Saare Jahan Se Accha, Salakaar: From Jinnah to Zia – Pakistan Nuclear Programme is Flavour of the Season on OTT

Come Independence Day and everything and everyone around just goes super patriotic. This was not the case before the advent of social media and various sarkari campaigns to mark the occasion. It used to be a very routine day. Flag hoisting, getting couple of laddoos and come back home to watch reruns of any classic on the good old Doordarshan. Now the OTT platforms have also embraced this change and the result is Saare Jahan Se Accha and Salakaar.

Available on Netflix and Jio Hotstar, both the shows are about – you guessed it right, its about our not so friendly neigbour Pakistan and its nuclear programme.

Since Salakaar was available first, I will start with this show which travels back and forth in time. It shows how the agent Adheer Dayal (Naveen Kasturia) back then sabotaged Pakistan’s nuclear programme. The same agent is now heading the intelligence unit and trying to find out Pakistan’s nuclear strategy now with the help of agent Mariam (Mouni Roy) who honey traps a Pakistani Colonel.

While the plot does sound very interesting, its the execution that leaves a bad taste. The first part set in 1978 is indeed very gripping with General Zia (Mukesh Rishi) and his attempts to make Pakistan a nuclear state, its the present day story that just doesn’t hold. The five-episode series can be watched even if you are swiping on your mobile.

Saare Jahan Se Accha on Netflix definitely is better of the two. It has good actors, good direction and better script too. This six-episode series has Pratik Gandhi playing Vishnu Shankar who is sent to Pakistan to unearth their nuclear programme. Sunny Hinduja plays Pakistani army office Murtuza Malik who tries his best to counter Indian plans.

Unlike Salakaar, where its female agent who is leading the operations, the female actors dont have much to do. Kritika Kamra does have some scenes towards the end, but thats about it. Tilotma Shome as Vishnu’s wife feels wasted. The scenes between the couple also don’t come out well. Pratik Gandhi has that awkward look on his face when he with his wife.

Surprisingly, it is not Pratik Gandhi who wins the show. Its Sunny Hinduja and Suhail Nayyar who plays Rafiq. Because we have already seen Gandhi in Scam, he feels a bit out of place as a spy. There is a scene where he orders a martini and I was like – WTF!!!.

Unlike a K K Menon or Manoj Bajpayee, who suit the role of a spy or intelligence officer, Gandhi just doesn’t look the part. Hinduja on the other hand is miles ahead of Gandhi, as is Nayyar.

Sitaare Zameen Par vs Housefull 5: The Box Office Collection War

Israel-Iran conflict is nothing in front of the war going on in the multiplex near you.

Aamir Khan’s much awaited Sitaare Zameen Par released on June 20 and since then social media is going crazy. There is a huge section of so called business analysts who analyse the daily booking trends and predict fate of the movie released.

Which is not the problem. The problem is these so called arm-chair analysts are biased and actually run a campaign for or against any film based on – err who pays and how much.

Some of them post multiple videos during the day – the ones if support of good cinema praising the collection. But those against the film, come up with all sorts of theories why the film is getting the numbers.

Hai La

Since June 20, there is a virtual war going on. Twitter and YouTube is full of it. As all it takes is a mobile and camera, everyone has jumped into the online war. A certain Dhruv Rathee sitting in Germany has also joined the gang. Why because – dollars ka mamla hai bhai.

For the past few days I have been watching this circus and its quite funny how a group of people for reasons best known to them are leaving no stone unturned to bring down the film. So much hatred? Against Aamir Khan?

But look at the video below. It surely is not AI generated or planted.

This is so wholesome!
A little boy's reaction watching Sitaare Zameen Par!#AamirKhan #SitaareZameenPar pic.twitter.com/nO2hyVL5QV
— Kate Wordy (@KateWordy) June 21, 2025

Ui Maa

There are all sorts of theories doing the rounds. A Twitter user alleged a big production house behind the campaign.

And then I randomly watched an interview of producer Pahlaj Nihalani. The man behind many successful Hindi films revealed the ugly face of the industry.

He said it is actually people in the industry who bring down their colleagues. He also gave examples of how veteran actors indulged in this game during time. He also recalled how his films were not given screens following threats by other producers.

So this thing has been going on. While in the past it was not known to the world, thanks to technology and yes, the YouTubers, its all in the open. Now we have these hired analysts who pull down a movie if its doing well or is doing better than that of a particular actor.

Well nothing new here either. As a fan of actor ‘A’ I want his films to do well at the box office. But if the film itself is bad, I just cannot ignore the harsh reality.

The fate of any film good or bad should rest in the hands of the audience. Running a campaign – for or against – cannot make a bad film work on box office or tank a good film.

The war is far from over.

Bell Bottom review: Wish there was bell to sound script writers to stop writing bottomless scripts

There is catch phrase in Bell Bottom, \’It isn\’t over till it\’s over\’ which is obviously said by Akshay Kumar who is playing the title role. The same catch phrase is true for the ordeal of watching the latest offering by Kumar. It isn\’t over till the end credits start rolling which is 123 minutes after it started playing on Amazon Prime.

Now Akshay Kumar had mastered the art of becoming new age Bharat Kumar. I am sure like many things, he discovered accidentally that was the space he could easily fill. To be fair to him, he was part of many such successful patriotic films. But to give him the credit alone would be wrong. He had directors like Neeraj Pandey and wonderful script writers too. Sadly after successful films the two parted ways and since then Kumar is trying to find the winning combo with little success so far.

Coming to Bell Bottom, if you have seen the promo or if you were lucky enough to watch the film in cinema halls (really? lucky?), you know it\’s about a plane hijack incident and Kumar plays a RAW agent whose code – you guessed it right, is Bell Bottom. Now if you read the synopsis it\’s like tailor-made for Akshay Kumar. There is little that could go wrong. But after spending 123 minutes of a lazy Saturday afternoon, I am sharing the big secret. Everything about the film is wrong.

Script

As said earlier, the script synopsis sounds great. But the full script needs more meat to hold the audience. Here it fails miserably, which has been the case with past so many Akshay films. Agreed the film was shot during strict lockdown conditions but a half baked script won\’t have survived even during the normal times. It looks like the script was not ready and the makers decided to go ahead with the shooting.

Going back to Neeraj Pandey- Akshay Kumar combo (sounds so much like a dish you are ordering that would taste much better than this tasteless film), the characters were fleshed out and there were good, rather excellent actors in other roles too. There are glaring loopholes in the film and without giving away too much let\’s just say ignore them to sit for next 123 minutes.

There is scene in Baby climax (it reads so weird, read that again to get the punch), when the flight is waiting for ATC clearance to take off. Bell Bottom has a similar scene. While the Baby scene had tension building up because you so badly wanted the flight to take off with the prized possession, in this latest offering you don\’t care if the flight is allowed to take off or not. You just want this to end (there is till few minutes left if you check the player). Don\’t worry.

Actors

Ever since the trailer of the film was out Lara Dutta got special mention for her role as Indira Gandhi. Getting the look is fine. It\’s what the script offers after the look that matters. And she is not present throughout the film (it\’s not about her). Adil Hussain is great actor but had very little to do in this film. Vani Kapoor continues her War role of a song, couple of scenes and pack up. It\’s sad to see actors like Huma Qureshi, like Hussain, have been reduced to itsy bitsy roles.

And Akshay Kumar has age catching up with him. Fast. How on earth can he be passed off as a 30/32 year old is beyond me. I mean he is no Aamir Khan who works really hard on his character/look. That Kumar cannot act is a well known secret. It\’s just that producers get their money back and that\’s how he has survived. But not anymore. He reinvented himself to become the Bharat Kumar Hindi film industry was looking for. After all these years, looks like time has come for him to reinvent again. A lean, mean, fit Akshay Kumar is fine but films need more. There are other actors vying for the Bharat Kumar slot like Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. So there is competition for Kumar.

There are two songs in the film. First one is picturised on Kumar and Kapoor and the other one plays in the background during the climax. The KK song is pretty early in the film and it\’s not even on my playlist, which kind of explains there is nothing much to write when it comes to music.

I think the makers also realised the film will not have a long shelf life, like say Baby (I have lost the number of times I have seen it), and hence thought it best to release it on Amazon Prime before it\’s too late.

I was wondering what if the code name was either Sunder, Saand, Pucchi or Dollar given to other RAW agents in the film, instead of Bell Bottom?

While you think about it, look for Baby. It must be playing on one of the platforms and may be watch it again. Give this bottomless movie a miss.

Mumbai Diaries 26/11 review: A lifeless saga

Hospital drama in India have been popular but so few have been created. The ones that were, had less to do with hospitals and more to do with individuals. The best one I had seen and still remember something about is \’Lifeline\’. I still remember the title music by Vanraj Bhatia. In case you are wondering, it was on Doordarshan (yes the golden days when DD had awesome content). It looked like a real hospital and the characters (both doctors and patients) were believable.

Then there was Pakistani serial \’Dhoop Kinare\’ which was thoroughly enjoyable (again less about hospital and more about relationship between a young doctor and her senior). In between there was Sanjeevani which I haven\’t seen (I believe it was inspired by Dhoop Kinare) and then there was one with title Hospital but it was more about a journalist trying to expose wrongdoings going on and less about the hospital.

The 26/11 terrorist attacks has so far been seen from the eyes of cops, from Taj hotel staff member and now we have the doctor\’s side of the attack in the latest web series available on Amazon Prime – Mumbai Diaries 26/11. Interestingly, all the versions cover the attacks but the focus remains on whose version it is. So the first installment focussed on police version of the attack and it\’s aftermath, the Taj hotel was about attack on hotel and how this staff member saves lives of hotel guests.

Some thirteen years after the November 26, 2008 attack we get the doctor version of it. Like 9/11, this attack was widely covered on television (too much of it, if you ask me) but more on that some other time. While the other two versions were based on real life characters, I don\’t know if it\’s based on real life doctors present that day.

The plot

Since we all know about the attack and the plot and those behind it, there is nothing much to add. But this series is based on what happened at the hospital on that fateful day and creates the ground for what will happen in the night. So we have three fresh doctors who report to join as trainee doctor. There is no shortage of characters here and hospital also becomes a character. With other normal serials, the space where it is played out has little to contribute. But when it\’s about hospital, it becomes a character too. Unlike the spic and span hospitals which have been part of other serials, the Bombay General Hospital in this series, is as sarkari as any govt hospital could be. Overworked doctors, shortage of supplies and those stained walls – you get the perfect hospital setting.

Characters

As I said, there is no shortage of characters in this series. Bad thing is they all have a background story. But the good thing is it applies only to the hospital staff or couple of patients. Else it would have been endless series instead of just eight episodes. So there is Dr Kaushik who is head of trauma department and he has a team of nurses, attendants and the three trainee doctors who join him on the fateful day.

There is also the CMO and director social services played by Konkona Sen Sharma who is not a qualified doctor. There is just one patient who is there from the first episode till the last – one septuagenarian Punjabi lady. There are more patients but she is the only one writer could give some sort of flesh and bone.

There is a bad cop too who is after the good doc for not following the due process of informing the police about cases that should be reported. He is as foul mouthed as police characters get and he is also after a nurse for…

Since it\’s a sarkari hospital so things are in short supply but the canteen has fruit salad to offer. There is no link but just wanted to mention this. It gives you fair and not so lovely amount of idea that stage is set.

Before the terrorist storm the hospital, background stories of all the main docs (old and new both) needs to be set up. So before the terror unfolds we get to know about these characters and what all is wrong with their lives. Sounds like a regular soap opera where something or other is wrong day after day? The busy doc has no time for his wife, the pampered kid of doctor couple doesn\’t like all the attention, another trainee doc has typical middle class background where her parents ask her to offer sweets to her senior, the nurse couple is trying hard to offer a better life to their kids and hubby is selling hospital secrets to journos. Did I miss something? Oh yes. Communal harmony – we need to have a Muslim character too to complete the script and here he is in form of the male trainee doctor. The recipe looks complete. The scriptwriter managed to finish it in eight episodes nahin toh there was ample scope for extra marital angle as well. A bolder script writer would have introduced a gay/lesbian angle too. Blame it on short and sweet series.

Performance

To be fair to the actors, they have done a good job. It\’s not your run of the mill kinda set up where you look good and mouth few lines and done. They had to learn procedures and mouth what a doctor would. So good job by all.

Except Mohit Raina, there is no one else that stays with you. He is not there in every frame but whenever he is there, he just steals the show. Konkona Sen Sharma plays her part perfectly, like she always does.

Shreya Dhanwanthari as TV journalist chasing exclusives is superb. Having played print journalist in Scam and TV journalist in Mumbai Diaries 26/11, she is learning journalism on the job.

Writing

The first and may be the second episode manage to hold your attention. But third episode onwards it\’s downward journey as far as writing is considered. The tension which should be part of hospital drama is missing and the writers seem to have lost plot. Bits and pieces manage to hold it together but a better script could have done wonders. Watch Scam or Delhi Crime, again if you have already, to know what I mean.

There is scene in episode seven where doctor needs to operate upon a patient and there is some senti line thrown in by one of character. It was supposed to be rather emotional high point, choking and tears welled up kind of scene. But nothing happens. For a person who gets emotionally invested rather easily, I was completely not interested in whatever was happening. Like Mohit Raina in the last episode who looks at one of trainee crying over a dead body and pleading for help.

There is another scene which is so so filmy. One character has to call his wife using mobile of another character. Unable to reach, he tries to message to only discover a secret on the mobile. I have tried not to give away too much info by smartly omitting the names. 🙂

Verdict

As mentioned in the beginning, I began watching this series hoping to get a good hospital drama (even after knowing the story). But was let down by poor writing, which is often the case these days. And why the hell we cannot have series without the F word and reference to ladies? The docs use F word like there is no tomorrow and the less said about the gaalis the better. It\’s actually my pet peeve with content creators. I also realised that there is hardly any series without these words. Like writers who use these words in any and every situation, the viewers have also started treating it as normal. (Angry face).

There is lot of blood and gory cuts, stitches and shots of human organs. So if blood is not what you like to see, you can give it a miss. Otherwise watch it for Mohit Raina and hope he gets better scripts.

Writing is like breathing

Why I Blog is like asking Why I breathe. To blog was not a choice when I became aware of the blogging platforms. It was an escape I always wanted as a writer. Before blogging happened it was maintaining a diary. But as it happens, I stopped writing for various reasons, primarily being I did not want to share my thoughts to self.

Writing for someone always has its own trappings and while the writer in you would be happy to be part of the creative process, writing for your self is far more liberating.

First there are no set things to keep in mind so you can pretty much write the stuff that you want to send out. Second and very important is this is real you. You are not taking your riders on a ride and nor are you creating any false notions about yourself. You are exposing yourself to the world and that take whole lot of courage.

Different people have different ways to get things out of their system. Some paint, others sing, some dance, others think. I write.

Whoever said writing is therapeutic wasn\’t wrong. It sure is and something more.

Expressing yourself to others is a big challenge because you have to speak in language they understand. Its like a movie which we like or a song we fall in love because it captures your mood in a manner no other song managed to do.

Writing to me is something very personal since I do not comment on what is happening around me, nor am I writing about any particular genre but rather what is inside me.

The Great Indian Independence Day Tamasha

What does Independence Day mean to you?

I was about to say it’s that day when wife allows me to keep things at a place chosen by me and not where she believes it should be. When I control the remote and decide what to eat and… But wait. Have I missed something? Questions like these are normally not asked in official meetings. ‘The well informed’ colleague whom I have ignored all over office and replied in monosyllables, helped with his expert opinion. It was THE Independence Day. August 15.

But is it not a day off? What is there is to discuss about it? Wife and kids have already made lots of plans like which mall to raid for the Independence Day sale. I adopted a wait and watch policy to see what others had to say. May be they will say what I was thinking and I will nod in agreement (that was a smart strategy in my mind). But I was not the only smart one. People just gave the impression they were taking notes. Nobody said a word and so it was decided to submit our opinion in writing.

What??? Now write about it?

Now questions like these are very dangerous, as they tend to bring in many sensitive issues like marriage and/or age into picture. Suddenly it strikes you it was such a long time ago because you last celebrated the Independence Day when you were in school. When was that? Let’s see – when Doordarshan had only one channel to entertain us and the day was hijacked by movies like Gandhi or Pukar or Kranti or Purab aur Paschim and lots of Manoj Kumar songs (before Mr Caneda Kumar arrived on the scene). That sounds/looks and is definitely pretty long ago! The picture above is just ro remind you about the delicious ladoo that is also traditionally associated with I-Day celebrations. What we got to eat? Read on.

Even that celebration was forced because it was compulsory (yes in bold) and the school management came up with innovative ways to ensure we attended the day without fail. Like, linking attendance to something as exciting as hot samosa snack from the canteen! Full attendance ensured. Though I am still paying the price for falling for the samosa bait but I tell you they were just so yummy! Hey Alexa can you order some from Swiggy?

It wasn’t that I got married immediately after school or there were no Independence Day celebrations. But things were \’different\’ in college. Our gang would hardly attend any lectures so the question of shocking our professors by showing our face on Independence Day was completely ruled out. We definitely had our hearts at the right place. And also there were no samosas on offer. So we gave the event a miss. Alexa, did you order the Samosa or not.

Years later when I started working as a journalist it was one of the only four official holidays we would mark from the beginning of the year. So essentially it has become just another holiday for me too. Thanks to more channels available I no longer watch Mr Bharat but can opt for a certain Mr D K Bose or now Mr Tiger. That is if I get the remote.

As for the holiday mood, things have become more organized now. Even if I miss the long weekend in the leave chart, there are reminders from travel websites. If I miss that too, the channels keep bombarding with ads of special long weekend reruns of reruns. Newspapers are not far behind with stories and pages dedicated to help plan – what else but the long weekend.

Is that all our Independence Day has been reduced to? A long weekend? People fought, gave away their lives 75 years ago so that we could plan a long weekend? Or that Samosa party, Alexa can you hear me?

(This piece was written looong before covid and lockdowns. But not much has changed. Or may be a lot has. There are three new malls in my area which means more shops to raid. India is where it was.)

Corona Lessons: Always Stay Positive

When rising covid cases in India was hogging all the news space, I had no clue I too would be part of the data. When it happened I had no clue what was in store for me. But after spending 17-days in the hospital, including a week in the ICU, a lot has changed. These are my life lessons.

Share: Your society WhatsApp group, yes the same where people get into lot of useless debates, will be most beneficial. Post your queries and someone will help you. I was in a very difficult situation after 3 family members tested positive as PMC smarties had sealed society. It was another covid +ive who came to my rescue and took me to hospital. Remember बात करने से बात बनती है। So pick up the phone and talk. The disease is such even when people want to help, they cannot. But they have connection oops network. So share with your friends as well.

Lessons: It just might be your lucky day. Mine certainly was (only difference it was night ). Got oxygen bed in a hospital close by. I was hopeful I would be out in couple of days but that was not to be. Learnt many lessons inside the hospital and here they come.

Stay positive: Whatever happens around you, stay focused on your recovery. Follow every single word your doctor says. They know the best. Whatever gyan you may have acquired from whatsapp univ or any such place, just delete it.

Fringe benefit: I had no visitors during my entire stay but I benefited hugely from visitors my ICU bed neighbor had. His two sons would share such positive messages with their father on life support that it rubbed on me. Would I be typing this in their absence? YES. Because I was good kid there. Followed all the instructions to T. Which reminds me of the tea served. It was awesome. Next is food. Day 1 in a shared ward, I did not polish off the dinner served. The senior citizen next to me said very simply – eat properly or you will become weak and recovery will take time.

Eat right: After that, not one meal was seen as what is this. Whatever was served was enjoyed and sometimes asked for a second helping as well (mostly daal). Huge credit to my lovely dear Maa. She made us eat whatever was served. That habit helped me get strength. In addition to hospital food, I had very few other things to eat (except some dryfruits by my amazing family friend ). I also had amazing hospital staff who fed me while I was in the ICU. As a vegetarian every morning I would say no to eggs. One attendant saw this. While feeding dinner, she said eat eggs till you are here and once out take a dip in any of the river and भगवान से माफ़ी माँग लेना। With support like this yeh dil nahin maange kuch aur.

Stay positive: The family friend would visit hospital to get update on my condition.The hospital staff started identifying him as my relative. Isn\’t it amazing. It happens only in India.
Half the battle is won by staying positive and other half by eating right and following instructions and just listening to right things like pep talks to my neighbor. So were there no dark nights or bad days?

Blinkers: Well there were plenty, specially in ICU, but put on your blinkers and focus on your recovery. That\’s all that matters. Since I also had mobile with me, the family decided to censor all the unfortunate news on family whatsapp groups. I also stopped checking Twitter after situation became very bad outside. Fortunately I had couple of books downloaded but in Kindle cold storage. So brought them to life and read them. Huge thank you to Manish Misra for the recommendation. Better late than never.

Friends indeed: I am forever indebted to Suvasit Sinha who coordinated with a week-old first time father Naeem Shaikh to get my medicines. I cannot describe emotions when I saw Naeem from my bed. He was first and last familiar face I will see for next fortnight. Family n friends came together.

Go back to roots: Pranayam is best. Do the basics regularly. YouTube is flooded. Pick who you like and practice. Same for meditation. Couple of days off oxygen support I was to take a 6 min walk test (hope all know about it now). My levels dropped and so did my hopes of early discharge from hospital.But I started taking 5 min walk 3-4 times a day and it helped when I finally cleared the test and allowed to go home. Start small. 15 mins of pranayam and meditation. Plus some walk. Do what works but Just Do It (No Nike money).

One day: Take one day at a time. Don\’t worry about when will you go home. As the son told my ICU neighbor, you are here for treatment not to stay here. So just focus on getting better.

Thank you all the amazing doctors, sisters, brothers, support staff, cook who fed us nutritious meals every single day. We as a society may never be able to repay what you have done to save so many lives in various parts of the country. Gratitude forever.

To sum up my learnings:

Stay positive
Don\’t panic
Eat proper
Read positive books
Watch hobby videos

2020: New normal is now forever normal for us

If there has been one year that has changed everything – it is 2020. While in the past these changes were more personal, more local, thanks to covid19 the sufferings, the pain is not about a country, state or city.

As I am typing this post to review 2020, the year gone by, I am filled with so many emotions – a big chunk occupied by pain, emptiness and loss. In this short life almost all the years have been filled with ups and down, sometimes more downs and fewer ups but 2020 has left such a vaccum in our lives that I cannot see anything filling it up in future. We will have to learn to live with this while we spend our time on this planet. But I will still attempt to review 2020 because if there has been one year that has changed everything – it is 2020. Surprisingly or not so surprising is the fact that while I feel sad about my personal loss, I also know of so many others who underwent similar pain. The much talked about new normal has become forever normal for us.

The year began on a very hopeful note. We were in Delhi to spend a week with my dear lovely sister Yashasvita who had undergone a rather difficult surgery in October 2019 and as part of her treatment, radiation and chemotherapy were lined up from January 2020. For past few years it had become a rather regular practice to spend end of December or early January, if not new year, with her when she would travel to Mumbai for her annual visit to the Tata Memorial Hospital.

Hope

Diagnosed with jaundice in October, subsequent tests had confirmed presence of cancer in the pancreas and hence the surgery. But post that – we were hopeful that like 2007, this time too Yashasvita will beat cancer. The initial month after surgery was difficult for her as she adjusted to the new diet and medicines. As she did in 2007, this time too Yashasvita was leading the fight from the front and all our conversations were only around how she wants to first beat the monster called cancer and later take care of everything else.

Celebrations

We all were looking forward to 2020 for so many reasons. It was the year when our parents were completing 50 years of togetherness. It was also the year when my father turned 75. So it was double celebration time. We started planning for it in 2019 itself with searching for a suitable venue to host the event. By January end coronavirus had arrived in India but things were not looking that bad and even after the lockdown we were hopeful that by June things would be better and the mega family get together would happen.

All is not well

The first signs of something was not right were felt in May when Yashasvita’s report showed alarming increase in one of the parameters. The parameters had reported increase in the past as well and while the doctors were still trying to find out the possible reason for this, we consulted the doctor at Tata Memorial who had treated her in 2007. When your mind is full of doubts and you are looking for some positive, reassuring sign – you want someone to tell you – things are okay. This is what happened when I met the doctor at TMH on a rather hot May afternoon. Dr Sudeep Gupta not only discussed how Yashasvita was doing but he also spoke to her doctor in Delhi who had worked with him in the past.

I still remember the glee on my face as I walked out of TMH to know it is fine. Remember the celebrations? Well as it became clear the lockdown was here to stay and that travelling is ruled out – we decided to have e-celebrations. Leading the tech team was Vishal – Yashasvita’s husband. Yashasvita was in and out of hospital during this period for her chemo sessions and she even had one couple of days before the event. But now it seems she had saved all her energy for the event. The first and second day after the chemo are really bad as all the chemicals inside the body do their trick and you just let the body adjust.

She is the jaan of all our get togethers. Cracking jokes, mandatory dance, may be some Madhuri Dixit steps too. And she danced that night. Like she had in all the gatherings she was part of in the past. And that was the last dance.

Things only got worse from there. The alarming increase in her parameter continued in July as well and her cramps only got worse and she was in terrible pain. Another test in July confirmed our worst fears – the disease was spreading.

I was to meet Dr Gupta again in August. This was after that phone call from Yashasvita that will remain in memory forever. When she was first diagnosed with cancer in 2007, she was expecting her second child. She gave birth to boy in October that year and continued with her treatment. But never during those trying times had I seen her spirit broken. She was the one who was giving us strength in her fight against cancer.

It was no different this time either. But that morning in August 2020 she was in pain. Terrible pain. Asking me, pleading me, ordering me to go and find out how can this pain go. The sheer helplessness I felt that moment. And when I met Dr Gupta he said it in so many words. I could barely walk to the car and burst into tears. There was no treatment possible now.

Could there be something else that we can try? We looked for all options and even got alternate medicines but nothing worked.

While we were all trying to come to terms with what was in store for all of us, Yashasvita and her husband Vishal, also knew how it is going to happen and how much time she has on her hands. Yashasvita was admitted to the hospital one last time in August. Around same time, I also fell ill with some mysterious disease and my darling sister who had few days on this planet, was telling me to take care of my health and the usual brother sister stuff. I was trying to give her gyan not knowing she had more gyan than me as far as her illness was concerned. She even recorded a sweet message for her kids while she was in hospital which Vishal shared after she left us.

And that brings me to a rather special thing that happened this year. It was the role reversal when younger siblings showed us the way. I will only remain indebted to them for life for their strength.

Our lives changed forever after Yashasvita has left us. Nothing and I mean nothing is the same anymore. We all are picking up pieces of our lives and finding our own ways and means to cope with this loss. There is no day when her memory comes rushing out of nowhere and leaves with a heavy heart and few tears.

Vishal has started work on a charitable trust in Yashasvita\’s memory and we will be working on areas and issues she strongly believed in. What better way to keep the memory of such a wonderful person alive than working on her dream project.

The mask, social distancing, lockdown etc were the new normal for us and everybody else in 2020. But those of us who know Yashasvita and were blessed to have her presence in our lives, this is not the new normal we wanted to live with. But live we will, because that is what life is all about.

Aarya review: Only the domestic help and family pet had no background story in this Khichdi

Any new series and your expectations go up and Aarya was no exception. With big names like Sushmita Sen and Ram Madhvani behind the project and it was billed as Sen\’s comeback.

The promos looked promising and two dialogues from the promo caught my attention. The first was \’Dhande main mard bache hi nahin hain\’ and second was \’Bharosa wohi todte hain Jin Par Bharosa Toda Jaata Hai\’. The writer in me was really looking forward to more such dialoguebaazi in the web series.

Eleven day late, I finally watched the series over two nights. All my initial enthusiasm came crashing down in the opening episode itself. But the optimist me was hoping for a revival in the episodes ahead.

Should I be happy that I delayed the torture by 11 days or sad that I gave in too soon?

The plot
Aarya is about a family where everything that can go wrong is wrong. Again these are all high society families and they have a pharmaceutical business and they deal in drugs as well. A deal, well not exactly a deal, but drug consignment is stolen and this triggers killings and stage is set for Aarya to take over.

Also read: Special Ops: Welcome back, Neeraj Pandey

Performance
Its average for all. Sushmita Sen leads the pack and is the biggest disappointment. She has a stock expression and is a complete misfit in the lead character. Everytime she appears on the screen it gives you feeling of watching Sonam Kapoor (minus the little bit of acting Sen manages). She is decked up always.

Chandrachur Singh is bumped off in the second episode itself so he had very little to do. He comes back in bits and pieces in videos. Sikander Kher who has a soft corner for Sen never gets to do much.

Writing
The biggest let down by far. I so wished that was not case but have lost count of series where writing is the main culprit. Almost all the characters have a story running and it gets really messy. You think of any character and they have a story. If it was mentioned in the passing instead of developing another story, the series would have wrapped up in five episodes. But there are so so so many sub plots. The kids have their stories. The grandfather too has one. Why was the grandmother left out? Ditto for the domestic help who is present in all the episodes. May be a lust angle, if not love, involving Sikandar Kher?

Also read: Made In Heaven: Satyamev Jayate packaged in a big budget drama

Direction
With a messy script direction becomes a task and it shows. The story drags and you wish someone had focussed on the writing more instead of the shooting technique. Ram Madhvani\’s treatment leaves room for improvement – make it rooms for improvement.

The series was a disaster which was avoidable had the writers tried something new. As with all the series these days, there are love making scenes and surprise, surprise, the young and the old all get to \’perform\’ if you know what I mean. There is hint of gay angle in the story as well but that is just touched upon. I wish the writers did the same with other sub plots as well. The problem is even with a tried and tested formula, the script falls flat on its face. There is a sequel in the offing and I am going to give it a miss (whenever it happens).

Covid-19: Did India miss the bus or did it \’miss\’ the bus

When Covid crisis was still in its very early stage and so was lockdown, I was very optimistic India will ride this one too and not only that, India will come out as a better country. After nearly 70 days my optimism has not gone into negative but it has hit a new low.

The initial optimism got a major boost when within days a Pune-based company developed low costing test kits. For me that was a good sign of what future had in store. But there has been little development on that front. Yes we are making lots of PPE suits everyday but that\’s no innovation. Thats a result of facilities lying idle and they being used for making PPE suits. There were tweets that Mahindra group has worked on a desi ventilator and also supplying the same to the government. I hope the company is doing that.

Coming back to first good news to come within days of Covid crisis hitting India. The lady who was part of this testing kit was all over news as she delivered a child only after the kit was launched. But that was the last of that affordable kit I heard. The company executives were on channels discussing their capacity and how it can be ramped up. But there is nothing about the company that is making news these days – specially about affordable test kits when states are demanding more test kits and some like Delhi and Mumbai have suspended tests. The initial estimate of Rs 1,200 per test is not a reality. The tests cost between Rs 2,200 to Rs 4,500.

Secret Data

As media student, I do try to understand whats happening in other parts of the world. One thing that struck me was availability of data. For example in United States, worst affected by coronavirus, the data was very transparent and available at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Similarly, Singapore also had a very open policy on sharing the data with public. All the information about the patients, where they came from and how many more persons caught the virus was available on internet on their website https://covidsitrep.moh.gov.sg/. In the early days there was a website which followed the Singapore model but not to the T. Sadly the website went off the net following some issues with the server and now its gone.

Unfortunately, it will take more time (not yet known how much) from the provider to know what exactly happened and when it can be fixed.

Our team at https://t.co/xqv2zfj9Dn will continue to work passionately for the dashboard. We are all together in this.
— covidout.in (@CovidoutI) March 23, 2020

There is this government website https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ which gets updated every 24 hours with fresh data at 8 AM. Again its very basic, pathetic representation of data. Please don\’t get me wrong. But everyday you share the numbers without any more info as to how many new cases reported, how many cured etc etc. What I see on the screen is what you see in the pic above.

Data and stories

As a journalist I have found data to be great tool to tell stories but only if its presented in a simple form for the readers to understand. I would be lying if I say that I would not expect a kick ass, transparent, great UI website from the The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Why? Because we have the expertise and so much has been said about digital India that I would be wasting my and your time too to talk about it.

Now all the states have different ways of collecting data and presenting. There is no uniformity which is not surprising. But remember my optimism in the early days – I was hoping we will have a uniform data representation. But with different parties in power in different states, it becomes a big ego issue for all. Kerala perhaps has the best dashboard. Very informative and easy navigation. If you haven\’t do checkout their website: https://dashboard.kerala.gov.in/index.php

\"\" — **Kerala state Covid-19 dashboard is most informative dashboards giving out all the necessary data and information.**

Maharashtra has copied the Johns Hopkins UI and has only made it data centric. Check out their website here.

Madhya Pradesh government had to face a rather embarassing situation after a hacker exposed flaws in the dashboard. The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government went back to the drawing board and there is no update available as I write this. May be it is available and I need to work on my search skills.

In India, the state of Madhya Pradesh created a #Covid19 dashboard with:
– name of quarantined people
– their device id and name
– os version
– app version code
– the gps coordinates of their current location
– the gps coordinates of their officehttps://t.co/lRKaqGmc8P pic.twitter.com/EKgdhKqL7p
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) May 10, 2020

This piece is not about comparing the dashboards or choose the best. My point is crisis is the best opportunity to learn. What have we learnt? States were fudging data, some hospitals were delaying the data. Why can\’t we have a centralised template which is shared with all the states and all the data collection is uniform. This not only applies to health but to any field where data is collected.

If I am living in Mumbai or Kolkata my driving licence from either of the state transport department should be identical. Just like a passport or (many wont agree) an Aadhaar card. Sometimes I feel this difference actually allows people to fudge the documents and not get caught. But each state during covid-19 collected data as per their local laid down guidelines.

As I was writing this post came the news that West Bengal has come up with guidelines for covid victims. The state allowed families to pay their last respects to the departed soul and many other provisions. Shouldn\’t all states follow the same guidelines? How come a covid victim dying in West Bengal is any different from one dying in Tamil Nadu? Should MoHFW frame these guidelines? If yes, will all the states follow it?

Late Comers

The initial lockdown days were spent trying to order the essentials. The tried and tested and trusted apps suddenly stopped taking orders. If anyone came across any site taking orders it was shared on various groups. Reliance Smart was one such website taking orders. But what a shock when I finally managed to find the site. So the company which has stores all across India had a pathetic site. There was no mobile version of the site and this I realised after I struggled on the mobile device.

The website from a company which had all the money, resources in the world to launch the either an app or a better version of the website within days of Lockdown 1. But the company took its sweet time and the new avatar of Reliance Smart which not takes you to Jio Mart was launched sometime in May.

The second company was not a disaster but again took time to realise online is where they were going to get their business from. D-Mart had a not so great UI but the company did not waste too much time in upgrading the website and now its much better version of the website I first visited in April 2020.

Am I still hopeful or has hope given way to despair? Yes because I still believe it was the one big chance to set things in order. I know these are big changes and will take time and may be I am proved wrong. It was the time to think out of the box and come up with solutions to various problems in the country. Two most important systems in the life of any citizen anywhere in world – health and education – both need immediate overhaul. But barring digital classroom which again had very limited access, there was nothing big bang that happened. Wait there was one – digital payments and it was wonderful to see making payments without any human touch was a reality. Will the changes I was expecting reflect in coming years? I would like to hope so.

Baaghi 3 gets audience approval; Will Sooryavnshi repeat the magic?

Update: The film has opened to good response despite poor reviews. It\’s speaks volumes about credibility of Tiger Shroff because there is no one else in the film to rake in Rs 50 crore in two days. The numbers would have been better had it got a wider release. It is riding only and only Tiger Shroff\’s goodwill and the action sequences which the audience seems to have loved. It\’s good news for the Hindi film industry. Now all eyes on Akshay Kumar\’s cop drama Sooryavnshi.

Hindi film industry is staring at what could be worst beginning for them. Already first two months of year 2020 has seen many big films expected to rake in the moolah not living upto the expectations. March has two big films lined up for release – the third installment of Tiger Shroff action franchise Baaghi and Rohit Shetty\’s Sooryavanshi starring Akshay Kumar. But the spread of coronavirus in India just before the release of Baaghi and days after the March 24 release of Sooryavanshi trailer is not the news Hindi film industry would be happy with.

Of all the films released in first two months of 2020 only Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior has got a nod from the audience and has managed to collect Rs 278 crore so far. None of the other films have been anywhere close to Rs 100 crore figure. Deepika Padukone\’s Chhapak managed Rs 34 crore, Varun Dhawan\’s Street Dancer 3D collected Rs 68 crore, Kangana Ranaut\’s Panga made Rs 28.92 crore.

Saif Ali Khan and Aliya F\’s Jawaani Jaaneman was the surprise hit collecting Rs 28.76 crore. Aditya Roy Kapur-Disha Patni\’s Malang collected Rs 58 crore while Imtiaz Ali\’s Love Aaj Kal did not win hearts of the people and collected Rs 34.8 crore. Even the box office favourite child these days, Ayushman Khurrana failed to get the same love for his Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and the film on gay romance has so far collected Rs 57 crore.

MOVIES	Box Office Collection
Chhapaak	34.08
Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior	278.47
Street Dancer 3D	68.28
Panga	28.92
Jawaani Jaaneman	28.76
Malang	58.09
Love Aaj Kal	34.8
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan	56.98
Thappad (Till March 3)	19.13

(Figures in crore. Source: Bollywood Hungama)

Taapsi Pannu starer Thappad though loved by critics has got a rather lukeworm response with Rs 19 crore collection in first five days. The numbers will not improve, if the initial collection is anything to go by.

Cut to 2019 when three films managed to strike gold in the first two months. Uri – The Surgical Strike managed life time collection of Rs 245 crore while February releases Gully Boy and Total Dhamaal crossed the Rs 100 crore mark and collected Rs 140 and Rs 154 respectively. Two more films collected Rs 90-plus crore – Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi released on January 25 collected Rs 92.19 crore and Luka Chuppi, released on March 1 collected Rs 94.75 crore.

MOVIES (2019)	Box Office Collection
Uri – The Surgical Strike	245.36
Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi	92.19
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga	20.28
Gully Boy	140.25
Total Dhamaal	154.23
Luka Chuppi	94.75

(Figures in crore. Source: Bollywood Hungama)

Sandiwched between the two big releases is the Irrfan Khan starrer English Medium. Unlike the two biggies which are driving high on action and low on everything else, this sequel to Hindi Medium promises to be a content and performance heavy film. With Irrfan Khan still undergoing treatment for cancer, the film is eagerly awaited by his fans.

$\"English$

A look at first two months of 2020 indicate which way the wind is blowing. The spread of cornonavirus has already resulted in people staying away from group activities like Holi celebration and the same would apply to watching movie in a theatre. Its too early to predict hot it hits the Hindi film industry and Indian film industry in general but it definitely would impact the collection of big movies lined up for release.

Sooryavnshi trailer review: Akshay Kumar, Rohit Shetty film is a joke on \’Content is King\’

With one successful cop franchise, Singham, in his list of successful franchise films, director Rohit Shetty is adding more to the list. Simbaa with Ranveer Singh was first attempt in the diversification and Sooryavnshi with Akshay Kumar in the lead is the next attempt to create another franchise.

The trailer of Sooryavnshi tells you the entire story in a nutshell. While both Singham and Simbaa were Goa based, Sooryavnshi is Mumbai based. The villain or the evil cops are fighting in Singham series and Simbaa is local in nature but Sooryavnshi is tackling no less than Jaish-e-Mohammed. Akshay Kumar would not have settled for anything less going by his modern Bharat ka beta (don\’t confuse with the Salman Khan starrer) avatar.

Obviously the scale is huge with this kind of background but the problem is also obvious in Rohit Shetty films. The script is never the king. It\’s the stunts and the typical Rohit Shetty style of cars flying in and out. Sooryavnshi trailer is no different.

With Akshay Kumar as lead the action scenes have a chopper sequence, a bike sequence and lots of commandos in action. With just 22-days left for the release of the film, expect yourself to be bombarded with Akshay Kumar, Rohit Shetty interviews on channels, newspapers. The film is relying heavily on Akshay Kumar Katrina Kaif jodi and to encash the same there is a recreated Akshay Kumar hit. The Tip tip barsa paani song will hit the airwaves soon but will it convert into box office collection remains to be seen. Towards the end of there is good Muslim and bad Muslim gyan. Wonder how ruling government supporters are going to use it in the days to come.

Overall Sooryavnshi trailer was on expected lines. You don\’t expect Rohit Shetty to churn out a Shool or Sehar. This is what he is capable of and this is what we should expect from someone who is not willing to learn from his past mistakes.

Making nonsense of news sense

Credibility of media houses is at an all time low. Even publications which were once considered credible source of information have fallen prey to sharing wrong piece of information. What\’s more shocking or rather painful as a journalist is unlike the previous generation, the new breed of journalists have so many tools available to them to verify the piece of information. Yet, they throw caution to wind and choose to publish whatever comes their way.

Very often I am asked if I was aware of this news or that news. Almost all the time it turns out to be wrong piece of information which is traveling far and wide all thanks to social media.

A recent widely shared news item will help you understand this better. It was regarding discovery of huge gold deposits in Uttar Pradesh. Almost all the media houses ran with the story. With that kind of coverage it was but natural that it became a hot topic on social media as well. There were many spin offs on this unverified information. Media outlets had a field day using their imagination to cover all possible angles. But they forgot one basic step – verifying the information available.

In the end it turned out that yes there is gold deposit but it\’s not in tonnes but in kilograms. I wonder what the media houses which were predicting how this discovery will impact our economy, have to say now.

There are days when news sense in a news room goes for a toss and all we have is information being shared without verifying the facts.

As someone who comes from news agency background, this training of verifying the information first always helped in a newsroom. I was leading a rather young team of content writers (gosh I hate this term), and we had people around screaming for getting out with the news first. The problem is not that you ran with wrong piece of news, it\’s that world will quote you as source of this wrong information. I too have been guilty of this crime but held on to publish button when I was not sure. It did save me some embarrassing moments.

As a responsible media house or someone who believes in the ethics of news, you have to be sure of information you are sharing. Waiting for a minute to confirm from multiple sources will only add to your credibility. Sometimes this takes longer while the world is already out with information and it\’s impact and what not. So should you declare a winner or declare a public personality dead because it is all over the place or wait for that second independent confirmation?

As a journalist (where are they) we owe this to ourselves first and then to our readers.

Smog is such a good PR exercise, no one wants to miss it!

For a journalist there is so much happening in India right now to report that Hindi saying \”haath main ladoo aur sar kadhai main\” (Hands full is sufficient) is just apt. Look at it – Delhi is full of smog, there is Whatsapp snooping, two political parties in Maharashtra are fighting like families agreed to a match but now refusing to take Saat Phera demanding more alimony. And if this is not enough, the police and lawyers are now fighting it out in the open with several videos of policemen being attacked doing the rounds.

None of these, except Delhi smog, is going to make an impact. Maharashtra will have a government by tomorrow, police and lawyers are conjoined twins and will call a truce, Whatsapp snooping is already dead. So what remains is smog which has been troubling Dilliwalas for the past three years. It usually happens around this time of the year and it has been happening for the last three years without fail. Think about it – We cannot say the same about monsoon (which is surprising with all the forecast apparatus at our disposal).

Yet, every year the citizens face this problem. Every body wakes up couple of days after they have inhaled the poison and then it\’s free for all. There are jokers who break the rule and claim the odd-even thing is really odd and certainly not even. The National Green Tribunal wakes up from the slumber and so does our legal system. Strong worded orders are passed and that\’s it.

What this offers the circus managers is a lifetime PR opportunity. So a minister would cycle to his office and get it recorded by media. Another minister who rode a bicycle a month back as good health initiative will not do so now it as it would give mileage to opposition. Some will distribute free mask to the people on road. All the stake holders behave like Chatur of 3 idiots who would release obnoxious air in the environment and blame his roommates.

What no one realises is after the photo op everyone gets into air purified rooms and breathe clean air. It\’s you and me who inhale the air, get sick, may be lung cancer and die. Human life has no value in India. None. While we may believe in rebirth and all that but if I leave the planet in this condition I would want to come back as an alien.

As for common man, he will dutifully add to the chaos not realising it\’s he who has created the problem and the solution also lies with him.

Review: The Family Man is let down by poor script, Bajpayee makes it bearable

Amazon Prime and Netflix have opened another venue for content developers to showcase their talent. Like it happened with television where the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Govinda to name a few big hindi film actors who took to television, webspace is witnessing something similar. Popular actors like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Sheikh and Netflix \’favourite\’ Radhika Aapte have been part of these shows. With his maiden show, The Family Man on Amazon Prime, Manoj Bajpayee is the latest to join the gang.

Directed by movie director duo Raj and DK, the show claims to be inspired by daily headlines in its credits. It\’s story of intelligence officer Shrikant Tiwari who is Aam Aadmi like any other Indian but is actually a high ranking intelligence officer. Its his daily struggles as a common man and the pressure of his job that the makers have tried to capture.

Also Read: Made In Heaven: Satyamev Jayate packaged in a big budget drama

What works and what doesn\’t

The 10-part series begins on a promising note. The buildup is huge till the time story remains in Mumbai or rather Bajpayee remains in Mumbai. The writers shift Shrikant to Srinagar but after this happens in episode 6 the series falls apart which is surprising as half of the story and rather important half of the story is moved to Kashmir, Pakistan, Balochistan and yet there is a feeling of something missing.

The entire story is riding on Manoj Bajpayee\’s shoulder and to give him due credit, he pulls it off like only he can. But its the writing that lets him down. By the time you reach ninth episode you feel like writers have completely lost the plot. The rather abrupt ending shows a new season may be in the works. But it leaves so many questions unanswered that you want to have atleast one session with the writers with your list of questions.

The writers also keep Bajpayee\’s wife\’s track, played by Priyamani, going with a hint of something brewing between her and Sharad Kelkar. There is also a track involving Bajpayee\’s daughter and it all comes in the end as that dish which sounded very promising while being prepared but tastes a little undercooked. Families of other officers working with Shrikant is completely missing but even for just a couple of scenes the writers did bring in his mother, brother and father-in-law.

$\"family$

On second thoughts, it was good it ended. Because the writers had no clue where to go. If you want to know what I am saying do watch The Fall season 1 and 2 on Netflix. The writing is top notch. Amazon series Jack Ryan is also worth a watch. It deals with the similar subject minus the aam aadmi angle. Or the House of Cards. The writing is taut and you know where it is going.

There are abuses, couple of lovemaking scenes (including one involving a married gay man), lots of smoking and drinking – which seems to have become a norm these days for web series.

Somewhere the makers inspired by so many similar stories around, could not think clearly as to how to take this family man basic concept forward. While the idea is exciting but its the execution in later episodes that once again shows the problem with writing. I dread what that makers would have in the next installment.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XatRGut65VI&w=560&h=315]

Made In Heaven: Satyamev Jayate packaged in a big budget drama

Remember Satyamev Jayate? Yes, the same TV show that had Aamir Khan crying at the drop of a hat? Now, imagine the same set of issues woven in a story and voila you have Made in Heaven creared by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. Gay rights? check; Child abuse? check; Drugs? Check; Depression? Check? Basically all the issues that Satyamev Jayate covered is here in form of a wedding story. The makers of Made in Heaven would do a big favour if they It would not be wrong if the makers of Made in Heaven should thank Aamir Khan before every episode.

Ever since Indian language content creators discoverd web as a platform to show their creativity we have been inundated with series showing explicit sex sequences both hetro and gay, using choicest of abuses (F not A is the first alphabet) and the female actors love to smoke. So how different is Made in Heaven on Amazon Prime?

$\"MIH$

The lead characters Tara and Karan in the serial look cute together. Since the guy is playing a gay character, there is nothing going on between them except friendship. There will be no romantic angle between the two is quite evident from the beginning.

The serial has a huge dose of flashbacks. The wedding planners in eight episodes of first season solve a new problem in every episode while dealing with their personal ones. The weddings in the episode are not linked to each other and so we see different styles in the eight episodes.

In short, Made in Heaven is a big budget production. There is every possible wedding that you can think of. A Punjabi, Rajasthani and osld haveli too thrown in just to make it look cool. In the midst of all this are characters dealing with Section 377 of IPC, husband cheating, drug addict brother and lots of sex with random people.

$\"Satyamev$

So what is my problem with Made in Heaven? Well, its nothing and everything that is wrong with web series content. The Indian script writers cannot think beyond selling sex in any form. Its just that the web series platform allowes them to ignore the Censor Board and this is where the content for web series begins and ends.

I am still waiting for Indian web series creator to come up with something like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel where script works over everything else. Or even Breathe which was such a refreshing watch. The second season with Abhishek Bachchan as the lead replacing R Madhawan is being shot. Lets wait and see if Junior B can make it better than Madhawan.

Sadly the creators of Made in Heaven and so many others are using this opportunity to create good content, see this as platform to escape from the Censor board scissors. Somehow, I get the feeling that what Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar were trying to show their middle finger to the Censor Board.

Kalank Teaser: Will Kalank be another Thugs of Hindostan or will it break BO records?

Karan Johar\’s Kalank teaser released on Tuesday and the first impression was this is HUGE (in capitals for the impact). Yet to see any movie in the recent times looking this big. The last was Aamir Khan-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Thugs of Hindostan and I dread venturing in that territory again. Though I was in the minority who liked the film. I watched it again on Amazon Prime when it arrived a month back. But as I said, I am in minority as far as TOH is concerned and Aamir Khan is not going to reward me for saying this.

Since this post is about Kalank so back to Karan Johar\’s magnum opus directed by Two States director Abhishek Varman. The film boasts of a huge starcast rarely seen in Hindi films these days. Madhuri Dixit Nene, Sanjay Dutt, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha – these are just the lead characters. Obviosuly, there will be more and we shall know them in the coming days. The sheer scale seen is the Kalank teaser gives a feeling that no stone has been left unturned in making Kalank look big. But so did TOH and the film failed to set box office on fire. Here and also in China where Aamir Khan enjoys a huge fan base.

$\"Kalank$

The real test of the second directorial venture of Abhishek Varman would be the treatment and the script. Yes every frame in Kalank teaser looks grand. The sets, costumes, dance sequences – everything. It would not be unfair to compare the Kalank teaser to a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. But that is where the comparison should end. Because Bhansali films have everthing else working for them. Music, story, execution, cast. This is where I have my doubts. While the producer may have manage to get the cast including current hearthrobs Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, will it reply only on these two?

Sonakshi Sinha looks like she has walked in from Lootera set. Her looks are so much Lootera-ish that Ranveer Singh would have made the jodi complete. Instead we have Aditya Roy Kapoor. Now, after a rather promising start with Aashiqui 2, his career has been downhill to say the least. Even coming together with Shraddha Kapoor failed to lift OK Jaanu. Sonakshi Sinha made her presence felt through item numbers – the last one in Total Dhamaal. Missed it? Watch now and wonder WHY she agreed to do this.

Karan Johar himself had disclosed that late Sridevi was supposed to do Madhuri Dixit Nene\’s part. Madhuri even spoke to Sridevi\’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor after Sridevi\’s untimely demise on February 24, 2018, before coming on board. The change in the cast resulted in Madhuri sharing the screen with her ex-lover Sanjay Dutt after 21 years.

Johar had said that Kalank was his father late Yash Johar\’s dream project and the script was lying with him for the last fifteen years. Director Abhishek Varman showed interest in the script and rest is what we now know.

Coming to the music of Kalank, like you I also heard the singer who will never ever sing for Salman Khan, Arijit Singh crooning just one line. I checked Twitter and his fans were going gaga with just that six word piece in the Kalank teaser.

It was a meh teaser. Until Arijit voice kicked in. Then it was awesome #Kalank https://t.co/b8O2ZUlAnS

— Musal (@FoniLunbo) March 12, 2019

So TOH director Vijay Krishna Acharya regular Pritam who was dumped for the magnum opus, is doing the honours here. Varman dropped the trio of Shankar Ehsaan Loy who scored the wonderful soundtrack of 2 States. The album was adjudged Album of the year, so I have no clue why SEL were dropped. Actually, SEL are losing out on lot of Dharma projects while Pritam is getting all the big ones. This needs some investigative journalism so wait for it. Will Pritam be able to manage justice to the period film of this scale?

Kalank releases on April 17, on a Wednesday and not on a Friday April 19 as announced at the time of launch. Another TOH similarity. It also released on Wednesday to gain the maximum from Diwali holiday block. Kalank will have a proper trailer with all the dialogue baazi. This reminds me of Alia Bhatt. The Twitterati cannot get enough of her dialogue.

\”Jab Kisi Aur Ki Barbaadi Apni Jeet Jaisi Lage… Toh Hum Se Zyaada Barbaad Aur Koi Nahi Iss Duniya Mein\”

Incidentally only two voices can be heard in the teaser. The second one I have mentioned first because the first one is nothing to write about. I mean why do they give Varun Dhawan dialogues? He can emote much better without opening his mouth much. Case in point is October. What a performance Varun. But Kalank is just not suiting him. Body, biceps, dance steps are all fine but can you please do something about that voice of yours? May be take a tip from Gulzar saab?

Here is the teaser (if you have managed to miss all the links that came your way). Do write in the comments section if you liked the piece, hated it or want to call for a boycott.

How to come to terms with loss of a loved one

The only thing certain after we arrive on this planet is death. I would say this very often about death and yet realised once again recently that we are never prepared for it.

I recently lost my cousin to cancer. She was undergoing treatment for close to two years but eventually lost the battle. She was one of the toughest individuals I have met in my life and to see her life end like this was painful – to say the least. It took me days to come to terms with what has happened and part of it was possible with her last three days when we saw her slipping away from us after doctors gave up any hope of her recovery.

Loss of a loved one is really difficult and there are whole lot of questions that are left unanswered. Eventually we all come to terms with their absence and move on with our lives but there are moments, times when the loss hits us. While we take other failures/setbacks in our stride and move on, we seem to be least prepared for our departure or that of others.

Much as I try to understand this, there is little to understand. So how do we cope with it? Here are the five simple things I did to come to terms with the loss.

Accept:The biggest lie we live is denial. That it did not happen while the truth is completely the opposite. It is hard to accept that someone who till moments ago was full of life and the centre of our lives is no more. We may accept their physical absence but the emotional absence of a dear one is hard to accept.
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Let your feelings out: I remember it felt little awkward when I started crying while my cousin was being taken for her last rites. No before that as well when I started crying in the hospital as it became clear there was nothing we can do except wait for her to peacefully leave us. There are people who are strong, very strong and they don’t shed a tear. Does that mean they are not sad? Well, they have different method of processing their feelings. To me crying is the easy way to let it all out. I feel better, light.
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Talk to someone:This is actually very important after someone you love is not there. Talking to a relative who was close to the departed soul helps in coming to terms with the absence. Talking about the past good times spent together or that incident which brought you close, it all helps.
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Give yourself time: Things wont return to normal just after the mourning period is over. It will take time. Take all the time to process the loss. It was a living being who shared the space with you, so even little things like the morning cup of tea will continue to remind you about him/her. It’s a process that will continue because just when you think you have moved on and accepted the loss, something will happen to bring back the memories.
Celebrate life: Its only when someone dies that we realise life is much more than that latest edition of the mobile phone or the limited edition of that car. Small things that may make no difference to others but mean the world to us – do that. Even if it is as simple as enjoying a hot cup of chai at a roadside tea stall. Also I find it lot more relaxing if instead of grieving over the loss, we celebrate the life that spent time with us. Like I wanted to play songs my cousin loved while she was lying in bed unaware of us surrounding her.

Death is one thing we all are afraid of. So we don\’t discuss it and when it happens, we come up with our own ways and means to cope with it. This was my way of coming to terms with the loss

We both left home at 18

We both left home at 18.
You cleared JEE,
I got recommended.
You got IIT, I got NDA.

You pursued your degree,
I had the toughest training.
Your day started at 7 and ended at 5,
Mine started at 4 till 9 and Some nights also included.
You had your convocation ceremony,
I had my POP.

You celebrated festivals with lights and music,
I celebrated with my comrade in bunkers.
We both married,
Your wife got to see you everyday,
My wife just wished I was alive.
You were sent to business trips,
I was sent on line of control.

We both returned,
Both wives couldn\’t control their tears,
but You wiped her but,
I couldn\’t.
You hugged her but,
I couldn\’t.

Because I was lying in the coffin,
With medals on my chest and,
Coffin wrapped with tricolour.
My way of life ended, Your continued.
We both left home at 18.

Shared by Advit Verma,
Army Public School,
Ambala Cantonment

I quit

As I typed heading for this post, I travelled back to September 2018 when I quit my job. It\’s been four months since I left a good, secure job. There were many reasons behind that spur of the moment decision but largely it was fuelled by the fact that I was not in a happy space. I had a great team of young talented writers, we were doing good, many of our ideas were picked up by our rivals – but overall it was not a very happy place for me.

Your workplace is where you spend a major part of your day and some more while working from home – as was the case with me. So if the place or people are not adding any value to your life it\’s better to walk away and do something you really like. But will it be sufficient to pay the monthly bills and take care of emergencies?

This is the question that always stopped most of us from taking the plunge. The fear of what future has in store for us. Frankly, I too was in that space and today, four months after I quit and still jobless, I am writing this is because I know I don\’t have to worry about the bills. But for how long – now that is the question that gives me some anxious moments and then I move on.

Ever since I started working sometime in 1998, I have always looked for a place which challenged me and where I enjoyed tackling those challenges. The enjoy part came from seniors who guided us – the juniors, challenged us to think differently and gave us environment which was stress free. Now, we all know everywhere you will find characters who get pleasure from torturing others. But after a period of time you realise such characters can be found anywhere and everywhere and the trick is to get your work done despite all the trouble they create. Some times they win, some times you.

I lost the game in September when I put in my papers. All my boss wanted was – call him daily, consult him for every little thing and keep him informed (read: share gossip on the floor). Nothing much, you would say. Working with bosses with different approach to work makes you understand ultimately what is your style of working and you start developing that. So like I said in a previous post on how to identify real vs fake leaders, the approach to work develops over a time. If you are surrounded by people who panic or someone who is cool, you tend to pick up these traits and also see how you as a person respond to a similar situation.

In the last job I was not the business head who would take a call on everything. Eventually everything had to be cleared by the higher ups. But it was their approach to even small, mundane requests that got me thinking. Working in the digital domain made me realise one important thing – you have to be really fast with your decision, else you miss the bus.

Did I miss the bus or the bus missed me? Well, it does not matter.

Leaders: How to identify real vs fake

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Bosses. The term brings out mixed emotions based on our personal experience. But word Leader has no such mix up. As an employee we know, understand and identify who a true leader is because – he brought the best out of us. Having worked with real leaders (who were the real bosses) and fake leaders who are where they are because of their marketing skills, it can be said few people have leadership qualities.

So what makes a good leader great?

Freedom: A good leader believes in freedom. They not only enjoy freedom, they also want their team members to enjoy it – with a condition though. Be responsible and don’t misuse it.
Trust: A good leader understands the importance of trust. They know they have reached where they have is because someone trusted them at one point of time. They return the favour by trusting their team members. This trust is earned over a period of time.
Deliver results: A good leader knows that in the end what matters is result. People are not interested in knowing what you have achieved. Your leader will help you with the how to achieve it and will help you prepare for tougher challenges in future.
Spot talent: A good leader is keen observer. He identifies talent, grooms him/her and let them prosper. All the talented individual need a good leader who can become their mentor.
Appreciate: A good leader knows how important it is to appreciate. He also knows even if the goal is not achieved but the efforts were sincere, appreciation goes a long way for the team to start all over again.

A good leader has all these qualities and more. A good leader knows his job is to promote talent and not sycophants – for he knows he would not be here if his boss/leader had promoted someone with better marketing skills.

Be curious, ask questions, stop following

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Life teaches us every minute. If we are ready to learn, that is. About us and others. Remember the time when we are growing up and the big plans we made? These plans are pure – untouched by the cruel world and the way it treats people who have ideas.

But somewhere along the way we keep aside the plan and join the mad race. We believe this is the natural thing to do. We see everybody around us doing the same and we start believing this is what we too should do. No questions asked. This is beginning of stopping the growth on its tracks.

No question, no answer

Ever since we land on this planet, we observe our surroundings and we question. Why is this, how it works, what is this. In short life is all about asking questions. My ten-year-old son had so many questions when he was young. But now he same lots of answers and very few questions. When he was small he had a new set of questions every day. At times I got tired of answering all his queries. But that didn\’t stop him from asking.

This is the biggest lesson I have learnt. To ask questions and keep on asking them. This is what leads to growth of self. But the grown ups no longer remember asking questions. We follow. Everywhere we go we follow. Like the navigation guide inside their cars and mobiles, we work on the guide inside us and keep moving till we reach a dead end. Which is too late to ask for the right directions.

Stop and start, now

We live a life so mechanised that if were never bother to stop and ask Why, Where, What? Oh yes, we do have these queries when we want to inquire about something like a sale or about a product. But we seldom ask the office manager who takes us to a guided tour to the workshop why a certain process is being followed. We assume this is the best practice to follow and based on that silly assumption we too start following it. We never question. We take the safe route. Why bother. Let it be. We are not interested in growth. Our growth.

Of course there is a process that needs to be followed. But if no one questions why, would we evolve? How can we better what we already have? The purpose of asking a question is to get information that matters to us and no one else. Yet, as we grow in life we stop seeking answers and then we hit a wall.

Conclusion

It is for our own good that we should ask questions and continue to ask them till we are here on this planet. It is only our curiosity that has brought us here. It pays to remain curious. Encourage people around you to ask questions, remain curious.

The (fixed) entertainment awards season is here, again

The Entertainment industry awards season is here. The first set of awards, Star Screen Awards, is already over and done with and more will follow in the coming days. Every year without fail the award functions are held recession or no recession. Some awards disappear and reappear and some continue. There was a time when I would look forward to the awards and stay up till late in the night.

Not waiting for the newspapers next morning. And always believed that it was telecast LIVE. But slowly it became clear that it was all stage managed. It was meant to keep everybody happy.

When Aamir Khan refused to attend these ceremonies and rightly so and was no where in the nominations either, the tamasha became more clear. This when he was doing the routine stuff (not the class stuff he is doing these days) and successful films. The whole process is a big sham. Someone who has done good job but does not fit into the popular category is compensated with a Critics award.

Unlike Oscar awards the awards in India are either property of publishing house or TV channels. So someone not in good books of the channel or the media house will not be even considered. So the awards are not free and fair.

The less said about the performance in these ceremonies the better. Every year the usual suspects perform. We have seen Katrina Kaif enough on channels singing Sheila Ki Jawani and she is back again performing on the same song. The performance is not as good as the original song (it did not save the film either). This year I think it will be Suraiyya from Thugs of Hindostan. But since the movie has flopped, will she be asked to perform? May be yes on a medley of Zero and TOH songs.

We need awards that are independent. I as a viewer would like to believe the awards are given to deserving people and not to people who confirm their presence to get the award.

Don\’t let one bad experience stop you from trying something again

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Security is one thing that we all look for in life. A majority of us trying to look for all things secure, opt for jobs offering us that security. Only a handful of try the route less taken and those who do have a more fulfilling life than the rest of us.

But how secure one wants to play in life? I have a friend who parked his vehicle a kilometer away thinking the place he was going to will have a parking problem. But that without checking out if there was one. He relied on his past experience and did that.

On the other hand there was another acquaintance who started late for a meeting thinking it will start late and end late as usual. Again going by his past experience.

But both were wrong on that given day. There was no traffic and ample parking space and the meeting lasted just ten minutes.

Would their life be different if they had not allowed their presumptions to cloud their view? If my friend first visited the place and checked if there was any parking problem, he would have been pleasantly surprised. His approach would have been to things ahead in the day would have been different. Same applies to the second case.

We often judge people and situations based on our previous experience. But there are chances, like stated above, that our predictions fall flat. We always judge on the basis of our bad experience in any situation.

I am quite sure the two gentlemen above will do the same thing again next time too for we always take something good happening to us as an aberration. But this comes from experience and also from our mindset.

Take another situation. A friend of mine was having a bad day with his boss. He tried his best to stay in the job and fight it out. He finally quit. Tried something else which did not work out. But he did not give up. He continued his fight. Today he is doing quite good. Again it was his attitude which made him what he is today.

As they say it is how you look at it: glass as half full or half empty. So here\’s to the glass half full. Enjoy.

Are our film critics really impartial?

Every Friday there is some move or the other releasing. While fans of actors and actress watch the films of their favourite actors irrespective of how the movie performs at the box office, there is a good number of people who wait for the reviews and decided whether to watch the film or not. These critics influence the audience and now that we have social media, the good or bad spreads really fast.

It happened with Thugs of Hindostan. The movie was trashed by the critics – who did not like the movie for their own reasons. I however watched the film first day first show before the verdict was out and I liked the movie for what it offered. Imagine my shock when I read reviews which described the movie as one of the worst of 2018. Specially in case of Thugs of Hindostan I felt there was a campaign against the film.

The critics advised against watching the Hindi film Aashiqui 2. Instead, they suggested watching the old one again. Some reviews said the male lead Aditya Roy Kapoor was pathetic and had not so encouraging words for the female lead Shraddha Kapoor as well. Even the music by Jeet Ganguly was strictly ok. All in all this was not the movie you should be investing your money and time. So the ‘critics’ said.

Now, the problem with our so called critics is that they have seen the world’s best and compare our products to them. They find all the loopholes in our stories and none in the cinema of the world. They want our movies to be like theirs. Sure. Do they insert songs in their movies that is being released in India?

Our movies are unique because of so many reasons with music being just one of them. Our treatment of movies is different from theirs and should remain so. How many of the mainstream Indians have seen Wong Kar Wai’s classic In The Mood For Love? Our esteemed critics go gaga over movies like this which if released in India will be pulled out after first day itself. But our esteemed critics think otherwise. They see our movies from the perspective of world cinema.

The critics want so many script changes after watching the movie that the director may even refuse to call it his film. Mind you, none of them will like a similar suggestion about their articles. They will fight with their editors if the paragraphs are even interchanged. Changing the intro of the story will actually need no less than the owner calling them personally. But that does not stop them from suggesting a similar thing to a film director.

It\’s tough being a critic. More so when you have movies like Golmaals, Housefulls or Bol Bachchans or the recent Himmatwalas to review. But look what they had to say about these gems and you know where our critics are heading.

As for Thugs of Hindostan or Aashiqui 2 or so many others go watch them and decide for yourself. I enjoyed Aashiqui 2 for the pure, unadulterated romance. That is as rare as finding non-sensical debate on TV shows. The lead pair looks good and the music is excellent. Unlike the music these days that come with a life of 3-months, this music will proudly find a place in my library of evergreen music. And so will the DVDs whenever they are out.

Darr: Aamir Khan\’s rejection gave Shahrukh Khan his stardom

At a time when films are not remembered beyond their 100 days or so, we are remembering 25 years of Yash Chopra\’s Darr starring Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol which was released on December 24, 1993. The film was milestone in both Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla\’s career and in a way also helped Yash Raj banners in their journey. Darr remained in news for reasons other than the obvious much before its shooting began.

The film was first offered to Aamir Khan. In fact Khan had signed the Yash Chopra film and the trade was very excited as it was first collaboration between the king of romance Yash Chopra and Aamir Khan. It was also bringing back the hit pair of Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla after their not so hit outings post QSQT. The muhurat of the film was also performed with the cast.

But soon it was reported that Aamir Khan was out of the Yash Chopra film and Shahrukh Khan has replaced him. Shahrukh at that point had already done Baazigar in which he had played a negative role. There were many theories doing the rounds at to why Aamir left the film. One version was Aamir Khan insisted on a joint narration with Sunny Deol but Yash Chopra refused. Year later Sunny Deol also said something on similar lines. He did not stop there and called Yash Chopra a cheat and also turned down their offer to launch his son. Sunny Deol did not work with Yash Raj films and Shahrukh Khan after Darr.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huj9_8uV5y8&w=560&h=315]

The other theory was Yash Chopra did not like Aamir Khan asking too many questions and hence dropped him. Yash Chopra also said in an interview that Aamir Khan developed cold feet after the muhurat as he was playing a negative character for the first time. His family, fans and well wishers advised him against it and he finally said no.

Whatever be the reason, in the end it worked to Shahrukh Khan\’s advantage. As for Aamir Khan he did work with Yash Chopra and their venture Parampara was released the same year but failed to set the box office on fire. The film is best remembered for a couple of songs and Ramya\’s hot scenes with Vinod Khanna.

Coming back to Darr, I liked Juhi Chawla from her first film – Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. It was combination of everything – the music, story, how she spoke in the film and of course her pairing with Aamir Khan. So when Juhi Chawla did the itsy-bitsy role in Yash Chopra\’s Chandni I was disappointed. But soon there was news that Yash Chopra had offered her a role in his next film. Darr was supposed to be her big film as she was working with a big banner and Yash Chopra was known for presenting his actress in the most beautiful way.

Coming after the debacle of Lamhe, a lot was riding on Darr. Baazigar had released on November 12 and Shahrukh Khan was lauded for his role as Ajay Sharma. Darr was releasing exactly a month after but the story was completely different. Baazigar was still running in theaters when Darr was released. Soon Shahrukh Khan\’s character in Darr and his K..K..K…Kiran became popular and the next big star had arrived.

The music of the film is still loved specially Tu Hai Meri Kiran which incidentally is only playing in the background and we see Shahrukh Khan singing rather different version in the film. The other songs also go well with the story but I must add that I saw the film recently and I thought we could do away with couple of songs like Likha Hai Ye and Solah Button Meri Choli Main for a more enjoyable film.

Darr also has the unique distinction of being made into English in 1996 as Fear.

Tere Bin song review: Recycled Simmba song has nothing going for it, not even Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan

The new Rohit Shetty action drama Simmba seems to be completely relying on old hits. Both the songs released so far have been rehashed versions of popular hits. After the first song Aankh Mare which was a recreated version of Tere Mere Sapne song, the second song Tum Bin was released on Friday.

This song is again recreated version of a popular Nusrat Fateh Ali Song Tere Bin Nahin Lagda. Unlike the original which had only Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan doing the honours behind the mic, the fresh version has Rahat Fateh Ali Khan who is joined by Asees Kaur. Tanishk Bagchi who has awarded himself the contract to destroy old bollywood songs, does a rather awesome job (in killing the original song).

The song is supposed to be a love song between the lead pair Ranveer and Sara. Shot in the picturesque Switzerland, it is not a Yash Chopra like song but there are elements like Sara in a sari. But don\’t expect too much as the song is just not up to the mark.

A romantic song in an out and out Rohit Shetty cop drama is odd and you know it\’s there as a dream sequence and is not going to add any value to the narrative. The first song too is a filler song and I won\’t be surprised if it comes in the end credit.

Tere Bin has been a let down and it is not what the makers promised it to be. May be I will watch old romantic song to quench my thirst for a good romantic number.

Book review: Promising subject but script is all over the place

Music Masti Modernity – The Cinema of Nasir Husain by Akshay Manwani

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India

Pages: 402

Price: Rs 599

Having grown up on Nasir Husain films, I picked up the book hoping it would let me understand what went in making Nasir Husain the phenonmenon he has become. But early into the book I realise the biggest shortcoming of the book. The three things that made Nasir Husain and his films – the man himself, composer R D Burman and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri were no longer there. This actually is the biggest handicap of the book – we never get to know what went into a certain scene or how Nasir Husain took failure.

What we instead get it is lots of assumptions or what people thought about Husain and his films. Both Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan started working with Nasir Husain when he almost retired from direction or when his career was going downhill. The writer gets some kind of understanding from Javed Akhtar – he and Salim Khan worked with Husain in Yaadon Ki Baarat. But its not the same as you would expect – at least I did not get it.

Much of Nasir Husain\’s success is also because of the music of his films. Here the book completely lets you down as we don\’t get anything from the core members of the team – RD and Majrooh. Instead we get tid bits from Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra.

The only living collaborator of many hits is Asha Parekh but she too makes a very guest appearance like participation in the proceedings. Also in many chapters the writer starts talking about something and then goes completely off the track which spoils the flow.

If you are looking for more on Nasir Husain – this boook is certainly not the one. The one big lesson is – speak to these legends when they are with us instead of speaking to people who have worked with them and their take on the happenings.

Lalitha Vaidyanathan: The Many Facets of Annapoorna

Shifting to a new city brings it\’s own set of challenges. But when you are young and single living out of a suitcase is easy. A child\’s play if you continue to manage this with wife, kids the works. When Ranvijay Yadav and I were transferred from Delhi to Mumbai, I had no clue it eventually would become my karmabhoomi.

Soon after landing it was Hiral Vora\’s mother who treated us to awesome breakfast at her place. Hiral’s mother passed away recently and I will always have fond memory of her treating us to lip smacking Gujarati food.

The PTI guesthouse in Chembur was a two bedroom setup. With neither Ranvijay nor me remotely interested in cooking the kitchen was of no use. Or so we thought till we met our colleague Lalitha Vaidyanathan who had other plans.

She gave us her utensils and electric rice cooker to atleast cook something in case of emergency. We used them for couple of years when Samod Sarngan, Rahul Tawade and gang arrived. I will save the kitchen tales for some other day.

A science reporter of repute, Lalitha would always always have something to eat for the team members. The fluffy idlis won hands down. I don\’t remember how many times we had her tiffin while she ate something else.

When my younger sister Yashasvita was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, I had just started my second stint with PTI and I asked her for help. Lalitha not only ensured that no one less than the then Tata Memorial Hospital director Dr Dinshaw examined my sister but she also chased them for the report as it was a complicated case with my sister in advanced stage of pregnancy. So much so that when we visited hospital again the doctors requested to please ask Lalitha not to call the director for reports.

Though I am much junior to her, over the years we have become friends and we start from where we left last time. Lalitha would be after my life to write stories and I would promise but forget about it the moment she left.

Today as she celebrates her birthday, I thought what better way to wish her other than writing about her. She has so many inspiring stories to share and she still continues to be keen learner.

Many happy returns of the day doc.

The Management Mantra

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You start your career as a junior team member and as you grow so does your profile. First you are reporting to someone and later you have people reporting to you. Not that your reporting changes, but the nature of reporting changes. From sharing the jobs you did you report the jobs you got done, targets achieved or missed.

As you climb the ladder you become more of a manager and less of a person who was hired for your basic set of skills. The transition is very critical as what made you a great team member may not make you a good manager.

Here I will share three things that make a great manager:

Be informal: Formality is always there but the more informal you are with your team the chances of success are more. It could be simple things that you can discuss with your team other than work. As a thumbrule it has to be about something that interests them as well.
Delegate: You climb the ladder because someone gave you that chance. Not its your turn to return the favour. Give your team members a chance to learn and grow. There are managers who are afraid they will be out of job if they assign work to people. But what they forget is with less work on their table they can focus on other things.
Balance: Work-life balance is the most abused term. Does it really exist? How do you manage it? Well this article is result of that balance. I am able to write it as I am doing something I enjoy the most – writing. Dont take your work home. Easier said than done as technology makes it difficult to be off work. But make a choice and spend time with family and doing what you enjoy.

A good manager may not have the best of technical knowledge or domain expertise but he has good management skills. Now, the management schools do not make you the best manager because at the end of the day you are dealing with human beings with emotions. Getting work out of people is a task and you learn and improve your skills as people manager.

What is your management mantra? Share in the comments section.

Lootera Movie Review: Poetry In Motion

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Before we left home I had warned my kids not to expect their kind of regular bollywood masala. No item songs. No comedy. I was expecting requests for toilet breaks/something to munch or some such excuse to leave the hall. But not only they waited patiently for the interval but after the movie ended they wanted to watch it again. This to me is the biggest victory of team Lootera.

My daughter loved the film especially Sonakshi and her simple style while the son wanted a revisit for that tiny winy action-chase sequence. There was a group of youngsters which came hoping something else and left half-way through disappointed. But I believe they remain a minority.

What makes Lootera exceptional is the treatment of the story. You feel it is slow. But never for a minute you want to leave the hall. The movie may not have something for the mango people. But if they can appreciate the masala (leave your brains behind kind of films) they can survive this 135 minutes of pure, unadulterated emotions of love, hate, betrayal and loneliness.

As Pakhi and Varun, Sonakshi and Ranveer, are completely in control and you get the feeling no one else could have done justice. Sonakshi can be pardoned for her earlier masala outings and she is here to stay. Her future releases will be eagerly awaited. It helps that her next release is going to be Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaraa which is directed by Milan Luthria.

As for Vikramaditya Motwane: He is going to be in a different league after this. What makes his achievement more commendable is the impossible feat he has achieved with actors like Sonakshi and Ranveer. That perhaps is the biggest USP of the film.

The other two stars of the movie are its cinematography and music. They both complement each other so well that it becomes difficult to see them as two different components of a scene. Amit Trivedi once again proves his mettle with both the songs and the background score.

Lootera can be as commercial as any other movie and at the same time it has loads of Wow moments that makes it so different from the typical bollywood films. Go watch one of the finest love stories of the decade.

CWG – The Lost Opportunity

$\"\"$ I am sure a certain Mr Modi must be smiling. Well make that two Modi’s. The first one: holidaying abroad away from the Commonwealth and IPL circus here will be smiling as the whole country and the Queen wonder what made them award the CWG 2010 to India and the second one for getting a reprieve after “the party with a difference” did the same thing as other parties and struck a deal with the ruling Congress party.

The CWG games were supposed to be India’s entry into the big league. But forget the entry. India is set to make a humiliating exit. Just what the organisers were doing for the past seven years is something worth RTIing. What is different between the first Modi and Mr Kalmadi?

Mr Modi has the enviable track record of organising one of the most successful events in the history of Indian sports. That proved that India can do it and also gave us the false hope that CWG too would repeat the success. $\"\"$ And Mr Kalmadi is doing just the opposite. I am sure both made huge money but while delivered and how, the other has failed. The second Modi and Mr Kalmadi have a lot in common. But another post another time.

The Babu’s who run the country have been assigned the games as well. Going by my experience of their running the country for the past 37-years, I firmly believe this is a bad choice. Now these Babu’s work according to a system. And with every action of anybody remotely associated with CWG being scrutinised with a magnifying lens it will be all the more difficult for these guys to put the house in order. Not that I think they can.

Was wondering if any of the Modis could have done some justice to the event with their experience?

Comparison with China is something India should learn to live with. While the communist country used the Olympics to develop the infrastructure in the country, the thinktanks here thought it was best to have the event again in Delhi. Infact the games were a good chance for India to develop sports facilities in other parts of the country. But what have we done? We are going to have more stadiums in Delhi as if the crumbling remains of 1984 Asian Games were not enough. Now we have Delhi which already had good roads, metro, airport getting more of all these and more.

Seven years. Long enough to develop anything. The Delhi airport was ready in record 37 months (that is still not ready for use is another story). The leaders who have Delhi fixation can learn a lesson or two from their Chinese counterparts.

Imagine the same fund being used to develop facilities in a city like Bhopal (that is where I come from, so naturally but it could be any tier-II city) it would have done the city and state whole lot of good and who knows would have cost a little less and would have been ready fast. But…

Like scores of other Indians I take very little from these games. Why? Because that is how sports is treated in the country. Just what Mr Kalmadi and Co did.

The Twist

Now that BCCI has locked Lalit Modi as target, the coming days are going to be more fun. The underworld angle is really interesting. It also proves that whatever Modi had been saying all this while was true. But will we ever come to know the truth? Will those whose names are likely to come out, allow Modi to tell the truth?

What really bothers me (yes its true) is what Mr Modi has been waiting for. Here is the entire BCCI which has trained its guns on Modi and this guy is holidaying abroad. I am sure he still tweets (that is what got him into trouble) and has heard about emails and the works the modern technology has lined up. He surely can take help of that and share the stories with us.

The media will not miss a single second to record every single word Mr M says. I just wish the threat does not scare him like it does the macho bollywood heroes, and he stops short of naming the biggies who play the dirty game off the field.

Lets wait and watch.

Silence. Match in progress

Isn’t a wonder that all is calm and quiet on IPL and Lalit Modi’s front. Is it part of the agreement that the two parties have reached? Because the last I heard was the man saying he will expose all after the IPL is over.

Hello?? I am still waiting for the expose.

Otherwise also the 140 character man is silent. No Tweets. Same for Shashi Tharoor. Man the drama is missing. May be not in India but the T20 World Cup is on in West Indies (just in case you guys are catching up with lost sleep – the whole controversy will die a slow death), write something guys.

Just days after IPL watching T20 (I saw a few overs to see what do they do) $\"T20$ was a shock. No cheer leaders no celebrities and no ad. What are these guys upto? I think Mr M should hire a jet pronto and give them a few lessons on how to run the show. What I liked about the matches was people enjoying the game with a glass of beer. Here the only person I think does that is RCB owner.

It really was a good sight to see the spectators not caged like its done in India. I am not sure about many things but this I am sure that we will never ever be able to watch the game like that. Why? Well once people start drinking who will be interested in the match?

India is finally gearing up for the Commonwealth Games. But it’s the controversy over the sports bodies that indicates that. The government did a good thing by revoking its order on fixing the tenure of the head. Like everything else this too is going to result in some drama.

I read that some politicians have been heading the bodies for 22 years. Now this is no mean task. I really would like some independent agency to investigate what this chap has been doing? Can his achievement be listed and also how the funds were used? Will any RTI activist please do the needful?

Please also find out what happened to the 140 character men. Where are they hiding?

The Game Is Not Over Yet

It will be curtains to IPL tamasha on field tonight. But the off field tamasha which took the spotlight away from the game will begin from tomorrow or may be soon after the finals end, according to news channels.

I am not a keen follower of the game but ever since Lalit Modi $\"\"$ took to 140 words to tell the world what was wrong with Kochi, I was left with little choice. All the channels worth their airtime ad rates are reporting the IPL like nothing else matters in this country. Even the Parliament too has dropped everything else and are wasting precious public money.

I have heard really absurd queries in the past few days like why do we have ads between the balls when English Premier League (EPL) has completely dedicated match telecast. Well please study the format of the game.

The same set of people will go to any length to justify why do we have politicians everywhere? Is Sharad Pawar the only man left in the country to head the BCCI?

We, ok our dear politicians travel around the world to study the best practices adopted by various countries for toilets and transport. I am sure in the process they also manage to find out how and where to park their “hard earned” money. But has there been any study (undertaken by the sportsmen) to study how sports bodies function in other countries? Are they also controlled by politicians? What about EPL?

I am sure we have enough qualified professionals who can run IPL. This brings me back to the 140 character man. For the past three years he has delivered without fail exciting, world-class cricket to whoever likes that kind of tamasha. Now everybody is after him.

$\"\"$ Like I said I am no big T20 cricket fan but this man has done a good job. May be he went a little overboard but he knows how to get the job done. And he could not have done it without the support of the bigwigs. Is it the bigwigs are not happy that IPL has now become synonymous with Modi? Is it that he did not share the goodies with them? Is this why they are giving cold shoulder to him?

May be, just may be his threat to reveal all after the IPL finals has worked with news of a compromise formula being worked out. S**, I was really looking forward to Monday morning and was also planning to start my day rather early and stay TWEETED to follow the 140 character man. Will he spill the beans? Oh, Modi please do it. These guys will throw you out any case. Take them with you.

But is IPL really that big? Cricket sells in India and those who can are making big money out of it.

The tournament started on a wrong note with the controversy surrounding the Pakistan players and is ending on a more negative note.

When anything ends the next day is like a day off. May be for players but for Modi and all the media the game has just begun.

Playing with fire

My heart goes to the family members of the 34 persons killed in the Kolkata fire. The whole thing is so tragic. And yet we all will forget about it just as soon as news channels stop reporting it and newspapers stop writing about it. By Thursday/Friday the report was reduced to scroll on most of the news channels with updating the toll. This whole chalta hai attitude has to be blamed for this.

I am sure there are many such buildings spread across India. But they all lack proper fire fighting facilities. All the buildings in the Fort area in Mumbai are a tragedy in the making. But the problem is people sitting in Mumbai think why should we worry about something happening in Kolkata? Well you have a reason to worry when the caretaker of your building took money to have two more floors and also passed on some benefits to the authorities concerned to approve the changes.

Even the building in the Tuesday’s mishap had some structural changes which were later approved.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted, \”The top two floors are illegal. We are investigating what the Kolkata Municipal Corporation\’s role was at that time, who is the owner of the building. The city has a coterie of illegal builders with whom the administration is involved”.

How come these changes approved. How come nobody saw the two floors come up all this while? It cannot be that they appeared from nowhere. Why the two floors were later legalised and on what grounds? Does it mean other buildings in the area can go for similar change? Just how much money was taken for this?

Remember what happened in Uphaar fire incident? Well even now people are waiting for justice. For the families of Stephen House victims the painful journey has just begun.

The IPL Tamasha

Lalit Modi did it again. He sure has learnt the idea of remaining in news. The cancellation of the IPL T20 bidding process at the last minute surely makes news and Mr Modi did wait for the last date.

I am sure the point which the interested parties wanted to amend could have been done earlier. To quote him “The new document will have some new conditions that the IPL governing council believes will benefit IPL and Indian cricket in the long term.”

So the clause earlier were not good for the team? Only Mr Modi knows!

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2010/03/09&PageLabel=22&EntityId=Ar02200&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

Best women centric movies

$\"\"$ With the entire planet clebrating the Women’s Day I thought I should also join the celebrations!

But no dinners/lunch/gifts or shopping. Apologies to the women in my life!

Instead I will list movies, both Hindi as well as English, which had really good women centric script or the female cast left a lasting impression. The list is random. I love them all

1: Leading the list is of course Astitva: A very bold and unusual story. In bollywood bold means showing more flesh. But this offering from Mahesh Manjerakar and Tabu was bold in its content and the step Tabu who played the role of Aditi, takes after her husband “manages to estabilish” that he was not the real father of his son. Wonderful dialogues, this will always remain a favourite.

2: Phir Milenge: I catched the repeat telecast of the movie just last week. Again the movie is unusual as it talks about AIDS but not about the disease or how Shilpa Shetty got the virus. But what happens after people around her discover about her disease. Brilliant performance by Shilpa.

3: Erin Brokowich: Simply outstanding. The way the film opens we hav no clue where it wll end. But Julia Roberts takes us through the life of a single mother who woks a prostitute and goes on to become a legal assistant.

4: Aakhir Kyun: Smita Patil in a really memorable role. Even Tina Munim managed to give good support to the principal cast. Add to this some really good songs popular even today.

5: Parineeta: That a movie on this theme can be made in 21st century??? Amazing performance and the good old Calcutta.

6: The Sound of Music: Maria makes me laugh and cry… Life and how to live it.

7: Charade: Saw is only last week. A mystery-comedy about a woman whose husband is dead and people think he has left her huge money which they claim is theirs.

8: Pinjar: A tragic love story about women during the Indo-Pak partition.

9: Jab We Met: Geet is again like girls today. Independent, modern and yet traditional. Hard not to smile even when Kareena and Shahid get cosy and uncomfortable… and Shahid says ho jata hai yaar kabhie kabhie…

10: Zubeidaa/Joggers Park/Silsila/Jaane Tu… yaa jane na/Pretty Woman/Abhiman/Lamhe/Chandni: All the movies had strong female roles and all were different. Far far from the conventional role we have been seeing. The women in these films had a mind of their own and did their own thing.

And the Oscar goes to Katherine… best director and best film.

Cope with Copenhagen

So the biggest meeting to discuss the challenges mother earth faces has ended as a no show. Of course Mr Obama and his team of publicists will over the course of next week continue to hammer inside the people what all the deal will do. But for countries like India and China and Brazil the outcome is nothing but a candy handed by the developed countries.

It is really strange that India should follow other countries even on issues like environment. Our needs and requirements are different from countries like China. But why should we follow China is something I have not yet understood.

It really is a matter of shame that even when it comes to policy decision India looks upto or follows other countries. Instead of announcing voluntary cuts India should have waited to gauge the mood of other countries before making its stand public.

And just how can people turn blind eye to the problems the country has been facing due to global warming? How and what will we tell a farmer in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh that his problems are all due to US not agreeing to emission cuts. It is good game – pointing fingers at each other. But the blame game will not provide any solution that we desperately want.

But the same farmer will not be aware of the danger that awaits the developing countries like India. Maybe the unseasonal rainfall/hailstorm/drought affected him but he failed to understand why.

With Earth Summit over it is very unlikely the same people will worry about the environment again and continue doing their business as before.

The Tamasha Has Just Begun

With movies failing to entertain us, ok there have been very few in the past couple of months, its now the turn of politicians to take over. Well have they ever let the countrymen down? Like the prices in the country their entertainment graph too has been going up and up.

After the May parliamentary polls Lalu Yadav and company have been away from the centre stage. They do make appearance once in a while or the mandatory Holi, Chhath showcase. Thank God, the BJP leaders never denied us our daily dose of entertainment and they still continue to do so!

But nothing compared to what M/s Raj Thackeray and company are doing now. The first day of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha was just the trailer. The five years will be real treat for all of us. Suddenly the entertainment has shifted from the GECs to the news channels.

I just cannot stop drawing parallels between the two popular Raj’s everybody knows about. One is of course the man in news now and the other who made/still makes girls (now mothers and their daughters) go gaga- Shah Rukh Khan.

While SRK playing Raj Malhotra in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ), opted for the tough path to get the love of his life, the other Raj of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has opted for a shortcut to achieve his goal. As we all know in the movie Shah Rukh in the end gets Kajol with her father asking her to go with SRK.

Strange. And we say reel imitating real life. How I wish at least just once the real life also learnt a lesson or two from the reel life. I am sure MNS leaders have done their homework and know what they are getting into.

We the pedestrians

$\"Go$ Life is tough in Mumbai and a short walk to your destination only makes you realise the plight of the most neglected tribe: The Pedestrians. I too have been walking around for quite some time now but over the years it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

My first experience as a pedestrian made me wonder where was all the space that belonged to us, the pedestrians. But it was used for hawkers right under the nose and in front of the BMC officials. As a result you are forced to walk on road and during peak hours it really was some experience.

There also is a dedicated lane for BEST buses but no space for the pedestrians. Why in all these years the problem has been addressed is as easy or as difficult to answer if Congress has any future without the Gandhis?

Look around you. May be the road has recently been repaired. But will be repaired again. But the footpath which has some tiles missing or a manhole cover missing will remain like that for years to come.

The authorities concerned for reasons best known to them have turned a blind eye towards pedestrians. We are adding more and more facilities for the car driver- flyovers, bridges etc. But have yet to see any step to improve the life of the pedestrian. The cyclists are the worst lot.

In the absence of efforts in this direction it looks difficult India will find a model to follow to address the problem of increasing traffic on its roads.

The Climate Change debate

Saturday and today both were devoted to number of programmes on climate change. While the debate on NDTV was informative but a bit boring the programme on IBN Live on Spiti in Himachal Pradesh was a good one.
Why I found the IBN programme 30 Minutes interesting because it focussed on a problem which needs less debate and more action. It was interesting to see how the local residents are tackling the problem and how they turn to God to find answers to their problem.
The NDTV debate was good but it had far too many panelists. And when you have so many people talking the objective is lost.
The one thing the media has to realise is that it plays a very big role in informing people. But in recent past except education campaign by a leading private bank, none have taken up the task to inform their readers about the issues we have. It is a shame that the media has started taking sides. There is less of free and fair reporting and also the fact that issues that needs debate are overlooked or downplayed.

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