The Indian photographer captured a quiet moment at the popular Maha Kumbh Mela religious festival in Prayagraj

Divyanshu Verma regards the north Indian city of Prayagraj as deeply special: not only is it home, it is also where he began his journey into street photography. This image was taken in the Sangam area during the huge Hindu purification festival Maha Kumbh Mela – maha meaning great because this was the 12th in a row of the ritual that takes place once every 12 years.

“It’s a massive spiritual gathering and the energy is entirely unique,” Verma says. “The place was incredibly crowded with people who had travelled from far and wide, all drawn by faith, but there was a strange sense of calm within the chaos. I wandered through the crowds with my phone, observing rituals and soaking up the powerful atmosphere.”

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The singer on being a school bully, having a panic attack on stage, and ‘fearless bitch’ Elton John

Born in Washington state, Brandi Carlile, 44, released her self-titled debut album in 2005. She went on to win 11 Grammy awards and is part of the country supergroup the Highwomen. She has collaborated with Joni Mitchell and this year released the album Who Believes in Angels? with Elton John. Their song Never Too Late was Oscar nominated. She has published a memoir, and established the charitable Looking Out Foundation . Her eighth studio album, Returning to Myself, was released last month. Carlile lives in Washington state with her wife and two daughters.

When were you happiest?
I’m the happiest right now. I can see that I’m in a kind of sweet spot: my parents are alive, my kids are little, my wife is hot and my body doesn’t hurt.

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The Age of Disclosure is a new film featuring high-ranking government officials who claim proof of extraterrestrial life has been covered up

Director Dan Farah grew up with aliens. As a child of the 80s and 90s, pop culture was awash with extra-terrestrial sightings. “How can you be a kid watching movies like ET and Close Encounters, TV shows like The X Files, and not end up curious about whether or not we’re alone in the universe?” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “And whether or not the US government does, in fact, hold secrets from the public.”

Farah’s exposure to otherworldly beings in fiction kickstarted an interest that’s now morphed into a professional quest, and the subject of his documentary debut The Age of Disclosure. Here, Farah makes the case that the United States has been hiding, for decades, a font of information related to UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) – the acronym rebrand of the stigma-ridden UFO.

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Prepare to have your perspective shattered by the comedian’s visits to our US tech overlords. The upcoming advancements for those with disabilities are life-changing

Washing machines liberated women to get soul-crushing jobs that ate up their free time. Social media gave the world one revolution – before it destabilised democracies everywhere else. Now AI is here, and its main job seems to be replacing screenwriters. It’s easy to fall into techno-pessimism, but new documentary Seeing into the Future (Sunday 23 November, 8pm, BBC Two) has a different angle. For disabled people, tech has already brought about life-changing advancements. And we haven’t seen anything yet.

It is presented by comedian and Strictly winner Chris McCausland, who is blind. Some of the most casually astonishing scenes occur early on, showing how he uses his phone – essentially, an eye with a mouth. “What T-shirt is this?” he asks, holding up a garment. “A grey T-shirt with a graphic logo of Deftones,” his phone obliges. It can even tell him if the shirt needs ironing. But it’s where all this is going that fascinates McCausland, so he heads to the US, to see what’s in development at the houses of our tech overlords.

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Fans of The Great and Mary & George will love The Serpent Queen. Plus: it’s the Blackpool bonanza on Strictly! Here’s what to watch this evening

10.05pm, Channel 4

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Ariana Grande sparkles in the concluding part of the Wicked Witch tale, and the first batch of final episodes of the retro sci-fi juggernaut are unleashed

Wicked: For Good
Out now
Was the decision to split this Broadway musical big-screen adaptation into two parts motivated by art or money? Part two is here, so you can judge for yourself. The Wizard of Oz-inspired story picks up with defiant “Wicked Witch” Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) living in exile, while Glinda (Ariana Grande) relishes her own popularity.

The Thing With Feathers
Out now
Max Porter’s novel Grief Is the Thing With Feathers gets the big-screen treatment, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as the dad who must raise his two young children alone after his wife dies unexpectedly. With David Thewlis as the voice of the crow who appears to him.

The Ice Tower
Out now
Marion Cotillard stars as a star: an actor called Cristina, who is playing the beautiful Snow Queen in a 1960s adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic that also inspired Frozen. But though the other lead here is a 15-year-old girl, this is no Disney fable, but a tale of idols and obsession.

Sisu: Road to Revenge
Out now
An unexpected hit in 2022, the first Sisu film was a violent action thriller in which a grizzled prospector murdered scores of Nazis to defend his bags of gold. Now the man who refuses to die is back, and this time he’s taking on the Red Army. Catherine Bray

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Anti-AI and pro-beauty, Leo XIV has proved an unlikely custodian of culture – and a patron of meaningful work in a world of algorithmic slop

So, who figured that Pope Leo XIV would end up being kind of cool? Not me. Although as a lapsed Catholic I had little stake in the conclave race, I felt that there was something unglamorous, dare I say godless, about a first-ever supreme pontiff born in the US, let alone one hailing from Chicago, the same city as Hugh Hefner, Hillary Clinton and Kanye West. There were greater apprehensions beyond taste, too. Would this finally be the ordination of the reinvigorated Maga movement after the death of the compassionate Pope Francis? When Leo appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica wearing the traditional red mozzetta cape eschewed by his predecessor, it was too easy to jump to conclusions.

By the grace of God, the red mozzetta was a red herring. Very quickly, American conservatives went into meltdown over the pope’s patent anti-Maga leanings and his empathy for migrants and marginalised groups – “anti-Trump, anti-Maga, pro-open borders and a total Marxist,” fumed far-right activist Laura Loomer . That alone has been a relief. But perhaps even more significantly, Leo has demonstrated the benefits an American bishop of Rome can have for the rest of us, Christian, Catholic or otherwise: that is through his exemplary cultural leadership, and close engagement with the arts.

Jason Okundaye is an assistant newsletter editor and writer at the Guardian. He edits The Long Wave newsletter and is the author of Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain

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Matt Smith is the ultimate bad dad in a Nick Cave novel adaptation, and the Oz prequel musical reaches the end of the road. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

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As Wicked: For Good premieres in the UK, find out just how close its costars are, why so many of the cast are vegan and the truth about Grande’s move away from pop

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen the musical, have no interest in the film or are left cold by red carpets: Wicked season is here again, and you will be made to pay attention. After last year’s chaotic press tour for the first instalment, giving rise to some of 2025’s biggest and most bizarre pop culture moments, all eyes are now on the rollout of the sequel Wicked: For Good and the theatre-kid capers of its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Here’s what you need to know.

1. They are still ‘holding space’ for one another …
Last year’s Wicked press tour was an infamous love-in for Grande and Erivo. Such was the intensity of their connection and mutual affection, both were frequently moved to tears in interviews. The enduring image was of Erivo stroking Grande’s index finger in response to a journalist’s unintelligible remark about people “holding space” with the song Defying Gravity. Grande poked fun at her and Erivo’s histrionics, declaring them “insufferable” and “the most annoying” – but their bond still appears unbreakable. At the New York premiere of Wicked: For Good on Monday, Erivo declined to give interviews to preserve her voice. Grande was reported to also be skipping press “in solidarity”, but couldn’t help plugging her costar’s forthcoming projects “as Erivo looked on smiling”, as CNN described the scene . Asked what they were feeling, ahead of the film’s final instalment, Grande spoke for them both: “overwhelming gratitude”. Late on Thursday, she tested positive for Covid.

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