AmarSharma-Sensible Nonsense

Deep in my heart lives a desire to watch birthday celebrations, baby shower, mundan, naamkaran ceremonies and marriage anniversary celebrations of hollywood's leading ladies & men live on BBC News, CNN, CBS News & FOX News channels and that too for the whole day! And I know that I'm going to leave this world without having this desire fulfilled. How sad! In contrast, the Indian TV news channels worked themselves up into a lather to bring us the 70 th birthday celebrations of Amitabh Bachchan live into our bedrooms. Right from a day before the birthday we were drenched in promos reminding us to join Big B's birthday on the respective channels. You couldn't escape this whole tamasha even if you wanted to for the Big B was omnipresent. I'm surprised how Sr. Bachchan allowed this media intrusion into something that should have been a totally private affair. For he is the same fellow who had shunned media when it was poking its nose into his alleged affairs...

Have you ever wondered as to why almost all the religious gatherings in your neighbourhood including Bhagwati Jagrans, Paaths, Kathas, Satsangs, Pravachans, Langars, Daans and donations etc. are invariably sponsored by individuals and business entities that are not really known for their `above board’ practices when it comes to making money? Very few, if any, of such sponsorships involve cheque payments as transactions in cash and kind are the norm. Majority of the sponsoring traders, shopkeepers & businessmen are known to be indulging in tax evasion, dealing in spurious and adulterated stuff, price manipulations, evading or underpaying dues owed to the govt. & civic bodies (by way of electricity theft, tampering of electiricty meters in collusion with department officials, undervaluing properties etc.), encroachment on public land and cheating customers – all of which are seemingly against what any religion preaches. And yes, all of these also fit into the definition of corr...

Of late I have been receiving mails and online petitions demanding inclusion of Loveleen Tandan's name along with Danny Boyle's for Best Director's award in the Oscars 2009. Subsequently I searched the web for more info and came across an interview of Loveleen asking people not to raise this controversy as Danny is the actual director of the film. She is also reported to have mentioned something to the effect that she considers herself lucky to have got the credit as Co-Director (India). The reason for her appeal (to put this issue to rest & not rake it up further) could be any & many but from all that one has read on the net (her own interviews, Boyle's interviews etc.), it seems that her primary contribution has been in : 1.Casting of slum kids + few other Indian Actors 2.Suggesting that 1/3rd of the dialogues be retained in Hindi 3.Writing/re-writing/translating some of the dialogues in Hindi. 4.Suggesting to Danny not to let communal mobs wear outfits disp...

It has been over a week since Slumdog Millionaire was released in India amidst lot of hype & hoopla...some genuine and some manufactured. With a string of awards and nominations in its kitty, none of the so -called Indian film critics have had the courage to see beneath the surface of the story as well as the film. They've played safe by giving it the highest ratings...fearing that a critical rating of such a highly decorated film may raise questions on their own competence perhaps. From all that I've read about the film and Vikas Swarup's novel (on which it is based) and watched on TV (infinite no. of interviews of Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan, Anil Kapoor & the lot), the film is essentially about a poor slum boy hitting the jackpot in a TV game show just by chance and making it good. So it is his sheer fortune / luck that plays a role in extricating him from the dehumanized existence in the slums. What's so great and different about the story? For centur...