Chak De! India : The Review

The greatest challenge in reviewing a movie is that when you are writing the review a few weeks after its release, all the choicest adjectives (and expletives) are already taken and you have a dual challenge of not only being honestly critical about the movie, but also ensure that it doesn’t sound cliched! In the case of ’Chak De’, this task is even more difficult, since not only adjectives have been taken, but also all the aspects of the movie have been thoroughly discussed.

And what the heck this movie deserves every ounce of that adulation. So, since I didn’t have anything new to say,I decided to go ahead and find my own stars in this crew. And believe me, it was a very very difficult decision to assign this ranking!

1) Jaideep Sahni: Story,Screenplay and Dialogues.
Writer of last year’s critically appreciated ’Khosla Ka Ghosla’ is in stupendous form this year as well! Sahni dribbles his narrative through so many issues, each bigger than the other, and yet keeps his pace.

He comments on media, which in order of its 24x7 frenzy makes mountain out of thin air, making demons out of errant humans (I really wonder why AajTak agreed to get roped in, for a sequence that clearly shows media on a wrong foot!), on gender inequality and stigma faced by North Eastern citizens (specially the utterly vicious and polluted mindset against NE girls), on the lack of sportsman spirit in this country, which lauds the victors and crucifies the losers (I remembered Chetan Sharma and tried to think what happened to him after that last ball, which was hit for a six by Javed Miandad, in Sharjah), on linguistic divisions and definitely most ruthlessly on the association culture of Indian sports bodies.

And I can write a whole review dedicated only to his dialogues!

2) Amitabh Shukla: Editor
He could very well have been the rank 1 in this list. With longest ever footage canned by a Hindi film, his must have been a mammoth task to cut out the most engrossing 2.5 hours out of it, and he does it so well that he almost gives this film pace of a thriller.

3) Rob Miller: Sports Coordinator, Action Director
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the man behind those wonderful, edge-of-the-seat action hockey matches. He ensures that the movie has a great energy and the soul of film, hockey is as lively as it deserves to be.

4) Shimit Amin : Director
Ohh well, please forgive me that captain of the ship is not in the top three of this list, but this is just because his technicians are absolutely great. Doing only his second film, let’s hope Amin gives some sane ideas in the head of his mentor, RGV, whose ’Aag’ has been reduced to cinders in one weekend only!
He must have brought smiles to the faces of Yashraj Films’ honchos who were under heavy fire after a miserable year with "Ta Ra Rum Pum’ and ’Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’.
(A stray thought: Having the man whose life you are making the movie on, in your team definitely helps. I am talking about Mir Ranjan Negi, who is the hockey coach of this movie!)

5) Salim Suleiman: Music
Fabulous background score! There is passion and energy in the music which adds thump to the flavor of the film. If ’Chak De’ wants you to pump your fist in the air with joy of victory, ’Maula’ really tugs your heart strings.

Also Rans:
Cinematographer Sudeep Chaterjee who has captured hockey matches, skyline of Melbourne and Delhi’s India Gate with great flourish!
Art Director Sukant Panigrahy : Attention to details, really caught my attention. All the teams play in their real country colours and ball is a real FIH approved one!!
Casting Director Abhimanyu Ray : He is the guy who collected that team of 16!

That brings us to Shahukh ’Kabir’ Khan and his gang of 16! You all have seen them and adored them, so I won’t say much except that my favorites are Vidya Malavde (playing Vidya Sharma) and then Anaitha Nayar (playing Aliya Bose)

And now again I am missing those adjectives to praise this movie!

Read more →

6 Faces of India

60 years of freedom, more than 6000 years of existence! India is an enigma which can't be described in words! 6 images can hardly be sufficient! But they are what my camera captured.

India vs Bharat Swanky overpriced malls to over-crowded 'wholesale-price' wholesale markets, everything is available for everyone. And it is this consumerism which makes India supremely confident and conveniently ignorant about the plight of flood, drought and apathy struck Bharat!

33 crore and counting... India seems to be overflowing with Gods of all colors, caste, creed and ofcourse religion! You can see 'samadhis' or 'majaars' bang in the middle of road, where no municipal commissionar can dare to touch them! The deep scars in the hearts of society, made by Vote bank politics in the name of religion, will take generations and definitely a divine intervention to heal.

Color Pallet Ask any foreigner, what hooks them to India. The answer 9 times out of 10 (or as Sunny Gawaskar said, 20 times out of 19) will be "Its Colors"! You can treat these colors as symbol of anything you want, the diversity stays.

Monumental Concern Once a symbol of love, The Taj according to me is now also a symbol of: 1) India being fastest growing market of cell-phones and internet users (how else we catapulted it to 4th rank in 'New 7 Wonders') 2) Absolutely myopic political leadership in India (Mayawati nearly put it on the death bed) 3) The Great Indian Spirit of Survival! (Surrounded by smoke spouting industries and vehicles, The Taj still Lives!)

Gods and Goddesses From Raj Kapoor to Rajinikanth, Indian Cinema (heavily "inspired" from everything else!) makes strides. And mind, I am not just talking about Bollywood or Hindi Cinema, every regional language shines through with its class (and kitsch!). Did someone say anything about 'Bhojpuri Spiderman'?

Hues of Freedom I had the option to interpret this photo in whatever way I want. Millions of children being deprived of education and being forced to work or beg in inhumane conditions or economic disparity being shockingly apparent in our society. But I chose to dedicate this to the smile on the face of child. For me it symbolises the dream, faith and innocence that we have not lost. Well, not completely!

'I' for India!

Read more →

Starved of Ideas!

The biggest Bollywood hit of this year as all media has been informing us is debutant Sagar Bellary's 'Bheja Fry'। Made on a shoestring budget of 65 lakhs, supposedly the film has earned Rs. 5 crore, that is nearly 10 times of the initial investment.

No, I am not going to go gaga over, how a 'small, low-cost film' has cracked the code and went on to rake the money while biggies have bitten the dust with alarming and almost clinically precise regularity. My point is a little different.

For those of you, who don't know, 'Bheja Fry' is a copy of french film 'Dinner le Cons' and a scene by scene copy। So, what's new in this? A number of Indian movies are copies of foreign films, why am I singling out this movie? Simply because I don't want to heap praise on a director who debuted with a copy, even though he has struck gold. Did you appreciate the guy in your class who scored high marks by cheating? If not, then why go on tom-tomming about making a hit film that is nothing but a copy? What kind of newer generation of film makers are being escalated into stardom? If people can't be original even in their first film, what do you expect them to do in their next releases when they have got more pressures from producers, distributors and may be critics!

(Just imagine, they copied 'Derailed', itself a flop film, to make 'The Train'. Even its tagline 'Some lines are never meant to be crossed' was lifted from the original!)

So, Sagar Bellary may be the blue-eyed boy of this idea starved film industry which thrives on DVDs of foreign flicks and media may fall head-over-heals reporting the economics of his HIT, I am not flattered.

Read more →

China's new horror show!

I had always believed that Indian politicians and bureaucrats are most short sighted people in the world but compared to what China is doing, these people have begun to seem like greatest statesmen! I really don't have words to express my disgust over the news of their building a 108 km metalled road to the base of Mt. Everest. And this is nothing else except showing their muscles at the time of 2008 Olympics when Olympic torch is carried to the Mt. Everest.

Myopic journos and writers infatuated with China's much flawed (in my opinion) gravity defying growth story may harp about how the boom in manufacturing industry has transformed a nation of over 1 billion a decade ago to a global super power now, but my concern is that the way China has destroyed ecological balance in delicate Himalayan region can be compared to worst carnage by mankind ever. You can imagine the intensity of construction activities considering they want the work to be finished in 3 months!

(On this note: The annual floods in north-east India caused by Brahmaputra and flash floods in Nepal,Bihar and West Bengal have been largely attributed to Chinese interventions by Indian security establishments! More)

The glaciers supplying water to major North Indian rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been melting at alarming rates and this new project by China is going to make the matters worse! Burning of fossil fuels, blasting of not-so-stable Himalayan rocks, and cutting of thousands of trees leading to loss of habitat for so many species. I fail to count the horrors!

But even more horrifying is the fact that perhaps nobody is going to be able to China from going ahead with its absurd plans! China's human rights record is so pathetic that anyone who dare protest will face crackdown, possibly death penalty or if he lucky, prison! I don't see any other country, including the all powerful G8, sticking up their nose in this matter. Neither I think is China going to heed to them if they do! Neither I expect any NGO to be able to make China deter from their plans. So forget Greenpeace to stage any dharna in Beijing!

(There has been no response from Greenpeace yet on this issue, and their response to reports that China is causing maximum emissions in the world, has been very weak and lame!)

So China is going to make a mess of one of the most delicate environments on the planet and I don't know what to do!

Read more →

Hyderabad Diary: Rumors spreading fast!

And taking the form of 'Unconfirmed Reports'! All the companies have issued travel and safety advisories to their employees. Most of the people have left early to avoid traffic congestions.

There have been 'unconfirmed reports' of a bus being set on fire in Ameerpet and tension in different parts of the city. None of this is true of course!

Central Government has rushed Rapid Action Force in the city. And there has been no other untoward incident.

Read more →

Hyderabad Diary: Bomb Blast

There has been a big bomb blast in Mecca Mosque near Charminar in Hyderabad. The death toll stands at 6 by now. 14 people are seriously injured. The timing of blast was aimed to get maximum damage as it coincided with Friday afternoon prayers, between 1.30 - 2 pm. An unexploded bomb was also found. The blast has considerable damage to this historical mosque, which is also the biggest mosque of Hyderabad.

Old Hyderabad is a Muslim dominated area dotted with Hindu population. Though police is not taking any chance, citizens of this part, mostly small businessmen, have shown a notable and worth emulating sense of communal harmony and not giving in to such divisive tactics.

Let's hope this time also, this incident is not allowed to take any political or communal overtones.
The phone numbers of Osmania hospital where injured people have been admitted, are:
+(91) - (040) - 24600121, 24739549, 24600146, 24600122, 24600124

More details:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/05_2007/blast-at-crowed-mosque-in-hyderabad-40838.html

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/18blast.htm

Read more →

An advice to M.J. Akbar (and similar self-appointed-cricket-experts)

Anupam is understandably sore after the defeat (so am I!) and so seems M.J. Akbar (He is a senior journo and editor of Asian Age). But Anupam is a true blue cricket fan who loves, respects and understands the game and its nuances, unlike Mr. Akbar who seems to be just one of those self appointed cricket experts who first praise the cricketers indiscriminately and then call for their heads, when they lose.

In his recent article in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (Bylines, 25th March "Money and Murder: The Making of a Bloodsport") he calls the minnows of the worldcup as 'Joke' teams, repeatedly. He calls Bermuda players as Jokers and Dwayne Leverock as "a sumo wrestler who defied the laws of gravity just once to take a magnificent catch against India". It doesn't matter to him that he should get his facts right as he believes Leverock is the captain (Irvine Romaine is the captain!).

What exactly he means when he calls new teams as 'Joke'? Even Sri Lanka was also considered to be a joke team till only 4-5 years before they won the world cup in 1996. And who does Mr. Akbar think he is to make fun of the efforts of these cricketers? On one hand we complain that cricket is not played in enough countries and when new countries try to make their mark, cynics like him ridicule them. More than anything else, it is the love of the game that makes these 'cricketers' practice on weekends when they are not working for their livelihood. But what will Mr. Akbar understand? I doubt he has ever played cricket, forget loving the game.

He is quick to blame whole of the world: players, BCCI & ICC, politicians ("not least being the politicians, from Bengal to Jharkhand to Maharashtra to Kerala, who have muscled into cricket space in the hope that it will get them votes"), corporates and even poor commentators, but what about the bunch of 'jokers' Mr. Akbar is heading? He is the president of Editor's Guild of India. Hope you get my drift. Who is flaring this fire of cricket hysteria? Who is annointing the debutant cricketers as youth icons after their first match winning wicket haul or century? I remember well that it was a TOI article which called Dhoni 'rockstar' after his first century. Clap them when they are doing well, slap them when they are not, you will always get audiences.

And in a cricket-crazy nation, it has some other benefits as well. So when CNN-IBN asks you to sms a CHEER to 2622, this campaign is sponsored by LG and there is a revenue sharing with the service providers or when HT's world cup special is sponsored by Nokia and Tata Sky, some one out there is smiling more than due to journalistic pleasure.

Mr. Akbar is a senior journalist so I can understand that he is suffering from what Vir Sanghvi calls 'Editoritis' ("Its symptoms includes an inability to say “I don’t know” to any question") but for some things, he can better keep his mouth shut.

More: Read Seema Goswami's column in HindustanTimes.com here

Read more →

Titanic 2 - The Sequel - Jack's Back

Woof!!!
After you have seen it, goto: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/04/titanic-two-the-surface.html

Read more →

The Hypocrisy of Indian Media

I don't know if it would have been actually better if ULFA had not called off their boycott of the 33rd National Games being held in Guwahati. Perhaps then there would have been some news coming from Games venue, even if related to security concerns.

I am actually shocked by sort of complete blackout of any news related to National Games! Not even any hint of the event on the news scrollers! Not even a 2 column report on page 13 of any daily! And this is at a time when news of Superbowl is beginning to flood us, not to mention live telecast of English Premier League soccer! How many of us actually care to know if Beckham is going to any Los Angeles club or what was the goal difference between Barca and Chelsea in their last league match?

But the sportspersons playing in Guwahati are our own countrymen and best of them would be representing us on international level. Forget patriotism (it is too much to ask from these hypocrite media organizations!), don't we deserve the news even from a journalistic point of view?

And when these athletes don't win medals in Asiad and Olymipics, 'experts' will be called in the studios to discuss the falling standards of sports in India! All sorts of theories will be given and the fact that media itself is shying of its responsibilities will be conveniently swept below the carpet.

I have come to believe that only big bucks sell. So after cricket, EPL and SuperBowl will come. Indian sports and sportspersons can go to hell.

If you want any information about games, you can visit http://www.33rdnationalgames.nic.in/

Read more →

Mint Fresh Upgrades!

Mint Fresh: Hindustan Times Group launched two new brands recently in Delhi market. Their long-awaited business publication "In Association With The Wall Street Journal", which will be available in Mumbai also, is titled 'MINT'. (The place where they make coins, not the Polo or Mint-O, you moron!) Also making waves, or rather sound waves, is Fever 104 FM, launched in association with Virgin, UK.

Lately many media houses have taken the collaboration route to get direct access to global markets, money and content. CNBC-TV 18 was the pioneer in Indian Business channels. Both CNN-IBN and Times Now (Times Group and Reuters collaboration) have completed 1 year and their success shows that the trend is there to say. In print media most of the Indian papers are on content sharing agreements with foreign (mostly US and UK papers like Washington Post, New York Times, Guardian etc.) dailies.

The first impressions of Mint are very good (I have seen the online version!) and it looks very refreshing and inviting. But it remains to be seen if mint is able to make enough money to dent the popularity of leading bizz dailies like ET, Business Standard, Financial Express etc.

'Upgrage': Just read an article in The Guardian that coined a new word 'upgrage', which means 'the uncontrollable anger which occurs whenever a software upgrade deemed to be either essential or beneficial proves to be a pointless waste of your time'.

The article titled, 'The Vista upgrade saga' also says that Vista will render thousands of graphics cards, RAMs, monitors or even whole computers useless as very few computers fulfill the hardware requirements of the new MS OS.

You need to install a software called Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor which will scan your system hardware and installed software to inform you, which Vista variant your system can run (Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium or Vista Home Basic) and the reasons (insufficient hardware or 'compatibility issues' with installed programs!) if you can't.

The Advisor goes online to look for updates, so even if you pass the test currently, I don't think you can sleep peacefully for long!

I haven't had the Vista version of upgrage but definitely I have experienced it earlier. When Yahoo! 'highly recommends' upgrades for Yahoo! Messenger which do little from making Yahoo.com your homepage and Yahoo Search your default search engine, if you are using Firefox. Or when Real Player stops playing songs claiming an upgrade is available (ditto with QuickTime) and Acrobat showing popups asking you to download recent upgrades.

I recalled this article by Richard Stallman as I read this report. For long sci-fi writers have painted a rosy picture of independent programs managing themeselves and you without your intervention. Stallman's version puts the future in a different contrast!

Read more →

On This Republic Day ...

The two facets of a Republic: On this republic day, as the news channels beamed images of a resurgent, vibrant and proud-to-be-India-on-camera India amidst news of separatist groups protesting or observing bandhs, the mercury of my dilemma soared northwards.

Each time they show these kind of visuals of happy, dancing, talking-on-latest-cellphone Indians to project the image of NEW India, somewhere at the back of mind, emerge the images of hungry and extremely malnourished children, everyday mounting toll of farmers committing suicide and many others who are victims of apathy of not only Governments but perhaps of this new 'resurgent' India as well.

Then the sceptical me asks: what and whom this celebration is for? A celebration by the rich/middle class, of the rich/middle class, for the rich/middle class?

And the hopeful me replies: don't be sceptical you jerk. If you have so much pain in the heart for the deprived, don't just shatter keys, go out and dirty your hand in helping them. This one day is a reminder that we have moved a lot but we still have a lot of ground left to cover. No point cribbing over failures, but to highlight the successes and get INSPIRED.

DD Blues: The live telecast of R-Day parade on Doordarshan's National channel was typically old fashioned and hence somewhat nostalgic.

Actually the whole parade seems to be exactly what it seemed to be years ago, when I almost always missed the live telecast (going to school on the two national holidays was compulsory!!) and had to catch the glimpses on the DD's news bulletins which were of course very few and gave very summarizing coverage.

I tried to know the names of all the units marching and the armaments and equipments on display. And though all the tableaus had almost similar themes (and it seems will continue to have same themes for next 1432 years!) there was an excitement of watching all of them and knowing who was the winner.

I can't understand, just why can't DD make the coverage more informative, interactive and vibrant? Of course claiming some one else's feed of a cricket ODI as your 'legitimate right' is much easier than doing some innovation on your own. Mr. Priyaranjan Das Munshi are you listening?

Read more →

Someone save my state. Please!!!

The missing rivers: The saints and devotees refused to take a bath in Sangam this year due to extremely high level of pollution in the holy rivers. What a shame! We are a nation of more than (supposedly) 330 million deities and this is what we have made of two of our greatest and holiest rivers. And the rate at which Gangotri and Yamnotri glaciers are melting, we may not have these rivers for long.

Why don't VHP and RSS make failure of Ganga and Yamuna Action Plans an issue? Why don't they protest against factory owners who are dumping untreated effluents out in the rivers, and the officials are letting them do so? With the wide reach these organizations have got, it would be much better for country (and Hindus also!) if they could educate people in protecting the environment. But will they?

Any comments, Mr Bachchan? Did you know who are the biggest supporters of Saddam Hussain? No it's not the sunni community of Iraq, not Al-Qaida either. The honour goes to the leaders and party workers of Samajwadi Party in UP. They were protesting against hanging of Saddam Hussain in Agra and attacked a tourist bus. The police said that action will be taken against miscreants, but you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to understand that no officer would want his job in the line of fire, by acting against members of ruling party.

I wonder why nobody asks Mr. Amitabh Bachchan about his opinion on these matters of lawless ness in Uttar Pradesh. After all he is modelling for Samajwadi Party in UP and has 'family relations' with Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav! If we can have Amir Khan in the dock on cola-pesticide issue, then why not Mr. Bachchan?

Read more →

And the Indian of the Year is ....

Actually I am a little confused and ready to be termed a cynic but really I want to know what you think about this.Could anyone of you please help me understand exactly why Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are nominated for all the 'Indian of the Year' awards, every year? And if Amitabh Bachchan is not the Indian of the Year then he is 'Urban Indian of the Year' (NDTV, 2005). And even though Sania Mirza's rankings slip from 30s to 60s (she is 66th currently) she gets nominated for Indian/Sportsperson of the Year.

Actually what is the criteria for these awards? Being famous and earning enough through brand endorsements to last you a lifetime? Being in the news for any reason, just because you are a celebrity and breaking-news hungry media will fall head over heals to give you a coverage to keep it's news scrawlers rolling? Or simply because the real Indians who make the difference in the lives of many and deserve to be honoured, don't do a good job in increasing the TRP or readership counts?

NDTV's nominees of 'Indian of the Year 2006' include Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt (named as Munnabhai, perhaps they found it a little inconvenient to find their winner behind the bars under Arms Act!), Sania Mirza apart from Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, two other regular fixtures of the list since UPA came to power. I actually wrote them a mail saying them whether they really mean to honour the people and are true to these awards or this is just another gimmick to grab eyeballs by showing an 'Exclusive' with the high profile celebrity. To their credit they had named Kiran Desai (Winner, ManBooker Prize 2006), Arvind Kejrival (Magasasay Award winner and ardent supporter of Right to Information), C.L. Mattu (father of Priyadarshini Mattoo, for fighting for justice in her daughter's case) and Late Major Manish Pitambre (sacrificed his life fighting terrorists in J&K). But honestly I really don't believe any of these people will win. I don't have any doubts on sensibilities of Indian people but the fact is that we often vote for our idols rather the deserving winners. And hence are these awards not reduced to nothing more than popularity contests?

And risking your raised brows, is it somehow related to these celebs' fattenning paypacket from their modelling careers? Isn't a 14 point headline on frontpage (or a half-hour-special on primetime) announcing Amitabh Bachchan as 'Indian of the Year', a very good idea for PR? A win-win for both winner and the channel?

The Week and Outlook give their awards to a truly deserving person whose name you won't have heard ever before but that person would have made difference for his society and community. These awards are not based on reader's polls but decided by the editorial staff. Many others are also heroes from all the walks of life are also featured in these pages.

So I return to my original question, why are the celebrities nominated for such headline-creating-honours irrespective of their not so creditable achievements?

My Indian of the Year? Prof. R.P. Singh (VC, Lucknow University) for taking a step forward in the direction of cleansing higher education in UP. I wish him good luck and all success in 2007.

Read more →

Hyderabad Diary: Traditions in a Modern City

Sabarimala Sojourn: If you are in Hyderabad (or anywhere in South India) and you see your boss wearing all blacks (and I don't mean 'The Matrix' attire), an ordinary full sleave shirt and a simple pant and barefooted, don't passout! He has no plans of going to any asylum nor is he mourning, he is just planning a trip to the shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabrimala.

He will call you 'Swami' and you will have to do the same, call him 'Swami'. He will be having only one meal a day that would have been cooked by himself or by someother Swami. He won't be clipping nails, or shaving or even going for a haircut. And all this for at least 41 days! So if you thought that you could go to Sabrimala for a picnic, just dump that idea.

Every year millions of devotees throng to this famous and recently controversial shrine where entry of women between 10 and 50 years is banned because it is said Lord Ayyappa was a 'brahmachari'. Nothing against Him but I won't ever want to get a glimpse of a God whose 'Purohits' have such a sexist mindset.

City Lights: Reliance Industries started their retail foray by launching Reliance Fresh stores in Hyderabad. The company plans to open 40 stores in Hyderabad of which 17 are operational. One of them is just across the road from my apartment.

The city also boasts of India's first specialized convention center (the company calls it South Asia's best, I don't vouch for that) Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) developed by a joint venture between Dubai's Emaar Properties and Andhra Pradesh Investment Infrastructure Corporation. A new airport is coming up. This year's Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas and visit of US President also added to the high profile of the city.

I think Hyderabad has a significant edge over its South Indian counterparts like Chennai, Bangalore and Trivendram. There is no political/linguistic chauvenism like Chennai, no infrastructure bottle necks like Bangalore and no labor problems like Trivendram. Though uneven development of state and Telangana issue are definite party poopers. Just hoping that Government manages to sustain the development, not only of the city but also of whole state.

Read more →

Life in a hidden city

Allahabad is one of the best places to grow up ,if you want to see and understand India's middle and lower middle class society wihout the glasses provided by bullish management gurus betting big on these millions of people for their ability to act as 'consumers', and from a viewpoint that is unmatched for clarity. After all you will be one of those millions, whom you want to understand.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been a part of this middle class madness. This city hosts thousands of boys aged 15-35 coming from districts of eastern UP and Bihar (Many others go to Varanasi), who study in various government colleges/University/Coaching centers preparing for medical/engineering/administrative services/clerical services and whatever else you have! Most of these boys come from villages and their family's occupation is farming. The money is scarce and watching a movie, sitting on the front benches, on a ticket of 10 Rs. is sort of a luxury. The usual mode of recreation is a walk with friends on the banks of Gangaji and a cup of tea at the local 'hotel' in the evenings. The single room is shared by two or three (even four at times!) guys and it acts as living room, kitchen, bedroom and most importantly study room!

But there is something else as well. The discussion on any topic, be it India's stance in the World Economic Forum or any physics numerical question from Irodov raises an intensity of discussion that is as captivating as it is motivating. An electric emergency light or an inverter is an unaffordable luxury and hence candles or kerosene lamps are the sole support for late night studies that are mandatory to offset the time spent in cooking, cleaning and other daily chores.

The life is tough and it is this tough life that gives you a tough mindset. The viewpoints that you take here during these discussions are almost guaranteed to last a lifetime. The values, principles and ideals (how muchsoever outdated and laughed-at these words may be in urban lingo) are imprinted firmly in your mind. The scarcities force you to live a simple life and resist the temptations. Every success has got an idol and a sense of giving back to the society from where it has emerged and every failure is comforted with a precedent.

This is an India, so vibrant, so visible and yet so hidden from the world. After all this India does not play any role in the game of billions for the management Gurus.

Read more →

The toughest question ever!

The train from Mumbai to Lucknow was choc-a-bloc, and despite having a reservation, Nakul and I had to adjust with three others sharing the berth with us. The day had just started and conversation was about to.

And it did and predictably veered to the familiar territory: politics and ultimately terrorism. In India, commuters won't discuss about politics only if they are daily passengers, commuting a couple of hours in the morning and back in the evening.

Apart from these guys, who discuss ONLY about schedule of trains and how they could/could not catch a particular train ("Saadhe saat waali passenger" or "Paune Aath waali local") and what others do in these cases. Rest of India keeps itself busy in cursing its politicians and worrying about Government's soft policy on terrorism.

And so my co-travellers did and I didn't. (Actually I was trying to think how to sit next to the girl sitting next to window. Don't get me wrong, all I wanted was to be close to window to take the photos!) And when I got rid of this issue (Got the desired seat) I started listening to what these people were talking.

The talks were about Mohammad Afzal and why he should be hanged, rather why is there even a question rising about his pardon. About how all Muslims are abetting terrorism in the country and that Uniform Civil Code is only way of stopping the politics of minority appeasement. About how we needed laws like TADA and POTA. And about lot many other things.

I just remembered reading columns of Vir Sangvi and Karan Thapar in Hindustan Times on this issue. And I just read one by Barkha Dutt. And all of these say the same thing: Howmuch ever we hate to admit it, hanging Afzal is not such a simple issue and hanging him will make a martyr of a murderer. And with people like Yaseen Malik and his compatriots of Hurriyat, this is not
exactly a fantasy.

All these journos admitted that they don't have any answer to question of whether Afzal should be hanged or not. If hanging him makes him a martyr, then not hanging him paints India as being soft towards terror. Barkha Datt raises a good point that if we had real perpetrators of crime, maybe then Afzal would have been a small fish and not been awarded a life sentence. But since actual culprits are either dead (the terrorists who actually attacked the parliament) or unreachable (LeT big bosses) and since we need someone to hang, it is Afzal!

Valid it may be, but useless in solving the mystry posed by question.

Don't know what will be fate of this man. I am not actually worried about him either, but I am really bothered about the fate of my country. I don't want it to bleed anymore. I don't want anymore 11/7.

I want the daily passengers to keep on discussing about train schedules!

Read more →

Hyderabad Diary: Traffic tremors and Biryani jolts

The traffic nightmare: When I landed up in Hyderabad about 8 months back, I used to leave in the morning, with a prayer on lips and hope in the heart that I will be able to survive city's traffic and come back alive.Thankfully things are not any worse now. the fear has gone from the heart, but wading through traffic is still a nightmare.

Hyderabadis lack even the basic sense of commuting as far as road travel is concerned. Many a times, traffic jams here are caused due to utter stupidity of divers and the ultimate desire of 'Need for Speed'. Large numbers of auto drivers, who are equally reckless (and play very loud Himesh Rshamiya numbers), do not help the conditions. To give the devil his due, AP Traffic Police is pretty efficient, though I feel they could be more strict and would do well to regulate city autorickshaws.

Funniest sight: An APSRTC bus trying to sneak away on HiTec City crossroads.

Biryani delights: Times Of India, Hyderabad (perhaps the only newpaper in the world which doesn't have an editorial page and uses its editorials as fillers!) is conducting a contest in which readers will vote for their favorite Biryani joint.

Hyderabad is famous for its Biryani, both veg. and nonveg. I won't be exaggerating, if I say that it is one of the symbols of the city along with Charminar. Almost all the anglo-hindi movies based in Hyderabad (e.g. Hyderabad Blues (HB) and HB2 or 'The Angrez') feature songs about Hyderabad and Biryani finds its place of pride in them. Andhra Pradesh's tourism sites too mention Biryani very prominently. For recipes you can Google it out.

I have been trying to get a piece of this culinary culture by trying to relish veg. Biryani across the city restaurants. Though this has had an impressive impact on my weight and paunch, anything for the sake of serving society!

Read more →

A realization and an apology!

The euphoria about 'Gandhigiri' had initially turned me off!

I am one of those who firmly believe that media has got yet another buzzword to fill the bulletins and telecast 'specials' about.

And as I have understood over the years that there is no buzzword more powerful than that given by a superhit movie. Afterall it's a win-win scenario. The movie rises above its reel life and aquires a halo as we are force-fed the fact that movie has its significance in real life as well. And as we watch the news channel mesmerised by the movie and at times the stars who are appearing on news channels as much as (well almost!) movies, someone counting the channel TRP grins wider.

The euphoria about 'Gandhigiri' had initially turned me off. Initially!

But now I have realized that I am getting a clearer picture of whole issue.

As much the news channels and their analysts claim that Gandhi has been reinvented by the movie 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and 'Gandhigiri' is going to reinforce his values among society, I believe:

1) The sudden spurt of news and 'impacts' of Gandhigiri are not actually new: Any news about demonstration against injustice which was a drab 'aandolan' or 'protest' till the other day is now presented with a chuckle as an instance of 'Gandhigiri'. Is Satyagraha new to this country? For any protest Indians take the tried and tested path of peaceful protests (read sloganeering which occasionally gets violent!) or civil disobedience which is nothing but strike. Candle marches started by 'Rang De Basanti' is just another variant of peaceful protests. So isn't any 'Gandhigiri' headline, about protests, is not just a way to grab eyeballs? (I was very much tempted to use Gandhigiri in title for this blog also!)

2) Media has got a very unidimensional view of Gandhi's policies: Was Gandhi only about non-violence? I agree that preaching non-violence and propagating its virtues in the world was the core of his ideology and that this is most relevant in today's world divided on numerous lines. But what about his ideas about truth, honesty and religious tolerance? Are these values too outdated to be even considered? Then why do these values seem to be untouched by 'Gandhigiri' movement?

Perhaps this is the time to glorify these values as well.

Finally, it's time for an apology. To a man who could have made his way in history had he lived a little longer. A politician who resigned from the post of railway minister after a train accident claiming it was his responsibility. A Prime Minister who lead India from the front during a war and belied his physique with his governance.

There was no mention of Lal Bahadur Shastri's birthday on Oct 2nd, even in the news scrollers of news channels. Afterall there is no 'Shatrigiri' in any movie!

Read more →

Why is Oscar a 'Paheli' for us?

There was a very lively discussion on NDTV 24*7 about 'Whether India sends its best films for Oscar Awards' yesterday (21st September). Hosted by Sonia Singh, the panel had Prasoon Joshi (who needs no more introduction, but for those who don't know still, he is the guy behind 'Thanda matlab CocaCola', Creative Director (South and South-East Asia) McCann Ericsson and lyricist of 'Rang De Basanti'), Vinod Pandey (producer, director and head of the Jury that selected 'Paheli' as India's entry last year!) and Saibal Chaterjee (journalist and film critic).

Vinod Pandey looked almost embarrassed and apologetic as almost everyone asked him why was 'Paheli' sent as India's official entry. He mumbled something about film being 'seeped in Indian ethos' which nobody accepted. Joshi made a very important point to which I agree completely: Our film industry is still not sure whether it wants an Oscar or not. On one hand seniors like Amitabh Bachchan say that we don't need an Oscar and on the other we send our films with a lot of pomp (within India ofcourse, in the west nobody even knows about it!). The result: consider these gems:

• In 2003, no film was sent.
• In 2002, 'Devdas' was sent when according to critics there were better non-Hindi (I don't liking 'regional' word) films in the fray.
• In 1998, India sent 'Jeans'. The reason, producer Ashok Amritraj was leading the selection committee. (Contrast this with 'Paheli', when Amol Palekar resigned from the National Award committee since his film was a contender.)
• In 1991, 'Aagantuk' was the national award winner, 'Lamhe' was the Filmfare awardee yet India sent RK Films' Rishi Kapoor starrer 'Henna'!!
  

Another thing that I noted was that all the top contenders for this year's entry are Hindi films only, even if it means having a crap like 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna'.

There is a need of having a broader look at 'Indian' cinema and select the best and for God's sake keep vested interests out of this. Otherwise nobody is stopping us from sending movies and expecting some miracle to happen! We have got plenty of experience of this.

Read more →

High education, Low politics

Every other week there happens some thing or other that says that more the things change, more they remain same. The places may vary, the faces may change but the shock value, the insensitivity stays unchanged.

As if Jessica Lal, Neetish Katara or Priyadarshini Mattoo tragedies were not enough, Ujjain shot up for its claim to shame with murder of Professor Sabharwal of Madhav Singh College. Having spent my teen life in Allahabad where student politics in the University is as vicious as it gets, the violence in campus is nothing new for me. Indeed it was surprising if there was no news of bomb explosions or firing in campus or rampage in academic blocks didn't appear in newspapers for a month! (I am not aware of the scenario nowdays)

But this is something that I never heard.

On 26th August, members of BJP's student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) threatened and ultimately beat Prof. H.S. Sabharwal to death. He was 62 and barely 6 months from his retirement. Eyewitnesses claim that Police did nothing except watching and they claim that this is not for the first time, the 'students' have misbehaved with teaching (or non-teaching) staff. Though for the first time they have killed someone. As I am writing this, ABVP leaders have surrendered but they have been charged with 'manhandling' instead of murder.Not that this is surprising. The complaint itself was lodged after intense pressure from media and opposition while Police kept on claiming lack of eyewitnesses till the librarian came on-camera and claimed that he has already appeared before Police.

This incident may come like a shock to many but this is just another example of lawlessness creeping in universities in the garb of student politics. In Delhi, victory in Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election is supposed to be an indicator of victory in state elections. And needless to say that every candidate flays the rules set by election commission for an upper limit on expenditure. Those who claim that it is not possible to contest elections on shoe-string budget lie. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) does that every year.

Political parties and student unions cried blood when Election Commission suggested an upper limit of 23 (or 25) years on contesting University elections. So you don't need to be Sherlock to understand the real motive of those contesting University elections. Crime is creeping in politics at its 'grassroots' level.

It's high time that someone cleans this mess.

Read more →