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Fears of poor
monsoon No beacon of hope |
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The Parivar bares
its teeth
Adverbs in
agreement with conventions
Nonika Singh IN a recent interview Kangana Ranaut said Revolver Rani is a genre breaking film. Is it? Well, in a way, yes. For, how often do you see a woman calling the shots literally and metamorphically. So, you meet this gutsy trigger-happy politician Alka (Kangana Ranaut), who cares two hoots about the law, has a toy boy (Vir Das) for a lover with whom she occupies top position in the bed too. Bravo! All quite in sync with the new face of Hindi cinema where heroines are finally coming out of the time warp and playing real flesh and blood women and going grey with relish. Mediocre show by
showman Clueless scramble A grown-up version
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No beacon of hope So
it turns out it was never really about removing beacons from 'VIP' vehicles to make the 'common people' feel better. It was only those higher up in the power pyramid feeling uncomfortable about those on the lower rungs using the same red beacons as them. The Supreme Court order last December asking for a limit to the people who could sport the red beacon had given reason for hope — that the spirit of democracy was finally being upheld. But the fine print had it that colours other than red could be considered for the lesser VIPs. Haryana had immediately restricted the flashing red beacon to the Governor and the Chief Justice of the high court. A notification it issued on Thursday, however, increased the list to more than 10 categories of ‘dignitaries’. What really negates the spirit of the move to curtail the use of beacons is the permission for a large range of colours and types of lights atop vehicles of officials who do not fall in the 'flashing-red' category in Haryana. From non-flashing red to amber to 'red with purple glass' it will be a veritable kaleidoscope out there! Will the common road user feel any less domineered? And what does the colour coding tell him? Is he to respond differently to the various colours? There is one multi-coloured beacon designated for emergency duty vehicles. Will people blocking the way realise the difference, unless they carry a copy of the notification? The question of why vehicles need beacons, and therefore which or whose vehicle should bear it, needs to be revisited. The Supreme Court had only asked for the implementation of the existing Central government notifications, which were not drafted in true egalitarian and democratic spirit in the first place. The Motor Vehicles Act requires amendment, taking into account the needs of governance, equality on roads, safety and nation-wide uniformity of colour coding so that all drivers understand what a beacon signifies. Essentially, only emergency, fire brigade and security vehicles need a beacon, no one else.
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In the game of love, the losers are more celebrated than the winners.
— Mason Cooley
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A menace to progress HIS Honour the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab dwelt upon a very important subject to the people of the Punjab in his concluding speech at the last meeting of the Punjab Legislative Council, which, we hope will engage sufficient attention. It is the Hindu-Mahomedan relation which, Honour admitted, is a menace to progress in the Punjab. He did not think that at present the relation was growing worse, but it is clear that it is not becoming more cordial and nothing practically has been done by wiser heads to bring about cordiality. In other Provinces something has been done and the ground is to some extent prepared by lovers of progress and peace, and Government too has not been indifferent. This good result is due to various causes which, we presume, must be absent in the Punjab. The Contempt of Court Bill
WE are agreeably surprised to find the "Pioneer" in complete agreement with its Indian contemporaries in condemning the Contempt of Court Bill as altogether unacceptable. In a closely reasoned article it admits that the hands of the Courts require strengthening but points out the unsuitability and the dangerous character of the provisions of the present Bill. Firstly, the law allows to the advocate great latitude in commenting on the proceedings of Courts and it is therefore inconsistent to punish the journalist alone for his comments. Secondly, there is no proper definition of contempt, and that makes the Bill all too drastic and far-reaching in its effect.
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The Parivar bares its teeth
Confident
of a Bharatiya Janata Party victory, they are coming out of the woodwork, as if to confirm the popular belief that Mr Narendra Modi’s assumption of the country’s prime ministership will give fillip to the extreme factions that are part of the Sangh Parivar. It would seem that Mr Modi has convinced himself of his future role, but even more so the extreme right-wing carriers of the BJP torch are reinforced in their belief that their moment has arrived. As if Giriraj Singh had not said enough by banishing critics of Modi to Pakistan, Mr Pravin Togadia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad added his voice to the BJP agenda by telling an audience how to prevent Muslims from acquiring property in Hindu-majority areas. Other affiliated groups associated with the Sangh Parivar in southern India have marked their moral territory by becoming vigilantes imposing their own puritanical beliefs in the name of Hindu culture on a startled young population. The BJP is plainly embarrassed by elements in the Parivar revealing their hand before a victory is signed and sealed, but this flowering of the narrowest interpretation of what Hinduism stands for has alarmed the BJP prime ministerial candidate sufficiently for him to tweet his disapproval without naming names. There has been a sense of alarm in many sections of society on the kind of reforms the BJP's mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh would impose on a Modi government. But this show of the Parivar going wild in anticipation of victory is revealing its hand too early to spread disquiet among large sections of society. Throughout his campaign, Mr Modi has steered clear of controversial Hindutva issues concentrating on such themes as “minimum government and maximum governance” while beating the development drum. Much of the election cycle is already over before the Parivar’s hundred flowers are blooming, but in the remaining rounds of election many voters, particularly the young, will take note of the kind of administration a BJP government would give the country. During the only other BJP dispensation at the Centre, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had kept extreme right elements in the Parivar in check and his own stature was such that few dared challenge him. Mr Modi comes from a different perspective carrying the burden of the 2002 riots and a reputation for being a warrior of the Hindutva ideology. One result of his proximity to power has been the unleashing of men of the ilk of Giriraj Singh and Pravin Togadia feeling free to give public vent to their feelings, conjuring up ghosts of creating a Hinduised India in a land of great diversity in religious beliefs and ethnicity. It is as if the Sangh Parivar is confirming its belief that the Congress' idea of India was all wrong and was in essence an appeasement of minorities. Lately Mr Modi has expended much energy on reinventing himself as a compassionate man with his eyes on taking the country forward with his mantra of development and good governance. He has thus given impetus to the idea that the Congress party needs rest as the governing party and that it is time to give the BJP a chance in the shape of its leader promising to do great things. Apart from spoiling this pretty picture, the Parivar elements now in free flow are harming the party. The RSS does not share Jawaharlal Nehru's idea of India, as it has made plain over its tempestuous history, successfully rehabilitating itself after its difficult years following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. As is well known, it clothes itself as a cultural organisation while directing the BJP's affairs with an iron hand, sending its followers to staff the BJP and getting its dedicated foot soldiers to work for the party candidates come elections. Mr Modi himself is a product of the Sangh Parivar, sent to the BJP headquarters to be its eyes and ears. Later, he was sent to Gujarat, where he displayed his mettle by repeatedly winning elections, decimating the Congress opposition and having his own way in running the government proclaiming the great things he had done for the state. Along the way he picked up the black spot of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002, a stain that refuses to go away. In the process of his rise, Mr Modi poses a problem for the RSS and his party: he appears bigger than either of them. Indeed, being named a prime ministerial candidate was a rare occurrence, but the whole thrust of the lavish election campaign has been centred on one man, Modi. The RSS leadership is consoling itself with the thought after some sniping that once he ascends the gaddi, the organisation has the moral authority and the sinews to make him conform to its will. The sprouting of unruly elements in the party and the Parivar is a warning that the best plots can be undone by unexpected happenings. It would appear that many in the Parivar - their number is difficult to quantify - have other ideas on how the country should be run. Their view is purely majoritarian, on the thesis that although comprising the vast majority of the population, Hindus do not get their due. One way to describe this stream of thought is to suggest that these Parivar elements wish to replicate the Pakistan experiment in reverse. It was the sagacity of the leaders of India's independence movement that they resisted this idea, declaring that independent India would be a country of all its citizens, irrespective of their caste and creed. It remains to be seen how far saner elements in the BJP will come together to nix a dangerous direction the Sangh Parivar could take on the strength of a BJP victory. In electoral terms, the die seems to have been cast and the most likely outcome seems to be the formation of a BJP-led government under Mr Modi. The Gujarat leader indeed does have his legion of admirers, some of them as a rebound on their disappointment with the rule of the UPA-II with its litany of scams and apparent indecision. The future seems exciting and dangerous.
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Adverbs in agreement with conventions —
Howard Mittelmark The main function of adverbs is to add information to verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and clauses. Adverbs modify words in respect to time, manner, place, frequency, degree, connective adverbs and stance. They are the most fluid among word classes when it comes to positioning them in discourse. But the degree of flexibility they enjoy within placement and form can sometimes lead them to less agreeable situations, as seen below: 1. The Silver City report is a truly, thoroughly, brilliantly investigated report. Since adverbs can modify other adverbs, there is a possibility of placing two or more of them in quick succession. But it causes “needless clutter” (Mittlemark). Stacking is not wrong grammatically, it just shows clumsy structuring of thoughts. Unless used for creative expression, writers must restrain themselves from it. 2. So, um ... you know my children are like ... kind of, very fond of Pumbaa er ... Pumbaa is ... sort of, a role model for them.... Expressions such as "like, kind of" and “sort of” are characteristic of spoken English, but acceptable within limits. The sentence reflects their overuse, lowering the speaker's grading. A proficient speaker uses hesitation devices as a strategy, as it creates time to retrieve apt words and organize thoughts. A diffident speaker leans upon them as fillers, spreading out the message and making it less dense. These devices are also used as hedging to intentionally be imprecise or noncommittal. For a few younger people, the repetition of “like” every now and then is a statement of style. 3. Rarely Beenu pays her taxes in time. The structure “Usually Beenu pays her taxes in time” is within conventions but not the one above since the message has a negative tone. Sometimes Negative Frequency Adverbs like “rarely, never, hardly, seldom” etc. occur initially in a sentence in a formal situation for emphasis. Then a helping verb like "do" is added before the subject to apply subject-verb inversion. The sentence will then read as “Rarely does Beenu pay her taxes in time”. The Positive Frequency Adverbs like “often, usually, sometimes, occasionally” can do without subject-verb inversion. 4. That’s a used car ... it's going cheaply. Buy it. The word “cheaply” is formed from the adjective “cheap” by adding the ending “-ly”. Many adverbs of manner use this rule. But some of these adverbs use the form without the “-ly” more frequently than with “-ly”, i.e. “flat” becomes “flatly” but is used as “flat” more often, as in “The project fell flat” not “flatly”. The sentence under discussion will read as “That's a used car ... it’s going cheap. Buy it”. Many adverbs move quite freely in discourse, visible in an underplayed or prominent way, but always in agreement with conventions.
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Miss-fired Nonika Singh
For a while, you rejoice in the making of this new alpha heroine who protects her lover from her enemies, finances his Bollywood dreams, threatens him with dire consequences if he betrays her. But before you can say kudos, the film begins to fall into a formulaic mess that offbeat cinema too sadly has begun to fall prey to.
Women, we know, will be women and even tough-as-nails Kangana can’t ignore her feminine being which becomes her undoing. But this twist in the story by itself is not the film’s Achilles heel. It’s where it takes the film that initially delights you with its quirky dialogues and desi flavour. The way it exposes the dirty underbelly of politics where there are neither permanent friends nor foes is credible too. The problem is the film doesn’t gel as a whole and amidst the mayhem of bullets flying left, right and centre it leaves you both gasping for breath as well as looking for real rationale. Coming from Tighmanshu Dhulia’s stable (he is the producer) it has the stamp of his earlier films writ all over and is strongly reminiscent of films such as Gangs Of Wasseypur as well. Early on, in a scene while judging a local male beauty pageant of sorts Kangana quips, "Is mein jazzbaat nahi hai." Actually emotions have no place in the Machiavellian world of politics ruled by lucre, greed and bloodshed. Nor in the film for that matter! So, you end up empathising with neither the lover boy clearly suffocated in a relationship he has brought upon himself, nor with brutal yet insecure Alka. Though Vir Das’ character is better delineated, Kangana’s leaves you confused. Yet, despite the shortcomings of the character, she bowls you with her deglamourised look replete with a tan, her body language, her dialect and diction very much in place. Piyush Mishra as the ‘Shaukini’ type of mama is simply outstanding. He emotes as much with his piercing gaze as when armed with the wherewithal of pungent dialogues. Rest of the supporting cast, especially Zakir Hussain, as the vile politician, too nail their characters with aplomb though Zeeshan Qadri, is wasted. How you wish the film had similar high standards of story telling. Alas! Inconsistency dogs it, making it a now interesting, now dreary fare. Finally fatigue sets in and another refreshing subject bites the bullet of ennui. Should you subject yourself to the recounting of the tale of revolver ki rani who thrills to the touch of revolver, lives and …. we won’t play spoilsport and reveal the climax? Well, if the delectable flavour of Queen is still lingering with you better continue savouring that. But yes here’s another ample proof that Queen wasn’t just a flash in the pan moment for Kangana.
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Mediocre show by showman
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Clueless scramble
According to the characters’s self-referencing intros, Samrat (Rajeev Khandelwal) is desi Sherlock who gets called out to Shimla with his partner sleuth Dr Watson (Gopal Dutt) by a young and pretty damsel in distress, in order to solve the case of a dying garden. Samrat is not as interested in the dying garden as he is in the patriarch who also, as the daughter claims, is dying a slow death. Once he enters the massive Mahendra mansion, eerie things begin to happen. The patriarch (Girish Karnad) is found murdered, following which the investigation picks up steam. The exposition is poor. The script doesn’t allow us to familiarise ourselves with Samrat and his unique abilities. So whatever the development, there’s little depth in terms of logic or sense to sustain it. That Samrat has the ability to deduce demographic profile points from a mere glance is thrust down our throats without any believable explanation. The so-called deepening of the mystery also comes across as ham-handed because every time a finger is pointed at a suspect, he or she is found dead. Also the plotting is given to a by-the-numbers generic structure. The only good thing though is that the film is pretty much short of tedium because of the racy nature.
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A grown-up version
Instead of the shipwreck, we have a helicopter crash this time. The young Greystoke here is not shown as a newborn- and he is talking when the crash happens. So conveniently, when he meets Jane, he just has to recollect the words from his past. This film is certainly a more grown-up version than a kiddie flick. There are no talking animals; there are people dying and there’s a lot of random evil happening, thanks to Clayton and his nefarious ambitions. The mood is also quite somber and dramatic. The effect though, especially the 3D motion capture animation, is so very life like. — JT
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TV movies Saturday April 26
ZEE CINEMA 8:46AM Dalaal 11:31AM Arya: Ek Deewana 5:56PM Aan: Men at Work 9:00PM Dhamaal ZEE STUDIO 8:40AM The Help 11:40AM The Devil’s Double 3:40PM Drag Me to Hell 5:40PM Honey I Shrunk the Kids 7:30PM Enemy of the State 10:00PM John Carter MOVIES OK 9:20AM Aunty No. 1 11:50AM Mard Ki Zaban 4:50PM Sabse Bada Khiladi 8:00PM Main Insaaf Karoonga 10:45PM Vachanbadh STAR GOLD 9:00AM Dil Hai Tumhaara 12:35PM Hero No. 1 5:45PM Deewana Mastana 8:00PM Singham 11:00PM The Fighterman Saleem ZEE ACTION 10:30AM Muqadama 5:30PM Ghatak: The Destroyer 8:30PM Jallaad SONY PIX 10:42AM 2012 4:09PM White House Down 7:05PM Premium Rush 9:00PM The Forbidden Kingdom 11:08PM Tomorrow Never Dies ZEE CLASSIC 10:37AM Lakhon Ki Baat 8:00PM Saathi 11:00PM Bombay To Goa INDIA TALKIES 9:30AM Dharam Ki Jung 4:30PM Mahakaal 8:00PM Black Commando 11:30PM Soundtrack Sunday April 27
Elysium is a dystopian science fiction action thriller film written, directed, and co-produced by Neill Blomkamp, and starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. ZEE CINEMA
11:21AM Bulandi 5:56PM Krantiveer 9:00PM Besharam MOVIES OK 11:40AM Indian 4:35PM Don 8:00PM Bullett Raja 10:50PM Judwaa No.1 ZEE ACTION 10:30AM Milan 5:30PM Sahhas 8:30PM Aatish STAR GOLD 9:05AM Humraaz 12:00PM Chup Chup Ke 5:35PM Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? 8:00PM Wanted 11:10PM The Return of Sikandar ZEE CLASSIC 10:47AM Maang Bharo Sajana 1:56PM Haisiyat 5:08PM Gaon Hamara Shaher Tumhara 8:00PM Kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahan? 11:00PM Vidhaata ZEE STUDIO 10:00AM Enemy of the State 7:15PM John Carter 10:00PM Cowboys & Aliens INDIA TALKIES 9:30AM Black Commando 4:30PM Purani Haveli 8:00PM Jyoti 11:30PM Soundtrack STAR MOVIES 8:30AM You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 10:30AM Avatar 2:00PM Mr. Bean’s Holiday 4:00PM Oblivion 6:30PM Die Hard 4.0 9:00PM Ice Age: Continental Drift 10:30PM Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
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"
IN
a recent interview Kangana Ranaut said Revolver Rani is a genre
breaking film. Is it? Well, in a way, yes. For, how often do you see a
woman calling the shots literally and metamorphically. So, you meet this
gutsy trigger-happy politician Alka (Kangana Ranaut), who cares two
hoots about the law, has a toy boy (Vir Das) for a lover with whom she
occupies top position in the bed too. Bravo! All quite in sync with the
new face of Hindi cinema where heroines are finally coming out of the
time warp and playing real flesh and blood women and going grey with
relish.
The story is a little too
convoluted to make sense, but you can be grateful that it’s in the
traditional Ghai mode. The script is choc-o-block with events and the drama is
periphrastically heightened by rousingly choreographed and sumptuously mounted
flourishes. The music is not as good though. Ismail Darbar tries valiantly to
drum-up the mellifluence of yore, but the effect is not as ingratiating.
Karthik Aryan comes good as the doomed lover and Ghai’s new find Indrani
Chakraborty, rechristened Mishthi, in true-blue Subhash Ghai tradition, is
quite talented and manages to convey a variety of emotions in her very first
foray.
The
role, of course, demands quite a bit from her and she is up to the task. The
convoluted saga is of a once innocent, traditional yet contemporary
independent woman who gets transplanted from the hill country into the city in
pursuit of vengeance on those who usurped her land and love. Shades of Raj
Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s Rang
De Basanti can be seen in the narrative that is replete with formulaic
clichés and traditional Bollywoodian stereotypes. Ghai presents his
characters in traditional formats and envelopes them in the superficial glitz
as well as gloss of his flamboyant imagery. Unfortunately, that was a trick
that worked in the eighties and nineties, but no longer. The story’s wayward
plotting itself defies imagination. Turning an ordinary dehati into a
superhero of sorts, who gains a countrywide fan-following and makes ministers
quiver in their seats, is not the order of the day. A reforms agenda and
anti-corruption zeal may hit the nail on the head for contemporariness, but
otherwise everything is a little too passé to keep you glued to your seats.
A return back to the origin story, albeit a slightly updated one, of how the Greystoke heir crash lands in the jungle, is brought up by gorillas and then meets-up with Jane whose father is the key to the limitless meteorite powered energy source coveted by present CEO Clayton who would rather see Tarzan dead than have him usurp his well-entrenched authority over the giant Greystoke corporation.
8:00Pm Star gold
1:00pm Sony pix