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Going beyond personalities
Rape, again |
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AAP needs to clear policy confusion
Appropriate use of intonation
Discomfiting slice of a dark world
A winner all the way
Another son bites the dust
Leave the legend alone
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Going beyond personalities Without declaring Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate, the Congress has announced that he will lead the 2014 election campaign, making him thus responsible for the outcome. At the Congress Working Committee meeting almost an exasperated Sonia Gandhi had to silence the Rahul-as-PM chorus by loyalists. Rahul himself has said he is ready for "whatever responsibility" the party gives him. On Friday he was finally acting as the leader, much more confident and in command than before. He re-emphasised the Congress tradition that the elected MPs would choose the next Prime Minister. Only Dr Manmohan Singh was named the PM candidate ahead of the elections in 2009. The Congress leadership has tactically resisted the pressure to avoid a contest of personalities. Had the party made the Rahul-as-PM announcement, critics would have accused it of playing dynastic politics. The attempt obviously was to protect Rahul Gandhi from a direct competition with an aggressive Narendra Modi. The recent opinion polls indicate Modi is more acceptable than Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. The Congress strategy obviously is to shift the debate from personalities to issues like secular versus communal and project its "pro-people" initiatives. Modi's portrayal as a divisive leader best serves the Congress interests. A usually mild-mannered PM too recently hit Modi where it hurts the most. On Friday Sonia Gandhi termed the ensuing general election as a "sharpening contest between conflicting ideologies". The recent emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party has made it a less direct contest between Modi and Rahul. The increasing popularity of AAP's anti-corruption drive has not yet been factored in the electoral calculations of the two national parties. The Congress may like to see AAP as making it difficult for the BJP to get the required number of seats to help Modi occupy the PM office. The BJP is slowly recognising the ground reality. It is no longer a victory on a platter for the BJP as it once appeared. It will be interesting to see who the fighting cats are and who the winner monkey is. |
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Rape, again For too long now India has earned the dubious reputation of a country unsafe for women. The country's image took a further beating this Wednesday when a Danish woman, was raped and robbed at knife-point in broad daylight that too in the heart of the country's capital. The incident is once again a reflection of the sorry state of affairs concerning women's security. It's indeed tragic as well as ironic that despite the national outrage against the horrific December 16 gang-rape incident 13 months ago, which led to tougher laws, crimes against women show no signs of abating. The situation in the rest of the country is no better than that in Delhi. Not only do a majority of Indian women live under the shadow of fear, foreigners too are at grave risk. In Madhya Pradesh a Swiss tourist was raped in
Datia, a town 65km from Gwalior. A Korean woman was raped by a hotel manager at a resort at the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve. Similar cases of sexual assault on foreigners have been reported in other parts of India. To be fair, the lawmakers have not been immune to the rising graph of crime against women. In the wake of the Nirbhaya case, tougher laws have been formulated and crimes like stalking and voyeurism recognized. Yet it has not deterred men brought up in patriarchal values and growing up with bigoted perceptions from committing heinous acts like rape. Those who believed that tougher laws would impel change are at their wits' end on what is the way forward. Perhaps answers lie in effective policing and transformation of mindsets. The growing public anger over rape incidents is a pointer that as a society we are no longer willing to take things lying down. If the law-implementing machinery took a zero-tolerance stance, India wouldn't have to hang its head in shame, something that is happening with distressing frequency. |
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An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along. —Andre Maurois |
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The label of religion IN India it has become an established custom to refer to communities and individuals according to the religion they profess, though every one knows he has no choice whatever in enlisting himself to any particular religious group. This is doubtless the remnant of an old and rapidly weakening system under the modern influences of rationalism. The terms Hindu, Mahomedan, Sikh, Budhist, Jain, Parsee and Christian all create a certain amount of bias and a wrong impression that communities or individuals so labelled are physically, morally and spiritually nothing but a mass of the religious fervour and that their whole life is dominated by faiths, beliefs and dogmas peculiar to their creed. In reality nothing can be more unreal in these days, when 999 out of very 1000 individuals wake up in the morning with the consciousness of no separate religious entity and pursue no special code of activities till their bed time. The Punjab weavers
WE cannot sufficiently thank His Honour the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab for having pleaded the cause of the one million weavers of the Punjab who have fallen upon hard times, in his reply to the Anjuman address. It is seldom that on occasions of presenting addresses and making welcome speeches that the lot of so humble an industrial community is remembered by us. It is evident that His Honour's heart is touched by the unhappy condition of these voiceless and unlucky humanity, in a manner which calls for speedy and effective assistance. We have all the weakness of fighting for advantages of those who are most prominently before us or who are powerful enough to make themselves always heard. But our country's happiness and progress is to no small degree dependent on the amelioration of the millions of dumb people who are suffering.
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AAP needs to clear policy confusion
It is hoped that the Delhi Law Minister has understood Article 227 of the Constitution of India providing for the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. He along with Chief Minister Kejriwal had an audience with the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court the other day so as to remove any impression of even indirect interference in the domain of the judiciary. It does not behove an AAM minister to reach late by one hour and disrupt the screening of a film at a public centre to deliver a lecture. Is this not more act of a feudal lord than that of an elected minister? The AAP government also needs to clarify its announced policy of 95 per cent of the Delhiites only being eligible for the Delhi colleges — a policy opposed by DUTA and student associations. It is self-evident that any political party must present a defined socially relevant policy. That the country should have a corruption-free government is unexceptional and no party can possibly say to the contrary. People naturally will judge it by actual experience. But then people want to know whether the objectives laid down by our founders of the Constitution are the ones on which any government, state or Central is functioning. Some of the basic unalterable objectives of our Constitution postulate the government's active role in developing an inclusive society with special consideration for the minorities like the Muslims and the Christians and to minimise inequalities in society. In short, any political party must spell out clearly its position vis-à-vis the big corporate sector, foreign as well as Indian, and its commitment to socialism and the public sector, emphasised by Dr. Ambedkar as being the objective of the Constitution. Unfortunately, on all these policy matters there is a resounding silence by AAP. It is not enough to say that a party is committed to the poor - that bald declaration is made by even neo-fascist groups all over the world, including India. A party has to spell out the instruments it will apply to achieve the growth of the economy. In India public sector undertakings like Oil India and NTPC are a strong bulwark of growth as against the failure of some of the biggest private sector corporations, the hands of some of them being sullied by the Coalgate and telecom scandals. With that experience for a party to cast a doubt on the public sector existence is to betray the constitutional mandate. Also a party going national must also indicate its position on the ongoing policy of the Central government in selling off the family silver (PSUs) to private predators. The AAP policy against FDI in retail is, of course, on the right direction. The right to food is an absolute right of every citizen in the country. The PUCL has been fighting for the acceptance of the right in the Supreme Court for years - it is because of this that the governments have been obligated to pass the Right to Food Act for supplying the food at subsidised prices. But if a party has doubts about the subsidy, then it must enlighten the public how the poor are to get even the minimum food required for keeping alive. The AAP government is obligated to clear its policy on the demand of the Socialist Party and the Pension Parishad to raise the pension for Delhi's elderly people who get a monthly minimum pension of Rs. 5,000. An immediate response from the AAP government is called for to the danger of displacement of lakhs of people, pointed out by Medha Patkar, the NAPAM leader, due to the decision on the Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Kolkata corridors being activated soon. The self-praise by AAP that it has solved the water problem in Delhi is cynical. The supply of 700 liters free water a day means nothing to about 40 per cent of the people simply because there are no water pipes in their areas and the government is not supplying water at all. They depend on water mafia tankers available at exorbitant rates. Areas like Zakir Nagar and Sangam Vihar have the D.J.B. water pipes passing them by at a little distance but the D.J.B. refuses to connect these areas, thus leaving them at the mercy of the mafia. In fact, the experiment of privatisation of water must be discontinued. This facility must remain in the public sector as the right to water is a human right. No doubt, corruption is an evil eating into the vitals of our society. But you do not fight it by spreading suspicion about every one's honesty excepting those belonging to the ruling party. To what dangerous proportion this is sought to be practised is clear when AAP unabashedly announces that its government is creating a service which will teach public callers how to conduct a sting operation. The government feels this will create a fear psychosis in each civil servant. This is frightening. This method reminds me of the system devised during the decadent period of the USSR regime when Russian children were indoctrinated to spy on their parents and report to the secret service and then were publicly honoured. Corruption is not eased out by such hare-brained sting operations but rather by the top of the administration being above reproach. It is a pity that Chief Minister Kejriwal has announced with a boastful flourish that the defaulters of the electricity bills from March 2013 onwards belonging to his party will not be required to pay the arrears and instead these will be paid by the Delhi government. The justification given is that it has to be assumed that all these defaulters were part of the "andolan" launched in March by AAP. This is a dangerous view apart from being legally impermissible. The state government cannot distinguish between people who vote for or against it. As it is, a question may well be asked at this partiality by lakhs of voters who had paid their electricity bills and also voted for AAP: Are some people more equal than others? It needs to be continuously remembered that running a government is a sober business and not a public bluster or empty rhetoric. The writer is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi
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Appropriate use of intonation “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” —Maya Angelou
1.
æI have a dream ... . (Here, the speaker wants to focus on a collective dream.) The speaker intends to inspire the listeners with a collective dream but by changing the pitch on the word "I", he ends up making the statement I-centric and boastful. If he changes the pitch on the word "dream", the "dream" will become a shared desire. The sentence should be spoken as: I have a
ædream ... . 2. Come here for a
æminute. (Here, the speaker wants to make a request.) The speaker has definitely changed the pitch at the right word. However, the use of the falling tone makes the message more of a command. If the pitch is replaced with the rising tone, it will become a request. The sentence should be spoken as: Come here for a
3. When did you visit the Huntington
æGardens? (Here, the speaker wants to make a genuine inquiry.) By using the falling tone, the speaker conveys that the message is complete and the listener can take his turn to speak. The response from the listener can be brief, as the use of falling tone indicates that the speaker is not very keen to seek information. To make a genuine request and elicit a free flow of response, the speaker should use the rising tone. The sentence should be spoken as: When did you visit the Huntington
4. Poodles are unusually
The speaker should use the falling-rising tone to indicate the implied portion of the message. The sentence should be spoken as: Poodles are unusually
æ Learners can refer to an established international model for acquiring intonation contours or at least follow a pan-Indian variety. The writer is Director, Regional Institute of English, Chandigarh
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Discomfiting slice of a dark world
For too long now we have been exposed to full on masala or at best middle of the road cinema that we have forgotten what pure cinema means or looks like. Sure one of the chief attributes of such films is that it’s not meant to please audiences or anyone for that matter. There is very little feel-good factor to appease our finer sensibilities. But on the test of time... it’s cinema of this genre that is at once unsettling and engaging, disturbing and unusual that passes. So here it is a slice of sordid world of C grade filmmakers who flirted with sleaze and whose films bordered on porn. Harking back to that period of eighties when such films ran in small towns of India, serving soft porn in the guise of a movie, the narrative moves in the dark alleys of makers, distributors and financiers. And it presents a reality that is anything but lovely. So as the film brings into focus the brittle relationship between two brothers, the dark and brooding tenor sets its own pace. Its bleak mood pervades all its frames, be it the party scenes or the romantic ones. The sense of the impending doom can be sensed from the beginning. Right from frame one the ready to snap tension between the two brothers too is palpable. As for the brave and bold quotient of the film that made as much news for being part of Uncertain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival where it premiered as for its censor cuts, well, without flinching Ahluwalia provides you enough glimpses. There is actual footage of such films from the past as well as freshly shot sequences. But by no stretch of imagination is Miss Lovely a C grade film. Sure some of the scenes are rather bold...by puritan standards perhaps these cross the line of decency. But the crassness of it all is not meant to titillate only meant to reinforce the theme that never swerves from its path. Direct and without making any excuses on behalf of its protagonists, it bares some ugly truths. But its prime focus is the underlying tragedy that the director wants us to share and take home. Helping him in this endeavour of making you walk on the cutting edge that horrifies as well as touches a chord is the cast. Nawazuddin in the lead role lives up to the exemplary standards of acting that he has set for himself. He gets under the skin of the character, caught between hope and desolation with so much ease that not for once do you feel he is acting. He becomes the part and brings alive the many shades of his character. From hope to resignation to finally indignation he offers all there can be to a sterling performance that is sublimated and impactful. George as Vicky is just perfect as the debauch self-serving greedy elder brother. As for the lovely lady Niharika Singh , she is both fetching and convincing. So is the film that treads a path few makers dare to..... However, if popcorn entertainment is your first and only qualification for cinema, this might not be your cup of tea.
Did you know? Suchitra Sen's beauty and acting prowess had attracted legendary filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor but their offers to act in their movies were politely turned down.
Hug & make up The differences between Bollywood's top two Khans —Salman and Shah Rukh seem to be melting away as both actors acknowledged and hugged each at an awards function.
Surprise factor! Beyonce fans got a big surprise at midnight on December 13, when the pop star announced her new album. Just as surprising was her decision to announce the album by posting a 15-second video. |
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A winner all the way After a long, long while do we have a delightful romp of fun and frolic as we breeze through an intricate plot, an excellent script and chiseled performances in a riveting 138-minute entertainer called American Hustle. What follows is a guessing game because Irving has doubts of his partners' fidelity. To add to their woes Irving is not ready to leave his son and wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), who then comes into her own though her ignorance gets Irving in trouble. The plot gets even more curious when New York Mayor Carrine Polito (Jeremy Reiner) gets involved in the financing. Director David O Russell does well to orchestrate the show with a good mix of action and suspense and Danny Elfman's music is zany with old favourites (like Delilah for one) and their heady beat. Maybe a heavier Christian Bale is a bit of a let-down and partly due to Bradley Cooper's superb performance. Both the women are excellent. Amy Adams, showing spark and cleavage in equal measure and Jennifer Lawrence turning in a spectacular cameo. Jeremy Reiner is also adequate in this not-to-be-missed winner. |
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Another son bites the dust
With Sanjay Dutt’s Rocky debut on his mind, how can fledgling Shiv Darshan (son of Suneel Darshan) hope to make a mark? Karle Pyaar Karle is meant to be an adrenaline-gushing, action- packed, edgy love story of two rebels — Kabir (Shiv Darshan) and Preet (Hasleen Kaur)— but comes nowhere close. As far as the story is concerned, it’s far more solid than the ones we’ve been treated to. The narrative goes all out to fashion reasons for the star aspirants to show off their skills — be it stunt cycling, competitive skateboarding, motorcycle daredevilry, dancing and ample show of brawn. But the fun element is not all-pervasive. The sporty, playful scenes and banter are quite pleasing. Although Shiv Darshan manages to score well in most departments mentioned above, he appears sorely lacking in screen presence and acting skills. There is a certain sluggishness to his performance that needs to be corrected. The music here is also not as good as it should have been. For a film aiming to be the ‘ love story’ of the new millennium, the music, a multi-composer effort, is not one that is easy on the ears. Overall this film is not bad, but can’t keep you riveted. |
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Leave the legend alone We all know about that symbol of strength but somehow the idea of resurrecting him is misconceived. Especially the manner it is done in The Legend of Hercules which even children will not be able to sit through. Expectedly, men in armour fight battles and in between we see our hero beat a host of adversaries and even a lion with his bare hands. But he needs support to fight his arrogant brother. No prizes for guessing who wins, nor the manner in which it happens. By now boredom is inevitable and if there was even the semblance of acting it must have fallen to the floor of the editing room. Need one say more? |
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Saturday January 18 ZEE CINEMA MOVIES NOW MOVIES OK ZEE CLASSIC STAR GOLD ZEE ACTION SONY PIX FILMY Sunday January 19 ZEE CINEMA SET MAX MOVIES NOW MOVIES OK ZEE ACTION STAR GOLD ZEE CLASSIC |
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Indeed, Miss Lovely is an anachronism here, a dream that Sonu Duggal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) nurses. It’s a name of a romantic film he intends to make with a woman Pinki (Niharika Singh) he loves. Dwelling as he does in a world led by his brother Vicky
(Anil George) that caters to baser instincts of men, clearly sublime emotions like love can’t easily find a place. Since the film focuses on the lives of people embroiled in this dirty business, expectedly they can’t escape its ominous shadow in personal lives. The horror of what they do for a living is bound to find an echo. 
Set in a land where scams breed like rabbits we head for the Big Bad Apple itself, New York, and the drama is loosely based on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scam operation in the late-1970s. Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are a team of con artistes. But Sydney has improved Irving's scams by posing as Lady Edith Greensley.
Keeping abreast with modern times, Kabir and Preet are childhood sweethearts whose bonding with each other is forged on childhood traumas and intertwined shenanigans. They become daring adults who meet again, but old habits die hard. 
We are told our hero Hercules (Kellen Lutz) is the son of the god Zeus and the pathetic script has to focus on the conception. 
Fukrey is a comedy directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and starring Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Ali Fazal, Manjot Singh, Richa Chadda, Vishakha Singh, and Priya Anand in the lead roles.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a coming-of-age romantic comedy film, directed by Ayan Mukerji and produced by Karan Johar. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in lead roles. This was their second film together after their 2008 film Bachna Ae Haseeno.