Anil Sharma’s “Tahalka” is one of Bollywood’s watershed cinematic achievements, a spy thriller with a strong political subtext that mixes suspense, betrayal, cross-dressing, overacting, phallic symbolism, special effects and pure sensationalism in such an effective way that years later when Tarun Tejpal was looking for a name for a guerrilla newspaper that would ambush the establishment, he could do no better than to pay homage to this genre-bender by naming his rag “Tehelka”.
The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal. It is not an off-the-cuff remark. I mean what I say,” Ms Swaraj told reporters here.“Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA government winning the trust vote have some meaning, and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence,” Ms Swaraj said.
When asked if she was pointing fingers at the Manmohan Singh government as being behind the blasts, she said: “I have said what I wanted, it is for you all to interpret the rest. [link]”
And with this the BJP, under the inspirational leadership of Advani, has officially gone off the deep end. To the stellar achievements of Ms. Swaraj, which include saving the moral fiber of the nation by butchering bharatiya-sabhyata-and-sanskriti-denuding scenes from “Wide Sargasso Sea” and “Lake Consequence”, has now been added the glorious distinction of publicly endorsing the viewpoint of the Arundhatis and the Haskars that Jihadi bomb blasts are actually government conspiracies to discredit the minorities/its enemies. (Mercifully she did not confirm whether the Government of India and Israel actually caused the Tsunami, which is what an Egyptian news outlet once claimed)
Call it “Indian resilience in the face of terror” or the “manifestation of the spirit of city X” (X= city hit by terror). Or more precisely call it our ability to not really care for anything as long as it does not directly affect us or our loved ones. Call it what you will but what never ceases to amaze me and many others is how the terror unleashed by periodic bomb blasts, that take place every few months with ominous regularity, is totally obliterated from the public consciousness in a few days.
In that after the standard bromides of shock and condemnation are dispensed with, everything goes back to normal.
There is never a sustained public pressure on the political parties to come up with a policy on terrorism, in the way for instance that different interest groups lobby for reservations. It is as if that people are so busy in appropriating a share of the government pie for their own community (caste, profession, state) that they forget that in order to take advantage of acquiring, for instance an OBC status or a few more districts from a neighboring state for their own, they have to first stay alive.
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
–The Dark Knight
True evil has no cause. It has no justification. It cannot be reasoned with. It just is. It derives its strength from “watching the world burn”. And even more importantly from its ability to spread its dark tentacles into the hearts of the good.
The only way for the superhero to conquer evil is to embrace it himself, to do that “one thing he cannot do”. And herein lies the supreme irony. Cause it is this very act of embracing the blackness that becomes the ultimate testimony to the inevitability of “true evil” —the final monument to its victory.
Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” is a violently disturbing, nightmarish journey into the proverbial heart of darkness exploring evil, good, and the tenuous line that separates them.
It is also one of the best movies to come out of mainstream Hollywood in recent years blending action, entertainment, legend, politics and thought in perfect proportion to form a heady cinematic cocktail.
[Inspired by the song “Bol Bol Bol” from the Subhash Ghai mega-flop “Trimurti”. For those who have never heard it, here is the song.
Original lyrics:
Bikta hai sona mitti ke mol,
Bikti hai mitti sone ke mol,
To bol bol bol bol bol bol bol
Aare bol bhole bol tujhko kya chahiye?Aashiq hoon main dildaar hoon,
Is dard-e-dil ka beemar hoon,
Mujko dard-e-dil ki dawaa chahiye
]
Re-sung in the context of the confidence vote on the UPA government.
Female chorus: Ai Ai Aaaaaaaaaaa………
Deep Voice:
Bikti hai vote sone ki mol,
Bikti hai MP heeron ki mol,
To bol bol bol bol bol bol bol
Aare bol bhole bol tujhko kya chahiye?
Co
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