It’s Just Not On
Virus of intolerance shows up again in Karnataka riots Democratic values enshrined in the Constitution are under renewed attack, this time in Karnataka. Following the publication of a translated version of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's article which is critical of the burqa tradition in a respected Kannada daily, mobs have [...]
Trying To Change
At the Bharatiya Janata Party's National Council meet at Indore, the new man in, Nitin Gadkari, scored high on style quotient. Summing up the mood were the lyrics from an old Bollywood song to which he swayed: life is a puzzle; it makes you cry and it makes you laugh. With two defeats in succession, the BJP has lately had more occasions to cry [...]
P. Sainath: Advertising, Bollywood, Corporate power
That the terrible tragedy in Pune demands serious, sober coverage is a truism. One of the side-effects of the ghastly blast has been unintended, though. The orgy of self-congratulation that marked the media coverage of just about everything since January is now in pause mode. Maybe the flak they copped for their handling of the November 2008 [...]
Sherry Rehman: The need to give dialogue a chance
Resuming dialogue is always weighed down by anxiety over the outcome. But India and Pakistan need not worry. Nobody realistically expects too much out of tentative renewals. They hold little promise of anything except an exchange of chai and samosas. Yet these renewals are bright arcs in the treacherous sky that hangs over the nuclear neighbours. [...]
Enough’s Enough
It is becoming impossible to dispel the suspicion that the Indian Premier League is simply a vehicle for this country’s cricket bosses to nourish their arrogance. And this is done, in diverse ways, by improvising the manner in which the tournament is staged so as to establish the IPL’s, and thereby the BCCI’s, contempt for consequences. They [...]
And my name is Khandekar
That the film industry is full of simple people, who create popular entertainment and make money, is a popular notion, especially in Delhi. This intellectual snobbery extends to rubbishing films without watching them, being patronising about someone who chooses acting for a profession, doubting his or her intellectual capacity because “they run [...]
The show does goes on
Like the storyline in a regulation Bollywood movie, the good guys finally won. The Shiv Sena’s diktat that the Shahrukh Khan-starrer My Name Is Khan must not be screened in Maharashtra has been met with welcome defiance with a clutch of multiplexes and cinema halls premiering the film on Friday. Many more that were initially reluctant to screen [...]
Ghetto Blasters
It was a moment to savour, a victory for civility. A moment when young India pushed back against old politics and the sowers of division. The moment may not last. Old-style politics which likes to segregate Indians into multiple ghettos and silos will doubtless win many victories in the future. But when Mumbaikars ensured that My Name Is Khan [...]
Saying No to Sena
Shah Rukh Khan’s remark that IPL teams were misguided in not hiring talented Pakistani cricketers has ignited what is one of the silliest and the most egregious turf wars in recent times, even by Mumbai’s sorry standards. The Shiv Sena immediately switched to its default mode, threatening and executing violence, against the screening of [...]
Tiger Fit For The Taxidermist
With its tardy and woefully inadequate response to the Shiv Sena's latest depredations in Mumbai, the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra has yet again exposed its inability or unwillingness to impose the rule of law on the errant outfit. The pathetic display of its helplessness cannot but cause dismay to the citizens of the metropolis and [...]