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Press
and Partition of Punjab
An attempt to focus on
the ‘little voices’ that should have been heard but were swept
away; of what transpired on the ground, the dusty lanes and bylanes of
Punjab’s villages and small towns, Raghuvendra
Tanwar gives a slice of history from below. Exclusive
excerpts from his book Reporting
the Partition of Punjab 1947, Press, Public and other Opinions
| MUCH
has already been written on the Partition of Punjab. But surprisingly
most of the accounts have handled it as if it were little more than a
political event, an achievement whose human dimension, if at all, was
only peripheral. This work is not
therefore a story of the complex negotiations, the political
intrigues, the political rhetoric that preceded the division of
Punjab, nor even of how and why the partition of Punjab came about. |
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RIN
mutiny gave a jolt to the British
The ratings mutiny in
the Royal Indian Navy made the British realise it was time to leave
India. Dhananjaya Bhat on the
uprising that took place 60 years ago on February 18
WHICH
phase of our freedom struggle won for us Independence? Mahatma Gandhi’s
1942 Quit India movement or The INA army launched by Netaji Bose to
free India or the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 1946? According to the
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, during whose regime India
became free, it was the INA and the RIN Mutiny of February 18-23 1946
that made the British realise that their time was up in India.
The last princess
Harbans
Singh Virdi on Bamba Jindan,
the last descendant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who is buried in a
Christian cemetery in Lahore
SINCE
I had visited the cultural capital of Pakistan, twice in the past, in
1979 and 2003, the land, lanes and labyrinths of Lahore were no alien
to me. Yet it was sheer coincidence that I ran into Afzaal, a
storehouse of knowledge and information, at Gulberg, the last port of
call for the Punj-Aab bus, that I came to know that the last line of
Maharaja Ranjit Singh dynasty had lived and died in Lahore.
Flawed flashbacks
Some filmmakers divest
their movies of the element of suspense by resorting to the recall
technique. However, there are some rare exceptions, writes Surendra
Miglani
ONE
of the most illogical and unreasonable things witnessed in Hindi films
is flashback. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most favourite
methods of our filmmakers to tell stories. In fact, flashback is a
banana skin on which even some of our most accomplished and
intelligent directors and writers have slipped.
Makeover magic
To stay in the
reckoning, Bollywood stars know they must re-invent themselves every
now and then to retain their fan following.
Aamir
Khan does it with his every new release while Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh
Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar too are
reaping rich returns with their image makeovers. Gone are the days when
star-struck Indian audiences would never get tired of contrived
mannerisms of a Shammi Kapoor, a Dev Anand or a Dharmendra.
A tidy
comedy
Jijaji
is more than a slapstick satire. If script and direction are above
average, individual performances, too, are impressive, writes Randeep
Wadehra
AGES
ago, just when one thought that Doordarshan, the only television
channel available to Indian viewers at that time, would never allow
telecast of satires, Jaspal Bhatti’s Ulta Pulta lit up the
small screen. Used as fillers on the national television, Bhatti’s
cameos launched frontal assaults on administrative corruption,
political shenanigans and various warps and woofs in our society.
Fully
Filmy
Ivninderpal Singh
Jagmeet
Samunderri, an alumnus of the Department of Mass Communications,
Panjab University, Chandigarh, will play a mimicry artiste in Personal
se sawal karti hai, a film-based programme on Sahara One’s Hindi
movie channel Filmy. According to Samunderri,
a reporter will ask funny questions from Bollywood personalities and
get replies in the same manner. Roberts to star with
Hanks
‘America’s
Sweetheart’ Julia Roberts and ‘Forrest Gump’ Tom Hanks are
reportedly going to star in a new feature. According to Variety
Magazine, Roberts is toying with the idea of featuring in Charlie
Wilson’s War, a drama set to star Hanks.
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