PUCL report on Kandhamal

Crossed and Crucified

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Back to blogging...

I just realised that it has been a while since I last blogged. A combination of work glut and laziness has worked its way into making this blog inactive. I should ideally get back to writing, which is why I vow to write a post once per week!

Here are pictures from the Fearless Karnataka protest that happened in Bangalore a while ago. They were shot on film (Kodak TMax 400) with a Nikon FM2n.

A word on slumdog.

I just came back from a dinner with a friend who had extremely strong views against the movie. I was not surprised. None of the people I interact seem to like this movie, except for my American cousin who thinks it is great. Universally derided, more so for the cluster of BAFTA and Oscar nominations that it has garnered. Does it really deserve the accolades that it has been showered with? I think the unanimous answer is no, it doesn't. Does it matter? Not to me.
The Oscars or the BAFTA have never been a good adjucator of excellence. At best, they are a judge of popularity. But considering this is one of the very few India-themed movies that make it up on the popularity charts of western world, it is bit of a concern that it peddles an unrealistic and half-baked image of India to the imagination of the world. Valid point and a lot of people have opined on this aspect.

My friend from the dinner was particularly miffed at the sudden development of American accent in all the main characters as they grew up in the movie. While the accent of Jamal could be possibly explained as something he picked up at the call centre but what about the rest?
I really think that the reason for this was quite deliberate. The Indian accent is not a very well received one in the US. Any character with an Indian accent in the American mass media is depicted negatively, quite often as a comical character. The American audience is tuned to laugh whenever they hear the Indian accent. It is very similar to how they use German accent to signify villainy.
'Heroes' is a very strong example for me. There is one recurring Indian character in the series who is supposed to have been brought up in India but speaks with an American accent. Also, when he converses with his family, he speaks to them in (accented) English and as weird it might seem, they (his father and mother) also speak English with an American accent. There are Japanese characters in the series who speak with a pronounced Japanese accent. Which is why I think the choice of the accent in the series is very calculated and deliberate. Hollywood has deemed that it cannot portray a positive, intelligent character with an Indian accent. If they do, they might lose some easy ways to get laughs. I remember making this point in the comments of some American blog that deals with issues of race but was completely ignored.
This negative connotation of the Indian accent is the reason why, in spite of the obvious and somewhat grating dissonance with reality, the grown up characters of Jamal, Latika and Jamal's brother speak with an American accent. For me, this shows that Hollywood is well aware of the stereotypes it creates and knows how well to use them. It is a Hollywood film made for the American audience, and I guess we should look at it as such. It provides no insight into India besides reiterating the conception of the country as the land of the Taj Mahal and poverty. There is a lot of injustice in this country - class, caste, religion, etc and this movie deals with none of them.

PS. Another film that can be analysed similarly is "Valkyrie". I haven't seen it but from the trailer one can see that all the guys who are depicted as plotting the assassination of Hitler have British or American accents, even though the characters are German...

UPDATE: Russell Peters makes it so obvious...

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Russell Peters - Ghost

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Interviews...

Q. Is there any chance of getting one of your towels?

ROGER FEDERER: No. We don't have that many. They're for my friends. I don't know you. But good try.


Nice try indeed...

Q. Well, I guess you didn't beat yourself here, you were beaten by a better player.

ANDY RODDICK: Have you been here for the entire press conference?

Q. Yes.

ANDY RODDICK: I feel like I've gotten that point across.

Q. You handled that quite well. I'm impressed.

ANDY RODDICK: Thank you. You make a lot of statements and don't ask any questions.

BJP goes to China!

Seen here.

The silence

The attacks in Mumbai the last week have been unprecedented and stunning. I got an email forward from a friend with the statement purportedly sent by those responsible ("Deccan Mujahideen") which talked about justice for Indian Muslims. I think the best explanation of this nonsensical idea is conveyed by John Oliver on The Daily Show (video below).

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mumbai Tragedy

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
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The irony is that a sensible perspective comes from a comedy show in a distant land. Of course, Jon Stewart is an anomaly even in the US, a fact that he indirectly refers to in the beginning of this video.

Of course, I was one of the millions who watched the news channels and felt sick about the senselessness of the attacks and the people they killed. But I also had incredible trouble watching the news channels, for not only the gore that they showed but also for the narrow mindedness and stupidity of the news media. What kind of idiot will show the positions of the commandos on live television? It was outrageous! Do these guys have any braincells? Or they just so pumped up on adrenalin and are such parasites that they will do _anything_ for getting something unique aka exclusive. At that point, I turned off the TV, though I did sporadically turn it on to be up to date on the happenings.

I was also disgusted at the amount of time spent on the missing journalist. Nearly 200 people are dead but they spend so much time on this one person just because she is a journalist? Where the fuck is the 'humility' that is supposed to be 'Indian Culture'?

I just read a very sensible perspective written by Gnani Sankaran here. But people like him seem to be quite scarce. He even questions the logic behind three top cops traveling together in the same vehicle. I would actually go further and say that people like the head of the ATS should not have been moving around with terrorists on the loose. I thought it was really stupid of Mr Hemant Karkare. Brave perhaps but stupid, nonetheless.

In the midst of all this, we had Mr Advani talking about the need for stricter laws to control terrorism. If that is his solution, I wonder in which India he lives in. Stricter laws have never been a deterrent for crime anywhere in the world and least of all in India. If that were the case, dowry deaths would be non-existent by this time. Untouchability would have been a thing of the past. His unimaginative and primitive mind can only think of draconian laws that will inevitably be used to harass the minorities and the powerless. As John Oliver says in the above video, "when you're a bankrupt ideology pursuing a bankrupt strategy, the only move you've got is the dick one."

The violence is finally over but the consequences of their actions and the possibilities scare me.

Shatru Buddhi Vinashaya

I am not sure how to react to this ad but I was speechless when I saw it. Can one call it racism? Perhaps not but apart from the difference in the colour of the skin (or race, in genetic terms), everything else is the same. If the depiction of the african tribes in Pirates of the Caribbean was racist, then what do we call the depiction of tribals in Indian cinema and advertisements?



India shining, indeed...

Pictures from Mangalore

All the pictures.

My post on Kafila.

Where the hell has this guy been hiding?

oO

Priorities...

In mangalore, in a bus. Couple of girls walking by the roadside. Head in front of me turns. I smile. Seconds later. Old building passes by. My head turns. Seconds later, i smile again.

Witch hunt

I have an image in mind. If I were a cartoonist, I would draw it. But I am not and which is why I would have to describe it.

Consider an angry mob of people who are angry because there is a crisis and they are being asked to pay for the repairs. They are gathered around the house of the man whose bad decisions has forced the situation on them. He stands on the balcony out of their reach and says to them, "I am not a witch. I am also hit by this disaster. Look, I am being forced to sell my pricey art collection to survive".

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PS. I am not suggesting that the CEO of Lehmann Brothers it to blame for the financial crisis. Neither am I suggesting that the crisis was the doing of one man or a small group of rich men at the top, though it looks likely that they knew about the impending doom and awarded themselves the crazy bonuses last year.

For those who do not realise what I am talking about, check Sridala's blog, specifically these three posts and the comments on them.

PPS. I apologise for the extremely cliched analogy..

PPPS. An appropriate cartoon.

The next president of the United States

A long time ago, I supported this guy. At that time, he wasn't so hot but things turned around for him and he is now just an election away from the presidency.

But consider how much more fun it would be if this person became the president..



Boy, what a disaster of an interview.. She clearly has no idea what she is talking about. How delightful?

Quite simply, the worst example of patronisation and sexism by members of my alma mater.

I wonder who are these morons who vomited this awfulness.

Abi has aggregated the reactions here.

A rant...

Lately, I have been noticing how, almost always, it is a white man who is the centre of any Hollywood movie. Of course, there are those that scream at you that they are about a White Man, like movie titles like "Bill" or "Good Will Hunting" or "Run fatboy, run" which makes them easier to avoid. But even movies like 'Laurel Canyon' which would pass The Bechdel Test, by the way, somehow end with placing the white man at the centre...

From now on, I would prefer to watch movies that do not do that. Which means more of Asian cinema. Not Bollywood, though.

Seppuku

Seppuku's narrative style is very similar to that of Rashoman, in that the main plot is revealed in the words of characters in the story and give different perspectives. But where Rashoman uses the differing versions of the same story, Seppuku uses different stories as witnessed by two characters.

The movie requires a little knowledge about the samurai culture. You can read the wikipedia entry on seppuku (hara-kiri) which would give you some idea of what goes on in the film. The samurai code of honour is quite well known, I guess, and it plays an important part both in their culture and in this film.

The samurais were prosperous when Japan was a basically ruled by numerous feudal lords (daimyo) and there were numerous wars and clashes in Japan where the samurais came in very handy.

The film is set in the 17th century when Japan had been more or less unified. A time of peace, as the film observes. For people whose lives depended on war, this was disastrous. Dialogues such as "But in a world of peace there is no hope" and "But in such times of peace, all was in vain" seem to be cynical on the surface but as the character played by Tatsuya Nakadai says, "But in times of peace, the honored warrior is no longer in demand."

If you think about it, all samurai films you have ever watched have had some kind of war or major conflict in the plot. And the emphasis is on the action and the samurai is dignified by being elevated to a super-human status in combat. Here you see a more human side of the samurai. You see what happens when a samurai is unemployed and poor and what choices he makes in times of crisis.

Nakadai is an amazing actor and he does justice to this role of a veteran samurai who has been through a lot and he conveys the extreme sadness and anger through his intense eyes like no one else can. He portrays a man who has lost everything and who wants a bit of revenge. Without him, this film might not have been so great. He really carries the film through with his performance and he looks every bit the weathered father as well as the skilled samurai that he plays.

But what I liked more about the film was its cinematography. Black and white film is such a beautiful medium but to use it well requires real skill and even though, the cinematographic technique is pretty traditional in this film, it is used very effectively.



But I am usually very partial to cinematography. There is no aspect of this movie that I think was less than perfect. Kobayashi's direction is, as usual, brilliant. The background score is evocative of the situation. I also liked the fact that the dialogues were pithy. Nothing in excess. Measured and just right.

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PS. Alok calls it the best samurai movie.

Sickness..

I hate being sick. Perhaps, the main reason is because I was always a sick kid. I would get the Cold on the slightest pretext and would have to be doped with cetirizine and nasal drops so as to be able to function normally. This was until I got surgery done on my nose to correct my nasal septum. For the medically challenged, it might suffice to know that I was afflicted with an inherited congenitive disability (if I may call that) that needed surgery that could only be performed at an adult age.

Anyway, I was down with a viral the whole of last week and it seems like the viral is gone but since it affected my immune system, I still have a cold...

I stayed at home the whole week, resting and trying to think about what to do next. My travel plans were halted because of heavy rains in the hills and the coast. I postponed the plans for the rest of the trip to the end of september or october, perhaps. I watched a lot of crappy movies, including ones like Transporter and Lucky Number Slevin. I was really disappointed with Hellboy 2. I also watched a much talked about Korean movie, Oldboy, which though promised a lot in the beginning but just degraded into a simple, and quite implausible, revenge story. One movie that I really liked was Seppuku, featuring one of my favourite actors. I will write a review sometime later today.

Other plans include trying to shoot daily and perhaps, pick up some theme that I can do atleast once a week. Of course, this all needs a level of discipline that I have rarely displayed...

Something to think about..

I do not agree with everything he says but it is something to think about..

I'm back

Mostly because it is raining non-stop from Madikere onwards. Interestingly, there was not a drop of rain on the way back from Kushalnagar. It was truly frustrating to be in one of the most beautiful places in south india and not being able to whip out my camera and capture a part of what I saw.

some pictures..







More pictures here:

July 08

Impressive

Britains Got Talent - Connie, 6, WOWs Simon Cowell !!! - For more funny videos, click here

This blog will be silent for a couple of weeks as I am going travelling...