In 1960, Vinoba Bhave, a social activist and a celebrated disciple of Gandhi, received an interesting letter.   

It was from Tehsildar Singh, the son of famous dacoit Man Singh from the deep ravines of the Chambal Valley, which extends into southeast Rajasthan, southwest Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh. The letter came from the Central Prison at Naini, Allahabad, where Tehsildar was on death row, and in it, he expressed a desire for Acharya’s blessings before his hanging and arriving at a solution for the growing problem of dacoity in the region.  

‘Acharya’ (teacher), as Bhave was fondly known among his disciples, was on a visit to Kashmir when he received this letter. After reading it, he deputed Yadunath Singh, a retired major-general in-charge of his Kashmir visit, to meet Tehsildar in prison. After visiting him, Yadunath went to the once-dreaded Chambal region to meet dacoits of the Man Singh group.     

“On return, he gave Vinoba his impression that some dacoits might surrender to him if he visited the area. Vinoba, therefore, expressed a desire to visit it and try for the conversion of the dacoits,” wrote Vishwanath Tandon, the author of Vinoba’s 1992 self-titled biography.

On 7 May, Acharya Vinoba Bhave started his mission to help these dacoits surrender before the state, renounce violence and rehabilitate them back into mainstream society.    

On the 13th, he addressed a gathering at the banks of Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh, where he said, “I have come to [the] glorious land of the brave. This is the land that has produced brave dacoits. They are noble men. The only difference between them and other men is that their train has got on the wrong track. I think they are better men than the dakus (dacoits) of Delhi, because they are unsophisticated.” 

“A change of heart is easier to achieve among them than among the civilised people of the cities, who have formed a hard crust of personal self-interest over their hearts. I want them to respond to my call and surrender. The solution to dacoity lies in surrender — not in firearms. Only non-violence can enable us to solve the problem of dacoity,” he added.

In another address to the local police, he said, “No one is a born dacoit. It is a natural result of exploitation, miserliness, cruelty and callousness. … If we love dacoits, show kindness to them, [and] transform our village into a family, the whole problem would be solved by itself. These dacoits are very simple, brave and fearless. If we change their line of action they will easily turn into saints.” 

“The police cannot solve this problem. If they come to stay here, the dacoits will do likewise, and so also malice, hatred, aversion and animosity.” 

To ensure that his actions didn’t mean giving some of these violent dacoits a free pass, he said, “One sees God according to one’s own light. It is incorrect to say that the dacoits who surrendered to me had been given any assurance. All along my tour, I have been publicly stating that it is for the law courts to decide whether they are to be acquitted or punished.”

Besides convincing President Rajendra Prasad to commute Tehsildar’s death sentence to life imprisonment, his initiative saw about 20 dacoits surrendering to the state.   

“By the time Vinoba left the region, the number of surrendering dacoits was twenty. To utilise the changed climate generated there, a Chambal Peace Committee was constituted by the Sarva Seva Sangh under the guidance of  Vinoba. It helped in the expediting of the cases in law courts of the three concerned States, collected funds for the reclamation of wastelands in the ravines and started a few cottage and village industries to train the dacoit families,” wrote Tandon. 

Although this particular campaign in Chambal Valley didn’t garner anywhere close to the kind of success as the Bhoodan movement, it was a victory of non-violence and good sense. More importantly, it would set the precedent for future acts of surrender that saw many more dacoits, who prefer to be called ‘Bhagees’ or ‘rebels’ against the state, re-enter mainstream society.  

Initiated in 1951, the Bhoodan (‘Land Gift’) movement attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily donate a percentage of their land to landless people.      

Real life inspires movie

Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s remarkable act of convincing hardened dacoits to give up their arms and surrender without shedding a single drop of blood inspired Radhu Karmakar, a cinematographer and close associate of legendary Bollywood actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor. 

Karmakar narrated his idea for a movie based on this episode to Raj Kapoor. Not only did he agree to make this film, but asked his favourite cinematographer to direct it as well. The film they released in August 1960 was called Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (translation, The country in which the Ganges flows) starring Raj Kapoor in the lead alongside Pran and Padmini. 

As per some accounts, the movie almost didn’t get made. When the idea was first narrated to Raj Kapoor, legendary lyricist Shailendra and music directors Shankar-Jaikishan, Shankar allegedly stormed out of the room. The source of Shankar’s apparent dismay was the misconceived notion that there would be no scope for music and songs in a film about dacoits.  

Shailendra told Shankar not to fret and that he would write lyrics to fit their songs for the film. Among the first words he penned for the movie was, Hoton Pe Sachai Rehti Hai, Jahaan Dil Mein Safai Rehti Hai, Hum Us Desh Ke Waasi Hai, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai. (Translated as “Truth lives on the lips where the heart is clean. We are citizens of that country where the river Ganga flows”.) 

When Shankar heard these words for the first time from the lips of Raj Kapoor, he allegedly broke down in tears. Shankar-Jaikishan would go on to write one of the finest Bollywood film soundtracks of all time.    

According to Ziya Us-Salam’s book Housefull: The Golden Years of Hindi Cinema, “It is said that in a bid to bring authenticity to the role of a dacoit, Karmakar’s film had a real life, former dacoit on the sets. He would correct the director if he felt the depiction was not quite right.”

In short, the film’s plot revolves around Raju, the main protagonist played by Raj Kapoor. He is a simple and honest orphan, who through a series of events ends up taking up the responsibility of trying to convince a group of dreaded dacoits to give up violence, surrender themselves and take their families back into mainstream society. Look out for the dramatic finale when you  watch this film on a variety of OTT streaming platforms including Zee5 and YouTube.  

When art inspires life?

Twelve years after Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s act of compassion and the film it inspired, another disciple of Gandhi and legendary socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan managed to convince a much larger group of dacoits to surrender voluntarily. This story was vividly captured in a report by journalist William Stewart writing for TIME Magazine.  

Describing the context behind JP Narayan’s act, he wrote, “Travellers venture along the winding dirt roads of the Chambal Valley at their peril. The sharp ravines provide good hiding places for fugitives from the law. In 1971 alone, India’s notorious dacoits committed 285 murders, 352 kidnappings and 213 robberies, all within an area smaller than the state of Maryland.”

He went on to add, “The [police] campaigns [to apprehend these dacoits] were frustrated as much by the local people, who regard the bandits as baghis (rebels) rather than thieves, as by the cunning of the dacoit gangs. The bandits, many of whom like to take from the rich and give to the poor in Robin Hood tradition, carefully cultivate local goodwill, rewarding villagers with presents at weddings. But they are also ruthless in eliminating suspected informers.”

After actively participating in the freedom struggle and a career in mainstream politics, the socialist leader and director of the Gandhian Institute of Studies found his way to the village of Jaura, located deep in the ravines of the Chambal Valley, Madhya Pradesh. At the time, he was in-charge of a Gandhian ashram in Jaura known as the Change of Heart Mission. Some of the inmates at this ashram included former dacoits.  

In October 1971, Narayan was visited by a man claiming to be a “lesser dacoit” who asked him to negotiate the surrender of dacoits before the state. The police were ramping up the pressure to nab these dacoits using any means necessary which meant more bloodshed.  

Narayan was finally convinced to undertake the task of negotiating their surrender once this ‘lesser dacoit’ admitted that he was none other than Madho Singh, one of India’s most wanted men with a significant bounty on his head. Singh reportedly told Narayan that dacoits in the Chambal Valley were ready to surrender “if the government would promise not to hang any of the men, to prosecute within six months and to rehabilitate their families”.  

When asked about the prospect of surrendering, Singh said, “Whatever we say we’ll do, we go ahead with it, even if it means death for us. Sometimes we are scared of jail, but we remember that our great national leaders underwent the same incarceration. I tell the rebels who are scared of jail to think of it as a house you have rented. You don’t even have to pay the rent.” 

Eventually on one fine morning in April 1972, before a crowd of 10,000, Madho Singh “placed his weapon at the feet of Narayan and asked the crowd for forgiveness.” As Stewart reported, “Then he touched the feet of the police chief, and surrendered. At the end of the day, 167 dacoits were in jail.” More recent news reports, however, claim that over 200 dacoits surrendered in Dhorera village, which lies 36 km from Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, on that day. 

Following this historic moment, the government promised to commute all the death sentences that the courts may hand down, besides taking care of their families and providing scholarships for their children. Madho Singh was involved in 23 murders and nearly 500 kidnapping cases, and carried an award of Rs 1,50,000 on his head, according to a 1981 report for India Today by S Premi. After his early release from prison, Madho replaced the gun with a magician’s wand. Back then, his troupe of two dozen was holding magic shows in former dacoit territory.  

Another such former dacoit, who surrendered on that day, was Pancham Singh. He was accused of killing over 100 people during his reign of terror. Like many of his contemporaries, Singh was the subject of violence and injustice by the state before turning to dacoity.  

Following his surrender in 1972, however, Singh and his gang received life sentences. But upon the completion of eight years, he was released from prison for good behaviour. After his release, he lived a life of social work, built temples, a school, donated his home to an institution and vowed to work for peace. Speaking to The Hindu in 2017, Singh said, “I regret what I did. On my release, I visited the family of each person I killed and sought forgiveness,” he said. 

The mass surrender of dacoits in 1972 was the first of its kind event in the history of the Chambal Valley, but wouldn’t be the last. Was this event inspired by Raj Kapoor’s film? The film probably had some role in popularising the notion that men who had taken to crime can be rehabilitated back into society. But the ball of surrendering dacoits was set rolling by Gandhians.

(Edited by Divya Sethu)

Sources:

‘Acharya Vinoba Bhave’ by Vishwanath Tandon; Published in 1992 by the Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

‘Chambal village marks 50 yrs of 1st mass surrender of dacoits’ by Shruti Tomar, Shiv Pratap Singh; Published on 13 April 2022 courtesy Hindustan Times

‘Former dacoit Madho Singh shuns the gun for a magician’s wand’ by S Premi; Published on 15 May 1981 courtesy India Today

‘Former dacoit is now a crusader for peace’; Published on 24 October 2017 courtesy The Hindu

‘Housefull: The Golden Years of Hindi Cinema’ Edited by Ziya Us Salam; Published in 2012 by Om Books International 

‘Vinoba Bhave, the Walking Saint who ‘talked’ bandits of Madhya Pradesh into surrendering’ by Kairvy Grewal; Published on 15 November 2019 courtesy The Print

‘INDIA: Surrender of the Dacoits’ by William Stewart; Published on 1 May 1972 courtesy TIME Magazine

‘Top 100 Indian Movies of All Time – Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ Posted Posted by u/DrShail, Professor of Celebritology/Reddit

Twitter/The Paperclip 

“To me, Ravi [Baswani] was Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro,” said Kundan Shah, director of the film, in Jai Arjun Singh’s book Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro: Seriously Funny Since 1983. 

“He was the comic cement of the film. When I got him on board, I knew that a key component had been taken care of.”

Playing the character of Sudhir Mishra, an incorrigible photographer down on his luck in what’s arguably the greatest satire/dark comedy film in Hindi cinema, Ravi Baswani’s outstanding performance and immaculate comic timing opposite the legendary Naseeruddin Shah left a deep imprint on audiences in the 1980s. 

Despite a reasonably broad filmography, his popularity for the most part draws from his first two films — Chashme Baddoor (1981), where he plays the woman-chasing bachelor Jomo Lakhanpal (aka Jai) alongside Farooq Sheikh, Deepti Naval and Rakesh Bedi; and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983).  

Looking back at his career, Baswani once jokingly said that he would become a legend if he died after those two films. “I would have become the James Dean of Bollywood,” he said. 

Of course, one can argue with some certainty that nothing he did after those two films quite matched the heights he had reached as an actor, but the internet never forgets. 

As Mumbai-based writer and journalist Shaikh Ayaz argues in his column for The Indian Express, “It’s safe to assume that he may have remained yet another lovable sidekick on the fringes of mainstream Bollywood if not for the legion of absurdist humour fans who rescued him from near-oblivion. What also helped the Ravi Baswani revival was the rise of film clubs, the Internet and a young audience yearning for the soothing comforts of nostalgia.”

A love for acting

Born on 29 September 1946, Baswani grew up in the national capital and learnt acting while spending time in Delhi University’s theatrical circles. 

As a college student, he was part of Kirori Mal College’s dramatic society. Receiving no formal training, he was always around students from the National School of Drama (NSD) and became a very active member of the city’s thriving theatre scene. For a very short while in the early 70s, he even taught theatre at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, one the city’s elite schools. 

Initially, he had no plans of making the move to Mumbai to pursue any dreams of acting in mainstream Hindi cinema. “I worked as a management trainee after college…I thought if cinema was ever going to be a part of my life, it would come to me”, Baswani told Jai Arjun Singh.

It was through hanging around the Delhi theatre circuit that he became familiar with Naseeruddin Shah. The latter was preparing for his legendary role as a blind school principal in Sai Paranjpye’s film Sparsh (1980) when Baswani read the script. Enamoured by it, he wanted to be a part of the film in any capacity. “I was so impressed that I told Naseer I have to be involved with this film, even if it meant working as his personal spot boy,” he recalled.      

He eventually found a job in the production department. Also, as luck would have it, Paranjpye saw something in a young Baswani and on a handwritten note offered him his first role. 

“How about doing a role in my new film Dhuan Dhuan? It’s a super-duper comic role with miles and miles of footage. A star crazy, movie crazy pal of the hero Farooq Sheikh,”  she wrote on the note. “If it is yes, come to Bombay for a ‘do’ on the 3rd Sept. Rajdhani will be paid to and fro….If you can’t come to Bombay, it’s okay. But I must know very quick.” 

And that’s how he landed his debut role in a film that would eventually be called Chashme Baddoor. 

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron 

Baswani’s character was named after real-life filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, who was then working as an assistant director of the film. In short, the film is about two photographers Vinod Chopra (played by Naseer) and Sudhir Mishra with terrible luck who are caught in the middle of Bombay’s builder-media-police nexus. Making this film, however, was anything but easy. 

According to multiple accounts, the making of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (JBDY) was filled with arguments on set. The film was made on a shoe-string budget of Rs 5.5 lakh with funding largely coming from the state-owned National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). 

Director Kundan Shah was anxious about his expensive film reel running out as his actors, which also included powerhouses like Om Puri, Satish Shah and Pankaj Kapur, took multiple takes. Creative differences were playing out on set as the actors were working out how to best deliver a scene with regular improvisations. 

Hilariously, “Yeh kya ho raha hai? (What is happening?)”, a key line in one of the film’s most hilarious scenes, was often heard on set during this chaotic time.

Baswani, however, was a natural when it came to improvising, thanks to his extensive experience in Delhi’s theatre circuit, and often did the job of bringing the cast together with his confidence and natural comic talent. According to some accounts, he was among the few on set who completely bought into the film after reading the script for the first time, and understood its finer satirical undertones without a hitch. 

Ayaz noted in his column, “Naseer and Baswani’s off-screen bond translated well on screen. Their easy camaraderie is evident in every single frame they are in together. An odd pair, they could not have been more different as actors though. By all accounts, Baswani was spontaneous and [an] improviser as opposed to Naseer’s ‘serious and thoughtful’ actor.” 

Although Shah and Baswani stand out for their respective performances, the making of this film was a total collaborative effort from the actors on set to the technicians. 

But Baswani was the “comic cement” that held this masterpiece together with his quick-witted, sarcastic and dry sense of humour on screen loaded with puns. 

Ironically, the film flopped at the box office, but it’s a cult classic and a must-see for any Hindi cinema aficionado today. “It is a matter of pride that you were involved in a film like this. There’s no doubt about that,” Baswani had said in an interview. 

In total, Baswani featured in about 30 films including the likes of Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1993), and Doordarshan shows like Idhar Udhar (1985), but nothing came close to his first two films.  Even though his cinematic output on screen may have dwindled, his contribution to the craft of acting never stopped. 

When the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, revived its acting course in 2004, Baswani became the coordinator and a teacher, alongside his longtime friend and colleague Naseerudding Shah. They would redesign the course for young acting aspirants. Baswani tragically passed away on 27 July 2010 in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, following a heart attack. He was there looking for shoot locations for his directorial debut. He was only 63 at the time. 

Baswani left behind a tremendous legacy, even if his greatest work came in just two movies. In music, there are artists who are ‘one hit wonders’. With Baswani, one could argue he was a ‘two hit wonder’. But the difference here is that one of them set the bar for satire cinema in not just Hindi cinema, but the larger pantheon of Indian cinema. Integral to that film was an actor who got into the profession not for the fame, but for the love of the craft.

(Edited by Divya Sethu; Images courtesy Twitter/Film History Pic, Wikimedia Common)

Sources:

‘Ravi Baswani: The man who was Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ by Shaikh Ayaz; Published on 29 September 2016 courtesy The Indian Express

‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ by Jai Arjun Singh; Published on 28 December 2010 courtesy HarperCollins

‘Remembering Ravi Baswani, the theatre maestro and ‘cement’ of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ by Fiza Jha; Published on 29 September 2019 courtesy The Print

There are some films that leave their mark in time, and Shyam Benegal’s Ankur (1974) is one classic example. The film’s achievements extend beyond the confines of bagging three National Awards. Through its gripping storyline, it sparked debate about the caste system and its evils in India through the optics of those most victimised by its effects. 

The film highlights the arc of emotions that Lakshmi (a Dalit woman living in rural Andhra Pradesh and essayed by Shabana Azmi) goes through as she begins working for an upper-caste zamindar’s son Surya, who does not delve too much into the caste difference. The movie brings to the front issues of patriarchy, caste, class and gender in a tale that is both beautiful and sad. 

Over the decades, Indian cinema has touched upon the pervasive caste system in India through many films — some deemed controversial yet milestones, like The Bandit Queen; some that resonated with wider audiences like Article 15 and Jai Bhim; and some that used humour to comment on the gravity of caste discrimination, like Chameli ki Shaadi. 

Among the films that set the precedent for these movies was the seemingly obscure production Kahi Debe Sandesh, a Chhattisgarhi film released in 1965, which became among the first in India to openly discuss evils like untouchability and caste discrimination.

In a 2018 interview with filmmaker and documentary photographer Aayush Chandrawanshi, the director of the film Many Nayak recalled, “I was very determined to make a film in the Chhattisgarhi dialect and to name it Kahi Debe Sandes. I had a theme in my mind which was inspired by my childhood experiences.” 

What made Nayak’s film so remarkable was its willingness to take on the matter of inter-caste marriages — something that is still discouraged and frowned upon in many parts of the country. In many ways, it was among the first artistic pieces of work to open conversation about topics we still skirt around today. 

A film ahead of its time 

Meanwhile, in the early 1960s, the Indian film industry was dominated by Hindi-language movies, thus providing little to no opportunity for regional script movies. This spell ended in 1963 with Kundan Kumar’s Bhojpuri film Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo, a poignant film on widow remarriage. In Madhya Pradesh, a young film enthusiast Manu Nayak was so influenced by this that it compelled him to make a Chhattisgarhi film on a subject that he was passionate about. 

Directed by Nayak and released in 1965, Kahi Debe Sandesh was the talk of the town for more reasons than one. Not only was the film’s plot considered controversial, but it was also the first film in the Chhattisgarhi language at a time when the film industry was dominated by Hindi films. It must also be remembered that this event was much before Chhattisgarh came into existence as a state in 2000. 

The film detailed the love story of Nayandas and Rupa, a boy from a scheduled caste and a Brahmin girl respectively. The storyline faced the ire of conservatives and leaders across the nation, notably from the Brahmin community in Raipur. Nayak recalled, “All of a sudden there was a controversy, where a section of the Brahmin community accused the film, saying that it disrespects their community. They protested the release of the film in Raipur….” 

As these groups forced posters of the movie to be taken down, many prominent voices spoke up against this. One of them was former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Nayak later recalled in an interview to The Times of India that help came from two “progressive” politicians. “I was told Indira Gandhi (then I&B Minister) also saw portions of the film and said the film promotes national integration. The protests died down after that.” 

The crew powered through the backlash and managed to have the film premiere in April 1965. Ironically, the hullabaloo that the film created drew more attention with people flocking to cinema screens to catch it. It opened the windows for society to take cognisance of the evils of the caste system. 

In fact, the film also served as the launchpad for Chhollywood (as the film industry of Chhattisgarh is popularly known) and was screened in Raipur in 2015 at a film festival to mark the jubilee of this event. For Nayak, this event held tremendous significance. 

Behind the scenes 

While Kahi Debe Sandesh blew up the film industry with conversation about films centric on social issues, Nayak had never in the slightest imagined it would have this effect. In 1957 a teen Nayak had run away from his hometown Raipur to Bombay with a dream to work in films. His interest in cinema came from his growing years of browsing through film magazines at local stands, a task he said kept him up to date with the world of movies. 

As fate would have it, he landed a job with Anupam Chitra, a film production house that was co-owned by director Mahesh Kaul and writer Pandit Mukhram Sharma. 

It was here that he learnt to copy dialogues in Hindi, while learning the fineries of script writing from the maestros. With a salary of Rs 60 per month and unparalleled satisfaction, Nayak dreamt of making a movie someday. 

Chandrawanshi wrote that Nayak’s motive behind making this film was as follows — “Kahi Debe Sandes (1965) is a commentary on social issues such as Untouchability and Caste discrimination. I had seen it happening even in my own house. Whenever my friends from the lower castes (Satnami caste) used to come to my home, my mother used to not say anything but soon after they had left she used to clean the entrance of the house. This and a few other instances deeply affected me and I realised that until caste discrimination is addressed properly to the masses, society would not progress.”

And so intent on these issues seeing the light of day, Nayak began his quest of casting. 

Following a song recorded with legend Mohammed Rafi — Jhamkat nadiya bahini laage — a quick casting of theatre actors who were willing, and a record 22-day packed shoot schedule, Kahi Debe Sandesh was ready to roll. 

As Nayak says in an interview with The Times of India, “I spent the next two years paying off my debts. But I had the satisfaction of making the first Chhattisgarhi film.” 

Today, the film continues to stand by its legacy of being among the first to shed light on caste discrimination. 

Indian cinema has come a long way in terms of the narratives highlighted in caste movies, as Sanjiv Jaiswal, director of Shudra (2012) emphasised in an interview with Outlook India. “When we dare to make films like these [Shudra], we are able to put the spotlight on the discriminated communities. There is a marked shift in how these movies are made today. The storylines give the communities depicted greater agency and power over the story. This is a big change from the past, when either their entire existence would be ignored, or portrayed in poor light, causing more harm than good for these sections.”

Edited by Divya Sethu

Sources 

How The First Chhattisgarhi Film Tackled Casteism In The 1960s by Disha Bijolia, Published on 20 March 2023.

Medium and the Message by Caravan Magazine, Published on 2 December 2022. 

When Indira saved first Chhattisgarhi film from ban by Avijit Ghosh, Published on 30 April 2015. 

Ayush Chandrawanshi’s photobook

Popular media can be a powerful facilitator in inculcating disability pride, acting as a mode of representation for people with disabilities to see those like them included in the mainstream. However, when we look at representations of disability, we see that it’s either a complete lack of proportional representation, or portrayals that continue to be mostly stuck in outdated understandings of the subject. 

In fact, when you think of word disability, what words pop up in your head? Is it ‘inspirational’, or ‘sad’? Or maybe even ‘inability’ and ‘challenging’? 

Would ‘pride’ ever find a place on that list? 

Maybe not, but it should. The fact is that millions across the world are proud of their identities as people with disabilities, and every July marks a whole month where they celebrate themselves — Disability Pride Month. 

And cinema, a powerful tool to map the real world, can go a long way in encouraging this sense of pride and acceptance of diversity. It bears the responsibility of disseminating awareness and education to nurture a world that is sensitive to people with disabilities and sees them as people first over everything else. 

So where does cinema stand in this respect today? 

‘No visible boundaries’ 

But first, what is Disability Pride month? 

First observed in 1990, Disability Pride Month commemorates the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. Boston was among the first cities to mark the occasion, and the ripples of these celebrations are felt across the world today, in a powerful force of solidarity that has brought the community together. 

Disability Pride is an opportunity to shed the traditional narratives of ableism and societal stigma that have surrounded the disability discourse for way too long, and view people with disabilities as equitable and positive contributors to society. 

Disability does not mean inability, and it is something that can happen to anyone anytime. There’s nothing upsetting, unfortunate, or inspiring about living the life of a person with a disability. Disability Pride is, instead, a chance to look back on one’s journey to acknowledge how far they have come, the odds they have traversed, and how we may mobilise the community, garner support, and instil belief. 

It is important to remember that it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ phenomenon. 

Just as one’s experience with disability is subjective, so is their understanding of Disability Pride — it’s all about your lived experience. 

“As a young adult, ‘Disability Pride’ seemed inauthentic and more of a propaganda campaign. I have faced so many challenges and lived so many awkward moments as a person with a locomotor disability. How could I be proud of my disability? But as I grew older, I realised that it’s about understanding what our disability is to us, being comfortable in our own skin and celebrating our journey,” says Kavya, a job coach at v-shesh, an enterprise that prepares organisations with disability inclusion. 

For Anjali Vyas, who lives with an invisible disability called Multiple Sclerosis, “Disability Pride has no visible boundaries.” 

“Living with an invisible disability reminds me that strength and pride come in many forms. When I was diagnosed with MS, things were definitely challenging, but in the face of that uncertainty, I found myself. Most importantly, I discovered my power. I am proud of the way I have been living with MS and defying limitations like the inaccessibility, ableism and the stigma around this invisible disability,” says Anjali, a chemical engineer-turned-English language trainer from Bhandara, Maharashtra.

When it comes to this sense of pride, why is representation important? 

For that, let’s look at some earlier portrayals of disability in Indian cinema. How often have we seen that disability has been portrayed as a point of comic relief, or a punchline? 

In Golmaal (2006), Tusshar Kapoor’s character has a speech impairment, and Paresh Rawal and Sushmita Mukherjee’s characters are portrayed as blind — all for gags. In Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Kader Khan’s character is seen to have a “different disability” every day. The staff at his care facility trivialises it and portrays as “make-believe” that the character engages in. 

Needless to say, portrayals of disability in Indian films and other media leave a lot to be desired. 

One may say that these are just light-hearted movies meant for entertainment. But it is integral to acknowledge that we are at a point in history where there is a greater attempt to look beyond the myths and stereotypes, and understand disability for what it truly is. Reducing it to a punchline reinforces existing stereotypes in the minds of the viewers.   

Another popular trope that a number of filmmakers have engaged in is the infantilisation of people with disabilities. This can be seen in popular movies like Koi Mil Gaya (2003) and Barfi (2012). Here, adults with disabilities are portrayed as “innocent” or even childlike in their actions, speech, or capabilities. This contributes to the belief that persons with disabilities always need to be under the care of someone and can’t be independent, the way one one would be with a child.

Then there’s the opposite route of morbidity. In Guzaarish (2010), we see Hrithik Roshan’s character insisting on how he’d rather die than live a long happy life as a person with a disability. He has a promising career, and a supportive community. Yet he is unable to make meaning of his life. Persons who have acquired a disability go through a whole course of turbulent emotions, ones that may include the feelings described above. Films like this present a rather morbid take and make the viewer feel like this is normal.

What also often misses the mark is media representation of neurodiversity. Shows like The Good Doctor and Atypical represent neurodiversity in stereotypical ways. For instance, not every individual who is on the autism spectrum possesses savant skills. 

What often goes untouched is the fact that autism is a spectrum, and that every autistic experience is unique and extremely individual-centric. Another bone of contention that affects the autistic community is the fact that such roles are played by allistic (non-autistic characters). Oftentimes, even the team of directors or writers is devoid of any person with autism, as was true in the case of Atypical, in which autistic representation could only manage to find a place in one of the supporting roles and the social media team.   

Where are the PwDs in the writers’ rooms? 

Such portrayals of disability make pity or sympathy the focal point of disability and take away from the narrative of pride and equity. A big reason why the representation of disability remains rudimentary is that there are very few PwDs in the writer’s rooms, wearing the director’s cap, or even representing themselves on screen.

Research in the United States has shown that more than 95% of the characters with disabilities are played by actors without disabilities. In the USA, there is one person with a disability for every four people, but only 3.1 percent of characters that are shown on-screen are disabled. 

The numbers are even lesser for children with disabilities — less than one percent. Several studies also show that the industry is losing billions of dollars by not being inclusive — the spirit  of the DEI (Disability Equality Indiex) has not yet seeped into the creative space. For instance, a research study by Ruderman Family Foundation found that Hollywood is incurring whopping losses of $125 billion dollars every year by not having authentic disability representation. 

Where we make strides

Though disability representation in mainstream media is still far from authentic, it has come a long way from being restricted to characters that garner a few laughs to ones that foster compassion and are a window into the life of a person with a disability. 

Here is a list of a few recommendations that you can indulge in this Disability Pride Month with your family. 

Margarita with a Straw (2014) – Based on the book One Little Finger, the movie features Laila, a young woman with Cerebral Palsy, who goes to New York to pursue her education and unfurls a new chapter of her life. The movie beautifully depicts the diverse crossroads one finds themselves at, in the wake of friendships and relationships. (NC-17 only: Not suitable for viewers under 17 years.)

CODA (2021) – Children of Deaf Adults (CODA) shines a spotlight on the challenges that children of deaf adults experience – from being early caregivers to their disabled kin to missing out on the “normal” experiences of being a child. This movie features deaf actors, including Troy Kotsur, who won an Oscar for his performance. (PG-13: parental guidance advised.)

Nazar Andaaz (2022) – People with disabilities are fun-loving and light-hearted people, but that often remains underrepresented. That is what is brought about by Kumud Mishra’s character in Nazar Andaaz. Mishra, a blind man, becomes friends with a thief who, along with the housekeeper, is behind the blind man’s wealth. What sets this film apart from the rest is that the character was not too consumed by his disability. The film goes out and about to educate and sensitise the viewers about blindness in a lighthearted and non-judgmental way (U: family-friendly). 

Peanut Butter Falcon (2019): The highest-grossing film of 2019, Peanut Butter Falcon is about an ultimate friendship that blossoms between a boat owner and a young man with Down Syndrome whose dream is to become a professional wrestler (PG-13: Parental guidance advised).

Sex Education (2019) – This Netflix series features a disabled character named Isaac, a wheelchair user. It is refreshing to see someone who is not only unapologetically themselves, but also humorous and sarcastic — narratives that seldom make a home in the world of mainstream cinema. (NC-17 only: Not suitable for viewers under 17 years)

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The Healing Powers of Dude (2020): Noah is an 11-year-old who gets a furry friend named Dude to manage his social anxiety. While Noah lives with a mental health condition, his best friend Amara is a wheelchair user. The Netflix series offers an unconventional representation of both visible and invisible disabilities. (G: Appropriate for people of all ages)

Wonder (2017) – Wonder follows the story of fifth grader August Pullman, who starts school after being homeschooled all his life. The film offers an innocent glimpse into the world of disability through a child’s perspective and reminds us to be kind over everything else (U: family-friendly).

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020) – This documentary is about an inclusive camp called Camp Jened that took place in the 1970s. Featuring disability rights activists, the series follows the journey of Camp Jened through several years, and the evolution of the disability rights movement that took place in the United States (PG-15: Parental guidance advised). 

Rising Phoenix (2020): The movie narrates the story of the Paralympics — the third largest sporting event in the world — from the perspectives of the players themselves. It offers a fresh perspective on disability, diversity, and inclusion in the arena of sports. (Rating: PG-13: Parental guidance advised)

Words on Bathroom Walls (2020): Based on a book of the same name authored by Julia Walton, this feature film follows the story of a teenage boy on his tryst with schizophrenia. A talented aspiring chef, Adam begins experiencing delusions and hallucinations that lead to his expulsion from school. As his condition progresses, Adam experiments with a new drug that, although helps him manage his symptoms, has side effects. The movie also explores avenues of self-care, social support, and medical interventions in a sensitive way (PG-13: Parental guidance advised).

Written by v-shesh; Edited by Divya Sethu

(v-shesh is an award-winning impact enterprise that prepares job seekers with opportunities and organisations with disability inclusion)

The name Ilaiyaraaja evokes a certain magic for his fans, who span across generations and countries. Everyone in my family has a favourite song, and a memory associated with the musician. Late nights and long drives are incomplete without his music playing in the background. 

Sometime in 2021, I was travelling in Tamil Nadu by bus for work. I was not in a great mood and was just about to take out my headphones to listen to some music, when the driver started the bus. The buoyant ‘Rakkamma kaiya thattu’ started playing, transporting me to another world. I could instantly visualise Rajinikanth sashaying his hips and dancing in the way only he can. This song from the 1991 film Thalapathi had ranked fourth in the BBC World Service Top 10 songs in 2002. 

A smile appeared on my face, and I saw that the lady sitting next to me was also humming along to the song. As we journeyed on the green-lined highway listening to other songs from the movie Thalapathi composed by Ilaiyaraaja, I could feel my troubles melting away. 

Isn’t that one of the most beautiful things about music? 

It’s also the spell that Raaja, as he is fondly called, casts on you. The composer, who turned 80 this June, has composed a song for every mood. Whether you’re feeling nostalgic, missing a loved one, thinking of your parents, or want to sing along at home with friends, there is a Raaja song. 

As I returned to my old office that day, I remember spending the entire evening discussing this phenomenon with my former colleague and friend, Ashok Kumar. He said that every person in Tamil Nadu will have a story associated with a Raaja song. 

“There are many composers who have produced good music. But whether you’re travelling or going through a rough patch, or if it’s after 10 PM, only Ilaiyaraaja’s songs will help,” he says. 

For Ashok Sir, as I fondly call him, Raaja’s music is a soothing balm. Right from when his baby boy was in the hospital, or he was unwell during the COVID-19 pandemic, the maestro’s music came to his rescue. 

In fact, he shares that he has a different song denoted for specific situations. If there’s a family problem, he listens to ‘Appan endrum Ammai endrum’ from Guna and during other challenging moments, he listens to the devotional album ‘Ramana Maalai’.

“I used to play the cassette of Ramana Maalai whenever I needed some strength. By the time the eight songs from Side A and B were played, I would be okay. The songs speak about how we have to overcome problems. They are simply a level above anything you will ever hear,” he adds.

Like Ashok Sir, there are many individuals who turn to Ilaiyaraaja’s music to sail through their life. And now, his impressive life will come alive on the big screen through a biopic in 2025. Dhanush will reportedly essay the role. With film trade analyst, Manobala Vijayabalan, confirming the news on X, Raaja’s fans cannot wait for this treat. Here’s a look at this legend’s musical journey and life, which started at the age of 14 in Pannaipuram, Theni, Tamil Nadu.

The making of a legend

From being called as the ‘Maestro’ by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London — and being the first Asian composer to record for them in 1993 — and ‘Isaignani‘ (the musical sage) by the late Tamil Nadu chief minister, Kalaignar M Karunanidhi, Ilaiyaraaja rose through several challenges to become the beloved artist that everyone loves him for. 

Named Gnanathesigan at birth in 1943, he was greatly influenced by the rich folk songs he heard growing up. Though he had to drop out of school at 14, he accompanied his brother, Pavalar Varadarajan, on concerts across the state. 

Varadarajan was a musician for the undivided Communist Party of India and sang songs with political themes. Raaja’s mother asked him to accompany his brother when he was sick and his musical tutelage began under him. 

After accompanying Varadarajan for over a decade, he moved to Madras along with his other brothers, Bhaskar and Gangai Amaran (also a music director and lyricist) in 1968. With little money, the brothers were forced to vacate the lodge they were living in, but another singer arranged for their stay then.

While his talent was recognised and honed, Ilaiyaraaja didn’t even have bus fare on most days, and would walk long distances to learn music. He was learning western classical music under Dhanraj Master who then waived off his fees.

In an interview with The Hindu, the musician recalled that Dhanraj Master asked him to teach other students. “With a hungry stomach, I would do it. Intuitively, I learnt the notes. Once, overcome by hunger, I asked one of the students, Raja, to buy me a cup of tea and he immediately obliged,” Ilaiyaraaja explained then.

It was here that the then 25-year-old was introduced to the great stalwarts of classical music like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and more. Post this, he learnt classical guitar from the Trinity College of Music, London, where he was a gold medallist.

In the early 1970s, the maestro started working as a freelance musician and became the lead guitarist in music director Salil Chowdhury’s Chennai orchestra. Chowdhury had once famously said, “Our main guitarist in Chennai is the best composer in India.”

He was then spotted by Kannada film composer GK Venkatesh and assisted him in over 200 films. Here, he learnt composing and started writing his own compositions. He got his first break with film producer Panchu Arunachalam who asked him to compose six songs for his film Annakili in 1976. The music, which was folksy, was a hit and thus began the composer’s tryst with Tamil cinema. 

When Ilaiyaraaja entered the music industry, Tamil cinema was dominated by the likes of MS Viswanathan and KV Mahadevan. With roots in folk, carnatic music and an education in western classical music, he ushered in a new musical era.

Initially though, his sensibilities didn’t match the popular hits. After trying to make music the way it was being composed at the time, he started experimenting and introduced new techniques and styles. He is credited with changing the way music is made in Tamil films. He was also one of the first Indian composers to use Western classical music and arrangements in his music.

Revolutionising the Tamil music industry

What sets Isaignani apart starts right from the way he composes his music. He reaches the studio early in the morning and writes the tune in the form of notations. He is one of the few composers who first write the notes and then play them. He is also known to write down the orchestrations in great detail. 

He then starts composing at 7am and is known for being quick at it. In the 1985 drama film Uyarndha Ullam, he received a standing ovation from the 90 musicians in the orchestra after the recording was done.

“For a song in the movie, I planned to use a 90-piece orchestra. RD Burman’s assistants were coordinating the orchestra and when I said the musicians had to turn up at 7 am, they were taken aback. They were unsure of who’d turn up, considering they were used to working later in the day, but the next day, everybody was there. In half an hour, the orchestra was written, and once the entire song was done, every one of the 90 musicians gave me a standing ovation. That was special,” he told The Hindu.

He also once mentioned how he does not like the classification of music as “music everywhere is based on the seven notes (sapta swaram).”

“My perception is that there is no distinction in music as many people perceive. The difference lies in the way you hear the music. Your understanding of music depends on your capacity to perceive it,” he said in a function in Kerala in June 2005. 

His music was for everyone and shunned the idea of Carnatic music purists who believe that it can be enjoyed only “by a few”. Ilaiyaraaja showed us why music should be inclusive through the beautiful ‘Paadariyen Padippariyen’ in K Balachander’s ‘Sindhu Bhairavi’ (1985).

In the movie, Carnatic musician JK Balaganapathi (Sivakumar) sings a composition by Tyagaraja, Mari Mari Ninne in an auditorium that includes Sindhu (Suhasini). To show the accessibility of classical music, Sindhu tells Balaganapathi after the performance that it would have been better if everyone could understand the lyrics and wonders if a folk composition could be included in a carnatic concert. 

When he derides her, she sings ‘Paadariyen Padippariyen’ a Tamil folk song in the same Saramati raaga. Starting as a folk song, it beautifully transitions into the Carnatic Mari Mari Ninne, underscoring the point that there are no boundaries in music. 

Speaking about this composition in a Sun TV interview, Ilaiyaraaja said that this was the only song that he did “homework” for.

“I wanted to infuse the folk song in the same raaga. I sat with the entire book of Tyagaraja compositions and worked on how it could be done. When I hummed Paadariyen Padippariyen, it perfectly sat in the same tune as Mari Mari Ninne. I told Balachander sir (the director of the movie) that there will be applause in the theatre after this song. I told him that I would stop composing if it didn’t happen,” Ilaiyaraaja had said.

As predicted, there was rapturous applause after the song in the theatre. The composer got a National award for Sindhu Bhairavi.

His use of western classical symphonies in the most unlikely situations is spectacular. His background scores lift the narrative of the movies and add to your cinematic experience. In a culture where people would clap for the heroes and create cutouts for them, fans started doing the same for Ilaiyaraaja in Tamil Nadu, such was his impact.

Besides Tamil cinema, he has also scored music for Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies like Sadma, Paa, Cheeni Kum. 

Ilaiyaraaja has also invented his own raaga called ‘Panchamukhi’. 

What keeps him ticking?

“A man settled in life with a secure job approaches life in a casual manner. But a man for whom most of the chances are closed approaches life with an all-out courage and from a new view point, which enables him to achieve a lot more than the former. I am like the latter. That is the reason for the freshness and novelty in my background score,” he had told The Frontline.

Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 8,000 songs in 1,000 films and has enthralled audiences through his concerts. He has been conferred with the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan and five National Awards as well. Since July 2022, apart from being an ace musician, he has also been a Member of the Parliament. 

Amazingly, he proves that music transcends all barriers. 

To drive home this point, Ashok Sir shares another anecdote related to Ilaiyaraaja. In 1994, when he was working at a restaurant in Madurai, a foreigner walked in one afternoon. 

As Raaja’s music was playing in the background, he told them to “stop the Indian music” using an expletive. However, when he was paying the bill, Ashok Sir told him, “I would have had no issues if you had asked me to merely stop playing the music. But why did you have to say Indian music? On the way to your hotel, buy this cassette called ‘How to name it’ by Ilaiyaraaja. Listen to it to understand what Indian music is.”

Surprisingly, the man visited the restaurant the next day and asked for Ashok Sir. He gave him a Rs 500 tip and thanked him for introducing him to good music. 

Ilaiyaraaja believes that music should come from the heart and should not be a task. “If you labour on creating music, it will not have soul,” he had once told The Hindu and that stands true.

So, what’s your Ilaiyaraaja story?

Edited by Padmashree Pande

Sources

Frontline

‘The Ilaiyaraaja interview: ‘Why should filmmakers know about music creation?’ by Srinivasa Ramanujam for The Hindu, Published on 31 May, 2018

‘Maestro remembers Dhanraj Master’ by B Kolappan for The Hindu, Published on 02 February, 2019

‘No point in classifying music, says Ilayaraja’ Published on 16 October, 2017 Courtesy The Hindu

Once in a blue moon, you come across a real-life story that pales even perfectly orchestrated movie scripts in comparison. One such instance is the life of IPS Manoj Kumar Sharma, who failed Class 12 but later turned his life around to achieve his dreams.

Manoj’s remarkable journey made it to the movies in the form of a biographical drama ‘12th Fail’ directed by the acclaimed Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Manoj’s character is essayed by the talented Vikrant Massey of Mirzapur fame.

Though the plot of the film revolves around Manoj’s rise from the ground up, it echoes the struggles of millions of students who dare to dream of entering the civil services and taking the UPSC exams. It isn’t an easy road.

But that’s not why his story made it to the big screens.  

Born in 1977 in Bilgaon, a village in Madhya Pradesh, to a father who worked in the agricultural sector, Manoj went through tough times from a young age. He worked hard but success eluded him. Difficulties peaked when he failed his Class 12.

However, a driving force in his life was Shraddha Joshi, whom he fell in love with. Shraddha was then preparing for the UPSC exams. Intent on winning her over, Manoj too decided to take the exam and make something of his life.

To pay his fees, he was forced into all sorts of odd jobs — a tempo driver, a library peon, a dog walker among other things. But grit and determination were his pillars through these tough times. While Shraddha excelled in the UPSC and went on to become an IRS Officer, Manoj failed the exam thrice. But, he refused to quit. His fourth attempt proved successful, and today he is an IPS Officer.

The film ‘12th Fail’ is a story of never losing hope — a message to the countless students who pursue the UPSC. The film beautifully outlines the concept of embracing the challenges of life and reclaiming one’s destiny.

Though the movie hit screens on 27 October, 2023, recently, a viewer noticed a still from the film featuring the couple Manoj Sharma and Shraddha Joshi in the background. He applauded the attention to detail shown by the movie makers.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), the viewer wrote, “Did anyone notice in the background, the real Manoj and Shraddha in this scene? What attention to detail! 12th Fail.”

did anyone notice in the background
real Manoj and shradha in this scene
What a detailing 🙌🏻🙌🏻#12thFail pic.twitter.com/Pyn60A5Bba

— Anurag kumar (@anukaal) January 1, 2024

Vikrant Massey responded, “Haha!!! So I finally found someone who noticed this. True, it’s them. A small @VVCFilms tribute to them. Another trivia… it happened at the same place, which is Delhi Haat.”

Edited by Pranita Bhat

“You know, in Tulsi village, we didn’t just become YouTubers. We turned the whole place into a YouTubers’ village. It’s as if our village found a new voice through YouTube, and now we’re all storytellers creating something special together,” says Jay Verma, a resident of this village in Chhattisgarh.

At this village, amazing things are taking place. Roughly 55 km from Raipur, Tulsi village is undergoing a major change as a result of the widespread use of YouTube by the locals. 

They have found it a useful platform for their creative expression. Not only is the digital revolution improving people’s lives, but it is also giving them access to new economic opportunities. In a place with limited opportunities, let’s explore how this village rose to this fame in the last one year alone. 

How two residents scripted the village’s creative journey

The journey of Tulsi from being just another run-of-the-mill village to a ‘Youtuber Village’ began with the ideation and creative efforts of Jay Verma and Gyanendra Shukla, two locals here.  

Jay is a 31-year-old teacher-turned-YouTuber. Though he prefers not to listen to praises about himself, he is known to be popular among his students, and has a passion for visual art. He dreams of making films one day. 

Gyanendra, who is Jay’s friend, was working as a network engineer in a good company until 2014. 

In 2016, YouTube was a relatively new platform for rural areas like theirs. They decided to explore it as it didn’t require a significant investment. While Jay realised the importance of originality and started handling creative aspects, Gyanendra focused on the technical side of the work. 

“The technical knowledge comes naturally to me, so as a side hustle and out of passion, we began making videos,” said Gyanendra. They made videos with the children from their village and eventually formed a team, creating several channels.  

“YouTube would sometimes delete our channels because we maybe didn’t comply with their rules,” the duo says. Due to a lack of knowledge about the platform, they learned through trial and error. 

On 14 January, 2018, they launched the YouTube channel ‘Being Chhattisgarhiya’. As they continued, people began to notice their work, which was not typically considered as a regular job.

Initial hiccups and successes

Both Jay and Gyanendra’s families have still not completely come to terms with their YouTube careers. They do not look at what they do as something which will give them security. Initially, both of them were criticised a lot by their family members to have left ‘better’ jobs for YouTube. 

“At the beginning, we gained 2-3 thousand subscribers within a month. Our videos were circulating on WhatsApp, which was a significant help. We used to create short videos, often without much understanding, preparation, or ideas. Now, we have 1,20,000 subscribers on our channel,” explains Gyanendra.

“Our first wish was to make movies. Our goal was to do something that could provide employment to all the villages. We wanted to work on all online projects with the youth from our village. Our village is a small film city. Here, everyone is an artist,” he shares with happiness.

“The women, the elderly, and the children, all take an interest in our videos and support us. There are hundreds of YouTubers. We have all kinds of locations available in our village to tell a simple story. We have a railway station, a canal like river, greenery, jungle, colleges, schools, police stations. Every household in the village is part of our studio; just take permission and shoot. Everyone is supportive,” adds Jay.

A 59-year-old resident of the village, Pyarelal Verma, regularly acts in their videos. Playing age-appropriate roles, he enjoys participating in the shoots. 

“When the videos are uploaded, people from all over the country and the world watch them. Our relatives and friends from places like Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and even from abroad call us to appreciate our work. They are proud of us. Sometimes we meet strangers who recognise us, talk to us, and are delighted to meet us. They say we are bringing glory to Chhattisgarh’s culture and to our village. This is the greatest reward for the innovative efforts here in Tulsi,” says Verma.

Tulsi’s transformation shows the potential of small towns and villages and proves that progress isn’t limited to large metropolises. Large number of  residents of Tulsi, from 15-year-olds to an 85-year-old woman, all are participating in YouTube videos coming out of the village. 

About 40 YouTube channels are currently active from the village today, around 12–14 of which are monetised. The most well-known channels are ‘36 Garhiya’, ‘Alwa Jalwa’, ‘Fun Tapri’, and ‘Gold CG04’, which are all well-known for their funny videos. Channels such as Gold CG04 also proudly present music that highlights the rich cultural legacy of Chhattisgarh.

District administration’s assistance and future plans

The Raipur district administration recognised this enormous pool of talent and acted swiftly to assist these young artists. “We are establishing cutting-edge studios and digital surroundings to help them become better artists and enable people to create excellent work and profit from their creativity. We’ve established ‘Hummer Flix’, the state’s first state-of-the-art studio, specifically for Tulsi’s social media content creators,” District Collector Sarveshvar Bhure shares.

Hummer Flix is a brand-new studio equipped with gimbals, drone cameras, cutting-edge computer systems, and contemporary cameras. 

The district collector also adds, “It’s a forward-thinking and innovative move towards digital enterprise. It was meant to help the talented youths in the area by providing infrastructure and information. The intention is to make use of their skills and inspire them to become digital entrepreneurs. We’ll make sure they pick up modern skills in line with emerging regional and global best practices.” 

Furthermore, the district administration is looking forward to assisting the village’s talent. In the near future, Hummer Flix will have more area to fit its one-room setup and provide the villages with more extensive tech help. The administration also intends to establish an institute where aspiring artists would receive professional training to hone their skills and create content of the advanced level that will be viewed outside all over.

Hummer Flix will have a positive impact in several areas, adds Gyanendra. “The wave of motivation is among the people with the support of the government and the administration, and they are recognising that this is something that the government acknowledges and supports. The environment has changed,” he adds. 

“This will give creative work more respect and a solid foundation. This has created an atmosphere where older family members have confidence that this work is good,” Gyanendra says with a smile.

“I thank the Chhattisgarh government for providing facilities for our Tulsi village studios. Many facilities are available now. However, there is a need to constantly upgrade these facilities because the tech field is changing rapidly and improving,” adds Jay.

Jay and Gyanendra now want to march towards making a movie. They have been working on four to five scripts for some time now. Finally, they have zeroed it down to making a comedy movie in the near future. 

“We have friends who can help with the music, editing, and other artists from the village can pitch in too. We write our own content, so we hope to do this work at a very low cost,” adds Jay.

Authored by Jinendra Parakh from Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Edited by Padmashree Pande.

Irrespective of what anyone might say, on February 14 every year, many across the world celebrate the power of love and romance on Valentine’s Day. This cultural import has made its presence felt in a country where difficult social barriers often come in the way of love.

It is more than coincidence that on this day, we also celebrate the birthday of Madhubala, an icon of Indian cinema who mesmerised audiences with not only her exquisite beauty but also her ability to render some of our deepest emotions on screen.

If one were to choose an icon of Indian cinema, who symbolises the unparalleled power of love on screen, there are very few actors anyone would choose over Madhubala.

Born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in 1933, Madhubala began her acting career at the tender age of 9 to provide financial support to her family. With the active assistance of her father, Attaullah Khan, who would remain an overarching, if not controversial figure during Madhubala’s short life, she reached superstardom.

It was Devika Rani, an actress from yesteryear, who saw unbridled potential in the young actress and advised her to assume the screen name of Madhubala. She bagged her first lead role opposite the iconic Raj Kapoor in the 1947 film Neel Kamal, which was the last time she was listed as Mumtaz.

In a life spanning just 36 years, she did a range of memorable films including Mahal (1949), Amar (1954), Mr and Mrs ’55 (1955), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Howrah Bridge (1958) Mughal-E-Azam (1960) and Barsaat Ki Raat (1960).

Remember that this was post-Independence India, where times were difficult both economically and socially and in that climate, her movies did leave behind an indelible impression. Many of these stories which Madhubala portrayed on screen were love stories set in the backdrop of poverty, exploitation, complicated family relations, and misery peppered with songs, which are still heard in many Indian households today.

“Madhubala lived a short life but achieved a lot in that short span of time. In those days, acting was not considered appropriate for women but with her remarkable acting skills and timeless beauty, she created a mark for herself and is remembered with warmth till date,” Madhubala’s sister, Madhur Brij, told the Press Trust of India, during the unveiling of a wax statue of ‘Anarkali’ at the Madame Tussauds museum.

Read also: [In PICTURES] 26 Rare Photos of Madhubala to Remind You Why She Was Such a Goddess 

Despite churning out memorable performances, her last years were very difficult. A broken relationship with Dilip Kumar, also a Bollywood icon, allegedly over the antics of her father, a difficult marriage with singer/actor Kishore Kumar and congenital heart condition discovered in 1954, made life difficult.

By 1960, her condition had deteriorated significantly. “Due to her ailment, her body would produce extra blood, and it would spill out from the nose and mouth. The doctor would come home and extract bottles of blood. She also suffered from the pulmonary pressure of the lungs. She coughed all the time. Every four to five hours she had to be given oxygen or else would get breathless. She was confined to bed for nine years and was reduced to just bones and skin,” her sister told Filmfare.

On 23 February 1969, shortly after her 36th birthday, she passed away before her directorial debut with the film Farz Aur Ishq. What she leaves behind, however, are memories, and through these five songs, we will celebrate the life of Madhubala, the eternal symbol of love.

Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya (Mughal-e-Azam, 1960)
The song remains the quintessential anthem for love which is unbound and defiant in the face of any obstacle. In fact, the song title literally translates to “I have loved, so what is there to fear?”

Composed by Naushad, and sung by the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, the song sees Madhubala, who plays the role of a courtesan Anarkali, defiantly expressing her love for Mughal Prince Salim (who goes onto become Emperor Jahangir), despite the strong disapproval of his father Emperor Akbar, played by Prithviraj Kapoor.

Aaiye Meharbaan (Howrah Bridge, 1958)
In this film, Madhubala plays the role of Edna, an Anglo-Indian cabaret dancer, opposite Ashok Kumar. Composed by legendary composer OP Nayyar, and sung by the iconic Asha Bhonsle, Aaiye Meharbaan is a song that has stood the test of time. “Asha ji sang many lovely, beautiful songs for Madhubala. Perhaps it was Madhubala’s naughty smile, her coquettish behaviour; it used to go very well with Asha ji’s voice. Asha Bhonsle’s voice suited Madhubala perfectly,” said lyricist Javed Akhtar, in an episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975.

Achcha Ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jaao Naa, (Kala Pani, 1958)
In this cult classic, Madhubala plays the role of Asha, a journalist and landlord. Starring opposite Dev Anand, this is a song many couples have played to make up after a tiff. Composed by the legendary SD Burman, and sung by the unique combination of Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle, the song is marked by a remarkable cadence, which both Madhubala and Dev Anand enact to perfection.

Ek Ladki Bhigi Bhagi Si (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, 1958)
This song requires little description. In this slapstick comedy, Kishore Kumar plays a hapless car mechanic who fixes the broken vehicle of Madhubala’s character. “Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si” is arguably the most iconic song from the film composed by SD Burman, and sung by Kishore Kumar.

Mantoubala, Recorded at Columbia Studio’s in Athens on March 29, 1959
Madhubala, known as the “Venus of Indian cinema” for her remarkable beauty, was an incredibly popular figure in Greece during the late 1950s and early 60s. Such was her popularity that Greek singer Stelios Kazantidis penned a song in dedication to her ethereal beauty in the classic Greek genre of Rebetico/Laiko. Kazantzidis composed this song after he saw a Hindi film starring Madhubala.
Loosely translated into English, a segment of the lyrics read:
“Madhubala / love me sweet/ I long for you to come near me again.
Since I am lost, I call your name with pain
Madhubala, Madhubala”

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He is an engineer, he is a camera technician, and now, he has brought home an Oscar!

Vikas Sathaye was born in 1967 in Pune. After his schooling in Mulund, he shifted to Pune to pursue his Bachelor of Engineering from VIT (Vishwakarma Institute of Technology) after which he moved to Bengaluru for his masters in instrumentation from Indian Institute of Science (IISC).

After his studies, Vikas taught in Cummins College of Engineering for Women in Pune. Thereon, he shifted to New Zealand in 2009 where his journey to the Oscars began.

He shifted to Queensland to work with Shotover Camera Systems. “One of the reasons to start this company in Queensland was the natural beauty and stunning scenery which attract a lot of film producers and directors,” Vikas told The Times of India.

Here, they designed a mount that could be fit on a helicopter and would minimise the vibrations that reach the camera, smoothening the shots.

“The camera mount gets attached to the base of a helicopter, which carries the camera and lens. Its primary function is to eliminate any vibration from reaching the camera and thus getting steady footage. The other function for the camera mount is to move the camera head in the desired direction as required by the camera operator, who sits inside the helicopter and uses a joystick to control the camera head movement,” he told TOI.

They received an Oscar 2018 award in the Scientific and Technical category “for the concept, design, engineering and implementation of the Shotover K1 Camera Systems.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has described this as a “six-axis stabilised aerial camera mount” which has “enhanced ability to frame shots while looking straight down.”

You may also like: Being Bihari: How This National-Award Winning Filmmaker Is Using Cinema to Challenge Stereotypes

This camera mount is called Shotover K1 Camera System and was the brainchild of a four-member team- Vikas Sathaye, John Coyle, Bran Hurndell and Shane Buckham. It has been used in the filming of blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Dunkirk and Kong-Skull Island.

Featured image sources: Shotover/ Facebook

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At 3.45 am on 25th February, my WhatsApp buzzed with a message. I chose to read it at 6.15 am when I woke up.

‘Veteran actor Sri Devi passes away in Dubai,’ is what the message read.

I re-read it and immediately logged on to Google to check the veracity of this message. When the news became certain, the sadness gripped me hard.

At about 9 am I received another forward which spoke about the life lessons we must take away from this fine actor’s life – and death.

This piece is a very measured response to such messages. What I felt immediately after reading the ‘life lessons’ was immense anger, followed by disgust and then extreme sadness at how petty people are.

I would have liked to write this piece in that frame of mind. But I took a long break to consider what, and why, I must say what I am saying.

1. A section of you believes Sridevi brought this upon herself due to the pressure of needing to look good at all times. Here’s what I’d like to say – Have you ever interacted with Sridevi to understand from her, firsthand, the pressures she was under?

Did she ever speak to you about how much work it was? Or did you ever discuss how she likes to look?

If the answer to all or any of the above questions is ‘no’ then you have little to no right to pass judgement on what may or may not have caused her any trouble.

2. The cardiac arrests were a direct result of facelifts, botox therapy and lip surgeries she allegedly underwent, another set of messages claimed.

To this, I’d like to ask you if you were the surgeon or part of the operating team for all these procedures? If yes, then isn’t there a doctor-patient confidentially you are blatantly breaching? And if no, on what grounds are you making these sweeping medical statements?

Unless you are a qualified medical professional who has had legal access to Sridevi’s medical records, I urge you to keep your non-medical, unsubstantiated opinion to yourself.

3. Husband Boney Kapoor’s love for his late wife is also being questioned. Speculations are rife about why he didn’t ‘intervene’ and whether he wanted Sridevi as ‘arm candy’.

Firstly, this speculation is beyond petty.

It’s their relationship, and we don’t know much about it. Secondly, it is a bit sad that one is assuming Sridevi was essentially Boney Kapor’s doll or something – doomed to do whatever he has.

And even then, even if somehow Boney Kapoor ‘intervened’ in a manner that would have appeased some sections, it is nearly sure that another group would call him interfering and controlling. There is no winning this, so the speculations should end.

Ultimately, what makes you believe that Sridevi was being forced to look a certain way? She had the right and might have even enjoyed looking however she wanted.

4. A section of you has referred to her as a ‘clothes horse’ – i.e. a frame on which clothes are usually hung. What gave you the right to use such a term to describe this ethereal beauty?

As an actor, one is approached by various designers, who take it upon themselves to dress the actor for events. This is a great way for them to showcase their work. How does that make anyone a clothes horse?

Haven’t we loved and cheered her on as she walked wearing a Sabyasachi saree or a Manish Malhotra lehenga?

In any case, taking joy in fashion is wrong, but if she had a collection of luxury cars or bikes, would we call her an ‘engine horse’? This bizarre shaming has no place in our world.

In any case, this is not the time or the place to discuss such things. You have no right to circulate such vicious messages, or to make such sweeping generalisations about life and death.

The lady being discussed has entertained and regaled us with her performances many times, and she has time and again, in interviews, reiterated how important her family is to her.

Do you realise how much pain your message would cause the family? Is that of no concern to you?

My earnest and humble request is that we stop indulging such frivolous talk. Let us nip it in the bud and not forward these messages. Let’s show some respect to the departed soul.

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The tragic news of Sridevi’s passing came as a massive shock for the country and fans of Indian cinema.

She had won the hearts of Indians through her exceptional acting talent, her million dollar smile and impeccable dancing skills. Her magical 50-year career was brought to a sudden stop on 25th February 2018, in the early hours.

Even as we mourn the death of Sridevi, our very own female superstar, her brilliant performances in over 300 films will always have a place in our hearts.

Here is a short video about the legendary actor, who was taken away from us yesterday.

Featured image source: Twitter.

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Sridevi, the legendary superstar, and the heartthrob of millions passed away on 24 February. Shocking as it was, her death prompted a police investigation in addition to several controversies and unnecessary speculation.

Sridevi’s mortal remains have finally reached her home in Mumbai, and her fans and loved ones are set to bid her the final goodbye today.

Here, we celebrate the stardom of Sridevi, as a tribute to her 50-year career, her unparalleled acting skills, and the person we were awestruck with.

From being an innocent child actor in Tamil movies to portraying the idea of a supercool mom in an advertisement, Sridevi’s versatility is incomparable.

You can watch some rare videos of the actor here:

1) In this interview on Baaje Payal, Sridevi speaks about how she gained dancing skills on the go

2) Here is a compilation of Sridevi’s most iconic performances over the years.

3) The innocent actor enthrals her audience with her acting skills and adorable smile.

4) These rare photos capture Sridevi’s life in frames like she captured our hearts.

5) Who says that moms who are homemakers aren’t cool or happening? Sridevi is here to burst the bubble!

Featured image sources: YouTube/  Sridevi Biz/ YouTube.

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My first memory of Sridevi is from ‘Chaal Baaz’. A trapped girl who found her escape in dancing – that version of Sridevi appealed to me. I remember watching that movie on a VHS tape at home, at least a dozen times, if not more.

In today’s day and age, we know everything there is to know about the stars we covet. Where they workout, the places they like to hang out at, and even intimate details of their personal life.

Sridevi was different. There is no mention of her personal life in the public domain; she chose to be an enigma, and that is perhaps what added to her star value.

In this article, we speak to Harish Iyer, noted LGBT community member, who will remain a fan of Sridevi’s for life.

“Whenever we are challenged with anything in life, cinema serves as an escape mechanism. For me, it was so important to build this alternate reality around me, especially at a time when I was getting raped and coming home. For me, to forget all that and believe in a world where anything was possible was very important, and Sridevi made me believe in that,” he says.

“Sridevi’s movies were all about that possibility.”

“Whether it was Moondram Pirai, or even Sadma, which was about her forgetting her childhood. I could relate to that because I was also trying to forget something and yet not remember something.”

“I was never a mad fan of hers. My walls were never filled with her posters. I never wrote any poems to her or about her. My love for her is not something I want displayed,” he says.

He speaks about how just like he would never take to social media to proclaim his love for his mother; he wouldn’t do it for Sridevi as well. His relationship with her is far too personal for that.

Harish speaks about the movies that he fondly remembers, “Gurudev, which was Vinod Mehra’s last movie, had Sridevi playing a double role and also starred Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor. One particular scene in which she tries to sneak alcohol into a hospital for me was so poignant as it taught me to keep my mischievous side alive. ‘Mood banana ke vaste’ – as she says.”

“Lamhe was another movie that I will always remember.”

“The scene where the two ladies vying for Anil Kapoor’s attention meet and speak is special. While the lady who was to marry Anil Kapoor says she has known him for seven long years, Sridevi pauses and tells her that she has known him since she was all of seven. It was just the manner in which she said that it has stayed with me,” he says.

Sridevi was all about the moments she used to add to a scene. She was someone who lived in those moments without losing the momentum.

“However she has also done some terrible movies, and I cannot say otherwise even though I am such a huge fan. Army, Sherni, and Chand ka Thukda were such poor choices.”

Speaking about the time he got to meet her during the shooting of Satyameva Jayate, he says, “My first reaction on seeing her was to ask if I could touch her. It was such a surreal experience to meet her. I had never even dreamt of it; this was beyond my dream.”

Imagine someone you have spent a lifetime idolising coming and telling you that you are her hero. It was just something else, Harish recounts.

“I was sitting next to Sridevi and was weeping. She held my hand, and in my Palakkad Tamil accent, she told me that I must be strong. She said if I needed anything I must call her.”

“I never met her after that; I didn’t want to stand in a crowd and meet her. In my head, I was a princess, and in that one meeting I had reached another level,” he says.

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When AR Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty had won the coveted Academy Award for the movie Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, the country had staked a claim upon the British film as one of its own and left no stone unturned to celebrate the historic achievement, believing that the Indian Oscar dream had finally been realised.

However, unknown to many, the first Indian to ever receive an Oscar had been Bhanu Athaiya, a costume designer, way back in 1983 for the movie Gandhi, Lord Richard Attenborough’s magnum opus.

Bhanu held the prestigious distinction for 26 years before the Slumdog Millionaire crew stole the show.

Here’s everything you need to know about the revered doyenne of Indian film costume designers and her illustrious filmography spanning five decades and 130 films:

1. Born on 28 April 1929, Bhanumati Annasaheb Rajopadhye hailed from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, and her father Annasaheb was a painter.

2. With artistic flair in her blood, Bhanu’s tryst with art began at an early age and soon after completing her schooling, she pursued a degree in fine arts at Mumbai’s Sir JJ School of Art and graduated with quite literally flying colours and a gold medal.

3. Shortly after, Bhanu started off as a freelance fashion illustrator and worked for various women’s magazines in Mumbai, including the popular magazine, ‘Eve’s Weekly.’

4. It was when the magazine’s editor opened her own boutique and broached the idea of costume designing with Bhanu that the young lady took to designing clothes and discovered that she had an affinity for the profession.

5. Her designs found a rising popularity, and even actors began coming to Bhanu for her costumes. Encouraged by the momentum, Bhanu decided to enter Bollywood and made her foray into the filmdom as a costume designer for Guru Dutt’s film C.I.D in 1956 and went on to design the outfits of actors in all the films made under the Dutt banner. Some of her iconic works under this period include Pyaasa, Chaudhvin Ka Chand, and Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam.

6. Bhanu’s hour of fame came in 1983, when she won the Oscar along with her British counterpart John Mollo for costume design in the great biopic Gandhi. To this date, she continues to be the only Indian woman to have won the Academy award.

You may also like: From Wonder Woman to Dark Knight, Meet the Indian Woman Making Waves in Hollywood

7. Her work in films like Lekin (1991) and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) fetched the talented designer two National awards. The last film for which she worked as a costume designer was the 2004 film Swades.

8. In 2010, she published her book ‘The Art of Costume Design,’ which sheds light upon Bhanu’s pioneering vision that helped shape some landmark Indian film costumes, set the fashion trend of the 1960s and 70s, and won Indian cinema the highest acclaim in the international arena.

You can watch legendary Bhanu Athiaya receive the Academy award here:

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Born in a farmer’s family in the small village of Belsand in Gopalganj district of Bihar, Pankaj Tripathi became a well-known name after his powerful performance as Sultan the butcher in the Gangs of Wasseypur film series.

Indeed, his recent performance as Assistant Commandant Atma Singh in the Oscar-nominated film Newton has made him among the best performers in the present film industry.

But things were not always so bright and starlit. Pankaj’s father was a marginal farmer in Belsand, on four acres of land. They would grow potatoes, sugarcane, wheat and tobacco to sell and some rice and vegetables for the family’s consumption.

So what acting lessons did the self-made star learn from ploughing fields and growing his own crop? We find out:

“I remember my father took a loan of Rs 5000 from a cooperative bank to buy a small five-horsepower tubewell pump. A certain part of it, which cost around Rs 500, was easily detachable. Thieves could steal it easily. To save that Rs 500, my father and I would have dinner early and reach the farm by 8 pm. Every day we would sleep near the tubewell to save Rs. 500.”

By the time Pankaj was in class 10, he had decided that he was not going to be a farmer. Neither was he interested in a 9-5 job. But cinema was still not on his cards.

“There was this small video shop in Madhavpur, three kms from our village, where every Sunday we would pay Rs 1 to watch Mahabharat. It was a small room where 200 people would sit on the floor and watch it on a TV.”

Pankaj’s first brush with acting came when an actor who usually played the female lead in a local village drama was not available.

“It was 1994-1995 when I watched theatre for the first time. It was a drama titled ‘Andha Kuan’ by Laxminarayan Lal. Parineeta Jaiswal was playing the lead role. I was so involved in her acting that I started crying. That is when I realized that acting is such a powerful medium.”

In 1999 he started applying for the National School of Drama (NSD) every year – until he qualified for it in 2001.

 

“People think that you don’t have to study if you want to become an actor. But one can’t imagine the number of books one has to read at NSD.”

In the meanwhile, he also met Mridula in a train to Kolkata and fell in love with her.

But on serious notes, Pankaj gives the credit of his success to his wife, who was then a teacher and a strong support system for him.

Pankaj’s spark finally lit a fire in audiences through his character of Sultan in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ in 2012.

But his favourite film as an actor remains ‘Masaan’ where he played the character of ‘Satya Ji‘.

He is still striving hard to get his village well connected with roads and says that his mother waits for the day when a road will be connected to his house.

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Speculations! Rumours! Gossip! Fake News!

These entities act like delicious, but unhealthy, fast food for the taste buds of our mind.

But there is a great difference. While fast food is extremely unhealthy for the one consuming it, the entities we are talking about above make entire societies unhealthy!

Recently we speculated widely about the death of actress Sridevi, based on nothing more than initial assumptions made by the media. We even had so-called ‘experts’ jotting down ‘dos and don’ts’ based on Sridevi’s alleged lifestyle!

The rumours only came to rest when the actual cause of her death was revealed a few days later. We may just write ‘R.I.P’, but did we really let her soul rest in peace? Not in any manner.

As if this was not enough for us to collectively learn some lessons, another similar circus is looming.

Recently actor Irrfan Khan published a message on Twitter about a rare disease he was suffering from.

?? pic.twitter.com/JXD8NKwH3D

— Irrfan (@irrfank) 5 March 2018

🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/JXD8NKwH3D

— Irrfan (@irrfank) March 5, 2018

The message was posted by him after the rumours of him suffering from jaundice were being circulated.

The actor had to issue an official statement, similar to the one, to put some brakes on the fake jaundice news. However, at the time, even he was not sure about the disease he was suffering from. The only hint he had was that it was a rare disease.

Sridevi’s Death Is Not the Time or Place to Be Imparting Life Lessons

Despite the ailing actor’s request to his fans to not speculate about his disease, we did not care.

Soon after his tweet, a screenshot started doing the rounds on WhatsApp.

Posted like a news item without giving a link or the source, the screenshot diagnoses Khan with a deadly cancer.The screenshot read as below –

“Unconfirmed reports suggest Irrfan Khan has brain cancer; fans shocked, prayers pour in from all over the world”.

The article went on to diagnose the cancer as Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Grade IV, also called ‘death on diagnosis’.

Not only social media, but some of the most trusted media websites could not restrain themselves from using this rumour as a TRP stunt.

“If the latest reports are to be believed,” one news site stated boldly, “Irrfan had been having convulsion attacks along with slurring of speech due which he had to be admitted into the Hospital immediately.”

Another one claimed that “Irrfan Khan is rumoured to have been diagnosed with Brain Cancer; admitted in Kokilaben Hospital”

Some even gave minute-by-minute reports, updates which even Irrfan might have been unaware of –

“MRI was conducted along with other tests. The fierceness of cancer is very high. Doctors had to do needle biopsy to ascertain the nature of the tumour. Immediate surgery is the only option but Irrfan Khan is not ready to undergo surgery. He rather prefers radiations with few chemotherapies. The final decision will be made only the biopsy report comes.” one report claimed.

These news reports and social media messages compel me to wonder how insensitive we have become as a society!

I remember interviewing a celebrity recently, who spoke to me very casually – just like a friend. When I told her how surprised I was with her friendly behaviour, she said “Arrey yaar…hum log bhi to normal insaan hi hai na,” (Friend! Even we are normal human beings.)

We talk about celebrities as though they belong to some other planet and never come across the gossip we invent about them on social media for our entertainment. But the fact is that they are normal human beings like us. Can you imagine people speculating about the death of your dear ones when you yourself are unsure about the disease?

Why do we make declarations about things we have no clue about? Have we lost all the humanity?

Yesterday Irrfan has put an end to these rumours by tweeting the below

https://twitter.com/irrfank/status/974578690066669568

And as per Google this disease is very much treatable!

Those who spread fake news for entertainment or TRPs might have little or no ethics at all but It falls on us to refuse to engage in such behaviour. Let’s try to do that, at least!

Lazy Sunday afternoons in my childhood usually meant sitting with my family and watching a movie. I genuinely believe that one of the many elements that bring a lot of drama to movies are the tense courtroom scenes.

From a very early age, my perspective of Indian courts was that they were very royal in appearance. The lavish tables for judges, two guards to escort them to and from their desk, and a court full of people rooting for each side all led me to believe that Indian courts were like lesser versions of grand palaces.

Of course, the big question in my curious mind is – how much of the drama and masala portrayed in movies is authentic. And so I went and found out!

Here are some answers.

1. Damini and the loud arguments:

Damini is a critically acclaimed movie which focuses on its female characters. One woman fights against powerful men in the court of law to give justice to a victim of gang rape. The case and courtroom drama were an essential part of the movie.

I am not criticising the base of the film, and nor am I saying that they should have brought the drama to the bare minimum. However, here are a few things that do not occur in real life.

While a lawyer (Amrish Puri) is arguing, the witness (Meenakshi Sheshadri) interrupts him saying that his claims are false. While the interjection could be argued as necessary for the scene, in real life, non-lawyers are not allowed to interrupt the proceedings while lawyers are speaking.

Lawyers, of course, are allowed to cut through an argument if it seems necessary.

2. Identification in court:

In a continuation of the scene, Damini is asked to identify the four rapists from a group of men, who faces are covered in Holi colours (this is an important plot line in the movie.)

The lawyer then ups the drama by pushing each man upon Damini, trying to provoke her to make a point. In reality, however, the process of identification is not conducted in court.

The police have to file a charge-sheet and make a case before any one comes to court. Even then, the identification process will not be brought in the court of law, let alone be so dramatic that the witness is visibly intimidated.

3. Your royal honour:

Well, who hasn’t seen those lavish polished tables on a judge’s desk in a Bollywood movie? The judges are almost always escorted by two guards, sit at a high table and enjoy a large space where lawyers walk around as they try to prove their point.

While most of this is true in High Courts, and of course, the Supreme Court, district or village courts do not enjoy such luxuries.

To get a better perspective of a district court, you can watch movies like Pink, Jolly LLB 2 or even Court, a highly acclaimed Marathi movie. Here, files of various cases are shown piling on cupboards and tables. The judges enjoy more humble seating, and the courtroom follows a more suitable setting.

4. Destroying evidence that actually helps you!

In Meri Jung, Anil Kapoor is left with no choice but to drink a full bottle of medicine only to prove that it is not, in fact, poison. Maybe he did have other options but he chose the fastest one to prove that his client did not poison the bottle.

However, if someone tries that in real life, he will be held in contempt of court.

No sir, lawyers are not allowed to drink evidence in the middle of the court to prove their point. They have to follow procedure and not go beyond it to win their cases.

5. A superb entry might be your exit gate.

Source.

In the movie Shahenshah, Amitabh Bachchan drives an old woman, who is the only witness in the case, to court …rather, inside the court, to be precise. Such a dramatic entry was warranted by the fact that on his way to the court, he is attacked by goons with machine guns.

No matter how urgent the case is or how important getting a person alive to the court is, neither lawyers, nor the police or any one for that matter is allowed to break down the doors of the court to make a grand entry.

This is most definitely a contempt of court, illegal and might even lead the Bar Council to cancel your license to practice.

However, all said and done, what would movies be without their dramatic moments? This article is definitely is not trying to get directors to bring down the level of drama, or become more realistic.

You may also like: In Conversation With Pankaj Tripathi, the New-Age Face of Indian Cinema!

Movies like Shahenshah are made for the entertainment of their audience – although they have some moral teachings as their base.

To get a closer look at authentic courts without having to go there, you can watch movies like Shahid, Pink, Jolly LLB (1 and 2), Ek Ruka Hua Faisla or Aitraaz.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

Featured image is a still from Meri Jung. Source.

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Commuting across the city of Bangalore? If you travel by road everyday, you will be no stranger to traffic. The words “Silk Board” are enough to strike terror into your heart, and “Bellandur” has you waking up in a cold sweat.

You may also like: Video: What Happens When a 15-Year-Old from a Conservative Family Gets Pregnant?

This Kannada film, directed by Santhosh G, provides a hilarious look at what can happen during traffic. Shot in real-life traffic hotspots across the city, the film titled “Silk Board: A Traffic Love Story,” showcases the trials, tribulations, and sometimes unexpected surprises that can happen when stuck in a jam!

You can watch the video below!

Featured image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

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An Indian screenwriter, filmmaker, graphic artist, music composer, author and widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, it’s been 26 years since Satyajit Ray bid the world goodbye.

On this day, which marks his death anniversary, we dive into the untold story behind India’s first-of-its-kind sci-fi film that Satyajit Ray was to direct but which never saw the light of day.

For decades, the mystery of extraterrestrial beings has captivated the human mind. Most sci-fi films in the 1980s portrayed them as a bloodthirsty species who would land on earth with the sole purpose of destructing humankind. It was Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial that reversed the trend.

The film which was declared an immediate blockbuster surpassed the popular Star Wars series to become the highest-grossing film of all time (a record it held for eleven years until Spielberg’s Jurassic Park surpassed it in 1993).

It chronicled the beautiful story of a lonely boy, Elliott (Thomas) and his friendship with the extraterrestrial, dubbed “E.T.”, who was stranded on Earth. Over the course of the film, Elliot kept the creature hidden from his mother and the government, to finally help him return to his home planet.

Before you start drawing any parallels between the story of ET and the Bollywood film, Koi Mil Gaya, you should know about the biggest controversy surrounding Spielberg’s E.T.

It was alleged that E.T was a plagiarised story from a screenplay Satyajit Ray wrote back in 1967, titled ‘The Alien’.

While the screenplay never reached its culmination to become the film it could have been, its copies continued to make rounds in the United States much after the project was abandoned.

Ray first spoke about the idea of India’s first sci-fi film to his friend and fellow sci-fi author, Arthur C Clarke. The screenplay was based on his own 1962 Bengali science fiction story, Bonkubabur Bandhu, published in his family magazine, Sandesh.

Bonkubabur Bandhu was the story of an alien landing in Bengal and befriending a boy. The story revolves around a spaceship that lands in a pond in rural Bengal where the villagers begin worshipping it as a temple, which they think had risen from the depths of the Earth. The alien, however, bonds with a young village boy named Haba through his dreams and in the course of its short stay on the planet, plays a number of harmless pranks on the villagers.

When Ray spoke to Clarke about the screenplay he had written, Clarke thought it was promising. On his encouragement, Ray sent the script to Columbia Pictures in Hollywood.

It was only a matter of time until Columbia Pictures came on board as the producer for this planned US–India co-production. Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando were set to be cast in the lead roles.

However, a major setback was set to hit Ray, where he would come to terms with the harsh realities of the cinema world. Without his knowledge, Mike Wilson, who also happened to be Ray’s representative in Hollywood had copyrighted the screenplay, and fee appropriated the script of ‘The Alien’ as a co-writer, without having played any part in its creation. Actor Marlon Brando too dropped out of the project. While an attempt was made to bring James Coburn in his place, Ray had lost hope in the project and eventually returned to Calcutta to pursue his other films.

And thus, despite the many trips Ray embarked on to the USA, UK and France, the film was never made.

But the heartbreak and shock came to haunt Ray again, more than 15 years later, when he watched Steven Spielberg’s film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. He realised that not only did the script bear uncanny resemblances to The Alien, but even the design of ET resembled the sketches he had drawn in the screenplay that was shared with Columbia Pictures. Further, Columbia Pictures had co-produced Spielberg’s E.T and was also alleged to be responsible for creating copies of Ray’s screenplay.

As Aseem Chhabra, a journalism student from Columbia University who interviewed Ray about the controversy at the time put it, “Reading the script, I realised Clarke was right and that there were similarities between E.T. and The Alien. Ray’s alien was introduced to us for the first time as we noticed his slow-moving three-fingered hand, similar to E.T.’s slow-moving four-fingered hand. Ray’s alien had healing powers, just like E.T. And both the aliens could make plants bloom. There were other similarities as well.”

In an interview with India Today magazine in February 1983 Ray had asserted, “E.T. would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout the United States in mimeographed copies.”

While Spielberg denied this claim and said, “I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood,” even his friend and renowned Director, Martin Scorsese, alleged that it was influenced by Ray’s script.

Spielberg had once shared that ET was based on an imaginary alien companion he had made up as a kid who was also ‘a friend who could be the brother he never had and a father that he didn’t have any more’.

But whether Spielberg plagiarised Ray’s script or the concept of ET was inspired by the imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents’ divorce in 1960 is still a mystery. Ray, however, did not want to take any legal action as he believed that Spielberg made good films and was a good director.

READ MORE: To Appa With Love: A Son Speaks About the Legacy Called Lalgudi Jayaraman

While we mourn the lost opportunity to witness his genius on screen, let us remember him fondly on his death anniversary. The Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, put it best when he said,

“Not to have seen the cinema of Ray, means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.”

You can still experience a literary sense of the unmade film through Ray’s book ‘Travails with the Alien: The Film That Was Never Made and Other Adventures with Science Fiction’ for the full script, a detailed essay and an original short story.

I am going to take Kurosawa up on that advice. My coming week will be a binge-watching marathon of Ray’s films. What about yours?

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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With a gripping plotline that revolves around the life of a dreaded terrorist and the very talented Rajkummar Rao playing the lead, ‘Omerta’ has been one of the most anticipated movies of 2018. And it does live up to these expectations. As far as biopics goes, this film by Shahid director Hansal Mehta is pretty out-of-the-box.

Portrayed without any judgement or justification, the movie is a clinical yet compelling sketch of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

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The British terrorist of Pakistani descent played a key role in some of the world’s most brutal terrorism cases, from the devastating 9/11 attacks to the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.

Interestingly, few know that Omar Sheikh first hit headlines when he was arrested in 1994 in a case related to the kidnappings of four foreigners from Delhi. Fewer still know that the dynamic IPS officer who played a key role in apprehending the terrorist went on to become the head of Intelligence Bureau (IB), one of India’s most powerful intelligence organizations.

Also Read: Remembering the Brilliant IAS Officer Who Was India’s Most Respected Strategic Thinker

Here are five facts about Syed Asif Ibrahim, the former director of IB who is now a special envoy on counter-terrorism and extremism in India’s National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

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1. A 1977 batch IPS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Ibrahim first made a name for himself in the 1980s by wiping out the gang of dreaded dacoit Malkhan Singh.

Considered one of India’s finest police officers ever, the JNU student joined the police force in 1977. Posted as the SP of Datiya (then a bandit-infested district in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region), his exploits quickly earned him the appreciation of the locals and the title of ‘Dacoit Buster’.

2. Ibrahim played a key role in police operation that led to the capture of Omar Sheikh in 1994.

In 1994, soon after a stint in Afghanistan, Omar Sheikh used the alias of tourist guide Rohit Sharma to lure an American and three British tourists from their hotels in Delhi to a hideout in Ghaziabad used by his partners in the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. He then demanded the release of 10 Kashmiri militants in exchange for the lives of the captives.

In an exhaustive intelligence operation, the Indian police traced and raided the hideout. In the fierce pre-dawn gun battle that followed, all the four foreign nationals were freed unhurt and a wounded Omar Sheikh was arrested along with two other terrorists. Soon after, he was sentenced to a long prison term in Tihar jail.

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Five years would pass before people would read about him again. On Christmas Eve, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked and forced to land in Afghanistan. In exchange for the lives and freedom of the 155 hostages, Omar Sheikh and two other terrorists (Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Mohammad Masood Azhar) had to be released from Indian jails after an eight-day standoff.

(On July 15, 2002, Omar Sheikh was tried and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorist court in Pakistan for the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

3. Extremely graceful and discreet under pressure, Ibrahim is a highly efficient officer who has repeatedly shown exceptional talent not only in intelligence-gathering but also in winning over people’s support.

Appointed the chief of the IB’s operations wing in 2013, Ibrahim played extremely critical roles in curbing Khalistani terrorism in Punjab, anti-terror operations all over India (including Kashmir and naxal-dominated areas) and was the principal negotiator in the Kandahar hijack crisis.

4. Ibrahim played a pivotal role in the 2013 IB surveillance operation that managed to nab Yasin Bhatkal, co-founder of terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM).

This was not just an ordinary catch because Bhatkal alias Ahmad Zarar Siddibappa wasn’t a foot soldier — he was a leading recruiter, an expert bomb-maker and the mastermind who had carried out a series of blasts across India. His capture literally broke the back of the terror group.

5. After his retirement in 2015, Ibrahim was appointed as India’s special envoy for counter-terrorism and extremism.

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This impressive appointment was a recognition of his formidable understanding of a range of security threats to India, from ISIS and Boko Haram to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with naxals and NSCN Khaplang thrown in on the way.

Earlier, Ibrahim had also become the first official from his service to be appointed to the crucial position of Special Envoy to West Asia and Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) region. In fact, during his time as IB chief, the soft-spoken IPS officer had played a key role in bringing back many young Indians who had left home to join ISIS without informing their parents.

Also Read: This IPS Officer’s Idea Has Inspired 42000 Youngsters To Fight Crime And Terrorism

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