People feel. I write.
Writing and revolution go hand in hand.
It was the 70's. Emergency, unemployment and a sense of general deprivation prevailed over the country.
It was then that I decided to write. I wrote because I felt the anger, I wrote because I wanted to give words to what thousands of Indians felt...
I have just received a letter from Amitabh Bachchan. Correction-I am among several journalists who have received a letter from Amitabh Bachchan. It is a copy of a long letter he has sent to the Times of India in response to an article by Jug Suraiya. Suraiya, in a column on March 1, took many potshots at Bachchan for the latter's alleged critical comments on Slumdog Millionare.
So congratulations then to all those who were associated with Slumdog Millionaire. From the producers, director and script-writer to the youngest child actor, it is everyone's success and whatever one might say -- it is not an Indian film, it shows the seamy side of Mumbai -- etc, you got to admit Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy brought a perspective no Hindi filmmaker would ever have. Even dirt and filth in Bollywood films, when it is shown, is so glamourised and artificial that it loses any meaning. The much talked about shit scene (an echo of a similar scene in Trainspotting, also by Boyle) has attracted the ire of all those who feel this is poverty-porn, and it is certainly cringe inducing, but who can deny it is marvellously inventive.
But as a Mumbaiwalla, I have some other grouses. I think the author and script-writer have a very outdated view of even Mumbai's underbelly. The infamous "blinding of the beggar child" scene, for example--when was the last time you saw a blind beggar in Mumbai? No seriously, blind beggars are passe though the legend lives on. The Dickensian conditions, complete with a Fagin may still be around (though I cannot confirm that), but the Mumbai beggar today looks very different from what he/she used to. Ditto the police torture scene. Good sources tell me that even the electrode sequence harks back to another era.
Dev D, the cool remake of Saratchandra's novel Devdas is making waves and found a solid fan base among the younger movie goer. But there is another remake of a popular old film that has come and gone, alas less heralded despite its merits. Indeed, its original source has not even been acknowledged.
The movie in question is Luck by Chance and the story is loosely based on -- try a guess -- Shri 420. The basic premise: sweet but canny boy comes from outside Mumbai to try his luck in the big bad city,meets a lovely and sweet young girl who sacrifices a lot for him but two-times her with a more sexy woman whom he uses to climb to the top. In Shri 420 Raj has the talent to card-sharp and gets taken in by the glamour of the upper class world who too use him; in LBC, Vikram is an actor who is selected by a producer in dire need for a new face. Substitute Konkona and Isha for Nargis and Nadira it all falls into place.
As a columnist and journalist, I have long got used to angry letters and criticism in general. The printed word has a lot of potency and anything in the papers is bound to attract those who hold another point of view. In fact, those who concur rarely write; it is only when the writer had provoked someone that he gets a response. From angry denunciation to mild rebuke, a commentator sees it all.
But criticising the article or its theme or its writing style is one thing; denouncing the person and his or her entire class is another. This is what I have seen more and more in recent times. Letter writers are not content to say "I do not like what you said." Instead, they declaim, "The article was typical of you and your tribe of elite, English speaking, westernised, secular journalists." As if that is not harsh enough, comes the final nail in the coffin: "You are a tiny minority, out of touch with the real India."
As a man, I am appalled at the discriminatory nature of the "send Ram Sene a pink chaddi" campaign. Men do not wear pink chaddis, so how will they register their protest at the thuggish behaviour of these Taliban? No, wait, that was a joke. In fact, I am impressed at this wonderful idea of public humiliating these fundamentalists by resorting to fundaments.
The puns have been coming fast and thick every since the chaddi story hit the web and now, newspapers. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Pink_chaddis_for_Mutalik_on_V-Day/articleshow/4102890.cms Getting to the bottom of things, getting down and dirty, even stretching the whole thing too far. But behind that humour, there is a serious objective which must not be ignored. The protest is a way of young, urban women telling these Neardathals that they are not going to be cowed down by this kind of violent behaviour. And by resorting to this unusual protest, they wish to also send a message to politicians that India is changing and they better understand this change.
