Monthly Archive for December, 2005

Page 3 of 3

My Stance

Published on December 5, 2005 in India and Politics. 47 Comments

Vulturo asks me to spell out my position on Laloo Pradad Yadav (LPY). A commentator on my last post accuses me of being ambivalent like any politician as my previous post vacillates from pro-Laloo to anti-Laloo and back again.

So let me make things more explicit. To me LPY is an anthropomorphism of the filth that is politics in India today—a system where people with criminal backgrounds are actively sought, where education decreases your chances of being successful, where the level of debate is on the lines of what you might expect in a brawl in some desi liquor adda , where corruption is flaunted extensively (yeh mera baap ka rajya hain…now screw me if you can) and where people are not immoral but amoral.

But LPY is more than this. He is a monster created by a media which despises and idolizes him in equal degree. Which is perfectly fine with LPY, who being a shameless megalomaniac and a canny politician loves the media play he gets.

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They Will Be Back

Published on December 4, 2005 in India and Politics. 44 Comments

It was with a heavy heart that I read about the defeat of Laloo in the Bihar elections. I feared that now that Laloo has left, samosas would become bereft of potatoes and bears would vanish from the jungles.

But they havent.

Could it be because the:

“Jab tak rahega samosein main aloo,
Jab tak rahega jangal main bhaloo,
Tab tak rahengein Bihar main Laloo”

was nothing but badly rhymed political hyperbole?

Of course not. The reason why samosas and bears remain unmolested is because Laloo has never left Bihar. He cannot. Because he IS Bihar.

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The Switch

Published on December 4, 2005 in Bollywood and Comedy. 5 Comments

An extract from an interview with Antara Mali the context being her latest movie “Mr ya Miss”

We have heard the film is based on the English film The Hot Chick.

I request those who are saying it to see the Hollywood version before dropping in for Mr ya Miss. It’s very sad that each time a new film is about to hit the screen, people fall over themselves to find out if it has any remote resemblance to any Hollywood manufacture. Filmmakers are humans and there is bound to be similarity of thoughts. I shall be grateful to the audience if they can just evaluate my film as it is without attempting to compare it with some Hollywood film.

I totally agree with Ms Mali. Just because a few (okay more than a few) Bollywood people copy from foreign sources, does not mean we should paint all with the same brush? It’s not right !

Only one problem. “Mr Ya Miss” IS a copy. Not of “Hot Chick” but of the 1991 movie “Switch”.

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