Bark when you should and bite when you ought to...

This is in response to the recent "headline" that Shiv Sena chief has hit out at Sachin Tendulkar on comments made to the media last week.

In the democratic country such as India, every citizen has a right to express. The Master has it, the Old Tiger has it, as well as we have it. So, there's nothing unique about that. What is unique and of special significance is the ability to decide when to express yourself. It is quite special since an averaged opinion of the mass bares a certain relative value in every context.

The Master opined, the Old Tiger opined something completely irrelevant and then we are following the same course. Whatever the Shiv Sena maestro opined becomes the party's stand on the (non-existent) issue and not, mind you not Maharashtra's or for that matter even any Maharashtrian's opinion. And let's not even go into the relevancy of his comments, because it will be a futile exercise.

Having said that, one must recognize that its best not to regurgitate this matter further by discussing about it. Do I mean to say that Shiv Sena is right and that you have no right to express? No! I simply want to say that a line becomes a Headline depending on the stress given on it and the extent of attention it gains. Let's not give any importance at all to any such irrational, absurd, ill-conceived and politically inclined statement by chewing on it further. Be it by MNS-XYZ party, and be it against SRT-ABC individual - if its that irrelevant, its got to vanish in the archives as soon as possible!

Ohh well .. you wuss .. why not speak out? That's exactly what they want you to do. They .. who?? The media, the politicians et. al. Why?? Media - of course for their TRPs and high SEO rankings for their shows and websites and politicos - for divide and conquer! The sad part - the policy makers have turned into "issue" makers!!! They just love making mountains out of molehills - it bodes well for them during elections!

And we are just as much responsible for it as the politicians. Over the past few years, just after the media-boom in India, we have "over-expressed" ourselves a few too many times over trivial and insignificant issues; which has played in favour of political parties and the media in some way or the other. We should have stepped off the gas yesterday and its never too late!

Its probably more important not to discuss and give importance to insignificant issues than discussing the urgent matters. Yes, we are a democracy and everyone has a right to express; but don't forget that those rights come with a certain amount of responsibility. If every one of us recognizes the power that resides in controlled and focussed expression of opinion (irrespective of what the others may or may not do), it won't be too long before we'll see a much responsible media and probably 1 or 2 responsible and respectable politicians!

So .. Let them bark, do not bark back at them and give a false sense of fear that there's a wolf nearby. Let it just get bored in the absence of any response, put its tail between the legs and leave quietly. Focus your viciousness and power on the real wolves and hyaenas lurking in the woods nearby. Bark when you should and bite when you ought to!

Technorati Tags: Shivsena, Sachin, Tendulkar, Opinion, Democracy, Politics, Media, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Maharashtrian, Marathi, Mumbai, Bombay, Comments, Critique, Views, India

Slumdog, perceptions and fissiparous attitude

Perceptions .. mysterious and yet so every day phenomenon.

Art, almost all forms of it emanate from the way an artist perceives. Likewise, Cinema - another art form is a creation of perception. It is also a medium of expression - a medium where filmmakers exercise their freedom of expression to create a lasting image of how they see what they see and why they see it the way they see it. That's what writers, poets, painters, sculptors, directors do - they help create a piece that mirrors its true nature perceived by them. That's how it is supposed to be and that's how it may attain greatness if it ought to - by the sheer magnificence of its true nature.

On the other hand, viewers, readers, onlookers - in general the "people" who "view" these pieces of creation possess yet another level of perception. Here, because of the very nature of heterogeneity among "people", the complexity and the inscrutability of perception acquires an unimaginable magnitude of non-linearity. If one decides to stay true to the creator's perception (whatever it may be) and views the piece of art from an unbiased point of view, it becomes easier to focus on the "core" rather than the "skin". Such a stand point allows you to comprehend and appreciate the "art of making" rather than the "art of application". In reality though, the world is far from such ideal views and tangled in its more than a fair share of biases - yet completely and comfortably oblivious to it!

Many have and practice "individualistic" biases. Others exercise "institutional" or "socialist" biases - mostly "anthropological". Some believe in "political" biases. Most ignorant fools though suffer from the chronic "mechanistic" bias syndrome and let themselves be dragged into the social pandemonium full of such muddled idiocy.

Such biases and their existential influence allows mortally ill attitudes in society. Fissiparous attitude is a child of such biases and today's world would be a much better place without it. This is what lets politics (special reservation for Indian politics) be the way it is, this is what lends freedom and power to anti-social elements and this is what forces every mumbaikar into a sleepless night on 26/11 and days to follow.

... OK .. agreed .. almost every independent thinker recognizes these facts .. so, why do I bother the effort of reiterating it and why now???

The reasons are many and by now have become an accumulated pile covered of "Yeh India hai Bhai .. yahan pe aisa ich chalta hai" dust. Though, the current reason and stimulus to such provocative outburst is just one - Slumdog Millionaire, a film directed by British director Danny Boyle and based on a novel titled "Q&A" by diplomat Vikas Swarup.

Over the past few days local newspapers in India and across the world, as well as several online news websites flashed bold headlines that applauded, encouraged, blasted, cautioned, celebrated, or trashed this film in ways that are best known to today's corporate media. The film bagged 4 awards at the 66th Golden Globe awards, including that of the best motion picture ..
...Amitabh Bacchan blasted the film - Four days ago, Bachchan wrote on his blog: "If SM projects India as a Third World, dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations."
.. this started a debate and TOI dutifully reported and followed the juicy story ..
.. AB replied "Someone mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against... I merely put both of them up and invited debate." ..TOI.
.. "Yes, we are idiots and you are senile, we get it! Then why write?" - moi ..
..Vikas Swarup replied "Slumdog has my stamp of approval.", "Slumdog Millionaire isn't poverty porn" - again dutifully reported and followed by TOI.
I overheard someone talking about the film saying "It's too anti-hindu".
Me: "Ohh, interesting!" ..

I just sat, read, mused and persisted with the developments .. until today. Today, I write.

People, do you understand that it is a film directed by someone who perceived it in a certain way and that's why it is the way it is? Do you understand the concept of not mixing politics, socialism, regionalism etc. with the pure joy of art appreciation? Have you ever watched a film as a film - a story narrated, acted, directed and filmed by a group pf people from their point of view? Have you ever watched a painting unfold with a pure idea of appreciating its strokes, colours, patterns, and composition rather than thinking about whether its a nude portrait of some hindu deity among the 33 crore of them?

If you have then you will simply laugh at the pettiness of this debate and if you haven't well .. you are probably in accordance with Mr. AB.

For the record and for the sake of Mr. Bacchan I'd like to state a few things:
The world already is fully aware of the dirty underbelly of even the developed nations. There have been numerous films that have successfully and boldly shown the inside view of its existence and just to name one - "City of God" (Cidade de Deus) that showed a true view of the ghettos of Rio de Janeiro six years ago. If this movie is able to evoke emotions such as "pain and disgust" among the so called nationalists and patriots, then we might as well grant Danny Boyle some national level award! He deserves it as he's been successful in causing "pain" - an extremely rare human emotion - in the species known as "Politica rhinocera moronae". I mean cm'on you can't be serious, AB!! And even if we agree that it did cause them "pain and disgust", then where were these jerks in 1988, 21 years back, when Mira Nair directed "Salaam Bombay"?? Where were they in 2001, 8 years back when Madhur Bhandarkar directed "Chandni Bar"??? This is the only time they got struck by the thunderbolt of apathy? or is this the only time when AB got struck with the thunderbolt of cinematic wisdom?? Come to think of it, was it AB who signed up for "Shantaram" directed by Mira Nair or do you find "Wasn't me!" written on his blog somewhere? "Shantaram" based on a novel by Gregory David Roberts portrays an even truer and cut throat picture of India's/ Mumbai's "underbelly" like never before. Sadly though, as of January 2009 the film remains postponed and Mira retains her opinion that the film was still on track and that it would be released by 2011.

For the sake of people who say that this is an "anti-hindu" film -
Cm'on now! This is a film that revolves around the story of a muslim boy. How the hell do you even arrive at such a conclusion?? I don't see you making a hue and cry about films made on the likes of Savarkar, Ambedkar, Sardal Patel et. al. to be anti-muslim?? Actually .. let it be. You just want something to chew on when there's nothing at all. To be honest, I in fact adored the scene where these two young boys - Jamal and his elder brother - are running frantically during the communal riots and come across a young boy who's dressed as "Lord Rama" in one of the by lanes - there's something charismatic about that particular frame when they show Rama - through that single frame the director displays the state of conflict, similarity and yet striking difference between Jamal and Rama , the intensity of influence it may have had on Jamal etc. .. very powerfully! That's the beauty of his direction, cinematographer's view .. appreciate THAT .. don't waste your time in labeling!!!

Coincidently, I found an article written by Khalid Mohamed in The Observer,  Sunday 18 January 2009. He's also the national culture editor of the Hindustan Times. I like what he has written - of course in much lessor words compared to me - but then, he's paid to write every word of it and I am not! Big difference!!! I quote him here: "There is no taking away from the team's achievement. All the pros and cons of its cinematic flourishes considered, Slumdog Millionaire is a bloody good, riveting and emotionally rousing film. Somebody had to pull the flush. Boyle did. While others might raise a stink, I'll salute."

And thus, I rest my case.

Amar

Technorati Tags: Art, Amitabh, Bacchan, Films, Cinema, Critique, Views, Comments, Perception, Direction, India, Mumbai, Bombay, Slumdog, Millionaire, Blog, Blogging, Celebrity, News, Papers

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The IIT story : Cheaper by the dozens ???

This is not my place to comment on IITians or their brilliance .. I lost that right when I chickened out of the JEE preps because it was too much of a load for my pea-sized, biologically inclined brain .. I have always enjoyed math and physics, but not for a 3 hrs of grueling exam .. definitely not! But, it is my place to talk and discuss about the IIT affairs, government policies about IIT - being an Indian citizen, more so even - being a student and thus a product of today's Indian educational policies (or politics??? Well, there was never a fine line ..).

This is about the Sunday special article in T.O.I. written by TNN correspondent Neelam Raaj, titled "IIT versus IITs" that appeared in April 27, 2008's Sunday edition of T.O.I. And here's the glimpse of that article -

You can catch the full version of the article by clicking on its title mentioned in the above para.

So, according to the recent government policies, the existing seven are going on 16. Should we be exuberant about it? Should we accept it merrily? Would it be right to think that this is the way to go and end the big indian hooplah of "Brain drain"? Is the Italian-run puppet show at the south block right about this one? Or are they just trying to please the Left who send out a hollow roar once in a while with their new found "power" (to be the best cry-baby ever!)??

Clearly, I am not in favor of the frivolous expansion. I do not understand the logic behind decentralization of an institute, and that too of IIT's stature - the institute that has enjoyed its glory and renown in being a centralized body. India as an independent country has had this fascination towards decentralized governance for quite some time now and practices the same vigorously at every possible level and strata. It is fine to decentralize when you have to reach out to masses of people for basic education, basic life needs, health awareness, local administration and such extremely sensitive and crucial aspects of democracy. After all, this is a country that enjoys its second place after China in world demographics! It is actually sad to see Indian government executing the decentralization policy in areas that would do good without it - this gives me a creepy feeling of the continuation of "British Raj" at the feeble hands of today's babus and netas - "todo aur fodo" was the main weapon of goras in the pre-independence era and today, even after 50 years of independence, if the leaders of our country are content in executing the same tactic so as to secure vote banks - what good is it, in calling ourselves "an independent nation" - if we haven't learned from that black past? I feel disgusted.

Back to the basics - Why one decentralizes a governing body? So as to have better distributed and outstretched, smoothly functioning pupil-governances within every small pocket of the target population. So, does the original body retain its uniqueness and the global entity that it used to enjoy? Certainly not ! This causes dilution - dilution of the basic structure and concept .. dilution of the uniqueness and selling point .. and dilution of the code of conduct. For the original IITs have been based on these three major pillars that sets them apart from any other institute. Increasing their number would be like widening the narrow aperture at the bottom of the funnel. What good is that? Is future India ready to be content with an average IITian? Can future India then dream of building its own version of the silicon vally or NASA or pentagon or whichever western standard that Indians are so fond of - with this new below-par-IIT-brood? I think not. Now why am I saying this? For the simple reason that we do and will lack resources. What good a smart student without an equally smart and motivating IIT professor? Is central government of India magically going to produce all these brilliant IIT professors out of nowhere for all the 16 IITs? I think not. As Ms. Raaj correctly points out the current deficit in expected and recruited number of professors at IIT-D. If this is the case today then we better not imagine about the future.

The other point is that why not accept the situation that we as a country are confronted with? Why not use the money and the resources in a better way by planning and executing a justified distribution of the available resources? Why not make the existing 7 more stronger and more elite than creating new ones and making a mess of it all? At the end, the point is what does India want - the same unmatchable class of globally shining IITians or the below-par product of a nationwide batch process that would probably struggle to make a mark even in their own country?? I would certainly want the classic IITian and I am immensely proud of being friends with some of such class acts.

The other reason for this IIT expansion could be the increase in population growth rate. ... When will they learn to leave certain sacred things untarnished from their malignant contact? Why literally everything should be diseased with politics? Why can't a brilliant place like IIT remain just an educational body that is unaffected by the malevolent slime of politicians and let students enter, learn, grow and ascend to new heights? Did they really think that IIT was just another senior college that they can expand into a nationwide money making factory? I believe they did too. It is pathetically and pitifully sad to realize thus. I know it is easier to extend and expand the existing brand than to create a new one and be patient while allowing it to grow; but one has to do a bit of logical calculation of the cost. I agree that this will give many a fair chance to enter an IIT and fulfill their dream, but what fulfillment will it be if it is not the same institution anymore? Have you heard of 5 MITs, 8 Stanfords, 7 Harvards, and 6 CalTechs ??? Why aren't there those many? Coz they don't have enough funds? Ohh please .. they would have more than enough to run two countries at a time ... it is because they signify, cherish and capitalize on their uniqueness of quality, talent, and education. And what is wrong in that? Does our history tell us about several "Nalanda Vidyapiths" across the country? No. There was just one and it was unique and world famous ! But, it's not about that anymore .. is it? It's about favoring the reserve quota .. it's about creating and securing new vote banks .. it's about minting money from the civil contracts ... and only THE Manmohan knows what else !

I end this significant post with an excellent message from the visionary of the modern indian education system - Pt. Jawahlal Nehru. This is an excerpt from Jawarlal Nehru's speech on the occassion of the IIT Kharagpur's first convocation in 1956.





And thus I leave my pain to be carried forward and leave a mark somewhere ... Hope you are listening !

RACE .. or .. NOT !!!

I watched "Race" the bollywood movie of the month (so it appears from the newspaper and mouth-to-mouth reviews). I wonder why did I watch it in the first place? - mostly, because my friend here - Shukan, he managed to download the entire movie off the net in the *.flv* format. Some blogsite (in fact it is this : Race FLV Source) had all the files, and enthusiastic that he was, he actually downloaded all. I started watching it at some ungodly hour of night - it must have been 2 or 3 ish. May be because of my mental state (read drowsy) or may be because the movie was actually bad, I did not like it at all ! People have been talking about the way its shot, its plot, the grafical techniques (SFX) they have used and of course the cast - a lot. I did not find it that amusing - in fact not at all.

Ok, so the movie is about 3 guys and 3 girls trying to give us some realtime bolly-ishtyle phun. The plot - how it appeared to me - is a simple mathematical matrix overlap of three different equally pathetic stories. The intermediate co-ordinates of the matrix are calibrated so as to attain some degree of suspense in the movie - or in other words, ispecial bolly-"kahani mein twist" ! There's nothing great about the turning points, as they become quite predictable. After a so called climax, the movie reaches it anticlimax very quickly - where the characters are used to unravel the mysteries in the plot. What I don't understand is that why do they have to use the actual narration by every character to untangle the mystery ? Why can't they just keep it simple and interlace it within the story or "visual experience" itself? Let me explain - You remember Ocean's 11? The way they have treated the untangling of the plot? It's a breathtakingly beautiful treatment to the story and it does enough justice to the pace of the movie as well as the integrity of every character. I think in Bollywood they prefer it the other way so that they get to utilize their overpriced stars well. Actually, there are few good example from the bollywood movies too, that have a better treatment to the mystic element - the three examples that I can recollect well are - 1. Samay (Sushmita Sen) and 2. Ab Tak Chappan (Nana Paterkar) and 3. Sarkaar (Ramu, AB & AB Co.). These are much much better movies according to my opinion.

Anyways, now that the agony and anger is off my mind, moving on to the story. So, there's Akshay Khanna and Saif Ali Khan - the jodi of Ram and Bharat ("sautele" hein !) and then there's Mr. Anil Kapoor (who - I am really suprised - is still standing on his own feet - after all he's been in bollywood as long as Shivsena hasn't been in the driving seat in Maharashtra (that is besides the point - but it's good to let it off once in a while :P)). Then there are these three bollywood dolls - Bips (aka Bipasha Basu - the Bidi fame), Katz (aka Katrina Kaif - the "err something with Akshay Kumar" fame) and Sam (aka Sameera Reddy - the "nothing really substantial" fame). There's Johnny Lever too and there are lots of Horses. I genuinely applauded when some horse or mare (I have no clue how to separate the two .. but still - after all it's the era where men and women are equals) gave a brilliant performance, either at the race or some stable. (I donno why .. but I am straying from the subject a lot - i think even I am bitten by the bollywood story-writer's bug .. darn ! pardon moi ..)

Haan, so .. it's Saif n Bips (or Katz) and Akki n Katz (or Bips) : and this is exactly the whole essence of the movie and about the turning points - yeah, so god damn unpredictable ! *phewww* Anil, Sam n Jonny are on the side plate - you take them you don't, it hardly matters ! The story goes around like this - There's a small guy (Akki) and a Big guy (Saif). Small guy hates to be small (its has nothing to do with his "bedside" manners .. you pervert !) .. and the Big buy gives no rat's ass. The small guy wants to beat the big one in their "race of life" (.. Ohh so sophomoric !) So, he ends up killing the big rat (or NOT) and hogs his insurance money (or NOT) .. and that too a whopping 50 Cr (Chaayla ! Kuthun aantaat asle baap!!! .. sorry I had to do that in Marathi !) In between, to take care of the legal matters small guy marries Bips (or NOT) and the Big guy marries Katz (or NOT) - another turning point ! (Yayyy ! to the writer !). There comes the good cop (or NOT) - Anil and his irritatingly dumb bimbo secretary - Sam. The film makers have also managed to squeeze in few innuendoes like "yeh ganna le aur choos", "yeh le kela aur baith" etc. etc. Now, this is really sad - I mean either be bold (like mira nair (I wonder what happened to Shantaram production?) perhaps or may be american pie) or don't ! Please don't give us your pathetic attempt of showing the controlled indian vulgarity. In real life too no body makes such lewd passes at their secretaries (at least I haven't seen many) - they either bed them or they don't. (pardon me for being so direct - this is for Ms. Sharmila who loves to cut!)

The climax is even more pathetic. The big guy (remember he dies or may be NOT) challenges the small guy for one ultimate race in their life - a car race. He exchanges his sports car with his brother's ordinary one saying that the car does not matter, what matters is who's driving it. Although partly true, but a Schumacher is never a fastest driver in the F1 history without a well-engineered and well-maintained car - but I will give it to them for the emotional edge they have added to the dialogue. Now, this is funny - both can't break ! Small guy is a smarty pants - he's disabled the brakes in his car (which our man shumacher is driving) and Mr. Shummi has implanted a bomb in his sports car (or NOT) (which the squealing rat is driving). The squealer manages to flame himself and Katz (Ohh, Katz you shouldn't have signed this movie - can't see you burning and all :P) and Mr. Shummi - the ever so alert and ahead of the game guy - manages to penetrate through the flames, bang on a line of water-filled drums at the end of the tunnel - that are so meticulously arranged at the very edge of a cliff - and save his beautiful bhabhi (bips) (remember the squealer may or may NOT have been married to bips) along with all the insurance money enough to feed his next 10 generations or so. In all this mess the cop - Mr. Anil - turns out to be Shummi's friend and makes his buck. Tadhaaaa ! You are at the end of the movie - called RACE (or NOT .. bwahhahhhh!) !!!

The special effects - yes, how can I NOT mention that !
1. Saif in accident : His car turning over an uncontrolled trailer and doing a well orchestrated somersault - the usual stuff!
2. Saif and Akki in a car and trying to kill a guy in another car : Their car intersects the path of this guy's car and goes ahead. Saif pulls the trigger, the bomb goes off and the guy's dead. Both of them look back, all happy - that their triggering device that they made in their garage - works ! - I think they haven't heard of the term "Contract Killers" in that part of South Africa or may be they fancy an alternative career possibility ! Special effects : the usual stuff!
3. Bips pushes saif off the edge (oops I let out a secret!) : This is really funny ! The way they have done this - in their "Ohh look we brought the american SFX experts and created this amazing 50 lac worth techno scene, we are so going to hollywood" way - it still (despite of the best efforts of that poor SFX chap) reminds me of some *important & notable* scenes from the spooky TV serial - "Aahat". Bips you should think about an alternate career too. Aahat producers - read : A new spooky-starlet rising !

So, that's pretty much about it. Now you tell me what is so great about the movie and why the hell I waste good half an hour of my life writing about it? What you know - it feels good ... that it's out of my system .. that such movies continue to make it worth the wait and money for good movies like - Namesake, Ab Tak Chappan, Sarkaar, Samay, Ek Haseena thi, Omkara, Taare Zameen par, Being Cyrus, 15th Park Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Black Friday et. al.