in regions where boys are preferred over girls.

About 17.23 million babies were born in 2017, of which 51 per cent have an older sibling, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

However, the total number of births fell by about 630,000 compared with 2016 while percentage of the population aged over 60 rose from 16.7 per cent in 2016 to 17.3 per cent in 2017.

China should roll out more supportive policies to encourage couples to have children in order to help the country deal with the ageing society issue, said James Liang, a professor with Peking University.

The government could reduce taxes or offer subsidies for families to help cover the costs of raising multiple children, Liang suggested.

The Haryana Board of School Education (HBSE) has released the data sheet for the Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations to be conducted under the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH).

The exams for the Class 10 board will commence on 8 March 2018 and will conclude by 30 March 2018. Class 12 board exams will begin on 7 March 2018 and conclude by 2 April 2018.

HBSE has released the data sheet for theory exams only. English will be the first exam in both boards.

The exams will be held in 1482 centres across Haryana. The exam, which is of three hours duration, will be conducted from 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

Around 2.5 lakh students appeared for the examinations in 2017. Last year the pass percentage was 70.77 per cent for girls and 55.79 per cent for boys.

All students will have to carry their Aadhar cards to the examination centre. The HBSE has already issued the admit cards.

Results will be displayed by the end of May 2018.

Students can get more information from the official website of the Board: bseh.org.in

HBSE was founded in 1969.

People wearing black clothes were not allowed to attend a public rally here to be addressed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

According to a police officer, the move was to prevent any protests from “troublesome elements”.

The police, however, did not explain why even media persons were also stopped from entering the premises.

Shah and Adityanath are in Varanasi to attend an event named ‘Yuva Udghosh’ which is an attempt by the party to connect with 17,000 first time voters.

Angry youngsters said they found the move objectionable as they were humiliated and barred from attending the event.

Over thirty students have also been detained and barred from attending the event, an official confirmed.

State BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and State Organisational Secretary Sunil Bansal are also attending the high-profile event.

Heavy security arrangements have been made at the venue of the event as Congress workers are learnt to be preparing for a massive protest against the BJP leaders, accusing them of letting down the people of Varanasi.

Anti-BJP pamphlets were distributed by Congress workers on the Sigra square on Friday evening.

The pamphlet holds Shah responsible for Justice Loya’s death and also referred to him as a ‘tadipaar’ (Barred from entering the city).

Owing to the apprehensions of protests, massive security arrangements have already been made and 12 Assistant Superintendent rank officials, 35 Deputy Superintendents, seven SHO’s, 350 Sub Inspectors, 2,128 constables and nine companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary have been deployed for the event.

As yet another Indian trooper lost his life in the ongoing ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said whatever the government does for the families of martyrs “will always be less”.

Speaking at the launch of ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ graphic novel series on Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) martyrs, Rajnath said no amount of monetary compensations can be enough for those who lay their lives in the line of duty.

“Whatever we do for family of martyrs, it’ll always be less. No matter how much monetary fund we provide,” Rajnath said as he also launched ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ anthem and a short film on India’s bravehearts.

A 23-year-old Indian Army soldier, Mandeep Singh was killed on Saturday in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday, two security personnel, including an army soldier and a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper, and two civilians were killed on Friday in similar unprovoked firing on the LoC and the international border by Pakistan.

The home minister had last year said that the Union government was making all efforts to ensure that the kin of martyred troops are provided a compensation of not less than Rs one crore.

As per present compensation norms, the family of a slain soldier of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB, NSG and Assam Rifles gets about Rs.50-60 lakh, as per reports.

The website, bharatkeveer.gov.in that was launched last year allows common people to make monetary donations to families of paramilitary troops killed in action, with an upper limit of Rs.15 lakh to a single family.

On Friday, in International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup match between India and Zimbabwe, Prithvi Shaw’s squad thrashed the latter by 10 wickets.

Indian opener, Shubman Gill’s exceptional knock of 90 runs off 59 balls helped India to remain unbeaten in the on-going tournament. During his inning, Gill hit one six and 13 boundaries. Shubman Gill played some exceptionally good shots, but his one shot stood out.

In the 14th over of the match when Nkosilathi Nungu was bowling, the right-handed batsman smashed a maximum over mid-wicket with a short-arm jab. It was the same shot that Indian skipper Virat Kohli had played last year in a One Day International match against England.

Virat Kohli invents short-arm jab https://t.co/kxVwIIwRpq #BCCI

— sneha singh (@Imsnehasingh) January 20, 2018

In the 34th over of the match, when England bowler Chris Woakes was bowling to the Virat, he smashed a breathtaking shot with a short-arm jab and it was a six.

With the help of Gill’s unbeaten knock in the third match, Rahul Dravid’s boys finished the opening round at the top of Group B.

Earlier, Left-arms spinner Anukul Sudhakar Roy spearheaded the Indian bowling effort with figures of 4/20 as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 154 runs in 48.1 overs.

Openers Harvik Desai and Shubman Gill then produced unbeaten half-centuries to carry India to victory in just 21.4 overs.

The Indian boys have thus finished the opening round at the top of Group B with six points after winning all their three matches.

They will face Bangladesh, who are second in Group C, in the quarter-finals.

Zimbabwe are out of the tournament, having finished third in the group with two points from three matches.

Electing to bat first, Zimbabwe ran into trouble right at the start when opener Gregory Dollar was bowled by Indian fast bowler Shivam Mavi in the third over.

The other Zimbabwe opener Wesley Madhevere was then involved in two partnerships with Dion Myers and Milton Shumba.

The trio did their best to keep the Indian bowlers at bay but struggled to keep the run rate going.

Once the three of them had returned to the pavilion, the batsmen in Zimbabwe’s middle and lower order were cleaned up by the Indian bowlers with four of them falling before reaching double figures.

Shumba was the highest scorer for Zimbabwe with 36 runs off 59 deliveries.

Apart from Roy, Arshdeep and Abhishek Sharma also bowled well, ending up with a couple of wickets each.

Desai and Gill then put on an unbeaten opening stand of 155 runs to power the Indians to an easy victory.

-With IANS inputs

It is easily overlooked that what is now vintage was once brand new and those who are now acknowledged as vintage have travelled miles of age and experience. In South Delhi’s Greater Kailash, the broad lanes parked with posh and modern wheels, take one into an office which is new but its walls echo the sagas of vintage beauties, collected and nurtured with love.

The office belongs to Titus & Company with reams of legal documents lying on the tables and clerks busy running from one desk to another to answer telephones. But one’s eyes are immediately drawn to the antiques kept covered on the floor.

The owner of the office is Diljeet Titus, a lawyer by profession and also an avid collector of heritage on wheels. “It is impossible to describe your love for something really special. The cars which are in my collection transport me back to an era which was unique for its design and showmanship.

Automobiles have been a fascination for almost everyone. My colleagues narrate how their young lads are able to recognise every car on the road. This fascination is natural. I think even I have it. From driving pedal cars to sitting on your father’s lap while he is taking his car for a spin, this love and fascination grew in me and it went on to become stronger and stronger,” said Titus, explaining his penchant for vintage cars. He added,”My mother Veena Titus says that as a boy of 5, I used to plant little toy cars in our garden in the hope that they would yield trees full of cars. Probably that dream never left me.

While during my initial years of collecting I bought almost every Vintage or Classic that came my way, I have been more focused over the past six years. Collector cars are like art and make a great investment. Over these six years, I have bought cars only if they were rare, custom built, had low mileage and documented provenance. This focus explains the large number of former Maharaja cars that I now own which include Rolls Royces, Packards, Stutz, Bugatti, Minerva, Pierce Arrow, Cadillac and Auburn.”

The first car that Titus, the proud owner of The Titus Museum in the Capital, bought was a 1947 Austin A40. He said his grandmother too had a 1947 Austin, which may have been the reason why he bought it. Titus said his grandfather owned a classic 51 Chevy. “My father who was a mechanical engineer by profession used to repair cars in his garage and I used to help him. With the passage of time, I got very involved in the mechanics of cars. So, I grew up in an environment at home where you could see tools everywhere and everyone busy with the cars in the garage. These are some of the many memories which I cherish a lot,” he added. Titus’s museum which he has built in his farmhouse in Mehrauli has more than 50 cars which are open for public viewing. His collection includes classics like Chevys, Austins, Rolls Royce, Buggatis, Belgian Minerva, Stutz and others.

The museum is free for all vintage enthusiasts. Titus is one of a rare breed of car collectors. He feels lack of passion and dedication is the key reason behind the paucity of collectors. “Ultimately if you have passion, you’ll not leave your car. Your passion is reflected in your efforts and the time you put in it. One has to do so much of research before restoring a car which is really time-consuming and at times excruciating.”

He went on to narrate an incident: “One of my friends wanted to get his Ford restored. He researched for more than a year. He searched for the original colours, original upholstery, original chrome and finally got it restored by Tutu Dhawan. This inspires other collectors. When someone puts in this kind of effort, then expectations from others obviously increase a little. And when I say efforts ~ it means no shortcuts.”

Titus will be presenting his collection at the Annual The Statesman Vintage and Classic Car Rally on 11 February. As the NGT has allowed vehicles older than 50 years for such rallies and shows, the rally will witness participation of vehicles of a bygone era.

“Vehicles which belong to the pre-1950 period cannot be exported or imported. This proves that the government understands their worth. So we are making it clear that these vehicles shall be used for the purposes of rallies and exhibitions and not otherwise. We also observe our social and corporate responsibilities and hence we’ll be making contributions to save our environment by planting trees, providing dustbins and other such materials that would help in maintaining the quality of the environment,” said Titus.