Another Review of 'Khoya Khoya Chand'

The settings and the mood were brilliant. The clothes, the hairstyles, the songs, the music composing sessions so different from today’s technologically superior studios, the same casting couch problems, the Bengali director high on artistic integrity and liquor, the Punjabi producer shamelessly spouting commercialism and neither character coming across as stereotypes. Alas, the principal character is the victim of this attention to detail on everything else.

Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan) is supposed to be an actress who is exploited by everyone, manages to make it as a success in Bollywood and then takes up drinking as her career and personal life nosedive. Sadly it is a rare moment when you can understand or empathise with Nikhat. She looks the same whether it is confessing her first casting couch experience at 14, or discovering that her memories of a loving father are not true or buying liquor surreptitiously from a bootlegger. In a scale of ‘how much I empathized with the character’, if Mr Bean scored a 3, Nikhat would score 1. Especially considering that I was pre disposed to weep for her as she is supposed to be based on real life heroines like Waheeda Rehman who did suffer a lot of trauma.

Rajat Kapoor as the aging hero, Premkumar, has a great role and does it well. Shiney Ahuja as the self-involved writer Zafar again vacillates from realistic to uni-dimensional. Peripheral support characters like Vinay Pathak, Saurabh Shukla, Sonya Jehan shine.

The movie reminded me of some of the dinners I have been to. The table is set right, complete with excellent chinaware and filled with well-garnished, delectable looking items, but the actual food usually tastes average. Looks great for a photo shoot but you can never forget yourself in it.

By,
Anita B.
(Read other posts by Anita B. at http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)

Review of 'Khoya Khoya Chand'

'Khoya Khoya Chand' attempts to recreate the magical world of Hindi cinema as it existed during the Guru Dutt era. I am tempted to say that it is a 'different' film, except there have been so many different films lately that the word can no longer be applied to most movies. It is an interesting story, and well told, though the second half could have done with crisper editing.

It is the story of the aspiring young star Nikhat, her journey from obscurity to fame and then her growing dependence on alcohol as her stardom lessens; of the men who accompany her / exploit her at various phases during this journey. According to news reports, the screenplay is loosely based on the story of Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman, sprinkled with excerpts from Meena Kumari and Madhubala's lives.*

The sets, costumes and music recreate the look and feel of an era. Apart from three absolutely delightful new songs - 'Khoya Khoya Chand', 'Yeh Nigahein' and 'Thirak Thirak', there are popular songs from old Hindi movies constantly playing in the background. There are references to stars of that time, and scenes that are respectful nods to classic movies of that era.

Each individual in the ensemble cast holds his own - Rajat Kapur, Vinay Pathak, Shiney Ahuja, Soha Ali Khan etc. Though Soha's acting has been panned by many reviewers, I thought she suited the role and was quite natural as Nikhat. The movie has some lovely dialogues - most of them delivered either by Saurabh Shukla essaying the role of a Punjabbi producerr, or by Shiney Ahuja as the writer Zafar. Soha Ali Khan, by contrast, has many overdramatised filmi dialogues, though she manages to make you believe in Nikhat in spite of them.

All in all, definitely worth a watch.

* (Note: Wonder why they left out Nutan ? Moral of the story : Good girls have no fun in their youth and no movies are made about them once they pass away.)

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

Welcome Back !

I had a pleasant surprise on my way to office a few days ago. On the rear panel of a bus, I saw an ad for the programme 'Good Morning Mumbai' hosted by my favourite RJs Jaggu and Tarana. While mentally singing songs of joy and celebration, I utilised the next few minutes smsing my friends about their return. 'Jaggu and Tarana are back - 94.3 FM - 7 a.m. weekdays :-) '
Welcome Back, Jaggu and Tarana.
I missed you.

After 18 months in Bangalore, when i returned to Bombay, one of the things I was looking forward to was listening to Jaggu and Tarana chatter away in their inimitable style every morning on 'Go 92.5 FM'. There are mornings when I live up to the resolutions made the night before - wake up before sunrise and head out for an early morning walk before I hurry back to quickly get ready for another day at office. Then there are the mornings when I make myself a cup of tea, wrap my hands around the cup, sip slowly and savour the tea for at least 20 minutes while I listen to the radio and gradually wake up with a 'peaceful easy feeling'. It is on these fuzzy-wake-up mornings that I missed Jaggu and Tarana the most.
But no more.
They are back. Yippee !
The best part about Jaggu and Tarana on radio is how natural they sound and how much fun they seem to be having. The songs they play in between the chatter don't really count for much, they could as well be playing nursery rhymes.

Yesterday morning my mind swam back into consciousness while hearing Jaggue's lame excuse for being late to work, Tarana punching holes in his story and then both of them discussing the 'winter' in Bombay. (All of you that are tempted to pass snide remarks about the 'winter' in Bombay, desist ! Amongst Jaggu and Tarana's sterling qualities are an undying loyalty to Bombay; they have already discussed you and your brethren on radio this morning and I will be tempted to repeat what they said in not-quite-as-parliamentary language.)

This morning the person that rang in for their phone quiz was an I.T officer and both of them cracked the expected jokes about tax and tax evasion, but somehow they sounded so fresh that it didn't matter that the jokes weren't.

'94.3' is well on the way to being my favourite radio station for their decision to host the comeback of my favourite RJs. And just in case someone from '94.3 fm ' is reading this : I love Glenn too - could you please bring him back for Sunday mornings at least ? T Man too.

That would make life just about perfect - with the lark on the wing, the snail on the thorn, God in his heaven etc.

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

NANDIGRAM - West Bengal's Ongoing Shame...

Having just returned from Calcutta, which is still shut down in protest of the ruling Communist Party's (CPM) hardline dealings in Nandigram, I am ashamed to say that this is nothing but a hard look in the mirror for those claiming West Bengal and Calcutta have meaningfully undergone political and economic liberalization.

The extent of the massacre last Saturday, in which CPM militias allegedly massacred suspected Maoist / Naxalite infiltrators in Nandigram, as well as innocent villagers, including women and children, is still unclear. Reports range from 20 to 200 dead, and may more wounded. Bodies were apparently burned and disposed off, and the media and central army peacekeepers are not being allowed in. Protesters in Calcutta, including leading social justice activists and intelligentsia, were arrested.

West Bengal's attempt to convert an erstwhile Communist machinery into a liberal, investment-friendly economy stutters to a halt at times like these. Worse, the Central Government has traded a blind eye for a loosening of the CPM's position on the nuclear deal.

If you want to read more, please check out the following links:

1) The latest spin on the CPM takeover:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071113/asp/frontpage/story_8542825.asphttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Red_terror_grips_Nandigram/articleshow/2536817.cms

2) What the CPM is saying:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Karat_blames_Trinamul_Maoists_for_violence/articleshow/2536814.cms

3) What Saturday was a reaction to:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Nandigram_turns_blood_red/articleshow/1764786.cms

By,
Anamitra Deb

Ganpati Bappa Less-ya

The fact that Ganesh pandals have sprung up here and there in Chennai is good evidence of a singular lack of imagination. As a primarily Maharastrian custom, it is not too popular here. Nevertheless the State units of the more ‘nationalistic’ political parties labour on every year in the hope of generating mass hysteria and cutting through to the vote base of the Dravidian parties. As most of their other laughable ideas, this has also not worked too well so far.

One of the Ganesha pandals I managed to pass by this year was an example of why these State units should seriously consider dropping the idea. The pandal owner had neatly come up with various avatars of Ganesha depending on what had caught his fancy. I noticed a ‘nut’ Ganesh, a ‘grass’ Ganesh, a fruity Ganesh, a coconut Ganesh and turmeric Ganesh. In case you are reaching out for your Penguin book of Hindu mythology, let me assure you that all these are definitely not sanctioned avatars of the elephant god. Clearly an overactive imagination had been at work. The only problem was that the level of competence had clearly not matched the level of enthusiasm. The turmeric Ganesha was alright, merely looking like he was suffering from an advanced case of Hepatitis B. The nuts and fruits Ganeshas were also reasonably fine. The grass Ganesha looked like a mutant child of a union between Ganesh and an Ent from Lord of the Rings. What really took the cake was the coconut Ganesha. The statue was embossed on all sides with empty coconut shells all covered in a fine layer of mud. The effect was of watching Ganesh suffering from some unspeakable disease, no doubt contracted by being promiscuous with the Apsaras. Just looking at it made me want to shut my eyes and sing songs to calm myself down.

I am not the one to quibble about Ganesh being given new forms. Infact, assimilation of new ideas is probably the cornerstone of a religion’s survival. As a child I had heartily applauded when I saw Ma Durga riding a dinosaur in a pandal in Kolkatha (Jurassic Park had just been released that year). However I do protest against my aesthetic senses being offended like this.

The irony was that despite the stark ugliness of the whole range of Ganeshas, devotees were still passing by them in a steady line, touching the feet of the statues. Boy, religion sure sells!

By,
Anita B (more by her on http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)

Reality Weekend

Thanks to a TV addicted family, and multiple sms from my mother telling me when to watch TV, I ended up spending three hours this weekend watching reality shows on TV. This post is an attempt at catharsis.

My reaction to ‘Nach Baliye 3’ can be summed up thus – ‘cut the cr**, get them on stage and start the dancing’. I am just not interested in what Kashmira said (intentionally or unintentionally) about Rakhi Sawant’s silicon (or lack of it), neither in whether the ten couples think it fair to include Juhi and her yet-undiscovered-Baliye in the competition. ‘Yeh Na Socho Sirf Nach Hoga’, they warned us in the posters, but they did not disclose that what we in for was more ‘Big Boss’ and less ‘Nach Baliye’.

I want foot-tapping music, entertaining dancing and good, wholesome drama – all of which ‘Nach Baliye 1’ delivered. For instance, there was Varun Badola dancing to ‘Khaike Paan Banaraswala’, a version far superior to the Shahrukh Khan one that was in ‘Don’. Remember Varun and Rajeshwari dancing to ‘Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai’ – the salsa / tango they did was amazing ! And there were the comic numbers – Archana Puransingh and Parmeet Sethi dancing to ‘Dariya kinaare ek bangle hoga’ where Archana did a hilarious take-off on a woman applying make-up, and Parmeet dancing to ‘Koi Kahe, Kehta Rahe’ in shorts and a bright yellow shirt. There was tons of drama and emotion too – Archana and Parmeet brought their kids along for almost every episode and always addressed them on-stage after their performance or blew kisses at them, Poonam and Manish cried after every decision – irrespective of whether they were praised or criticised, Saroj Khan added to the drama content by making a 100 rupee note a symbol of success, Delnaz Paul showed us what sycophancy was every time she spoke of Saroj Khan etc etc. There was no dearth of drama ‘in Nach Baliye 1’ but none of it was crass (at least, not that I can remember). ‘Nach Baliye 3’ would do well to incorporate more elements of ‘Nach Baliye 1’, though avoiding crassness might be a wee bit difficult for some amongst the current set of contestants.

Immediately after ‘Nach Baliye 3’, I switched channels to watch an hour of ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’, and I must admit, it seemed to promise much more energy, fun and D A N C E than ‘Nach Baliye 3’. From a loyal ‘Nach Baliye’ fan, I may switch to ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’. (Makers of ‘Nach Baliye’, please note, I grant you a grace period of one more episode to get your act together.)

Sunday night I devoted to watching the ‘Indian Idols 3’ final. One hardly got to hear Amit and Prashant sing – most of the time the other contestants, judges, guest stars etc were on stage. It seemed more like a dance programme than a singing programme – are all the ‘Indian Idol’ final episodes like this ? All the dance numbers chosen were recent tapori hits – less melody, more noise - so I didn’t enjoy those much. Alisha chose to appear in medieval-queen-whose-split-personality-is-a-whore outfit – it was just awful. The last straw was Mika appearing on the stage for a number – I switched off the TV then and decided to read about the results in the newspaper. I will leave comments about the merits of the winner to Aqua, for a loyal Prashant supporter like her will definitely blog about it (link to Aqua’s previous post about Prashant - http://aquadreamer.blogspot.com/2007/07/prashant-rocks.html).

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

Review of 'Apna Asman'

I watched ‘Apna Asman’, a film by adman turned film director Kaushik Roy (currently President-Brand Strategy and Marketing Communication at Reliance Industries). The film is about an autistic child and the trauma and he and his parents undergo. The film is about a teenager's journey to be loved and admired for what he is rather then what his parents want him to be.

The movie is set in the city of Mumbai and is a modern insight on a young couple’s desires and aspirations, true of any modern day parent today.

The story is of Ravi Kumar (Irrfan Khan) his wife Padmini (Shobhana) and their teenage son BuddhiRaj (Dhruv Piyush Panjwani). Khan works for a plastics company and runs the family financially. Padmini his wife who is a classical dancer quits dancing after marriage to take care of the family and her son.

The couple is heart broken when their son is detected mild autistic and a slow learner. Buddhi’s only connection with the world is through his paintings. But his parents are not willing to accept his short comings and encourage him in his paintings. His retarded condition leaves his father broken with guilt and his mother who was looking for a bright future from the boy. The film maker has brought out the frustrations of the parents very well. So much so to the extent that they get carried away by a fake doctor who claims to cure brain disorders with an injection he has invented.

Despite being warned by their doctor (Dr Sen played by Rajat Kapoor) not to use their son as a guinea pig, the father manages to get the injection for the boy and in an inebriated state injects the medicine into the boy.

To their utter amazement the boy recovers and is normal. But the normalcy comes with its own set of consequences. From here the story takes some drastic turns. The boy who returns to normalcy is shown to have changed so drastically that it is a little too much to take.

The boy turns to be a big celebrity mathematician magician and is called ‘Arya Bhatt’. He is shown to become nasty having forgotten his past, he thinks his parents are imposters and are after his money. This is where I felt the film needed better treatment as the director goes a little overboard in showing the change in the boy. But finally all’s well that end’s well.

The casting is brilliant with Irrfan Khan, Shobhana and Rajat Kapoor having performed brilliantly. Dhruv Panjwani is good as an autistic child but I did not like his performance when he changes to be a normal teenager.

More than its portrayal of how a couple copes with their autism-affected child, the film touches a chord with its message on parenting. Apna Asmaan takes this story line “How far would you go to make your child a genius?” The film-maker gives it the sensibility of an urban thriller and has tried hard to make it an entertaining yet thought-provoking film about parents and their demands of their children.

Inspired by his own son ‘Orko’ Kaushik Roy’s first attempt to deal with a serious and intense subject of this nature is fairly good. I think it is a must for all parents to watch and learn from it.

Umang Pahwa is the producer of the film. Barun Mukherji is the head of the cinematography department and director Kaushik Roy has conceptualized and penned the story of the film. The music by Leslie Lewis is good.

The film that was released on September 7th has been screened at several international film festivals and has won the ‘The German Star of India’ at the Stuttgart Festival.

The film has been distributed in India by Sony Pictures.

The film might not be commercially viable but it could appeal to the serious film goers.

By,
Anusha

King India

The 90s was an exciting time in India. Liberalisation was making the kind of sweeping changes that would enable a whole generation of B-School grads to start off with double-digit salaries. The license Raj was disappearing, sectors were being thrown open and everywhere we were ascending new heights. Except Bollywood. If there is one era that can be pointed out as the worst in Bollywood’s history, it must be the early 90s and Raja Hindustani was perhaps some sort of a flashpoint in this nadir. I watched the promos of this movie as an 18 year old and wisely stayed away from it.

Then again, you grow older, more sentimental and foolish. After all, the 90s were my days, and frankly no other sane human being would preserve the cultural heritage of this fine generation. It is up to me and my ilk to inch up TV ratings to ensure 90s songs and movies don’t totally disappear from mainstream media. So saying, I settled down to watch Raja Hindustani on Sab TV the other day.

What a movie it turned out to be ! Reading like a competent doctoral thesis on ‘successful elements in a 90s pot boiler’, the movie has everything – poor hero, rich heroine, scheming step mother, communication gaps, hero defending the heroine’s honour, high society birthday party where everyone stands around and politely nurses a drink while the rich family members sing sad songs.

Arthi Sehgal (Karishma Kapoor) comes to Palanpet (or Palanpur) to celebrate her newly straightened hair and ponder on the exact mathematics involved in getting thin eyebrows. She hires Raja Hindustani’s (Aamir Khan) car and going by the irrefutable Laws of Bollywood ends up falling in love with him. Enter father (Suresh Oberoi) who wants to take Arthi back home. Raja drives them to the nearest airport. On the way, singing the worst superhit song of the 90s ‘Pardesi pardesi jana nahi’ Raja persuades Arthi to stay back and marry him. The couple marries and proceeds to sing even more horrible songs in the hillside. Step ma-in-law (Archana Puran Singh) enters the fray and separates Arthi and Raja. Raja goes back to Palanpur and sings sad songs during the course of which Arthi has a baby. At this point, the villains wake up and decide to do away with Raja and the baby. Baam Bish Doom. Raja and baby emerge unscathed. Arthi and Raja reunite and sing more songs.

At first glance, you may want to go ‘blech’ and throw up after listening to the story. It takes a talented viewer to notice the subtleties that made this movie a super hit. Here they are

The Kiss: This movie finally solved the mystery of what happened when the hero and the heroine brought their faces together and then the camera swiveled to give a view of the back of the hero’s head and the top half of the heroine’s face. Curious teenagers did not have to wait for Emraan Hashmi to give them lessons in hitting first base.

The Stepmother: The evil stepmother wears vamp-like clothes. But no one immediately equates this sartorial preference with lurking evil. Hindi movies finally moved beyond associating scantily clad women with a lack of moral fibre. Of course, as informed viewer, you have known right from the beginning that ma-in-laws showing some skin must be evil and can barely suppress yourself from saying ‘I told you so’ when events prove you right.

The Surd: One could easily dismiss Johnny Lever as the worst type of Sikh stereotyping. Especially when he walks around squatting and screaming ‘balle balle’ for no good reason. But no. Carefully notice how he does not sport a beard.

The Cross dressers – Early prototypes of Bobby darling, the female does a volte face and marries the surd. In just one quick scene, she sprouts a long pigtail worthy of a good Bharatiya Nari. I am not sure which shocked the audience more – the change in preferences or the quick hair growing lotion.

The movie is actually one of those wonderful bridges between the old and the new – the halfway house before kissing on screen, transvestites, and every song repeated atleast twice in the movie became standard Bollywood practice. And really, the fact that it wants me want to scream even after 11 years is just a testimony to its consistent legacy.

By,
Anita B.
(read more of her posts on http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)

Old Favourites - Part 2

And in keep with the old old favourites theme, here in another of mine.
It started with two poems being run on the poetry site called the Wondering Minstrels ( http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1763.html and http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/83.html) - one each by William Carlos Williams and F.J.Bergmann.
And then Anita and Rohit joined in too.
All the poems are reproduced below :

The Red Wheelbarrow
-- William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheelbarrow

glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.


"An Apology"
-- F. J. Bergmann

Forgive me
for backing over
and smashing your red wheelbarrow.

It was raining
and the rear wiper
does not work on
my new plum-colored SUV.

I am also sorry
about the white
chickens.


Inspired by 'An Apology'
by Anita. B

forgive me
for overtaking
and grazing
your red scooty

it was raining
and you were
at the blind spot of
my green scratched esteem

I am also sorry
about that guy
at the adyar signal.


Rohit's Reply
-- Rohithari Rajan

Forgive you?
I was in a hurry,
And that was a NEW scooty!

I was getting soaked
while you blindly (bull)dozed
in that ghastly green thing
(A blow, I say, to anyone's esteem)

But don't worry about that guy
I never really liked him anyway.

Happy Birthday

This blog turned two years old today. Yipppeee !

Happy Birthday to us.

Old favourites - 1

Now that this blog is almost two years old, have decided to select favourite posts from the past and run them again. Today's is 'Fairy Tale Phobia' by Rohit Grover, which I have read again ang again and over again, and continue to enjoy.
Do mention your favourite posts - by commenting or emailing - and those will be run too.
Our blog is almost two years old. Yippeee !

Fairy Tale Phobia

Now that I am a father, who is regularly called upon to read stories to his daughter, I have developed a very healthy dislike for fairy tales. I am okay with bears that talk and discuss the matters of the day, such as how the porridge is so much hotter nowadays than when they were little bear cubs, thinking nary a thought but those of porridge at just the right temperature, not cold and congealed, not so hot that it would burn the roofs of their mouths, just right. I can imitate barnyard animals till the cows come home -- mooing and snorting and clucking come to me like fluorescent lamps to the energy conscious. Zoo animals -- oh yeah, bring those on.

But fairy tales I hate. I can't stand the message I'm sending to my kid. Everytime I read 'Sleeping Beauty' I think of how vacuous and shallow the whole thing is. The fairies give her gifts of beauty and a singsong voice and, presumably, more gifts of a similar nature (maybe an hourglass figure, two well-defined eyebrows, and the like). No one gives her gifts of intelligence, the ability to do math, solve quantum mechanical problems, solve analytical mechanics problems, to see beauty in biology, the ability to tell fact from fiction, science from religion, not to mention the ability to kick the freaking prince who will later come up and kiss her without so much as a how-do-you-do.

If my daughter is to marry a prince, or an heir to a vast fortune, so be it, but I hope she will at least google the guy, pay some agency to do a background check on him, and spend enough time with him to figure out if it's really worth the trouble.

All the stories about evil stepmothers? How about some stories about kind stepmothers? Let's balance things a little, shall we? My daughter might have to be a stepmother some day -- I don't want her to feel like a failure if she doesn't have a hooked nose with a wart on the end, a cackly laugh, and a propensity to do evil. So I just avoid those. Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White will have to wait. Other stories I find myself changing on the fly.

Fauna, Flora, and Merriweather give gifts of being good at math, feeling relaxed during examinations, and an independent streak, but not one that leads Sleeping Beauty (how about calling her Aurora, her given name, for chrissakes) to do drugs or tobacco. Aurora gets into an accident on her way home from the art academy (she was straying from the path of science). Because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt, she goes into a coma, but a very intelligent surgeon saves her, and when she finally wakes up, he mentors her and she becomes a neurosurgeon herself. Then they get married and have kids, because let's face it, I want to make sure that message is conveyed so that my genes should get passed on -- that's my evolutionary right.

The miller who had a beautiful daughter who couldn't really spin straw into gold? How come the king gets to decide if he wants to marry her -- doesn't the girl get any sat? There are many versions of that one. The simples? It was a foolish miller, who's daughter packed an AK-47, and when the evil ruler tried to make her do stuff she didn't want to, RATATATATATATATATAT. That story ends rather fast. Then there's the one where she does the spinning of straw, but turns him down and goes to law school and proves that the monarchy is not right and introduces democracy to the country and becomes the first president (She shoots Rumpelstiltskin when he tries to kidnap her first-born kid).

The three little pigs -- actually, I like that one. But after having read it out loud a few hundred times, complete with the song about the big bad wolf, you want to end it sooner, so sometimes the wolf wins and has ham sandwiches for breakfast the next few months.

You get the picture.

I also hate tabloids and celebrity news magazines. I hate Aishwarya Rai, Lindsay Lohan, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Britney Spears. I want someone to publish a magazine with, say, glamor shots of Madame Curie's experimental apparatus (maybe Madame Curie also, but in opaque, sensible clothing). But that's another rant.

By,
Speck 42 ((speckfortytwo)(at)(gmail)(dot)(com))

Review of 'Blue Umbrella'

'Blue Umbrella'--- a film that will make you smile

I was glad when I got a personally autographed copy of 'Blue Umbrella' from Ruskin Bond last year when I met him to do an interview. I was excited once again like a kid when I got an invite for the premier of the film 'Blue Umbrella' based on the same Novella and directed by Vishal Bharadwaj.

Set in a small town in the hills of Himachal Pradesh it's as idyllic as it can be. If you have seen Malgudi days on TV you can relate to the settings of the film very well. It is this small, happy and harmonious village where everyone knows everyone else and nothing is hidden from one another.

The film 'Blue Umbrella' opens on Nandkishore (Pankaj Kapur), an unkempt shopkeeper lying on his charpoy with headphones plugged into his years and listening to a robot telling him his fortune. The mechanical voice assures Nandu that he will become a rich and famous man like 'Bill Gates', and when asked by one of his cronies who 'Bill Gates' is Nandkishore promptly answers that like India Gate there must be something called Bill Gates.

Nandu is this shrewd shopkeeper who wants everything that he likes and looks to make money out of every little thing that he can. Just as everything is normal in the village, a little girl 'Biniya' (debutante Shreya) is gifted a 'Blue Umbrella' by a group of Japanese travelers. They exchange the enticing Blue Umbrella for a Bear Claw locket that is supposedly a lucky charm for Biniya.

Biniya takes the Blue Umbrella that is so beautiful and the entire village is in awe of that umbrella. Right from the Village School Teacher's wife to Nandu everyone wants to have the Blue Umbrella. While she shares the Blue Umbrella with her friends, Biniya is clear she is never going to part with the beautiful acquisition that she has made recently. Nandu attempts all to entice her - free choclates and biscuits and even a paltry sum of Rs. 50 for the umbrella, but she refuses. Then finally one day the umbrella gets stolen.

Not just Biniya, the entire village is upset. Everybody tries to pacify Biniya but Biniya decides to investigate the robbery on her own along with the village police. There are several twists and turns from here on in the story. I would not want to reveal the whole film to you. All I can say is that there are emotions and issues of ostracism, loss, longing and loneliness that are brought out well.

Finally, all's well that end's well. It's a happy ending. The film is shot brilliantly, the photography is amazing. The cast has done a brilliant job. A low-budget production ‘Blue Umbrella’ deals powerfully with snow and nature, at the same time superbly highlighting the umbrella. In fact the director Vishal Bhardwaj treats the umbrella like the main protagonist of the film.

All in all the film is lovely and definitely brings the child out in you and makes you smile. I liked the film better than Bhardwaj's earlier children's film 'Makdee'. One must go and watch the film.

By,
Anusha S.

Nine Reasons to be Glad that Pratibhatai is President

1. Been a long time since Giani Zail Singh. India needs another Presidency that can spawn a whole series of jokes.
2. India can occupy America's position on the world stage. Once George Bush' term is over, which world leader will give us quotable quotes to chuckle over ? Who will play the court jester ?
3. The term 'informal' banking sector would acquire a whole new meaning.
4. Overleveraged and the economy dips? Relax and default
5. 'It's all about loving your family'
6. One small decision from Pratibha Patil, a huge leap for family planning practises. Of course, 'stupid' and 'unethical' do not yet qualify as symptoms of a hereditary disease
7. Even the President has an 'inner voice', so what if it speaks through Dadiji ?
8. Little children being misled by ambiguous concepts such as meritocracy etc can be given solid proof that loyalty and tenure will eventually get you somewhere
9. History exams - on Mughals and everything else - are going to be so much easier to prepare for. Just go with popular beliefs

By,
Anita & Zenobia

Bombay City

Here is what I have come to realize about Bombay in my three years of stay and four years of long distance relationship with the city:

1. They forget to build drains but crib whenever it rains. My guess is the city drains have been shut by a cartel involving all TV channels which get 3 days worth of content every year

2. They build houses that look like matchboxes meant to store prisoners before they are shipped off to Siberia . They can never remember that small space does not translate to nil aesthetics

3. They have zero sense of cleanliness. Which other city do you find people spitting at will on the road, on the stairwell, on other people? And staying in buildings so filthy you need a TT shot just to look at them.

4. They love narrow roads and pollution and come up with weird ideas on what to do in your travel time. I mean, what about the basic question – why would I want to travel so much?

5. They come up with logical explanations on the city being too narrow to accommodate everyone close to their offices, hence the travel time. But the actual idea of building a bridge from new Bombay to south Bombay is too much for them to handle.

6. If they do build a bridge, they are fastidious about getting it right and don’t mind taking their time over it. Look at the Worli-Bandra Link

7. They hate the sunlight and air circulation. That is why they build tall skyscrapers everywhere. Even if some mill lands get freed up, they talk about building parks but that is just to stretch an illusion about their love for nature. It has nothing to do with actual action

8. In fact, they dislike nature and like to obliterate any signs of it. So they build buildings on erstwhile rivers. The ones which are too large to be drained out, they simply kill. Like the fishless lake in Powai.

9. They love having their slums right by their doors so they can get their kick out of seeing how rich they have grown. No, other cities are not hypocrites for hiding away their slums. Their maid servants have slum housing boards or do a 2-hour commute if they stay far away.

10. Their love for fantasy is well known. All their bathrooms and toilets are built for hobbits. So what if humans have to hold their breadth, crouch and lose weight to squeeze into this space

11. Their public transport is the best in the world. Especially if you are young, aggressive and don’t mind F1 kind of accurate timings to jump in and out of trains. Just move somewhere once you grow too old for this.

12. They don’t mind buying a newspaper even if the only thing covered in its 13 page main section, 8 page supplement and the 4 page colour feature is Bollywood.

13. Their range of movies is simply breathtaking – right from Govinda to Bruce Willis. And obviously you are not a patriotic Indian if you want to watch some of the more offbeat foreign language movies

14. They can leverage themselves 10 times over to buy a 1000 sq feet house in the heart of the city with a view of the neighbours dilapidated flat and the pollution from the vehicles on the road wafting up and spend the rest of their lives paying back the debt. Their children will do the exact same thing, moving to a more up market location.

15. They can wait two hours to sit in restaurants around tiny tables with their elbows banging into strangers ordering food that costs half a month’s pay and think they lead a cool happening life

Sure they are super efficient. They have six sigma beating Dabbawallas, shops that are open till 11 in the night, service providers who can be at your house by 7 in the morning. But all so that the average Mumbaikar can be on the right side of sanity in a city waiting to push him over the edge. Still, their claim that they have resilience is definitely true. After all how many people can travel three hours a day in a hot, sweaty train, breathing in the toxic air of their co-passengers’ armpits, reach home too late to meet their kid and still have the energy to do it again, again and again. They need the resilience.

By,
Anita B.

Approaching Antiquity

In other words, getting older.

I have just one problem with this - the older I grow the more the percentage of younger people amongst those around me increases.

A few years ago, when I was working in a regional sales office, I failed to appreciate one of its biggest advantages – it was staffed (or stuffed) with lots of old people, whose average age was 45. Compared to them, I felt like a young, sprightly spring chicken - with time, youth, energy and enthusiasm all on my side. Now I work for a company where many of my colleagues are younger than 30 (younger than me, sigh !), and some are even as young as 22 - 23 !

Who let this gaggle of kids enter office ? They should all be in college practising advanced calculus, or microeconomics, or analysing W.H.Auden’s poetry through a Freudian lens, or whatever it is that they study - and practising tying their diapers symmetrically in their spare time. They should not be in office making respectably middle aged people like me feel like dinosaurs, so not-with-it, so behind-the-times.

Much as I like being around them, I have to admit that being in an environment made up of younger folks is not for the intolerant, impatient, under-confident or faint-hearted. Communication can sometimes be a challenge – especially if one is prone to giving analogies from an earlier era while speaking. I once cracked a joke about a stilted conversation between two people of the opposite gender sounding like it was part of the dialogue of a Saigalsaab film; the blank faces I saw totally killed my enthusiasm to illustrate my point by breaking into ‘main ban ki panchhi ban kar ban ban doloon re’. (Which might not be an entirely bad thing, we were seated in a lounge at the time, my rendition of ‘main ban ki panchhi’ might not have been received with the applause it deserves).

Another time, at a disco, I was thoroughly enjoying the music as it was retro night and I recognised all the songs – something which doesn’t happen very often. However, the kids cribbed because they recognised very few of the songs. (An aside : You know you are old when the songs they pay on ‘retro’ night in discs are the ones you used to enjoy in college; or when the videos on Channel V ‘Classics’ feature guys you mooned over in school / college – e.g. George Michael.)

And let me not forget my young friend who during a conversation authoritatively informed me that once people are about 35 years old, they lose all interest in sex because they are too old for it ! When I accused him of ageist discrimination, his only excuse was to explain that 35 was an age too old for him to comprehend !

Do you remember the comics you read as a kid ? Archies, Superman, Batman, Tinkle, Phantom etc. One time we were discussing the recent spate of super-hero movies when I mentioned that I really liked Phantom when I was a kid. Thankfully, this time I didn’t get the blank zombie-like stares as everyone recognised Phantom. However, some of them knew Phantom only from a videogame and had never read the comics !

Yegads ! Kids have stopped reading comics !!

The very nature of childhood has changed ! They don’t read comics, they don’t recognise ABBA numbers, they don’t know Saigal and Guru Dutt, they don’t like reading books, they are very tech savvy, they wear branded apparel and they know the exact difference between a bar, a pub, a lounge, a disco and a night-club.

I need a guidebook to be able to make interesting conversation with this generation.

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

Movie Review : 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

It was 10.15 am on Monday and I was rushing to Eros Mini Theatre where we were going to get the first glimpse of the latest-fifth-cinematic outing ofr J K Rowling's saga ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ’: the film that sees the boy wizard growing up to face the dreadful truth of his destiny.

In this latest flick Harry Porter painfully begins to understand the battles with evil that lie ahead. The film is good and gives us thrills and fun we have not already had in previous installments.

The latest film is far more merciless than the earlier ones and begins to introduce properly the idea that we are no longer in an amusing magical playground, but are en route to an epic confrontation with real victims.

The main story is how trouble brews as Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts begins. The authorities are ignoring Harry and Dumbledore's warnings of Voldemort's return, causing his fellow classmates to view him with disdain.

As all of you familiar with the book know, Order Of The Phoenix's story is about the magical world being split into two -- one half believes Harry and Dumbledore and the other believes the Ministry and its spin doctor, the Daily Prophet, who are out to make it look like Harry is a delusional fool and the Hogwarts headmaster a conniving, power-hungry wizard.

Harry suffers from nightmares, but even worse is the new defense against the Dark Arts teacher, the poisonous-in-pink Dolores Umbridge. She is the new witch who assumes control at Hogwarts, throwing the entire school into chaos. She is thoroughly dislikeable in the film and reminds us of some of our most hated school teachers.

The acting skills of Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione) have improved. Evanna Lynch as the eccentric Luna Lovegood has done a brilliant acting job. You feel sorry for her just as you do in the books.

The film is darker than all the previous films. The special effects along with the photography, locales and background score have all moved a notch above.

All Harry Porter fans and even those who aren’t his fans should like this one.

By,
Anusha

Review of 'Vacancy'

Husband and wife- David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) are driving back home from a party and suddenly they take a detour and their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. They walk a few miles and end up staying at a motel. They are tired and have a long day ahead but unfortunately they are unable to get any sleep as they are constantly bothered by unwelcome noises and visitors that keep them from falling asleep. When they discover some tapes of murders taking place in the very room that they are staying in, they realize that they are next. David and Amy then begin the fight for their lives.
This is ‘Vacancy’ a good suspense and thriller film. I just love these kinds of films. A Sony Pictures Release, the film is due to release in India tomorrow (Friday).
While it is not very different from most suspense thrillers or murder mysteries, it is still a nice fast - paced and well - made film according to me.
Both Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale are good in the film. I was watching Kate Beckinsale after a real long time. The last film I saw of hers after ‘Pearl Harbour’ was ‘The Aviator’.
I liked the characters played by Wilson and Beckinsale. They have arguments that are full of banter and eye rolling. There are some sarcastic statements made here and there to let the audience know why they are so pissed off with each other. There are no flashbacks just lines that explained enough to understand without going into grave detail.
The ending is very simple and not exaggerated. I was entertained though and I am not sure if people who love the horror genre will actually like or love this film. But if you do like smart horror movies instead of dumb ones you will most likely like ‘Vacancy’. So don’t leave a vacant seat, give it a chance.

Anusha Subramanian

Hindi Movies : Must Watch for an Indophile non-desi

Many of us know that the only thing true about India is that no single element represents the whole of India - her wonders, complexities, contradictions and the diversity. And Indian Cinema certainly can not - only Hindi movies surely can not. Still, I believe that the stories we tell and the songs we sing are a great representation of the people we are.

Many of my non-desi (firang!) friends have asked me numerous times for recommendations on Indian movies they should watch. I have prepared this list to for such Indophiles as a primer into the world of mainly Hindi films over the ages. The focus is to introduce them to some of our best artists in this craft - directors and actors whose work has had a remarkable impression on their generation (and the following ones).

These are films, which through their characters, dialogues and songs, reside in the subconscious of many-million Hindi speaking Indians and which have helped influence the idiom of our language. That way they lie in the fertile portion of our common milieu which influences our dreams and passions and represents them at the same time. These films either established a genre, represent the best example from a genre or broke new ground in Indian cinema. That is why this list also straddles the spectrum from serious art-house cinema of Shyam Benegal to crass commercial cinema from Manmohan Desai or Karan Johar.

You would notice that I have tried to keep away from film-makers like Mira Nair whose works foreign Indophiles get exposed to anyway. Also, however honest and rightfully critical their work is of our life and heritage, it is also at some level an attempt to gain attention by selling either over-hyped exotica or much-dramatized penury. I do like these films as well but they do not conform to my current spec of being able to influence our lives.

A few disclaimers before I unleash the list. The first disclaimer is that these are NOT the best Indian movies - no such list is ever objective and coming from an amateur like me, this is just a list of my favorites. The second disclaimer is that this list is, in no way, complete since it excludes some legendary film makers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N Karun and many more whose work I have not been suitably exposed to because of my linguistic limitations.

Another disclaimer/advice - especially for non-Indians - Have patience with the films - in each one of them you would see more melodrama than you would have seen in a whole Oscar Show reel, more songs than a Broadway show, most longer than an NFL Play-off - but have patience. Alas, you would perhaps miss the beauty of the language (poetry, dialectal nuances to build characters, analogies) in many of these films but I do hope that the charm would still show through.

and the Final one : this list is overtly biased in Amitabh Bachchan’s favor - but I can’t help it…he is the Best !

So, here goes :

V Shantaram :
- Do Ankhen Barah Haath : From one of the early leaders of Indian film-craft comes this drama with a social message - to reform convicts with hard work and kindly guidance.

Mehboob Khan
- Andaaz : Perhaps the first attempt at a love triangle which was to become the central theme of many many Hindi films to come, this film pits legendary thespians Raj Kumar and Dilip Kumar in conflicting roles, early in their careers. This is also a good movie to watch the contrast in their acting styles.
- Mother India : One of the first big screen, big story movies with the central theme of the ever-sacrificing mother with one saintly son and another gone awry.

Raj Kapoor : It is very difficult to chose a small sample from the works of the greatest showman India has seen. Yet, I have tried to limit the list to work from his golden era in B&W 1905s/60s with him as the Producer-Director-Actor
-Awara
-Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati hai
-Shree 420

Bimal Roy
- Bandini : the moving love-story of a soft - spoken convict woman and a young doctor on duty in the prison.

K Asif
- Mughal-e-Azam : India’s first real Magnum Opus - took N years to make, had a stellar cast and extra-ordinary performances from Dilip Kumar, Madhubala & Prithvi Raj Kapoor. Is based on the legend of Crown Prince Salim’s ( Emperor Jehangir later, son of Emperor Akbar) romance with a courtesan Anarkali. You may want to pick the recently digitally remastered and colored version for the awe-inspiring sets and camera work, but Madhubala’s eternal beauty shines in the B&W frames much better.

Guru Dutt : Again, difficult to chose even from the limited amount of work this Director-Actor produced in his short life. Here’s an example of serious cinema about the tragedies and pressures in the show-business contrasted with a very light hearted romantic comedy
- Kagaz ke Phool
- Mrs & Mr 55

Dev Anand : India’s first real on-screen Casanova, did very well in creating his own style and charisma (some say, copied from a Hollywood star of 50s, I don’t know who)
- CID : One of the earliest thrillers
- Guide : Dev and his brother Vijay Anand’s take on R. K Narayan’s incredibly well-written eponymous novel. If you were a R K Narayan fan, as I am, you would not forgive the Anand brothers in murdering Narayan’s plot. However, that does not take away that it is a wonderful piece of story-telling, heart warming music, brilliant camera angles - in all a good film despite a prolonged and unnecessary climax.

Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi : Acting & Parallel Cinema Power Houses. Smita’s life and career were shortened by a merciless brain stroke while Naseer and Shabana have successfully helped make mainstream cinema respectful in art-circles and art-movies profitable at the box office.
- Mirch Masala
- Masoom : Director Shekhar Kapoor (Oscar winner Elizabeth ) adapts Eric Segal’s “Man Woman & Child”, with heart warming performances by Shabana, child-actor Jugal Hansraj and a restrained one by Naseer.
-Arth
- Jane Bhi Do Yaron : Black Comedy ; India’s best political satire yet

Hrishikesh Mukherjee : This recently deceased director’s strength lay in taking simple but heart warming stories with usually every-day characters, little malice and find comedy/joy in almost everything - even in the story of a terminally ill cancer patient
-Chupke Chupke
- Anand : celebrates Rajesh Khanna’s stardom while Amitabh’s silent strength shines through.
Dilip Kumar Vs Amitabh Bachchan : Period.- Shakti

Yash Chopra : the God of mature romances, poetry in dialogues and eternal melodies
-Kabhie Kabhie : excuse the last 30-45 minutes of the movie. This movie could be watched only for the sequence where the heroine ( Rakhi)’s old poet lover ( Amitabh) comes home to have a drink with the husband ( Shashi Kapoor)
-Silsila

Gulzar : Basically a poet and a lyricist but has shown himself to be an extremely talented director as well
- Machis : Gulzar style take on the Punjab insurgency - non-preachy yet no pretence of a balanced point of view

Maniratnam - The best story teller of our times. Movies originally made in Tamil
- Nayakan : Mani drives another thespian Kamal Hassan to perhaps his career best performance. Story of a Tamil Underworld Don in Mumbai.
- Roja

Masala : Pop culture, pulp fiction, mass cinema
-Sholay : and then there were none ! No other single movie, with the possible exception of Mughal-e-Azam, has been able to generate as big a fan following with each character and each frame/dialogue giving birth to timeless memories. The movie’s popularity and longevity can be gauged by the no. of spoofs it continues to inspire in popular culture - stand - up acts, ads, MTV gigs, etc.
- Amar Akbar Anthony : Bollywood’s favorite theme of brothers separated when young, who grow up to avenge their parents from the evil villain. And of course, the bonus of one of Amitabh’s most comic performances.
- Kal Ho Na Ho : Almost a perfect example of the genre started by producer/director Karan Johar - modern pop chocolate romances of young people in trendy DKNY & Tommy attires, supposedly representing modern India, where there is no villain in any frame. This one is directed by his protege Nikhil Adavani and is a loose remake of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Anand’ and celebrates Shahrukh Khan’s stardom as much as the original celebrated Rajesh Khanna.

Recent Marvels:
-Black: not original but perhaps one of the finest example of our modern cinema; loosely based on the story of Helen Keller - almost un-Bollywood like in its perfection. I can venture to say - Amitabh’s career best — and that is saying a lot.
- Eklavya : One of the most original scripts that we have seen; almost Shakespearean though; competent performances. Watch it for the return of one of India’s most prodigious director after 7 years, his mastery at extracting the best from actors and technicians and his audacity to throw the hall in complete darkness for 3 minutes in midst of a chilling scene
- Bluffmaster : the younger Bachchan - Abhishek - comes of age in this con-man romance
- Maqbool : Director and Music Director Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Mac Beth in the netherworld of Mumbai crime mafia. Pl excuse the blasphemy but you could compare Pankaj Kapur’s (plays the old Don - “Abba ji”) performance with Brando’s in Godfather
-Lage Raho Munnabhai ( Munnabhai Part 2) : a refreshing take on the relevance of Gandhi in our modern life
- Lakshya : a coming of age story of a boy during the Kargil war - completely humane look at soldiery but no jingoism, no Pak bashing despite the obvious anger at their actions
-Swades : has caused many a Non-resident desi professional to rethink their personal and professional goals.
-Iqbal : The most charming attempt at marrying two of India’s strongest passions - cricket and movies. Story of a deaf & dumb village guy whose dream is to play cricket professionally.

Indian Independance/Biopic : Not many credible movies on this, unfortunately - maybe this history is too close for it to truthfully told yet. I have picked 2 movies which are biopics for 2 contrasting faces of Indian Independence struggle - both continue generating passions still - Gandhi perhaps more than Bhagat Singh
-Gandhi : This of course is not an Indian movie - made by Richard Attenborough, Gandhi played by Ben Kingsley, this movie brought the only Oscar an Indian has won on a movie project - Bhanu Atthaiya for Dress design ( Satyajit Ray won it for Lifetime Achievement). I have included this movie because no introduction to popular Indian culture can be complete without an introduction to Gandhi.
- The Legend of Bhagat Singh

Well, as I said, this list is not complete. So, my desi friends, please add on to the list - not merely your favorite films, but especially those which have represented and also inspired our collective imagination. Also, if you have been faced with similar questions - please feel free to pass the list along.

By,
Kapil
(This list was originally posted on http://www.arthshastra.com/post/218)

Review of Die Hard 4.0

'Die Hard 4.0' - a Must Watch

In the US it has been released as 'Live Free or Die Hard' but internationally in other markets the 20th Century Fox has titled the film Die Hard 4.0. The name is in sync with the new plot of virtual terrorism.

Back for the fourth round after a decade on the sequel sidelines, Bruce Willis is resurrected as a resourceful New York City detective John McClane and takes on the bad guys in a bold exhilarating adventure that threatens the very infrastructure of the digitally savvy United States . But this time on McClane is helped by computer hacker Matt Farrell played by Justin Long.

Considering the fact that the film takes place 18 years after the first film ‘Die Hard’, the makers have clearly kept in mind the new target audience for the film. The makers have responded in obvious ways, pairing Willis with a scruffy young computer geek (Justin Long) and tailoring the package for a PG-13 rating rather than an R, which is what the previous three entries received.

In the movie McClane is forced to confront the technical expertise of 21st-century baddies who know how to shut down communications, data and security systems with the press of a laptop key. When the FBI realizes its computers have been hacked into, McClane is assigned to haul in Matt Farrell (Long), a New Jersey slacker on a laundry list of suspects.

Even this isn't easy, however, as French assassins frantically attempt to take Matt out even as McClane endeavors to spirit him away. In short order, the ultra-efficient culprits, led by ice-cold, black-clad tech genius Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), bring Washington D.C. , to the sort of standstill it hasn't experienced ever. The chaos starts with first disrupting the transport system. After this, Wall Street is thrown into similar disarray and Matt sees that someone is setting off a fire sale, a three-step plan to shut down everything in the country that's run by computer.

While the government -- Homeland Security, FBI, NSA ( National Security Administration) , the armed forces, police, et al. -- scrambles to figure out what to do, McClane tries to keep Matt alive long enough to reveal what he knows about the dastardly project in which he was an ignorant participant. The film is action packed from start to end. It works and delivers. Head shaven and still in fine shape, Willis has no trouble convincing that he's still capable of handling heavy action. Justin Long proves to be a very sympathetic young actor. And of course, Timothy Olyphant’s (Thomas Gabriel) is good as well. Although at some places I thought the action was slightly disjointed.

All the "Die Hard" films have centered upon terrorists. The fourth sequel is a film like it should be done and it totally lives up to its title ‘Die Hard 4.0’ on all levels. I think it’s worlds better than the last one and just as fun as the second one. But nothing comes close to the original. I recently read in some interview where Bruce Willis said that he thought ‘Die Hard 4.0’ was as good as the first; well, I guess he has to believe that on some level to work on it, but man, ‘Die Hard’ defined a genre, and you can’t touch that.
It’s worth a watch once.
The film is releasing in Indian on June 29

By,
Anusha
(Read more stuff by her on admediaworld.blogspot.com and freaktrekking.blogspot.com - Ed)

A Walk on a Cloudy Evening

One of the nicest ways to spend an evening these days is to go for a walk on Bandra Bandstand. There’s the sea to look at - waves swelling higher and more ominously than before, surf splattering higher and further - an array of Bharatnatyam dancers morphed into Kalaripayattu dancers by the monsoon. Then there’s the breeze to enjoy, mussing one’s hair and tossing it this way and that in pretty much the same way that it ruffles the leaves and blows the branches of the trees helter-skelter. All this makes up for the crowds and the sight of the thermocol and other debris that rim the shore. For the last few weeks, to add to the fun, there has been a group of people singing there every Sunday evening. It seems to be free - have never noticed anyone paying, and onlookers often join in when they know the words of the song. Last Sunday was even better than normal though. To start with, the group sang really well and they chose songs that matched the atmosphere, also Bandstand made just the perfect setting for them.

Picture this:
An angry brooding cloudy sky, not a star visible – the only colours in the sky are dark blue and really dark blue. A grey sea pounding away in the distance, its borders visible as a long line of frothy greyish-white foam leaping high. A long stretch of brownish black rocks between the white sea-line and the shore. Against this frame of dark blue, greyish-white and brown – two small patches of bright red stand out in the foreground. At the very edge of the promenade at Bandstand, stand two men in red kurtas, singing loudly and melodiously; their only accompaniment a guitarist, and of course, the boom and thump of the sea in the distance.

It was almost as though they were calling to the sea and the clouds. And the clouds applauded the performance when it ended with a deep roll of thunder and a downpour that sent part of the audience scurrying away and the rest jumping with glee in the rain.

What a great way to end the weekend !

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

Poster Boys and Girls

One area that seldom gets attention in Dravidian politics is the fine art of making posters. For some reasons, the minions of the party have long felt that the one way of displaying loyalty is to ensure that your constituency is choc-o-bloc with posters of all relevant leaders. Presumably when the party chief’s car whizzes by at 100 kmph on roads cleared by the traffic police, some special vision capability will make them note that T Nagar had only 149 posters as opposed to Adyar which had 152 posters. The Adyar MLA gets a pat on the back and looks forward to becoming a central minister some day.

The casual observer however immediately notices a flaw in this strategy that emphasizes volumes. The T Nagar guy takes a mere day to up his count to 160 and the Adyar guy obliterates all business signs, trees, people on the road with his increases. Sooner or later, both chaps run out of walls, the general public is complaining about the lack of space to spit without disfiguring your favourite leader and there is chaos all around. It was at this fine moment of despondence that some worthy invented the ‘Cutout’.

A Cutout is a huge, larger than life cardboard picture of your beloved leader that one can erect on wooden poles. If mere walls were a constraint earlier, then the Cutout solved the problem in one stroke. You did not need walls anymore. Footpaths did nicely. So what if the voter had to swerve his way around every Cutout and jump onto the road and back on to the footpath constantly. That is the kind of aerobic exercise that makes the average citizen fit and brings down health expenditure in the government budget.

Sadly the Cutouts began to disappear one day. My guess is a passing flight bumped into one of them and as they say 'what tangled webs we weave'.

So innovation became the name of the game. MBA style cunning was used to subtly differentiate poster A from poster B. What was hitherto a piece of cheap paper listing down details of the leader being praised, the ambitious sponsor of the poster and some general terms of sucking up (‘Our great leader’, ‘the greatest son of the soil’, ‘may we be humbly permitted to give a bath to your dog’ etc) became a work of art.

People decided to take their inspiration from the movies. Remember the good old days when the hero and heroine methodically changed clothes every twenty seconds in movie songs? Watching a series of posters on the Beach road gives you the feeling of watching such a song. First there is the poster with the leader’s head morphed onto western clothes, then onto Indian clothes and finally some colourful casuals. That the morphing has transformed the perpetually dhoti-clad man into a somewhat thinner, shapelier and nifty dresser is considered artistic license.

Not to mention, it is not just sartorial elegance that wins votes. Apparently during the last elections one of the reasons the incumbent was rumoured to have lost was because of the serious, unsmiling face in the posters. This election the posters were modified to show a benign smile that the electorate could apparently identify with. Sadly in the more remote villages where wall paintings are still cheaper than posters, the benign smile turned slightly constipated in the artist’s reinterpretation of the original work. It seemed to understand the common man’s urgent need to perform ablutions by the wall.

My latest fancy has been to gawk at a poster that depicts a smiling yesteryear leader now deceased. Emerging from the open heart of the deceased leader, like some grotesque mid way picture of a heart transplant is the smiling mug of a current leader. Still it is a whole lot better than the Congress posters. Devoid of any imagination and burdened by history, the congressmen feel obliged to make family snaps with pictures of various generations of the Gandhi-Nehru family appropriately sized to depict current levels of importance. Thus Nehru would be fluttering like a fly by Sonia Gandhi’s head. Entertaining but not in the same league as the open-heart surgery one.

Some day, I am sure Chennai citizens will be too advanced to vote going by the posters. But I do hope as an art form it finds its place in history.

By,
Anita B
(Read more of Anita's posts on http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)

Another review of 'Ocean's 13'

Robin Hood and his merry men are back. This is time though, it is not about money, or survival. It about righting a wrong perpetrated on a pack rat.

Reubens, the still flamboyant man of Vegas past is worried about being laid to rest alive on an ice slab. He therefore enters into a deal with Bank, a super successful property owner and a career backstabber, betting on the unwritten bond that exists between men that shook hands with Sinatra. He wouldn't, would he?!

He does, and leaving him with nothing save a $10000 poker chip and a myocardial infarction.

The merry men gather, and decide to win back Reuben's money and more importantly his joie-de-vivre.

The movie is about a multitude of capers, electronic, seismic, polymeric, of strange bedfellows, and some tongue in cheek humour. The movie is good, but isn't as pleasing as the first one or even the second one. The earlier editions did great jobs of keep the action going throughout. This one is a heavily back loaded, the first half being a very long and unduly slow lead up. Also, the audience knows how each trick is going to play out. Rather than discovering a sweet deception that they had failed to notice which was key to the first two.

It is light-hearted. It makes fun of a lot of things - Oprah, and mexican sweat shops. The carried over cast is good, and predictable. Of the newcomers, Al Pacino (Bank) seems to be trying very hard to be a ruthless man, but is really a Corleone on the brink of retirement. In fact, his character would have been better off being a little more comic. The last time I saw Ellen Barkin (Bank's flunky) in a movie, was in the Big Easy, when she was effortlessly hot in an intense way. Here she is just a pale shadow of that smouldering self.

The verdict ? Ultimately it is like a mutual break up date. Reminds you of things that were great, but you know it has come to an end. You will go, but only to say so long.

By,
Nikhil Pednekar

Review of 'Ocean's 13'

I began my week by watching Steven Soderbergh's Ocean’s 13. Reminiscent of its old school roots, the film returns to its original, classic casino setting to entertain us with another sensational, dangerous heist. In the current sequel, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and the gang have only one reason to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest casino heist - to defend one of their own. But they need more than luck on their side to break the ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino).

Pacino aka Bank never imagines that the odds would be against him when he double-crosses Danny Ocean’s friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff, putting the distraught Reuben in a critical condition. Bank miscalculates - badly. He may have taken down one of the original Ocean’s eleven, but he left the others standing and, worse for him, gave them a shared purpose: to take Bank down on the night of what should be his greatest triumph - the grand opening of his new casino, appropriately named ‘The Bank’.

While not as fresh as 'Ocean's 11', the latest sequel is slick and funny and fast enough to keep you happily entertained for a couple of hours (2 hours and few more minutes). As always Clooney and Pitt are good (irresistible as usual) in every scene they share. It is sad that Julia Roberts does not return in this sequel. Ellen Barkin is the solo female star in the epicentre of the distinguished boys club in this film. Pacino is deliciously evil as always. Matt Damon is especially funny with a new comical disguise to support his increased responsibilities. The remainder of the cast is humorous as usual with the inclusion of Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict. .

There isn’t a dull moment in the film as the men conspire to contrive an ingenious plan of action for this complex heist which they execute with perfection. All OCEAN’S fans will enjoy the film. I have quite liked it.

By,
Anusha S
(Read more stuff by her on admediaworld.blogspot.com and freaktrekking.blogspot.com - Ed)

When Thin is Sin

We have figures that make Rubenesque women envious. Waists that can be spanned by a man’s hand, pixie-like bone structure, boobs too insignificant to require support and straight lines where regular people have bulging curves. It’s a body type that forgives the extra cheese on our pizza, and makes us scoff at the boiled veggie options when we are eating out. It’s really fun being petite, except when we go shopping.

That’s when the entire preening and subtle showing off catches up with us in the trial room mirror. When size S is too small and that flowing kurti fits you like a tent, suddenly being petite is not so desirable.

Most of us have had buy Tees and tops from the kid’s section so that it fits right. Few stores that do have XS size available unfortunately have a very small collection which is extremely frustrating.

This is not a ‘poor little thin girl’s call for attention. With most mass manufacturers catering to what they call the Indian woman silhouette (big-hipped and curvy) another kind of Indian woman is left behind. The one with the 24-inch waistline who has as much right and interest in trying on a pair of low-rise flares at Pepe without them falling off.

Many women who are of a petite size shop in the junior section in order to find clothing items that best fit their dimension. This is often frustrating as junior clothing is of a designer typically too young for more mature women who wish to be taken seriously. Usually, petite women end up purchasing clothing that is too large or too long, and then work to have the items specially tailored so it best fits their body. This practice can be costly and time consuming, in addition to having an end product that still does not quite fit right.

While formal clothes are the most problematic for petite people, Indian wear, surprisingly poses problems too. One size-fits-all kurtas look like one-size-fits-two on a petite frame. And salwars get embarrassingly bunched up around the hips when drawn into a too-tiny frame.

I being an adventure sports enthusiast often have had trouble with the right size in shorts and bulkier jackets. I still am kitted out with a kid’s harness when go waterfall rappelling or rock climbing. As my friend Jayesh who conducts these adventure sports activities always jokingly makes it a point to say this harness was specially bought for you. It’s sad that there really is no provision for the petite woman who wants to wear something other than girlish florals and frills.

And while women at the other extreme (the XL sizes) now have specialty stores and product lines that cater to their figures and makes them look slimmer, there is still no special line of clothes to help the petite woman fill out fashionably.

So the next time you pass a petite woman by and envy her concave belly and skinny legs, remember, she has problems too. And most of them start in the trial room.

By,
Anusha

Review of 'Pirates of the Caribbean-3: At World's End'

First it was Spiderman-3, then Shrek-3 and yesterday I watched Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pirates of the Caribbean-3: At World’s End (POC-3). POC-3 would be the third sequel in a row as this summer ends. The movie is releasing in India tomorrow.

I think it is a one time watch definitely if you have watched POC 1 & 2. It is a movie that isn't making a political statement and that’s good enough for me.

In the current sequel it is a dark time as the age of Piracy nears to a close. The sequel picks up from where the record-breaking 2006 smash hit left off, with our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker, thanks to his encounter with the monstrous Kraken. With the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, and its commander Davy Jones under the control of the East India Trading Company, there is havoc on the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, the heroic trio must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final titanic battle – as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way hangs in the balance.

Three hours long compared to the first two, the film is mildly diverting and is anchored by the scenery chewing performances of Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush. While Depp's Captain Jack chatter is starting to wear thin - Depp still puts a lot of gusto in the role and is never anything less than entertaining. He is a pleasure to watch as always.

Captain Barbosa is also great to watch - just like in the first film. Keira Knightley - who's role has been considerably beefed up in this sequel looks great and acquits herself nicely- while Orlando Bloom takes a back seat this time out and doesn't really figure into the plot until the last act.

Naturally, the ending of the film leaves open the possibility of another sequel. Another 'Pirates' seems inevitable- but next time it would be nice if the film-makers don't take two 3 hour films to tell a story which could have been told in one.

Now for some facts and figures on the film:

While internationally the critics have ripped the movie and not said too many good words about this final voyage of Captain Jack Sparrow, it is a film that has already raked in a boatload of cash (pun intended). The film has landed in the global box office record books and laid claim to the biggest opening in the industry history, with an unprecedented moolah of $401 million in its first six days of release and in the process created a new industry record. This figure surpasses, the previous record of $382 million set by the six day opening of ‘Spiderman 3’ earlier this year. ‘Pirates’ continues to please audiences around the world with exceptionally strong exit polls.

In India , the film is releasing with more than 300 prints in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English.

By,
Anusha
(Read more stuff by her on admediaworld.blogspot.com and freaktrekking.blogspot.com - Ed)

ECCE HOMO

THWACK!
The startled birds radiated outward along with the horrible sound.

THWACK!
The pain was unbearable, compounded by the muteness.

THWACK!
Limb was rend , agonisingly, from limb.

THWACK!
A gentle, generous life, chopped down in its prime.

THWACK!
The leaves susurrated their fright to the world, in vain.

THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!

Last month four trees were murdered in our area. The powers-that-be say it wasn't murder. They say it is PROGRESS.

WEEP
For the sap that curdled and died.

CRY
For the leaves that will rustle no more.

WAIL
For the many generations that lived their stories under the trees. The first kiss, the laughter, the banter, the furtive cigarettes, the meeting up for movies, the arguments, the fights, the unending tea, the friendships, the sighs, the cheers. Gone, all gone.

SHED TEARS
For the proud trunks chopped up into frail toothpicks.

SOB
For the innocent many, who, in their naivete, worshipped the trees, believing in the sacredness of life in all forms.

BLUBBER
For the innocent many who are yet to come, who will never know what they've already lost.

BAWL
For the toothless infant who'll gurgle at a scampering squirrel no more.

LAMENT
the marvel of it all. To take in air and water and create magic. The magic of lightness, beauty, shade, coolness, peace, serenity. All gone, gone forever.

HOWL
At a world gone mad, that so easily destroys what it can never create.

CURSE
The raindrops that hurtle to their death without the leaves to catch them and let them down, gently, to earth.

SCREAM
At the seas who keep moving farther inland in search of their green friends.

SHOUT
At the angry sun who pours his withering, hot scorn on us with scorching intensity.

And when the throat dries up, have a fucking beer and burger in your air-conditioned car parked at that very spot.

ECCE HOMO!!!!!!

By,
R. Venkatesh

Review - 'Flags of our Fathers'

For those of you who don’t know the details of the historical incident on which this movie is based, here is a bit of history.

During WW2, the Americans attacked an island called Iwo Jima . This island, located about 1000 miles off the coast of Tokyo was of crucial geographical importance. To the Japanese it provided a strategic lookout point on enemy naval movements. To the Americans the capture of the island could mean a base from which to attack the Japanese mainland. The Japanese defense strategy of the island was considered unique then. The Japanese had burrowed the volcanic mountain near the landing shores in the island, creating portholes through which enemies could be shot unseen. They had also created a network of underground tunnels connecting such portholes. When the Americans landed, the volcanic ash did not offer them much cover and they were shot at by unseen allies. Ariel attack by the Americans did not cause much damage and most of the fight was carried on by men on the ground throwing grenades into the port holes. The battle lasted about 30 days and the Americans won. On day 5 or 6, the Americans had made some amount of headway and had managed to plant a flat on the highest point there. This flag was ordered to be brought down and a new flag put in its place. When the second flag was put up, a photo was clicked and circulated in the American Press. The photo went on to become one of the most famous of all times, winning a Pulitzer in the year of its publication. The American government cashed in on the publicity surrounding the photo by making the soldiers featuring in the photo campaign for funding the war effort. The campaign was a brilliant success and raised more money than all previous campaigns put together.

The movie centres around these three soldiers who campaigned successfully. Ordinary enlisted men (or rather boys aged 20) like everyone else in the war, they catapult to fame, being caught in the right place at the right time. Three of their buddies who also featured in the photo had been killed during the siege. The trio tries to handle the sudden glory cast upon them by the American government, the media and the public. As they go on their campaign from place to place, the movie shows the reality behind their popularity – how chance places them holding the flag, how the picture was intended to be no better or no worse than other war pictures, how they were not killed on account of nothing more than fate and all the other mundane details of the war. The movie also explores the guilt that the men need to deal with knowing they were no better than the others and were lucky to be alive and campaigning. The movie finally is about heroes being as ordinary as you and me, a bunch of men doing their jobs.

The story is both interesting and touching. A quick Google search will give you an idea of exactly how big the episode was and deconstructing heroism of this sort is no mean feat. The movie tries to walk a fine line making its point while not belittling the efforts of the three soldiers. It is also quite entertaining, without slipping into a documentary mode. Perhaps all these points overpower other issues – the movie is not as taut as you would like to be, it is slightly clichéd and repetitive in a few parts and you never feel involved with any of the characters except possibly for those of Ira Heyes and Rene Gagnon.

The verdict though is still overwhelming positive. It needs to be seen if you do not believe in heroes and more so, if you do.

Review of 'Life in a Metro'

I love Bombay in the monsoons. I don’t mean the traditional eating-corn-in-marine-drive aspect of it. Has anyone noticed how the city’s noise and confusion disappear in the thudding of raindrops? Dull trees spring to life. Duller buildings look pleasantly old instead of dilapidated. The story of ‘Life in a Metro’ unfolds on one such rainy morning. This is perhaps why I gave it my approval even before the cast made its way to the screen. But a good beginning is half the battle won as this movie proves.

Shilpa Shetty, a housewife and mother dodges puddles to go through the set routine of her unexciting life. Her sister, Konkona Sen is checking out yet another matrimonial prospect from Shaadi.com to see if he is loving, caring, likes to travel and loves books. Irffan Khan, meeting her, is everything a financially stable, approaching thirty, urban single woman would despise – slightly lecherous, far from cultured and thinks that the irresistible qualification for an eligible groom would be to be a non-drinker and non-smoker. Sharman Joshi, an ambitious BPO employee still grappling with his value system, finds yet another way to grab a two-minute conversation with his unrequited ladylove Kangana Ranaut. As the movie progresses their stories unfold. Caught in the bustle of Mumbai’s daily grind, they learn lessons about life and love and eventually make choices about both.

The movie is clearly inspired from myriad sources. However, despite the lack of originality director Anurag Basu needs to be given full credit for tackling two key challenges well. The first one is to have woven his web of characters in a wonderful and credible manner. Given the large selection of characters he has picked up – a couple with a dissolving marriage, an ambitious youngster, a looking-for-love single woman, a slimy boss, a self destructive girl, two old people racing against time, a failing theatre actor – he could have easily degenerated into portraying caricatures. Fortunately he largely manages not to do so and gives each character a voice that speaks not so much as the stereotype that they represent but as a living and thinking individual. The second one is to keep your interest going even though you can guess how each story-stream would end. Perhaps the fact that you have already started getting under each character’s skin by the first thirty minutes keeps you hooked.

The music is yet another glorious aspect of the movie. Fitted into the correct sequences, it captures the mood of the moment aptly. The composer trio appearing on screen and actually shown singing was a trifle shocking initially and a trifle annoying later on. Notwithstanding, you were happy to set the story aside for a while, sit and listen at these interludes.

Irffan simply rocks as the frustrated, aging singleton who is desperate to embrace the love and lust he can get in a marriage. Kay Kay Menon turns in a good performance as an insensitive, two-timing husband and manipulative boss. The rest are pretty decent. Give me Shilpa Shetty any day over Ash Rai to be premiering movies in the UK. While having her as India’s cultural ambassador may not be my first choice, it cannot be denied that she can at least be made to act. Konkana and Kangana are both expectedly accurate in their portrayals.

The one thread that did not make much sense to me was the romance of yester year’s hero, Dharmendra, with Nafisa Ali. The idea of finding love at that age seemed sweet and realistic but do old people really act and talk like that ?

The movie is by no means perfect and falters here and there. It will however rank as one of the best efforts at capturing the challenges of urbanites in the current generation.

By,
Anita B.

I Protest

I feel that I have become too much of a conformist and stopped rebelling, am feeling quite nostalgic about my younger, angrier self. To reassure myself that my senses have not been totally dulled by age, have decided to e-protest against things that irritate me – some mundane, some silly, some important.

This just goes to show how old I am – instead of fighting with people, I am compiling lists of things I would like to fight about. Sigh !

• I protest against people who insist that conforming to other people’s norms is the way to live
• I protest against TV channels that sensationalise news and blow stories out of proportion. I especially protest against the crassness of a ticker on a news channel that while describing an incident of alleged marital rape said something like ‘uske pati ne mitron ke saamne usko parosaa’. ‘parosaa’ !!! ‘Rape’ or ‘baladhkaar’ would have sounded far better – in this case, the euphemism sounded much more disgusting than the actual word
• I protest against the low salaries paid to police officers and the defence force. If these people are to save my life (and yours), I want them to be paid better
• I protest against calories, think they should be declared illegal and exterminated. Forever and ever
• I protest against those who submit false rent receipts (or any false receipts) to save tax. I hate paying 30% tax too, but cheating on it brings one down to the level of the politician / bureaucrat who makes money on the sly
• I protest against those who think that everything Indian is bad and everything Amreekan is good
• I protest against those who think that being thin gives them a right to tell fat people what to eat. It’s my life, I will eat what I want, it is nobody’s business but mine
• I protest against people who are anal about ways of writing stuff or ways of doing things. If you want it written / done exactly ‘that’ way, then roll up your sleeves and get to it yourself
• I protest against those who are casual about details and accuracy, and think form is more important than content
• I protest against farters, hypocrites, arrogant people and unkind people
• I protest against those who think they know everything and want to pass on their gyaan to me
• I protest against ungrateful wretches
• I protest against the continued Chinese invasion of Tibet
• I protest against scientists and technologists who can put a man on the moon but can’t make a male uterus (so that men can have babies)
• I protest against the Olympics being held in Beijing – don’t think there has been much reform in China in any domain but economic
• I protest against Abhishek marrying Aishwarya
• I protest against the movie ‘Bheja Fry’ – think it was unkind to make fun of stupid people in that manner
• I protest against townies who make fun of Bandra
• I protest against those who recognised themselves in one of these points and won’t do anything to change the way they are
• I protest against high-heeled shoes and make-up
• I protest against those who are proud of their lack of knowledge of Indian history
• I protest against those who think that not singing ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is cool; also against those who make no effort to remember the lyrics
• I protest against people who point out that ‘protest’ is a verb and ‘I protest against’ is grammatically incorrect
  
  Aah ! I feel so much better now. Think I should do this more often.
  
  List compiled by,
  Zenobia.
  
  p.s. Anyone who wants to add stuff to the list, please feel free to add a comment. If there are enough additions, will post a second list.

Review of '13 Tzameti'

One of the most interesting movies I have seen in recent times.

Best described as a ‘suspense’ movie, ‘13 Tzameti’ had me on the edge of my seat in quite a few scenes, nervously wondering what was going to happen next. A movie with an unusual theme that is very well executed (pun intended). Words used to describe it in other reviews that I read were ‘taut’, ‘gripping’, ‘perverse’, ‘wicked’ – all of which are equally true. The central story of the film is twisted and evil, but in a fascinating way.

‘13 Tzameti’ is a French movie, and has English sub-titles - having to read the sub-titles in no way detracts from the enjoyment of the movie – dialogue is quite unnecessary to understand this movie. It is shot entirely in black-and-white, and that somehow heightens the edgy mood of the movie.

The movie begins with a slow half-hour and then slowly ratchets up the tension. The hero Sebastian is a poor construction worker. When his employer dies without paying him, he decides to take the employer’s place in a job which promised a lot of money. He blindly follows instructions and ends up a part of a vicious game of Russian roulette.

Telling you more would detract from the movie, so I will end by urging everyone to watch the movie.

By,
Zenobia D. Driver

Does this worry you too ?

This post consists of a bunch of news article (ctrl c - ctrl v ki jai !). I thought these were a matter of concern, so I decided to string them together and run them on the blog.

From whatever I have read about the run-up to the 1962 India - China war, it seems that the Indian government was given multiple warnings about Chinese army incursions into Indian territory but it chose to ignore the same. So I wonder what the truth is this time.

Are the news agencies creating a hullaballoo for the sake of readership / viewership ? Or is the government turning a blind eye to something it should treat as top priority ?

Zen.


From DNA (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1095181)
China makes new inroads in Arunachal
Rajesh Sinha
Monday, May 07, 2007 09:47 IST
NEW DELHI: As India and China move to resolve their differences over borders, there is one aspect both countries have carefully refrained from talking about: that China has moved up to 20 km into India and grabbed a portion of the 90,000 sq km area of the Northeast that it claims as its own.
Though India has consistently denied that China has occupied its territory, the MP from West Arunachal, Kiren Rijiju of the BJP, said he has received written replies from the ministries of external affairs and defence, indicating that they were aware of the inroads made by the Chinese.
“I have their replies, admitting that there are problems and the government is trying to sort them out,” Rijiju told DNA.
Earlier, the Centre had sought a report from the state on the matter, which resulted in a detailed note being sent to the Union home ministry in 2005 by the state police. The document said the Chinese had started their foray into Tawang district in 2004, covering an unspecified huge area that includes several villages.
According to Rijiju, the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands used by villagers, and some strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu has also been under Chinese control for two years, he said.
Repeated attempts by DNA to obtain comments from the Chinese embassy were turned down by its officials.
According to an officer from military intelligence, certain flat stretches in the region have been cleared and levelled for use as helipads. The border is unmarked, which sometimes opens these makeshift helipads for use by both the Chinese as well as the Indian Army.
According to Lokam Tassar, independent MLA from the Koloriang reserved tribal seat, “The Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.”
In 2006, Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi’s statement reiterating Beijing’s claim to a major portion of Arunachal Pradesh had created a flutter in diplomatic circles, but both sides played it down. It now seems, however, that China has done more than simply make verbal claims.
Security agencies say that the recent incursion began in the winter of 2003 and was noticed when an Indian Army patrol found the Chinese occupying what had been an Indian outpost. In the absence of any action from the Indians, the Chinese stayed on and moved in further.
Extent of transgression
Though India has denied that China has occupied territory, West Arunachal MP Kiren Rijiju has said he received word from the ministries of external affairs and defence that they were aware of China’s inroads.
Rijiju said the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands and other strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu is also under Chinese control.
According to local MLA Lokam Tassar, the Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.


The Indian Express : May 08, 2007
Arunachal denies China entry report

Itanagar : The Arunachal government on Monday dismissed as ‘baseless’ a media report that the Chinese army had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sanchong-Chu in Tawang. Spokesman Tako Dabi described the news as ‘baseless and unfortunate’.


http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/08china.htm
No incursion by Chinese: Arunachal CM



May 08, 2007 19:01 IST
Close on the heels of the defence ministry's denial of a Chinese incursion into Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has said that there was no report that Chinese forces had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sumdorong-Chu in Tawang district.
Referring to a statement in this regard made by independent legislator Lokam Tassar and quoted by a television news channel on Monday, Khandu said the comments were 'irresponsible, most unfortunate and unsubstantiated utterances.'
Khandu told media persons in Guwahati while on his way to New Delhi on Monday that the Chinese have been claiming Arunachal Pradesh as their territory but there have not been any incursions.
Chinese forces had crossed the Line of Actual Control and occupied Sumdorong-Chu Valley and Asapila and Lunger areas in Tawang district in 1986.
In the absence of a properly delineated LAC, troops from both sides wandered into each other's territory, Khandu said.Khandu reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and people of the state would never give up their territorial rights.
Just before the visit of the Chinese president to India last year, Chinese envoy Sun Yuxi had claimed that the whole of Arunachal Pradesh was Chinese territory.
Nearly 180 opposition BJP members of both houses of Parliament on Tuesday decided to demand for constitution of a joint parliamentary group to visit the border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Kiren Rijiju, a BJP lawmaker from the state, alleged the Chinese, taking advantage of poor infrastructure on the Indian side, had been 'continuously encroaching' into Arunachal Pradesh at many places along the over 1,000-km-long border.