Just as last year began with a bang, with happy news, so as the days progressed, sober news trickled in too. 3 January, 2013 was a mixed bag of emotions, with one piece of good news, and one piece of sad news dominating the headlines.

Manisha Koirala, most famous for being the beautiful dreamgirl of the 1990’s, with films like Gupt, Saudagar, 1942 A Love Story, Bombay, Dili Se and others, was diagnosed with cancer. On 3 Jan, Manisha took a brave step and began chemotherapy.

As reported by us, Manisha was composed, poised and calm as she began an arduous journey to healing. She displayed courage and resilience, and grace and dignity as she said, “Today is my first chemo… between being nervous of unknown and courage to face the challenge, I am in a state of prayer and in gratitude of the support I have received from mom, dad, Koi, (sister-in-law) Yulia… “Thank you for your love and prayers. Nothing else is more important than love and care.”

Meanwhile, happy news came in the form of Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh foraying into production. Ritesh’s film Balak Palak had a special screening on this very day last year, and a host of Bollywood bigwigs turned up to celebrate this milestone achievement. The film went on to do fairly well, and Riteish tasted success as a producer.