Independence Day: Is there anything new?

We are too great to pen down in mere words. Thus we Indians are not surprised that every year on Independence Day we have the same stories repeating themselves. The President congratulates the nation every year for surviving a difficult year. The Prime Minister makes an address to the nation which sounds similar to the one he delivered last year. The national flag is hoisted everywhere but often the saffron turns to orange. It is no different to students in school who sing the national anthem everyday just like they half-heartedly rote their subjects. To the office-goers, it a holiday which means going to the theaters to catch up on the latest release and to the businesses it is an opportunity to make more money.

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Article on Fareed Zakaria

There are many Fareed Zakaria’s in the world of media. If you do not know their names, it is because they steal from unknown sources. They say that you are not a thief until you are caught. Zakaria was simply foolish to have lifted off from a well-known historian and therefore caught in the act. But Fareed Zakaria should not be called dishonest because what he did has been created by the environment in which he works.

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http://www.newsyaps.com/fareed-zakaria-is-a-product-of-his-environment/2192/

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A letter to Krishna on Janmashtami

My Lord, your world is nearing its end. From up there, you must be getting a clearer picture of what is going on down here. Can’t you see that the voice of the truth is regularly silenced by those very unrighteous individuals you so successfully annihilated when you last arrived? This world has many Kansas and innumerable Duryodhanas who are ably assisted by thousands of Shakunis in their evil deeds. The Kansa you killed was responsible for the deaths of the children born to your mother Devaki before your arrival. The modern-day Kansas kill children by subjecting them to work as labourers and/or trafficking them into the dark alleys of prostitution.

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http://www.newsyaps.com/lord-krishna-it-is-time-for-a-new-janmashtami/2183/

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Hunger games: Talk on cellphones to forget hunger

‘Har Hath Mein Phone’ appears nothing but a stupid gimmick, a cheap political stunt in the world’s biggest democracy. But there is another side to it too. Much of India is full of people who are myopic; they see the immediate benefit and fail to see or intentionally overlook the long-term complications. This is what happened with the 1991 economic liberalization. India progressed but humans didn’t develop. India continues to remain trapped in its “need to uphold tradition” mentality and “need to go modern” approach. Those falling in the BPL category or hanging just above it may be too impoverished to fund education for their children but there are many from the same category who will buy cheap liquor. Thus was born the idea of freebie.....

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 http://www.newsyaps.com/hunger-games-talk-on-cellphones-to-forget-hunger/2170/

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Is the West confused about us?

I wonder exactly what the perception of the West is about India. At times they say that India is an economic force to reckon with while on other occasions they claim that India is home to a considerable fraction of the world’s poor.

To be precise the world around me is hegemony of those who have wads of money in their accounts. Being a simple, nay, a ‘Common Man’, I find myself torn between the society of the rulers and the society of the ruled. Over the last six decades since my country gained freedom, the borders of the two societies continued becoming more visible and now it has reached a situation where the difference is glaring.

The rulers – those who have money – claim that do not have enough of it and the ruled – who do not have it – hanker for it. The problem is acute.

 

On the one hand the government says that the economy of India is progressing like a horse competing in steeplechase. On the other it never denies borrowing from various countries that are ever ready to pay. Surprisingly a country like Britain - which should rather take care of itself - is an eager donor.

To the US, the people in the state of Uttar Pradesh are at par with Somalis when it comes to poverty. The truth is that there are a large number of millionaires in the state and many own vast swatches of land. It’s another thing if population is taken into consideration. But that is a problem of mindset.

The ministers, cricketers, businessmen and film stars have all the luxuries of life yet the country is reeling under an acute health problem, many go to bed hungry and the bed is in itself the street with the sky as the roof. This is surprising.

Yes, some celebrities and industrialists are doing all they can to bridge the gap but that simply does not suffice.

I do not need statistical data to prove my point and no such data can disprove what I say. Aaron Levenstein said, “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”

I wonder what is on the minds of the developed nations. What do they want from us? Perhaps they want more money and maintaining strong diplomatic ties is crucial to achieve that. They flatter us when they need something and shun us when their needs are over. It is much like the mid-18^th century.

What we have not learnt is that we, the Indians, must stand shoulder to shoulder and support our brothers and sisters who need financial help. If money is what India is looking at since 1991 and still needs more of it then so be it.

Greed or not nearly everyone in this country needs a job with a fat paycheck and less tiring work. Even if they may be making an annual salary of 4 lakh per annum, they just do not know how much money is sufficient for them. They need more, perhaps to infinity. Making more money is fine but they all use it to quench their selfish ends.

Sadly they have never heard of the word charity. Donating to the poor is something far from their minds. They want more discounts on products. They may pay less to the shopkeeper but will not take less from him. They donate to the poor only when their local pandit tells them to do so to appease gods. That too is a selfish act.

If I urge someone to donate they counter-question me, "Do you donate?" When I say yes, they go around citing all kinds of reasons including the cliched bickering on the system.

The West needs to come clear about our image. We know what we are. The West must know that the Indian economy may be bulging like a weather balloon but our mentality is as narrow as an alley.

What do we want to read about?

I thought of penning down something on any of the multitudes of issues that plague our society but each time I felt like sitting down with the pen to speak out on something, a new issue came out of nowhere that overshadowed the former.

For instance, while Indian batsmen were been terrorized by the Australian bowlers, the country itself was bracing up with some key elections that will most likely change the equation at the Center.

Some noise is being made on the cricket debacle but that looks like a whisper in comparison to the clamor of the political slogans exalting some candidate who wants to make it 'big' in netagiri. All of a sudden campaigns to make voters aware of their rights have sprung up (as if the voters were sleeping for the last 63 years).

Suddenly the General of our Army woke up to the realization that he was a year younger than what was mentioned in some government documents. What followed cannot be commented on for many reasons than one.

If Bollywood was expected to provide some entertainment then many were left disappointed. Don 2 did well and Agneepath is doing good but two films in two months cannot make the industry economically strong.

However, all that was dirty did well. The Dirty Picture was 'seen' by hordes of 'fans' (who knows whose). The dirty part continued with a very popular reality show in which participants are 'expected' to fight and cuss in order to survive elimination. 

Our infatuation with everyone who is an Indian and has made a name for himself/herself abroad went too far when an Indo-Canadian adult film star got a Bollywood offer. All through her stay in India, her name was in the top trends on the internet signalling her popularity in our 'morally upright' country.

Shamefully, there is no ratna left in Bharat as the government's indecisiveness on the nation's highest civilian award proves. 

Politics? We live it every second here in India. World? We don't care much what happens to 'others' and 'outsiders'. Entertainment? The more it is dirty the better. Sports? Speak Cricket or shut up. National Interest? Comes only after our personal interests are taken care of.

What is left to write about? Sorry, I should ask: What do we want to read about?

Dev Anand: The Immortal of Indian Cinema

I am not a film expert and I have never met Dev Anand. At the time when I was born, Dev Anand was a 60 year old man, the age of my grandfather. 

Yet, today when I have come to know of the news of his death I am sad. There are legions of his fans who share the same emotion like me. Everyone loved him even if everyone did not love the movies that he did recently.

 

Does it matter? No. Because Dev Anand lived his life on his own terms. Like in one of his songs, “Gham aur khushi mein fark na mahsus ho jaha, mein dil ko us makam pe lata chala gaya.” He and his films are above comparison. To be honest, even though I belong to the age of fast paced films, he will remain my favourite actor ever.

The first movie of his that I saw was Jewel Thief much to the insistence of my mother. To my mother, he is the best actor and the most handsome man after my father.

After I watched Jewel Thief, I went into another world. A world of movies that was indeed better than the one I was living in. All the songs, and especially ‘Aasman ke neeche’, appealed to my ears and the way he wooed the beautiful Vyjayanthimala  in that song made a non-romantic guy like me feel for once to fall in love. That was his power. To make you feel the way ‘he’ wanted. One by one, I started watching his movies.  

Thus, I saw the entrapped detective in CID, the indifferent husband in Tere Mere Sapne, the longing brother in Hare Rama Hare Krishna and the titular character of the iconic Guide.

Indeed I discovered that Dev Anand stood above all other actors of his era and the present one too. Talking about era, Dev Anand is the only actor who looked dapper in both black & white and colour films.

In 1965 Dev Anand acted in Teen Deviyan (a B&W film) and Guide (a colour), making him the only actor to have done so in the same year. Both were successful but Guide went notches higher to become a benchmark in Indian cinema.

With Guide, Dev saab (as he was popularly called) won his second Filmfare award. His first had come in 1958 with Kalapani.

As an actor extraordinaire, Dev Anand was the only Hindi film star who delivered blockbusters over three decades in three different images. As a man extraordinaire, Dev saab was the epitome of positive energy.

With his death from a cardiac arrest in London on Saturday, India lost a glittering star that illuminated the country’s cinema landscape for over 50 years. The whole of Bollywood has gone into a state of mourning. Amitabh Bachchan has himself admitted that he has left a void that cannot be filled. True.

When Dev Anand began his film career, it was a year before India got its Independence. His debut movie, Hum Ek Hain, was under the then famous banner of Prabhat Talkies in 1946. Though the film was a flop, he went on climbing the ladder of success with movies like Ziddi, Baazi, Paying Guest, Munimji, CID, Jaal and many more.

His friendship with Guru Dutt produced three biggies that redefined cinema of the 50s – Baazi, Jaal and CID. Their partnership was like the one that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Di Caprio share today.     

Another of his friends was Kishore Kumar who sang a number of hit songs for his movies. Who doesn’t loves to hum ‘Ye dil na hota bechara’ or ‘Khwab ho tum ya koi haqueekat’ or even ‘Phoolon ke rang se’?

Songs were a speciality of Dev Anand films. Mohammed Rafi delivered hits like 'Main zindagi ka saath' and 'Abhi na jao chorkar'. 'Din dhal jaaye' and 'Tere mere sapne' from Guide are classics that are not made today.

 

He was a very educated man of his times having acquired a degree in English Literature from the prestigious Government College in Lahore, Pakistan. He started working for the military censor office in Bombay. His older brother Chetan was already associated with theatre. He joined in and soon got his entry in the world of cinema.

From 1946 to the year of his death, Dev Anand remained active in Indian cinema. He was one of those titans who saw the complete evolution of Hindi film industry. He was there when Bombay was ‘handmaking’ movies. He was also there when Bombay became Bollywood and is belting out movies, both sensible and senseless, at a mechanical speed.

Frankly speaking, it was Dev Anand who introduced India and Indian cinema to fashion. The clothes he wore have been different in each of his films. The hats, the scarves, the hairstyle, the suit and the shirt, everything was unique and looked perfect on him.

Believe me, if Sherlock Holmes were to be made in Hindi, only Dev Anand would have looked best in the ace detective’s trademark deerstalker. An iconic picture in Jewel Thief is proof of it.

The great actor held on his own fort in the presence of giants like Dileep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar and Rajesh Khanna.

His carved out his own image that of an actor with a distinct head-nodding, a slightly tilted way of walk, a smile with a little shake of head, expressive eyes and of course his unmatched acting prowess. No wonder then that the ladies of those days went weak in their knees at the sight of Dev Anand.

Yes, I also came to know that he picked up the head-nodding style from Hollywood legend Gregory Peck but I have also seen Guns of Navarone of the latter and found that Dev Anand was in an altogether different league. What he did was what only he could do. That’s why he was honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke in 2002.

He took to directing movies early in his career and gave cult classics like Hara Rama Hare Krishna and Prem Pujari. The music of the former was so ahead of its era that a recent release titled itself on the lead song of that film. The new one was, however, disappointing and crass.

As a fan I personally feel that no film of Dev Anand should be remade as it will for sure destroy the beauty of the original. The romantic image of Dev Anand is unparalleled even to this day and it should be allowed to remain untouched.

I had a hidden desire to meet him. He was a man who delivered flops one after the other in recent times but continued doing films purely because he loved doing it. In my opinion he was the man who ideally followed the principle of the Bhagvad Gita: “Karam karo, phal ki chinta mat karo” (do your work, don’t worry about the result). Perhaps this is why he became an immortal.  

Since he was a man who with a never say die attitude, I will suppress my grief as a mark of respect to the icon and only say – “Jivan ke safar mein rahi, milte hai bichar jaane ko, aur de jaate hai yadein, tanhai mein tarpane ko….o ho, o ho, o ho, o ho, oho oho.”

RIP Dev Anand sir