I have always rued the fact that this generation lacks true rage icons. This, I believe, explains why the new Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, unlike his predecessor, breaks down into tears at every opportunity. Or why the handsome hunks in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara spent so much time discovering their Ying side.
One cannot blame the bachchas too. Because they had not grown up with Amitabh Bachchan’s angry enraged man avatar, where the tightening of jaw conveyed as much burn as three hours of the angsty Rockstar. Because they have not, at an impressionable age, felt the blast from Sunny Deol screaming “Balwaant Raii….” like Mount Krakatoa or experienced first hand his wrath as he laid to waste the Pakistani Army with just a handpump. Hell these poor kids have been brought up under the shadow of a KJo-ized namby pamby Sirish-Kunder-slapping SRK, a far cry from the lip-quivering, red-eyed, macho Madan-Chopra-penetrator which is how we like to remember him.
Raghu? That clown from “Roadies”? A icon of rage? A poseur of the first order, as beautifully shown by Arunabh Kumar in this take-down of “Roadies”, he stands in front of a number of wannabes with his “I know you better than you cause I am awesome” act, wannabes who know they have to tremble in front of him in order to get selected. Truth be told, even Dr. Manmohan Singh is more macho lethal than him. He may have presided over the most corrupt government ever but even he did not act in Tees Mar Khan. He may take orders from the Madam but that is more honorable than acting as as John Abraham’s sidekick in Jhoota Hi Sahi. In an ideal world, Raghu should have walked about wearing adult diapers over his trousers. But then in an ideal world, there would be no Roadies.
Given this sorry state of role models, how can I expect the young tykes to know rage? Who can they look up to I wondered?
It was then that the answer hit me. My namesake. Arnab Goswami.
This time in India, having nothing better to do, I saw, I mean really saw, Arnab Goswami on Times Now. And all I can say, that the Bengal Tiger faces no threat of extinction as long as he is alive. .
There he is, sitting in the middle of the screen. The viewing area on the TV is split in four (or even five), each housing one sorry individual unfortunate enough to be a guest, all of them united by a dangerous secret–Arnab is angry at them.Puffing his feathers like a cock ready to fight, he looks to the right and then to the left, rapidly, in a way that would make the Aamir Khan character in Ghajni look positively tranquil. The blabbering talking heads try to say something but Arnab looks at them sternly and opens his third eye.
His mouth.
As a Bengali I can see the acid rising from his insides, an all too familiar sensation to Bongs called acid-reflux—-except for Arnab it is not caused by food but by outrage and it is not dilute hydrochloric acid that flows up but aqua regia. Gently jumping up and down at one place almost as if he is on an idling Harley Davidson, he intersperses his sentences with “Times Now broke this news exclusively” and ” The nation demands an answer” and “Let me read you the letter YOUR secretary wrote…” . Sometimes he pauses mid-sentence, some might say at the wrong places, but the reason for that is obvious. He is letting the guests stew in their own sweat, caught as they are in the hell-fire of his persistent questioning. And if they so much as dare to try to get in a word edgewise, he interrupts them with a steamy ” Sir, you are avoiding the question” or “That is besides the point” as he huffs and puffs along like a pressure cooker on the stove for too long.
Very rarely is the wind taken out his rather pompous sails. When that happens, it is only because someone says “But Arnab I agree with you” . At this point of time, he suddenly loses his train of thought, looks at the world with the deer-caught-in-headlights my-cleavage-is-a-better-actress-than-me Amisha Patel stare, only to regain his anger a second later with a passionate shake of his head, “You misunderstand sir. I do not agree. No I do not.” Then passing a smile at the camera, a smile that says “Kya karoon oh ladies, main hoon adaat se majboor” he is off again on a roaring romp of rage, the enraged conscience of India.
Observing him for hours on end, I realize that no I was wrong. This generation has no excuse for being passive, no excuse for not turning into an army of Hulks.
It has Arnab. Blessed it is.
[Another brilliant article on the man]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Arnab Schwarzenegger, The ‘regey aagun, teley begun’ man. Thanks for that post.
So Ipod is on the way
PS: Arnab Goswami may not be Bong. He is from Guwahati, Assam which does give forth its collection of Bongs, like me, but Arnab may likely be Assamese.
PPS:My bro went to the same school as the Rage Machine, which may or may not be his greatest achievement in life.
Hilarious! Brilliant.
But Arnab_da, if all that a nation produces in the name of jounalists are Gurkha Butt, and Mr & Mrs. Sardesai, this guy is still a wee bit better than the rest. At least so far he has been. Now, what to do? All the news channels are on Mamma Mia’s payroll 😦
Hilarious and wee bit sad about the pathetic state of Indian media.Give me twitter over these clowns any day.
Barkha Dutt – Pro Congress
Mr and Mrs Sardesai – some body please teach them how to use twitter
Arnab Goswami – the less said the better
If you want unbiased news, get it first hand on twitter.
I agree that the change has occured over a period of time.But the’kjo ising’
of movies is not bad in my view.This is a very subjective topic and in my view a chocolate boy is as good as one brandishing raw masculinity.
“The blabbering talking heads try to say something but Arnab looks at them sternly and opens his third eye.
His mouth.”
Hilarious !!
As far as I know, Arnab is Assamese. Most probably, his roots can be traced to the family of Trailokya Goswami (2nd hand knowledge).
“Another brilliant article on the man”.
Seldom do you see someone calling his own article “brilliant”. 😀
Jokes apart, well-written, Arnab. 🙂
Have you seen this ?
http://www.mediacrooks.com/
Gimme Arnab of Times Now and Rahul Kanwal of headlines today over any sold out idiot any day
@Abhishek Mukherjee. What are you talking about?
@Anon, the last line says “Another brilliant article on the man”. When the word “another” is used, it clearly implies that there exists at least one brilliant article on the man already. Which one?
Abhishek,
It was a typo. I meant to say another in the sense that I had already linked to Arunabh Kumar’s brilliant video. Here is another brilliant link.
Aha.. came to your site after long and you have touched upon one of my pet-peeves. Arnab Goswami. Here is an interview with Dev Anand. I have never seen Dev Anand lose his cool in any interview. Mr Goswami achieves the that distinction too.
He does not let him speak, cuts him off and puts him into a spot and basically treats a legend like a criminal
Maternal grandfather= Gauriprasad Bhattacharya…AFAIK Arnab Goswami is a Bengali from Assam. There used to be a sizable community there before the anti-plains agitation started.
pakistani version of roadies is more dare-ing.
Arnab Goswami is an Assamese ,like me, but if Bongs want to claim him as their own..nothing better than that
It is happy hour at my house right now.
Wife and kid are asleep. Nobody to bother me. And I’m on my n’th beer tin. Lost count about an hour ago.
This is the time every weekend that I kick back, relax and go through your blog and a couple of other decent reads.
Thanks for making my happy hour a bit more hilarious.
Baghwan tumhara bada kare. 🙂
I still feel our Prabhuji deserved a place on this post of yours Arnab. For a nation of diverse icons for youth , a multi generation & cross socio eco strata hero – prabhuji is still referred to as the true rage icon by many including you.
Who knows perhaps this article has set forth for the foundation of “Why Prabhuji” is and “should be” the rage icon for our youth. It would be wonderful if you continue this article , perhaps adding a sequel to rage icon with Prabhuji in picture.
Regards,
Kafan Chor Neta,
Lambu Aata Life Insurance Inc.
Dear greatbong, oops correction, Dear bong, Arnab Goswami is NOT a bengali. I live in Guwahati and know about him much more thn ‘google’. Get ur facts right before blabbering! But cant blame u either. Cocky bongs like u seldom accept mistakes!
@abhishek well spotted 😉
Vishal-bhaiyya, Good to know that there is someone who knows more than Google. Being also from Assam, I may not know more than Google but do know that their family speaks Bengali (not Assamese) and they are very very Bong. You may be jealous of cocky Bongs because you lack in the [edited]
You think you are a smartass to call a community like that.Your fowl mouth depicts the fact of your sitty assamese mentality.Grow up kid,life is much beyond c**ks & pus***s..but a shithead uncultured moron like you wont know it. 😉 . ,!, urs
You think you are a smartass to call a community like that.Your fowl mouth depicts the fact of your sitty assamese mentality.Grow up kid,life is much beyond c**ks & pus***s..but a shithead uncultured moron like you wont know it. 😉 . ,!, urs…..
Amusing to see the Assamese pride here. Arnab won the Assamese of the year because his family is settled in Assam. But yes they are from Bengali and speak Bengali. I wonder why people here do not see the difference between native “Aso”mese and those that have settled in Assam, and so are legitimately Assamese but speak Bengali.
Correction in last comment: They are from Bengali and speak Bengali.
@ Abhishek M.
Sahi pakda boss GB ko. Anyways DNA’s article was betetr then GB’s.
Great that someone mentioned Rahul Kanwal. I like him. He doesn’t try to overshadow his guest.
@ Ritu
It is ok if you doesn’t like Arnab. But honestly tell me in that interview where did Devanand got angry and where did Arnab intrupted him. In my view it it otherway around. Devanand Came across as a pompus who didn’t give chance to Arnab to ask question.
Indeed, at the moment there are no icons specially in India.
Of course Raghu is making his own career be it through Roadies or cameos in movies. Your fault if you take him seriously and as a rage or whatever icon! There are a huge number of youngsters who try to make it to Roadies. So Raghu has been successful in something.
This modern rage-man is an absolute juvenile! I know someone very close to me who had been invited on one of his stupid shows and was given absolutely no chance to explain his point, while our hero went on blabbering and insulting his guests. Someone once told me he is an idiosynchratic person who spends his nights in the studio and often sits on his shows with a suit on top, and a bermuda to go with it!
Greatbong..
I would like to make a request on a different context. Have you ever seen the movie Suryavansham….it is like breakfast,lunch and dinner of a certain channel…plz wirte a review on it.
Arnab Goswami is an Assamese..not a Bengali…Kindly go through the link given here:
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?239453
It’s an article written by him.
Regarding the comment by Anonymous that he is a bengali and his family speak bengali at home, kindly go through the article where he specifically says that he didn’t know a word of bengali while he stayed in Calcutta.
Also, his maternal Grandfather was Gaurisankar Bhattacharya and not Gauriprasad Bhattacharya as mentioned by Greatbong…He was an Assamese not a Bengali.
The Bengalis think that both the surnames ” Goswami” and “Bhattacharya” are bengali surnames…only shows their ignorance…because they are both Assamese surnames as well..
@Soumen. Exactly! Mind boggling how many times they show Sooryavansham. Whenever I happen to switch on the tv and surf, there’s Sooryavansham playing 🙂
At times…. i find the links more interesting than the post itself 🙂
@ Anonymous
“The Bengalis think that both the surnames ” Goswami” and “Bhattacharya” are bengali surnames…only shows their ignorance…because they are both Assamese surnames as well..”
They are neither Bengali, nor Assamese last names-
They are typical Hindu last names of commonly belonging to the Vaishnava (Vishistha advaita) and Purva Mimansi, practitioners respectively.
Both these darshanas were very popular in Ahom and Banga regions, but were also from other regionsof the subcontinent. I personally know Goswamis from Peshawar (Pakistan) as well.
Except when he is raging on Arundhati Roy. That’s when it doesn’t seem ridiculous anymore, right?
Maybe someone should try to start a non-profit news organization. Even a pod-cast would do at this point.
Basically someone can play “Host” and allow freelance journalists a forum to post news/photos/videos that a normal editor would not accept.
As far as rage goes, I think Gautam Gambhir is doing his bit in that matter.
roadie from our city . And this Dr VC is really smart chap.
nsfw link
Hi Arnab,
I’d say Arnab Goswami is still better in his browbeating ways than the holier-than-thou Barkhas and Sardesais and not to speak of Sagarikas. More often than not his show is fun to watch…though the shoutfests can go bad and usually do. But, and this is important, I haven’t seen any newscaster in India run down big name politicians like this fellow does. Whether its Yeddy or Kalmadi or Raja, Arnab Goswami follows the rule from the Gladiator…he fights for the crowd and yells like the crowd would. So, Newshour is an amazing “show”. I don’t watch it for the news, I watch it for the ‘debate’, which is as gladiatorial as you can get without the blood and gore. Its fun.
cheers,
Ashish
What’s wrong with you Bongs and Assamese?
Had Arnab Goswami been from my state, (had there been such a choice,I would have wished the likes of him to blight the Pakistanis with his multifarious talents;but I digress!) I would not have thought twice before letting anyone who wanted to own up to the crime of playing whatsoever a role in foisting him on the Indian public do it, with heartfelt sympathy.
@ Utsav
It still doesn’t make Arnab Goswami less of an assamese (or, more of a bengali should i say) as he is…
What next? Buddhadeb Bhattacharya an assamese and joy goswami from pakistan!! 😉
Let’s leave aside for the moment the question of Arnab Goswami’s ethnicity.
The Assamese and Bengalis in Assam share many surnames, including Goswami (though I’ve seen many more Assamese Goswamis than Bengali ones), Bhattacharya, Chakrabarty, Dutta, Roy Chowdhury etc etc.
His being Bengali or Assamese does not contribute to the “glory” of one or the “shame” of the other. It’s not relevant to the subject.
Personally, I, a Bengali from Assam now settled in Kolkata find the comment “You may be jealous of cocky Bongs because you lack in the [edited]
”
offensive and derogatory
It’s not that we Bengalis are dripping with geniuses, sung or unsung. Just having happened to speak a certain language or living in a certain culture doesn’t necessarily indicate a high IQ.
If this sounds like pontificating, I can’t help it.
Anyway hectoring as he may sound, possibly liking the sound of his own voice above all else, he still seems to be the one voice in the mainstream media that entertains a different school of thought other than that peddled by the lefto-socio-democrato–Nehruvian cocktail socialists.
@ anonymous
I am not talking about whether Goswami is more Bengali or Ahomi.
I am only pointing out the root fo the last names and the Hindu philosphical schools they came out of. My point was that those schools were practiced almost all over the subcontinents, including in Peshawar.
You are free to carry on the Bengali or Ahomiyo, discussion as you please.
Last night on Face the Nation , Sagarika Ghosh went bat shit crazy over the comment from Chairman of Women Commission that woman should go easy when some dude calls them sexy and should take the comments in positive manner.For full half hour , she and her buddies went on and on to prove that women should take offense for this
This when Petrol is going up by another 4 rs and our economy is facing a meltdown.Get your seats fellas, circus is in the town.
The real rage icon is the Desi Spiderman, here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-RW3nUHs8g
All his huffing and puffing and shouting aside, he is still a million times better than Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai.
OMG…will u guys shut the f..k up about this assameese bengali thing…. i am sick of indians and this ethnic hate they have….just the other day i was picked on at a party by some kannadiga (bangalore type) and delhi (punjabi refugee types) for some ethnic shit …..this is so tiresome….had to whack this guy and abuse the other one which totally scandalized everyone and caused a major drama….)))) the host kicked me out and then came begging with folded hands to come back etc…total bs night…all because every dickhead hates the other state….south vs north…marathi vs bihar….bengali vs assameese…WHATEVER just SHUT UP everyone….this is bizarre …we are one country…who cares about anything else
Goswami was once bullied by Omar Abdullah. Did you catch that episode?
@shouri-like that:)A little bit of good-natured jibing and competitiveness is ok but yes we often tend to behave like immature teenagers!
@shouri, please get over your self-righteousness. It’s not a assamese vs bengali thing. People are trying to point out an error in the facts of the post. Some agree it’s an error and some do not.
@the last anonymous – but this is the best type of factual error we enjoy nitpicking and clinging on to.
@Anonymous who shared Outlook India link…got a mention of how Bhupen Hazarika lifted his Ganga Behti Ho Kyon from a Paul Robson song….not only the music but even the theme was also same. The earlier one on Mississippi river. The youtube link here
Wonder, what Papon and Zubeen Garg have to say about this, both of them got big break in Bollywood by none other than Pritam’da’….As on today, Zubeen is delivering hit after hit in Bengali movie industry. People love him, he is a star.
Wonder, if Calcutta and bengalis from all across the world (including bengalis of north east and assam) who unconditionally loved Bhupen Hazarika and catapulted him to be a national celebrity, will react to this.
Wonder, what govt of assam has to say about this, they declared two state holidays after Hazarika’s demise.
I think Arnab Goswami is a South Indian.
hilarious post, hilarious-‘er’ comments… In my opinion lets just send arnab goswami to china… They need some laughs coz according to a certain hindi news channel (right now showing) a million women are committing suicide there.
I think Kishor is north Indian.
no no Arnab Goswami is from Punjam…..hus cousin sister is Bindiya Goswami….
“Maternal grandfather= Gauriprasad Bhattacharya…AFAIK Arnab Goswami is a Bengali from Assam. There used to be a sizable community there before the anti-plains agitation started.”
Arnab, I am also a Bengali from Assam and would like to point out that the above observation is wrong to a large extent – at least the 2nd line. There IS a large Bengali population in Assam and it IS estimated that if the “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh, who had ticked the mother tongue box as Assamese up to 1981, are counted, then Bengali would be the language of the majority of the population. Since 1991 census, the population distribution based on languages, for Assam, has not been published amid concerns that it can trigger riots like the Nellie massacre. In the three districts of Barak Valley, i.e. Cachar, Karimganj & Hailakandi, Bengali has the status of Official Language. This was achieved after the 1961 Language Agitation, when 11 persons were martyred by Assam Police at Silchar. They were protesting against introduction of Assamese as “mandatory” – decreed by a Congress government under Bimala Prasad Chaliha.
Btw, Bhattacharya, Chakraborty, Das, Dutta, Sharma, Choudhury etc. are some of the surnames which are common for both Bengali & Assamese communities. So, Gauriprasad Bhattacharya might also have been an Assamese. I don’t know for sure, though!
Oops! Didn’t know that it would create an “Arnabian” fight over his ethnicity! 😛
Another correction, it was not anti-plains agitation. It was originally called “Bongal kheda” – kick out the Bengali people, literally. Later on, it was given a cloak of decency by changing the name to “anti-foreigners agitation”.
One more thing, a Bengali from Assam would probably write “Bhattacharjee” and an Assamese, either “Bhattacharya” or “Bhattacharyya”.
@ Shouri above-
“OMG…will u guys shut the f..k up about this assameese bengali thing…. i am sick of indians and this ethnic hate they have….just the other day i was picked on at a party by some kannadiga (bangalore type) and delhi (punjabi refugee types) for some ethnic shit …..this is so tiresome….had to whack this guy and abuse the other one which totally scandalized everyone and caused a major drama….)))) the host kicked me out and then came begging with folded hands to come back etc…total bs night…all because every dickhead hates the other state….south vs north…marathi vs bihar….bengali vs assameese…WHATEVER just SHUT UP everyone….this is bizarre …we are one country…who cares about anything else”
You are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo right Shouri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sick and tired of being an Indian because of this. Nowadays, I just introduce myself as a citizen of Pakistan or from their brother nation, B’desh. And I also recently got a tattoo called “Shan” written in Comic Sans MS on my bum. Cheesr!
@ Anonymous – A hardcore sinner like me has no self righteousness at all…that was just a genuine gut level reaction
@yourfan2 – wouldn’t go that far to say i am from BD or Pak….happily introduce myself as Indian until some retard wants to know the history of my seven generations past etc….funny but the Aussies or any other nationality just dont care…its only the desis who still have thin pre 1947 divide the states mentality..)))
Arnab Goswami is Assamse. I personally know his family. His father is Manoranjan Goswami. These guys are Assamese. Bhattacharya etc are common surnames in bengal and Assam. Great Bong get ur facts right
@krish Bhupen Hazarika acknowledged openly that he was inspired by Paul Robson when he met him during his student days at Columbia university.
It is so funny and stupid that indians fight about ethnicity. No one cares. To the rest of the world we are all Indians no matter how we look or what language we speak or which part of the country we come from. It is only seems important to some stupid people in India
Arnab Goswami’s father col
Manoranjan Goswami hails from
Palla Satra of Nalbari District,
Assam and is a distant cousin to my
mother. He settled in Guwahati
along with other family members. His
uncle late Dinesh Goswami was an
AGP MP from Guwahati and was a
senior cabinet minister in V P Singh
government. His aunty late Biva
Goswami was a famous AIR news
reader. His father contested
Loksabha election in a BJP ticket
from Guwahati constituency and
still resides in Guwahati. Just that
he stayed 9 months in Kolkata while
working in The Telegraph does not
make him a Bengali