The Editorial Page: How to fast-track reservation for women in Parliament — a roadmap 8 MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A cHETAk ScREEN AWARDS 2026 Dhurandhar sweeps Bags 14 awards, including Best Actor (Male) and Best Director; Best Film goes to Homebound; Yami Gautam Dhar is Best Actor (Female) for Haq TRUMp’S TUESDAY ULTIMATUM ON HORMUz AppROAcHES US rescues airman; Trump goes ballistic, drops the f-bomb Officer hid in mountain crevice as US and Iran forces fought to get to him phil Stewart & Menna AlaaElDin Washington, Cairo, April 5 Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Mukesh Ambani and producer Karan Johar with the team of Homebound, which won the Chetak Screen Awards 2026 in the Best Film category, in Mumbai on Sunday. PRAVEEN KHANNA Heena khandelwal ThEwINNErs Mumbai, April 5 l BOLLYWOODBLOCKBUSTER Dhurandhar swept the Chetak Screen Awards 2026 with 14 winsataglitteringceremonyon Sunday, including Best Actor (Male) for Ranveer Singh, Best Director for Aditya Dhar and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) for Akshaye Khanna. The film dominated the technical categories too, winning awards for editing, sound design, special effects, cinematography, production design, background score, action, hairstyling and make-up. It shared the Best Costume award with another blockbuster Chhaava. Haq, Suparn Verma’s film documenting the landmark ShahBanocase,wonBestActor (Female) for Yami Gautam Dhar’s portrayal of Shah Bano, and Best Film for Gender Sensitivity. BEST DIREcTOR: Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar BEST AcTION: Dhurandhar BEST AcTOR (MALE)- OTT fILM: Abhishek Banerjee, Stolen BEST AcTOR (fEMALE) -OTT fILM: Sanya Malhotra, Mrs BEST fILM : BEST AcTOR IN A SUppORTINg ROLE (MALE): Akshaye The evening’s other significantrecognitions,includingfor BestFilm,wenttoNeerajGhaywan’s Homebound, inspired by a true story of friendship and tragedy during the Covid lockdown. On stage to receive the awardwastheentireteam,from director Ghaywan and lead actors Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa to producer Karan Johar and Adar Poonawala, »cONTINUED ON pAgE 2 Homebound BEST AcTOR IN A SUppORTINg ROLE (fEMALE): Shalini BEST AcTOR (MALE): BEST AcTOR (fEMALE): Yami Tejpal, Stolen Khanna, Dhurandhar Vatsa, Homebound BEST BAckgROUND ScORE: Shashwat Sachdev, Dhurandhar BESTcHOREOgRApHY: Vijay Ganguly, Shararat, Dhurandhar Ranveer Singh, Dhurandhar BEST EDITINg: Shivkumar V Panicker, Dhurandhar BEST fILM fOR gENDER SENSITIvITY: Haq Vikash Nowlakha, Dhurandhar BEST cOSTUME: Saiyaara Bishwadeep Chatterjee, Dhurandhar BEST pLAYBAck SINgER (fEMALE): Shreya Ghosal, 6,000U.P.WORKERS INISRAELSAFE, SAYSGOvT PAGE 4 WEST BENgAL MORE REP0RTS, PAGE 5 gress candidate from Farakka, in Murshidabad district. Retired Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court T S Sivagna- New Delhi, April 5 EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Minister S Jaishankar spoke to the foreign ministers of Iran, Qatar and UAE on Sunday as US President Donald Trump threatened to resume attacks on Iran's energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened by Tuesday. Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called up Jaishankar and they discussed the “present situation”. “Received a call from Foreign Minister @araghchi of Iran. Discussed the present situation,” Jaishankar posted on X, after the call. According to the Iranian embassy, “Seyed Abbas The War DAY 37 lUAE and Bahrain said they were targeted by dozens of missiles and drones. UAE halted production at a petrochemicals plant lKuwait’sFinanceMinistry saidadronecaused‘significant damage’toitsofficecomplex lIsrael continued to hit Lebanon; Hezbollah said it attacked an Israeli military barge with a cruise missile »cONTINUED ON pAgE 2 BREAkTHROUgH NEW AcTOR (MALE): Ahaan Panday, Saiyaara Saiyaara Title Track, Saiyaara 2026 Shubhajit Roy BREAkTHROUgHDEBUT DIREcTOR: ShaziaIqbal,Dhadak2 BEST pLAYBAck SINgER (MALE): Faheem Abdullah, DEcISION »cONTINUED ON pAgE 2 Strait ‘deadline’ looms, Jaishankar talks to Iran counterpart Araghchi BEST SpEcIAL EffEcTS: BEST OTT fILM: Stolen happening Congress candidate is voter again as today tribunals hold first, and only, hearing TRACK THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm BEST SOUND DESIgN: An image on IRGC’s website shows what state media claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in rescue operation, in Isfahan. SEPAHNEWS VIA REUTERS Dhurandhar Ishq, Gustaakh Ishq BEST DIREcTOROTT fILM: Karan A DAY to go for the voter list to befinalisedforthefirstphaseof Assembly elections in West Bengal, the tribunals to hear applications of those “deleted” are yet to start functioning in the state. However, following SupremeCourtintervention,at least one of them will get to vote: Motab Shaikh, the Con- BEST ScRIpT - OTT fILM: Stolen BEST SONg: Saiyaara Title Track, BEST LYRIcS: Gulzar, Ul Julool Dhurandhar Sweety kumari & Atri Mitra BEST pRODUcTION DESIgN: Saini S Johray, Dhurandhar BEST fILM WRITINg (STORY & ScREENpLAY): Homebound D’Souza, Dhurandhar Sheetal Iqbal Sharma, Chhaava; and Smriti Chauhan, Dhurandhar Kolkata, April 5 Saiyaara Title Track, Saiyaara BEST HAIRSTYLINg & MAkE-Up: Preetisheel Singh BEST cINEMATOgRApHY: BEST DIALOgUE: lTHE cREW Of NASA’S Artemis II mission are scheduled to perform a critical lunar flyby, passing around the far side of the Moon. Gautam Dhar, Haq US SPECIAL forces rescued an airman in a high-risk mission deep inside Iran while President Donald Trump threatened to rain “hell” on Tehran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil flows vital to the world economy. Trump announced the rescueintheearlyhoursofSunday in a social media post that described the operation in a mountainous area as “one of themostdaring”suchmissions in US history. The airman — weapons officeroftheF-15EStrikeEaglejet shot down on Friday — was wounded but “will be just fine”, Trump said in a message on X. The pilot of the aircraft was rescued on Friday itself. In another post, laden with expletives, Trump repeated a demand that Iran open the StraitofHormuz.“Tuesdaywill be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” it read. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, TrumpsaidhisdeadlineforIran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on critical infrastructure is Tuesday evening. BREAkTHROUgH NEW AcTOR (fEMALE): Aneet Padda, Saiyaara Business as Usual By EP UNNY nam held a special hearing at Salt Lake to hear Shaikh’s case. Shaikh, who was present, submittedhispassport—thesame document he says he gave as part of the Special Intensive Revision exercise. Justice Sivagnanamwentthroughallthe papers afresh, noting in his order that the Election CommissionofIndia(ECI)hadcited “technical reasons” for not »cONTINUED ON pAgE 2 l SINCE 2022, RESIDENTS OF EKAUNI VILLAGE IN CHANDAULI DISTRICT HAVE BEEN USING BIOGAS FOR COOKING This UP village of 500 residents is untouched by LPG crisis — a biogas plant comes to their rescue Manish Sahu The 55-year-old lives in Ekauni village in UP’s Chandauli district near the Varanasi PUSHPA SINGH is up by 5.30 border. For her and the village’s ameverydaytomakebreakfast for her family of six. At 6.30 am 500-oddresidents,theLPGcrisis, fuelled by the sharp,thegassupply West Asia war, is the arrives through a PAGE 1 furthest thing on pipeline in her their minds. Here, kitchen and she there are no long quickly whips up poha or chana with tea before queues of people waiting at gas cooking lunch. The next time agencies, no scramble to get she enters the kitchen is to cylinders on the black market. Residents get a steady make dinner, when the supply supply of fuel twice a day — is turned on again at 6.30 pm. Chandauli, April 5 anchor The biogas plant at Ekauni Village, Chandauli. VISHAL SRIVASTAVA 6.30 am to 9 am and the same hours in the evening — through biogas. “We know the timings,sowefinishcookingin that period. It hasn’t caused us any difficulty,” says Pushpa. She pays Rs 400 a month for the supply. After the plant came up in 2022, 125 out of 180 households have shifted to biogas. “While LPG scarcity has become a major issue elsewhere, it is not a concern in our village,” says Raj Kumar Yadav (36). »cONTINUED ON pAgE 2 Lucknow