Why I don't like Shahrukh Khan - the actor

I'd said I'd elaborate upon this quite some time back, but am only getting down to it now. To be fair this should've been done a long time back; one cannot allow the myth to be propagated unabated.

I don't have any problems with Shahrukh Khan the individual. I actually admire him for being well read, his generally civilized public demeanour, his sense of humour, for what he has achieved in life. I believe he is an extremely intelligent human being who would have succeeded in any sphere he would've ventured into. But I do have problems with the public image of the man. And I have serious concerns about the blatant media manipulation behind this public image.

While I will give Shahrukh his due (one must): he is very popular, he is an extremely energetic performer, he has a modicum of sparingly used talent as well; one thing I will not concede to is the myth that Shahrukh Khan is a good actor.

Shahrukh is at best a mediocre actor. Even if you do not compare him to previous greats like Dilip Kumar & Amitabh Bachchan, even if you compare him to his generation of actors like Aamir Khan, Akshay Khanna & now Akshay Kumar, he comes up short. And we're not even going down the Om Puri-Naseer-Anil Kapoor path! So that should really put an end to the argument that he is a "good" actor. He is like I said before an actor who has uptil now displayed only limited range. This may be in part because he has hitherto chosen to deliver only what the Indian movie-going masses required. There may be an actor inside him that he chooses to let out only occasionally. Let us examine that argument as well.

To be fair to him, he has recently attempted genuinely different roles (Swades and Chak De India), and he did put in a fairly decent performance in Swades. But again it is not the kind of performance that will come up while Om Puri's, Naseer's or Amitabh's performances are being discussed.

To every well educated, exposed mind it should be amply clear that while SRK is a huge star in crazy ol' Bollywood, calling him a good "actor" is belittling the other more serious practitioners of the craft. They may be too dignified to say anything, but it must hurt them when such irresponsible rubbish is printed.
Enough said about his acting abilities. Let us move on to more the sinister reasons for my dislike of SRK the "star".

Why is it that one doesn't read the opposite point of view in any form of media about SRK? Why hasn't even a single film journo written about SRK's limited talent? There are multiple magazines (and filmi channels now), and he has been around for over a decade. Are you trying to tell me that not even once in the last 10 years has a fair analysis of him as an actor has been attempted? There has to be a reason for this. And while I don't understand the workings of the Hindi film industry(!) or the media that thrives on it's fringes, one thing is clear enough: There is a filmmaker-filmstar-media nexus that is for the first time in Indian Cinema's history, manipulating the already semi-literate Indian moviegoer to further their cause!

When Anil Kapoor was attempting to fill the superstar shoes for a while, the media went all over town calling him manipulative. But you don't hear the media write anything negative about Shahrukh Khan. There's been talk about SRK buying awards, about doing favours to Filmfare & others to win them over & garner more awards, and I agree that it could be nonsense, but there's no mention of it in the media! Forget manipulative, the media has never even referred to his acting style as cinematic, forget a fair, unbiased analysis of the star! No wonder serious journalists have so much contempt for not just the Stardust/Filmfare types but also the Bombay Times kinds. It's quite a shame actually! In a greater sense, it is a reflection of the morality of the modern Indian. There are hardly any champions of truth left.

Anyway, Filmfare awards are hardly the barometer of acting talent. They're essentially popular awards that are voted for by the unqualified general public and very different from the National Awards that are judged by a jury/panel of experts. And the news is that SRK hasn't won any National Awards, while Ajay Devgan & Sunny Deol have been previous winners. Actors like Mamooty, Anil Kapoor, Mithunda & Amitabh Bachchan have all been winners. But no SRK.

So there you have it: I don't like SRK the star because of these 2 reasons:
. His limited acting ability and
. His being part of this blatant media manipulation.

There is another reason to not like him, but since it's a personal decision that he needs to take, I'll only touch upon it here.

SRK can use his stardom for great causes. He can influence public opinion against the BJP in Gujarat, lead an anti-spitting drive to clean up Indian roads, genuinely bring change about in India. But he hasn't done anything!

In contrast Shabana Azmi and even Aamir Khan recently have at least attempted to give back to society. And they're superior actors as well! When will the Indian public wake up???

And while I'm at it, here's the best review ever of SRK's latest OSO sorry film! Seriously! Best review ever! Looks like some of the movie-going public is waking up.

PS: SRK on being voted Sexiest Asian Man: "I get embarassed when people call me sexy."

Me: "You get embarassed??? I get embarrased when people call you sexy!!! What has the world come to!!!"

What's wrong with the PadmaShri?

While civilian awards are meant to honour citizens with noteworthy achievements, the flawed selection criteria leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the richly deserving kind. How come sportspersons & film-folk are accorded the same honour as literary giants, scholars & explorers???

Sania Mirza is barely twenty & with a fairly limited set of achievements has a PadmaShri to her name. Others such as Leander Paes, Azhar, Shabana Azmi & Sachin Tendulkar too have received Padma Shris. No doubt they've made contributions on the world stage, but these are all transient achievements (with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar). Their work will not live on for years to come and will in all probability have no great social impact.

Compare this to the lifelong work of people like Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Dr. Zahoor Qasim and Ali Jawad Zaidi, giants in their own fields, people who put India on the International map in fields like music, oceanography and literature as opposed to sports!
Others like Kaifi Azmi too received a PadmaShri. As did his daughter Shabana & son-in-law Javed Akhtar. Both of them will willingly acknowledge the superiority of Kaifi's brilliance over their own achievements. Yet the Govt. clubbed Kaifi's literary achievements with their (in comparision) dabbles in art?

I'm not belittling sport or cinema here; I'm just saying that most of civilized society will rate the Sistine Chapel over all of Navratilova's Wimbledon crowns! And over Citizen Kane or any other movie you please! And this comes from a die hard Tennis enthusiast! One who had to confirm the spelling of the aforesaid chapel on the net before hitting publish! Yet I realize that science & art has always held sway over sport for some reason.

So why are our awards lopsided? It's bad enough that we have so-called popular awards. Must our Govt. of India awards pander to popular taste too???

I don't want to make any random allegations, but a close look at the Padma Shri recipients list & Padma Bhushan recipients list does seem to point to the existence of lobbying. The more powerful a recommendation/lobbying, the better your chances of an award. As with everything else in the hands of the Indian Govt, I guess...

There is a story about of Ali Jawad Zaidi being shortchanged because of a recommendation/clerical error. He was supposed to have been awarded the Padma Bhushan but erroneously his name made it to the Padma Shri list. Genuine artists are never bothered by such things & Ali Jawad Zaidi let it go. But shouldn't someone in the department have been bothered enough to correct the error?

Why does everything in India seem so warped to me?

I dunno if ranting bloggers like me will help but I sure hope that leaders like Manmohan Singh, young blood like Rahul, Sachin & Jyoti and initiatives like Lead India bring more fairness & transparency into our system.

Our turn...!!!

Letter I received from a group called Citizens for Peace that I am a passive member of (but I am a member!!!). This one is important. Please read & ACT! They've done their job, it's our turn now!!!

Dear all,

First, thank you for joining this group. I had planned a cheerier first mail to all of you but circumstances dictate otherwise.I'm sending the text below on behalf of the trustees of Citizens for Peace, in my role as consultant on their web presence. But I also endorse the contents as an individual.This is about Tehelka's expose on the perpetrators of the violence in Gujarat in 2002, which you can see here: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.aspThis press statement has been posted here: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/26/press-statement-20071026/Press Statement - 26th October 2007The expose showing perpetrators of the 2002 carnage in Gujarat boasting about their crimes is an open challenge to all citizens of India. It is an urgent reminder that we must renew efforts to prosecute those who commit such crimes against humanity.We, Citizens for Peace, in particular appeal to the people of Gujarat to break silence and oppose the politics of hatred and terror. It is possible that many residents of Gujarat may have been unaware of the enormity of crimes committed in their state with open state support in 2002. Others may have hesitated to confront a truth so bizarre. Now, after the confessions, silence is equal to endorsement of the chilling crimes.Justice delayed is better than justice denied altogether. It will make a difference if citizens from all walks of life, across India, stand emphatically opposed to the continuing miscarriage of justice in Gujarat.We urge all citizens to:1. Write to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister demanding that they take immediate steps to prosecute the culprits of the carnage.2. Write to all national political parties in India asking how and why the constitutional crisis, of a dysfunctional judicial system in Gujarat, is allowed to persist and urging them to address this grave threat to the idea of India with utmost urgency.3. Write to the BJP, impressing on them that this is their chance to dissociate themselves from those responsible for these crimes, and to help this country make a new beginning towards justice for all.For the text of our letters please see these posts on our website: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/category/letters/gujarat-2002/“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”Citizens for Peace is a Mumbai based non-party group of volunteers committed to working for communal harmony and a vibrant secular polity. The Trustees of CFP are: Julio Rebiero, B.G.Deshmukh, Titoo Ahluwalia, Rina Kamath, Tariq Ansari, Dolly Thakore and Cyrus Guzder. The Managing Committee consists of: Titoo Ahluwalia, Tariq Ansari, Dolly Thakore, Dilip D’Souza, Gulan Kripalani, Pervin Varma, Rajni Bakshi and Devieka Bhojwani.In addition, CfP has posted open letters to- the Prime Minister: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-prime-minister-manmohan-singh/- the Home Minister: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-home-minister-shivraj-patil/- the BJP: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-bharatiya-janata-party-leaders-and-members/- all political parties: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-leaders-and-members-of-indias-political-parties/Do please pass these links around, discuss them, link to them from your personal websites and blogs, come by and add your comments to them if you like. Please feel free to use the text of these letters if you should choose to write to our leaders yourself.
Thank you

Things I cannot get out of my head...

However hard I try to get rid of them, there are some things that stick with me. Here are some of them. If you know how I can work on getting rid of some of the clutter in my head, let me know.

• My first licking in a street fight in Bombay. It's been 13 years but it still rankles. Though, self admittedly, this one is fairly insignificant, but it's here because it plays upon some small part of my brain occasionally.
• Not getting to meet my Dad before he died.
• Losing our baby: Was quite a shock. The worst shock that I had ever received. I have come to terms with the loss, but it took a while. The aftershocks were more difficult to deal with actually. The event needs to be over-riden with good news I think, but all that is in the hands of the Almighty.
• Job loss: So bloody unfair... While I have come to terms with the fact that the separation had more to do with the company than me, remnants of the event still float by occasionally in my head.
• We'd just moved to Pune after two personal tragedies (we'd lost a baby & my wife had tragically lost her mother a few months later), and both of us had taken up new jobs. My wife was relating to a colleague, the list of appliances we needed in the house. The conversation went like this:

Colleague: Do you have Appliance X?

Wife: No. Need one.

Colleague: Do you have Appliance Y?
Wife: No. Need one.

Colleague: Do you have Appliance Z?
Wife: No. Need one.

Then in an obvious reference to Deewar, the colleague goes: You have a Mother at least?

• Losing my Grandmother

All these things bother me I guess because I couldn't do anything to change their course. I was helpless, powerless. With the passage of time & with some effort, they bother me less each time they flit by, but up until recently they impacted me fairly negatively.

I know this post is in a very different vien from my usual rants, but I figured that the blog was supposed to be a personal diary among the many other things it has since become. So I went ahead anyway.

Tell me what you think.

On Religous Intolerance and Conspiracy

I was sitting in my supplier's cafeteria, happily eating a chicken panini, when again I heard words to this effect: "Sikhism is an offshoot of Hinduism; it originated as a Dalit rights movement and therefore...". For some reason this left me glaring at the speaker, & while I finished my sandwich and walked away, I am still seething half an hour later. I am not Sikh so I wonder why these words rattled me so much. It probably has to do with my abhorrence of the underlying conspiracy (or for that matter any attempts to cover/disguise/mutilate the truth) and the fact that I was face to face with one of it's perpetrators but unable to correct the impressions that his audience of 3 was forming.

Such conspiratorial utterings have also attempted to belittle Buddhism & Jainism. I don't know the root of these conspiracies, but I am told all aggression (veiled or otherwise) is a result of fear.

There is no denying the fact that the prophets of all 3 religions mentioned were originally Hindus, but to claim that they're therefore mere offshoots of Hinduism is as bizarre as claiming that Christianity is merely an offshoot of Judaism!

World over these religions are acknowledged as independent religions, not offshoots or sects of any other religion. Only in India does does one get to hear such nonsense. I am also a more than a little surprised to read that the Arya Samaj (who I previously believed to be a modern, progressive body) was one of the initiators of this thought process.

Read here, what Sikhs have to say about themselves.

And I wish there was a psychometric test that evaluated people for religious tolerance before allowing them into their organizations. And I also wish that the idiot from the cafeteria reads this!

Indian Tennis's contribution to World Peace

My favourite sport is Lawn Tennis. I've followed it eagerly & when I was younger I could rattle off the names of Wimbledon champions for the last 25 years!

Therefore 2 recent developments in Tennis make me extremely happy. They're actually 2 pairings: Sania Mirza-Shahar Peer & Rohan Bopanna-Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

The Sania-Shahar is a Muslim-Jew pairing that defies religous intolerance; and the Rohan-Aisam pair is an Indo-Pak pair that should gladden all pro-peace hearts both sides of the "original" border.

These pairings bring to light a couple of important points that we otherwise miss:
India despite it's riots is a more tolerant country than some others.
And people who want to achieve something in life (like these 4 people), do not allow their focus to be diluted by trivial considerations.

Interestingly Sania & Rohan are also partners in doubles & do duty for India in the Hopman Cup.

Three cheers to these 4 soldiers of peace & humanity. May God bless them & their mission!

More on Kalam...

Some time back I'd requested this. Recent information reveals that no one is above making mistakes, however great they're otherwise perceived to be.

Apparently President Kalam's presidential term was simply a reward for being supportive of the BJP - including its nuclear agenda.

I present excerpts from a leading national magazine for your perusal:
"Dr. Kalam has been called the People’s President. True, his simplicity has won him a huge fan following. Yet he signed a late night proclamation allowing the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly which the Supreme Court held to be illegal and “a subversion of the Constitution.” Thanks to him, a portrait of Savarkar hangs in the Central hall of Parliament — right opposite the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi in whose assassination he was once implicated."

Compare this with his predecessor, a low-profile, dignified man.

"Just days ago, Ms. Swaraj summarily dismissed President Narayanan, saying he couldn’t be compared with Dr. Kalam. It might have been a Freudian slip by the BJP spokesperson. In office, President Narayanan was a towering figure, twice returning for reconsideration questionable Union Cabinet decisions. He stood his ground on tricky issues — refusing to confer the Bharat Ratna on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and speaking his mind on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002. He called it a “grave crisis of society and the nation” and wrote to Mr. Vajpayee seeking Army intervention to control the killings. The letter, written in his last days in office, ensured that he would be denied a second term."

Read the full article here.

Let's have APJ Abdul Kalam continue as President

Revised since this came to light.

Dear all,

Our honorable president period ends by 2007. Some youngsters of INDIA set a site given below for requesting the Indiangovernment to extend his period for the next five years. If you are willing Dr.APJ to continue as president can enter their support in that website. Hurry UP. Please forward it to all Indians.

http://www.petitiononline.com/apj/

plz help!!!!!!

DONT THINK THAT SOMEONE ELSE SHALL VOTE...

U DO UR DUTY 1ST....

Best comeback line of all times...!

Marine Corp's General Reinwald was interviewed on the radio the other day and you have to read his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children.
Regardless of how you feel about gun laws you gotta love this!!!!

This is one of the best comeback lines of all time. It is aportion of National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about tosponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things areyou going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD: Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be aprostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended.

You gotta love them Marines!

Rules & us

One thing that bothers me is the inability of our countrymen to follow rules of any kind. We boast of a 4000 year old civilization but our conduct today is definitely barbaric. So while India is shining, we as a people have sunk to the depths of bad behaviour.

We spit, pee & defecate openly in public places. We litter at will. And these are people who claim to want to join the army as it signifies the ultimate patriotic thing to do. These are literate people from CBSE schools who were taught moral science & civics in school.

We insist on cutting lanes, taking illegal short-cuts, one-ways etc to save minuscule amounts of time/fuel. This only points towards either an illiterate or an inconsiderate mindset. I really wonder how we call ourselves superior as a race/civilization to the Brits or the Yanks. They're incredibly considerate people.

I know some of my fellow bloggers who're far more active & therefore far better networked than I am. I wish some of them would take this up as a social cause in their respective cities, and help make Indians more rule-compliant. It's going to come through better understanding and more civic policing. Any ideas on this are more than welcome.

More ridiculing hindi movies...

Very funny forward that I received. Am reproducing here for your consumption...

This is what would happen if a Hindi movie director was to direct Spiderman....

More Proof that Dr. Singh is the Messiah

When a publication of the calibre of the Economist says says it, you have to believe it:

http://www.nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id=43359

Keep this Government in Power, if you want a more prosperous India. An India with better infrastructure & better education. An India with greater social equality.

If you cannot see how that is true, you MUST BE Blind!

Moving Cities...

For the longest time, I said (and believed) that I would never move out of Bombay. My arguments were logically perfect - Which other city offers you similar job oportunities, or entertainment opportunities, the late nights, the bindaas people...?

But I hadn't taken fate into account. Nor the changing face of our cities. Nor my changing priorities.

I moved to Pune last week to take up a job. This was purely a career decision, but Bombay's deteriorating roads & traffic had been frustrating me immensely for the past year. A piddly 4 lane road masquerades as the Western Express Highway, totally ill-equipped to deal with the burgeoning vehicular population. Add to that the auto-wallahs predilection for cutting in front of your car at the slightest opportunity. Driving in the city had gotten increasingly annoying, and my road rage was at it's maximum. I really believe that a city like Bombay that is the financial capital of the country, investment hub for global companies and a city that is showcased to the world should have world class facilities. Instead what it has is global prices & small city amenities! My beloved Bombay had deteriorated so much over the past few years that I was tired of it. I think the last straw was approaching the National Park Flyover in Borivili at 80 kmph and seeing the ambling backside an elephant looming up in front of my car! I really lost it that day! This kind of stuff happens in rural India not in India's Premier City!!!

I'd seen Pune earlier and didn't mind it. It's made up primarily of educated, polite, non shiv sena Maharashtrian Brahmins. It's an education centre that is happily tolerant with it's numerous beef burger outlets. I was worried about it's narrower lanes & crazy two wheeler traffic but I wasn't too worried because I'd have to take the highway to work. But nothing had prepared me for the small town mindset of it's migrant population. Every single day to work & back, I have to brake suddenly at 90 kmph because a dark shape on a poorly lit highway runs across the highway! Not to mention the motorcyclists who believe they have right of way. They'll cut in front of you without using indicators, without consulting their rearview mirrors (if they have any)! I'm really sick of rural India's flagrant disregard for Rules of all kinds!

We had to get the Aquaguard installed. The guy called to say he'll be home in an hour. When he didn't turn up, we called him up & he claimed to be extremely busy and said he couldn't come. We threatened to complain & his words were "Go complain all you like"! This is a mindset common to Pune-ites at all levels. Call Centre agents, Team Leaders, Assistant Managers. The ambition and drive that you see in Bombay is sorely lacking.

But I guess, this is another experience that I will have to learn to live with. At least until Bombay sorts it's infrastructure problem out.

The Enemy Within...

India's biggest enemies aren't Pakistan & China. Although our crooked politicians (who have contributed in good measure to our winning a dishonourable mention in the list of Most Corrupt Nations), would loudly stress that that was indeed the case.

India's biggest enemies are it's social ills (but not one politician has the b*lls to put it to India's populace in those words), and the perpetrators of these social ills, our illiterate multitudes.

And if India is to become a safer, better place to live in, we need to battle this enemy first. If our cities are to feature higher on the list of most livable cities, we must have a populace teeming with knowledge awareness & better manners. The more paan stains we have on our walls & roads, the worse we will fare on international lists.
And this will not come about by embracing all that is ancient Indian as cultural heritage & treating it as sacred. This will come about by moving on from and by discarding ancient, obsolete customs and embracing new world orders.
And that will come about by going into the villages & teaching children & adults alike about what is happening in the modern world. And by changing the medium of instruction to a language that is far more modern in content & context.

Unfortunately a majority of the Indian population is anti-progress. They're anti-MNC, anti-globalization, anti-English education. Their pro-Swadeshi stand is misplaced patriotism. They listen to the wrong sort of leaders and cannot see that the only people who benefit from the populace remaining uneducated are corrupt rulers. (God...! There are so many things to thank for the Congress' being in power instead of the pro-retard (pun intended) BJP!)

Watch the news & you see a posse of Lucknow policemen beating the crap out of a single helpless student. And this is something the news doesn't need to show us. Everyday we see the illiterate policemen vent their frustrations on the hapless public they're supposed to serve in the first place. Why are incidents like this so much rarer in the Western world?

42,000 security personnel are being deployed to ensure smooth assembly elections in 3 Indian states. Why does India need 42,000 security personnel to be deployed during elections?

Read the newspapers and you read about Salman Khan getting 5 years in jail for killing deer sacred to a backward, minisicule community of Rajasthan. Poaching in India is on the rise, and it's common knowledge that poachers are getting away scot-free. But Salman & Pataudi are in jail. 2 poaching convictions will earn this executive & judiciary, respect in my eyes? Never! Their success with the other 40,000 poaching cases will! Their successful conviction of the murderer in the Jessica Lall case will! How do such petty issues assume greater importance that far bigger issues? How is my country so corrupt?

People spit on our streets & walls, people pee & shit on streets & walls in a country that where Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Where Brahmins needed to bathe if they ever got touched by the person of a Shudra (a menial worker).
Eve teasing & rape is rampant in a country whose "culture" boasts of worshipping women as Goddesses!
And nobody even steps up to stop & correct the offenders! So much for nationalist pride.

I'd really like to see advani take up issues like this on his so called "Bharat Suraksha" rath yatra. Their version of nationlist pride is jingoism! And everyone who opposes them probably has the right version in their heads. These are the people with whom hope for the nation lies.

There is another enemy within. Misguided individuals who take the wrong approach to bringing about change. I have dear friends who fall into this category. Friends who I love for a lot of other things, but cannot bear to see them mouth misguided lies. Imagine an educated, Bombay bred, pet loving individual loudly stating that Mahatma Gandhi was an ass & in part responsible for India's woes!!! Also stating that the only way to fix things was to work from within the system, with the corrupt bastards ensuring that they get their cut!!!
How does that change the system? How does that make our country less corrupt?
I wish my friends would respect their education and realize that historically any change that has come about has come about by a revolution. A sudden change that overthrows the existing system! The French & the Russian Revolutions, the American Civil War, Bhutto's ouster, Zia's controversial death, and Mush's bloodless but successful coup d'état... all change has come about through sudden not gradual revolt!
That is the need of the hour. And the only people who can & will bring about this change are people like us: educated, exposed youth. We cannot afford to fall prey to the beliefs espoused by the men who want the system to stay intact! Our future & the future of our coming generations rests on individuals who will bring about a revolution! Anyone who claims otherwise is inadvertenly becoming The Enemy Within!

PIL against the NDA regime for Tampering with History

Doesn't it offend enough sensibilities that the BJP-led NDA regime attempted to tamper with History??? They changed History text books in order to brainwash an entire generation. And they've gotten away scot-free!!!

• Why hasn't someone filed a PIL?
• Why hasn't the NCERT filed a case?
• Why hasn't this matter been taken to the judiciary?

I'd love to see Murli Manohar Joshi behind bars for this treason. It's possible! If HKL Bhagat can be convicted for instigating anti-Sikh riots, it's possible that India will win this case too!
Come on! It's vital that this gets done! Someone should put a stop to this NONSENSE!!!

Reasons why the BJP deserves to fail

It's strange that in our country, whenever a social movement happens it's initiated by individuals like Medha Patkar or by various NGOs. Whether it is tackling the issue of caste killings in Bihar & Madhya Pradesh or it's the problem of Sati in Rajasthan or the issue of rampant rapes all over India; these social evils are being fought by NGOs. So called "Samaaj Sudhaar" organizations like the RSS or it's political front the BJP are nowhere in the picture. When it comes to contributing the improving the social lot of Indians, there seems to be no contribution from the BJP. They simply allow the evils to remain, letting the local police battle it out with no support even if they're the ruling regime.
In contrast the Congress focuses on Education at the grassroots level, more schools, grants to NGOs fighting these causes. The difference between the commitment to India is obvious from the electoral agendas of both parties & also by comparing the list of achievements of both parties while they were in power.
The Congress' approach is long term but one that will hopefully yield results once all of India is educated & developed. Once the common man is educated enough & is more economic-progress focused, he will be able to see through the antics of the BJP. That day, the BJP will be reduced to a 10 member has-been, struggling with very limited appeal, garnering 2 seats like the erstwhile
Muslim League.
I have a theory that excites me no end... Every communal voice in India eventually faces defeat & oblivion. Jaspal Rana, former ace shooter, Nitish Bhardwaj, former TV-Krishna and a couple of others joined the BJP. Despicable I thought at the time. But what gladdens the heart is the fact that today, no one knows where they are! India's ace shooters today are Samaresh Jang & Major Raghavendra Rathore. Men with no evinced political leanings. In contrast, Megastar Amitabh Bachchan joined politics and failed, but he returned to be as successful as he was earlier. The shiv sena has already faced an in-house revolt and is on it's way down. HKL bhagat has already been found guilty of instigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. (On that note, I'm convinced that one day narendra modi too will be indicted for the Gujarat carnage)
I like this train of thought. If my guess is right, the likes of dharmendra, vinod khanna & smriti irani are going to disappear into nothingness very soon. Forgotten!!!

Isn't our police force over-stressed?

Heard on the news that the Bombay Police was instructed to investigate the Wardrobe Malfunction at the Bombay LIFW.
Aren't their unsolved Murder cases to solve, missing people to find, intelligence to collect on possible terrorist activities? Don't constables die on duty due to overwork?
Didn't wardrobe malfunctions happen in America? Why doesn't the local police there investigate them? I wonder... Ah! I know! Because they're more focused on letting the police fight real crime. And the Govt. is focused on economic progress instead of protecting archaic laws!

What rubbish!!! The Govt. should be ashamed!

Why Sunil More should've gotten life!

12 years & a fine of approximately Rs. 26,000 is hardly enough punishment for a crime as heinous as rape. And since sunil more was a policeman, the punishment should be harsher. After all the Army doesn't rest at courtmartial. It tries & punishes as well. Similarly more should be tried not only as a civilian but also as a policeman and should get a combined much larger sentence. Life wouldn've been apt.
After all the victim is going to carry the trauma with her throughout life, so why should sunil more get off ofter 12 years?

Bastard Indian Copycats!!!

The one reason why I love Hollywood movies so much & have so much contempt for everything Bollywood is this: Creativity in Mainstream Indian Cinema is Dead. All these so-called Big Banners do is COPY! And they do it so unabashedly. They don't even feel shame at proclaiming themselves as being in the Creative Arts! This is largely the brand of Indian that walks the Earth today: A Lying, Cheating, Unembarrassed Scumbag!

If this post gets read, I'm sure it will ruffle a few feathers, but I dare anyone to prove me wrong. I've heard generalizations are inaccurate (and I agree), but when I say largely I know for a fact that I'm right. Here's a list of why I think so:

Almost every single superhit movie in the past couple of years is aped from the West. Here are a few examples:

The "respectable" Yashraj banner:
Darr: copied from Cape Fear
Hum Tum: copied from When Harry met Sally
Salaam Namaste: copied from 9 Months
Dhoom: copied from The Fast & the Furious
Bunty & Babli: copied from Bonnie & Clyde
The storylines where altered imperceptibly, changing the ends here & there to give it an original feel to them. This is the same Yash Chopra who made Waqt & Deewar...? I'm beginning to wonder. Maybe they were copies too!

David Dhawan:
Mujhse Shaadi Karogi: copy of not one but TWO movies!!! It's a mash of Meet the Parents & Anger Management! I'm pretty sure they're all copies of some movie or the other.

Taxi # 9211: copied from Changing Lanes; and I'm sure anything Mr. Rohan Sippy will produce going forward will be copied or "inspired" from Hollywood.

Sanjay Gupta & Abbas-Mustan (Baazgar=A Kiss before Dying) I'm not commenting on since they are INCAPABLE of original storylines or anything that even remotely resembles creativity. All their crap is aped shamelessly from someone or the other.

And it doesn't stop at film. It extends to TV as well! Jassi, Indian Idol & KBC are legtimate, liscenced copies of the original, but there are copies of English, British & even Spanish soaps competing with Ekta Kapoor's tearjerkers. Right from Zabaan Sambhalke then to Ek Ladki Anjaani Si now. Jet, Set, Go & Business Baazigar(!!!???), are inane copies of the Amazing Race & The Apprentice!!!

This blatant plagiarism reeks of a lack of self respect & a total lack of respect for the image of the Motherland! As long as they're dishing out whatever the audience wants, the makers & the actors have no qualms.

And the media is equally to blame. Instead of interviewing & glorifying the gutsy likes of Nagesh Kukunoor, Ashutosh Gowarikar & Govind Nihalani, they take interviews of idiots like Shahrukh Khan & Ekta Kapoor. Instead of calling the likes of Rakeysh O. Mehra & Aamir Khan the Kings of Bollywood, the bestow these epithets on those with far poorer wares like Shahrukh & Karan Johar! Instead of influencing public thought & opinion, they pander to popular taste.

Disgusting times we live in!

My Favourite Movies: 2

As I'd said in my earlier movie post, this list is bound to get extended.
I recently saw Rang De Basanti and it get's added to my list of favourites. I will classify it under my favourite patriotic movie. There're loads of Bhagat Singh biopics & Nana Patekar/Manoj Bajpai starrers, slogan peppered, with explosions & guns, and with semi-naked Indian girls gyrating to a western beat trying to stir up patriotic fervour in the last decade. But all of them put together couldn't do what a Rang De Basanti did in it's first week of release. When I say this I know that I'm not only speaking for myself; I couldn't sleep after the movie. I lay awake thinking about how futile my existence has been. About how I should stop cribbing about the state of my country & DO SOMETHING! Even if it takes doing what the protagonists in the movie do!
I have always maintained that Aamir Khan is probably the Best New Generation Star-Actor we've had in India for the last decade. His involvement with his films goes beyond acting. And all the film-makers who have signed him in recent times have finally delivered long-overdue winners: Gowarikar, Mathan, Farhan Akhtar and now Rakeysh O. Mehra! The entry of corporates into filmmaking has also made film-makers churn out movies that appeal to the educated class. It's a good sign & may it continue.
Here's to more great movies by Mr. Khan, Mr. Mehra & the likes of UTV.