O P I N I O N S

Fifty Fifty
Presenting things as they are, subtly
Madras Cafe is sans item songs or melodrama, but continues to get great reviews. More filmmakers should follow in Sircar’s footsteps without worrying about political fallout.
Kishwar Desai
Political films are always difficult to make, and in India there has been an almost unspoken ban on them if they are likely to present our politics — and more especially our rulers — in an unflattering light.

LAST WORD Ami Bera
Only the third Indian-American to make it to the House of Representatives, Bera is now part of an American Sikh caucus.
Championing civil rights in US
By Ashok Tuteja
There was considerable hue and cry when Ami Bera, the only Indian-American Congressman, joined the newly formed American Sikh Congressional Caucus in May. After all, he had joined the caucus, totally ignoring the concerns of several Indian-American groups and the Indian embassy that it was backed by groups and individuals who have in the past openly supported the “Khalistan” movement.

• off the cuff
  
  

  IN PASSING  SANDEEP JOSHI  Do you think putting a vertical line like the dollar will help?

Fifty Fifty
Presenting things as they are, subtly 
Madras Cafe is sans item songs or melodrama, but continues to get great reviews. More filmmakers should follow in Sircar’s footsteps without worrying about political fallout.
Kishwar Desai

Political films are always difficult to make, and in India there has been an almost unspoken ban on them if they are likely to present our politics — and more especially our rulers — in an unflattering light. This has been attributed (rightly or wrongly) to the delicate and thin skin of all politicians and particularly that of the Nehru Gandhi parivar. Since the Congress has ruled the country for most of its 66 years, the common belief is that it will be difficult to make a film where any person from the family is featured, unless it is unbearably sycophantic. Unlike in the West, where films are often made on politicians, and even increasingly on the Royal family in the UK, in India it remains a no-go area.

Thus, Madras Cafe, director Shoojit Sircar’s new film, is a brave new attempt, though it, too, balks at any outright criticism of government policy or even of one particular former Prime Minister — in this case, a ‘fictional’ Rajiv Gandhi type of character. Rather, it is quite sympathetic towards him. The film is set in the 80s and 90s when India was actively following a policy of intervention in Sri Lanka. (As we had done in all other neighbouring countries as well, but that’s another story).

Madras Cafe is a brave new attempt at a political narrative.

But at least Madras Cafe examines (in a fictional setting) recent political history, tackling the vexed subject of the civil strife in Sri Lanka and India’s meddling in it. It also invents a version of how the assassination of the Rajiv Gandhi character, referred to only as the ‘ex-Prime Minister’, was planned and executed. Though the filmmakers are careful to point out in the beginning that none of the characters are real, and any resemblance is purely coincidental, the obvious parallels to a very tragic reality is what makes the film interesting, and gives it an important, additional dimension. This is a very tough subject to tackle — and that might be why Shoojit Sircar chose to skirt the really contentious issues, and make this into a political espionage film. Madras Cafe thus becomes a racy countdown to the assassination of an ‘ex-Prime Minister’ with John Abraham playing a RAW agent who stumbles upon the possibility of the killing but is helpless to stop it.

As a fictionalised version of real events, Sircar has spun a viable tale, though the larger conspiracy theory that he presents, ie, the former Prime Minister was killed by shadowy international arms dealers who did not want a political solution to the island’s civil war, might be a little too simplistic. We all know that the real reason, sadly, was that if one sows a whirlwind then one must reap it, as well, and once India had supported ‘revolutionaries’ in Sri Lanka, it was only a matter of time before they became uncontrollable. It will be interesting to see if future films will continue to glorify India’s role and disguise human rights violations, providing India’s rather bloody history in the island country with some kind of justification. Curiously, as someone in the audience pointed out, was there also a not-so-subtle political message in giving us an alternative history to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination so close to the national election, and is that why no one in the Congress has even mildly commented on it? (Interesting….why is there no tweet from Digvijay Singh as yet?)

In fact, the film barely refers to the resentment among the Sinhalese of this overt and covert Indian interference — and neither is there any palpable critique of why a foreign nation should manipulate events in the neighbourhood, even to the extent of supplying arms to different warring factions. There is no visible crisis of conscience as the Sri Lankan policy is decided by the Indian Cabinet Secretary and other mandarins and the RAW — without a single significant political figure spotted on the horizon from either country. Only one character in the film, that of the main protagonist, John Abraham’s wife, played by Amrita Rao, ever questions the need for all this bloodletting.

The other drawback is that there is little exploration of the actual rationale behind India’s building up of the Tamil liberation forces in Sri Lanka — apart from the rather simplistic wish of a former ‘Prime Minister’ of India to impose a political solution onto the country — by forcing one of the so-called ‘freedom fighters’ to stand for elections, instead of resorting to violent means.

This film succeeds only because it keeps to a narrow cast of characters and a superficial ‘spy’ plot, without much empathy for the Sri Lankan Government, or the rebels, or the larger political issues. It chooses to focus only on RAW and its activities in Sri Lanka, perhaps because any deeper delving would have been far too dangerous for the filmmakers as Madras Cafe is already banned in some of the country. So the clever solution was to treat the Indian Government’s interference in Sri Lanka as perfectly normal-business as usual.

That said, the film is intelligently constructed and John Abraham, Siddharth Basu (an old friend from college!) as well as other friends like Dibang, apart from Nargis Fakhri, and the rest of the cast have all acted their parts with conviction. The script also moves along at a crackling pace.

Reassuringly, though it is a film sans item songs or melodrama, it continues to run and get great reviews, and one hopes that many more filmmakers will follow in Sircar’s courageous footsteps without worrying about the political fallout. 

LAST WORD Ami Bera
Only the third Indian-American to make it to the House of Representatives, Bera is now part of an American Sikh caucus.
Championing civil rights in US
By Ashok Tuteja

There was considerable hue and cry when Ami Bera, the only Indian-American Congressman, joined the newly formed American Sikh Congressional Caucus in May. After all, he had joined the caucus, totally ignoring the concerns of several Indian-American groups and the Indian embassy that it was backed by groups and individuals who have in the past openly supported the “Khalistan” movement.

The 48-year-old Bera, however, remained unmoved. He defended his decision, saying he was joining the caucus to work on “civil rights” issues. His contention was that violence and discrimination against the American-Sikh community was a real and important civil rights issue in the US. “That’s why I co-sponsored strong anti-hate crimes legislation earlier this year, and that’s why I joined the American Sikh Congressional Caucus, to work on civil rights issues here in America,” Bera argued.

Civil rights and community service have clearly become the main objectives of Bera ever since he was elected from California in November last year to become only the third Indian-American to have ever entered the House of Representatives after Dalip Singh Saund in the 1950s and Bobby Jindal in 2005.

Born in Los Angeles on March 2, 1965, to the son of immigrants from Rajkot in Gujarat, Bera (Amerish Babulal) grew up in a vibrant household, benefiting from traditional values of discipline and hard work, solid educational foundations and an underlying belief in the American Dream.

He has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California at Irvine, earning his MD there in 1991. He served the Sacramento region as a physician and educator for almost two decades before deciding to join electoral politics. He confessed he ran for Congress because he wanted to make sure others have the same chance at the dream that he had for generations to come. His campaign for a Congressional seat from California received a surprise boost when his candidature was endorsed by the charismatic former President Bill Clinton.

Defining policies

As a Democrat, Bera defeated three-term Republican incumbent Dan Lungren in one of the most competitive races in the US to represent California’s seventh Congressional district in suburban Sacramento. And the list of his admirers has grown during his first few months in office. He has also been appointed to two key congressional committees that would help him play a key role in shaping America’s foreign and science policies. Bera considers it a special privilege to be a part of the most diverse US Congress ever elected. “I think it’s wonderful that the House of Representatives is going to look a little more like the rest of the US, and I hope our campaign can serve as an inspiration for many more Indian-Americans and people of all backgrounds to get involved at all levels of government,” he remarks.

As a Congressman, he has been working tirelessly to bring Republicans and Democrats together to rebuild an economy that works for the middle class. His wife Janine is also a medical doctor and they have a 15-year-old daughter Sydra.

Ask him about the Indo-US relations and Bera gets excited. “India is an important strategic partner to the US and the two countries have a history of collaboration on many regional and global issues. India should continue to be an important strategic partner, and a place where we can grow the market for American goods and services,” he said at an interactive session organised by the Aspen Institute in New Delhi during his visit to India this week.

Rooting for Gujarat

Bera believes India has a key role to play in the post-drawdown phase in Afghanistan and lauds a wide range of initiatives undertaken by New Delhi in areas like education, public health and infrastructure in the embattled country. Being a Gujarati by birth, Bera is appreciative of the developmental work done by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the state in the past over a decade. At the same time, he wants to play it safe when asked why Modi, who has been voted to power again and again by the people of Gujarat, was being denied visa by the world’s oldest democracy. “If he desires, Modi can apply for visa, but it’s for the State Department to take a decision on his application,” Bera stated, not wanting to take a position on the issue.

Bera’s long-cherished dream is to see an Indian occupying the post of US President one day. With Indian-Americans becoming one of the most powerful ethnic groups in the US, the dream is not all that unrealistic.

off the cuff

Of all metros in India, Mumbai enjoys the tag of being an international city but it is losing its flavour and charm. There is a strong disconnect between the police and the administration. We should not let it grow.

praful patel, union minister
On the gang-rape of a photojournalist

The worry is that there is such a high decibel noise around corruption that whenever something goes ahead, there is someone who is criticising it. If we reach a situation where there is no one brave enough to find a solution, then there is a problem.

naina lal kidwai, ficci president
On the state of economy

A spirit of inquiry should not morph into a campaign of calumny. A witch-hunt is not a substitute for investigative journalism. Personal prejudices must not replace public good.

dr manmohan singh, prime minister
Advising the media to exercise restraint

Some people have been aggrieved by my statement that 90 per cent of Indians are fools. The statement was made in a specific context and not intended to hurt anyone’s feelings.

markandey katju, press council of india head
On remarks made by him

When I compete, I don’t think of form or what I expect from myself. I try to work, both on the physical aspects and my chess. Form will take care of itself if the work is thorough.

viswanathan anand, chess champion
On his preparation

If time has no beginning and no end, everything is happening, will happen, has happened at the same moment. All of eternity in a single moment.

shekhar kapur, filmmaker
On the concept of time

I’ve finally learnt that some things in life have more merit when they are kept secret. Relationships are one of those things. When you become a celebrity, you become suspicious in every new circumstance. I don’t trust people.

ashton kutcher, hollywood actor
On being wary of people