Theory of Intolerance and curious case of 98%

So finally I break my silence on this supposedly sensitive issue... :)

While the debate on intolerance is still on and drawing new participants each passing day, I thought it will be interesting to see if there is any data exists which could answer the debate on Intolerance in a more scientific way...

So statisically speaking, you  can only say "Intolerance is rising" if you have clearly defined definition for "Intolerance" and "Historical measurable data" which clearly shows a remarkble change...

Dictionary definition of "Intolerance" is "Lack of tolerance;unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect opinion or beliefs contrary to one's own"

Going by definition I think "Intolerance" is more a social issue than a legal one...It becomes a legal matter when this intolerance leads people to use violence to enforce their ideology.

So question is whether Indian society is "Intolerant" compared to other nations?
If yes than can present government be blamed for promoting intolerance?
Has there been an increase in violence directly attributed to intolerance?

Now in this entire debate, while both sides have quoted number of incidents (Intolerance+violence) to strengthen their theory, however one thing is pretty clear that no one so far has produced any reliable data to either prove or disprove this Theory of Intolerance... So what you really have is one set of people quoting "isolated incidents" like #Dadrilynching #KalburgiMurder and opposing people quoting #KashmiriPandits and #1984riots......btw even google couldn't produce any statistically measured and documented data on Intolerance in India. :)

Our constitution provides for a "secular state" with "freedom of expression" (I picked these two, as they are most relevant to current debate), which essentially means that you are free to pursue your religious beliefs and also express your views on any matter freely...This framework allows any act of intolerance to be dealt with legal system...
So Wouldn't it be interesting to see some report of

"recorded crimes which can be directly attributed to intolerance"? And if we have any such report over a number of years, we can use that to make some concrete comments on ongoing debate...

Now all this leaves scope for confusion...

And there lies dilemma of majority of people like you and me....the 98% ......

That missing 2% is what comprises "Fringe brigade".... 1% on either side...

Ok don't hold me to these numbers... I just cooked them out of thin air for sake of convenient argument...  :)

Now that fringe 1% on either side is not only convinced on their respective ideologies, they also make every effort to convince confused 98%....

Now my view is that this 98% , irrespective of their religion or race simply wants nation to progress economically so that their children can have a better future...They are "Tolerant" in every sense of the word...they want to coexist...Problem is they are confused on "Rules of coexistence" ...This is not really surprising considering that anyways "rules of coexistence confusion" has its roots in building blocks of any society... which is "Family"....isn't it fair to say that "there is some element of intolerance" in every family?...so you have Saas-Bahu sagas, husband-wife tussle..brothers fighting, parents-children conflicts etc...in some cases this intolerance also takes violent turn, and I think it will be appropriate to club them in 2% "fringe element" basket.



In essence this 98% may be confused on "rules of coexistence" may have "difference of opinion on variety of topics including eating habits"....and hence "slight undertones of intolerance" but I think as long as they don't resort to "violent means" it's ok...we can always hope that next stage of evolution will probably take us beyond these concerns...It will be nice to have 100% tolerant society but utopia only exists in stories and movies not in real world..

In the interim, one important job of the government is to handle that 2% fringe element group, with iron hand...I see an opportunity for Mr Modi to make a strong statement by ensuring that all "Intolerance+violence" cases are handled on top priority and end the debate once and for all....

Post Script: 
A google search "Which country is most tolerant?" leads you to a page describing "Canada" as the most tolerant country...This is as per "World Values Survey"....India prominently features as "Least Tolerant countries"...However questionnaire used in the survey was more suited for measuring racial tolerance hence may not be very appropriate measure to settle current debate.....
And before you rush to blame this on our PM Mr Modi, mind you this article dates May 15, 2013 so survey must have taken place prior to that...and wasn't it UPA govt ruling country than? ....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/

Another google query specifically for "religious intolerance" leads you to "Pew Research Center" page. Pew Research Center analyzes extent to which government and societies around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices. In social hostilities index India ranks poorly as "Very High". In government restriction index not very encouraging "High".
Two things, one as a Indian, I would like to believe that this is wrong, second even if it were to be true, mind you this data also pertains to 2013.
Again, I think it is completely uncalled for to blame current government and Mr Modi for rising intolerance.....

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with some thoughts --

Difference between "Intolerance" and "Intolerance+violence"
Question whether Indian society itself is more intolerant than its global peers?
Can it be proven beyond doubt that current government is encouraging intolerance and government elements are participating in Intolerance+violence?

Is AIB Knockout-Roast of Ranveer & Arjun a new low in entertainment and humour?

I think YES..and let me start from the verdict so that people who think otherwise have a fair chance of choosing whether to read further or not....

Before I outline my views as to why I think its a new low in public entertainment as a whole (As-a-whole Not Ass*** ..hmm..sorry..after effect of AIB   :)   )  and humor/comedy in particular, allow me to specify what I am not against.....

• I am not against freedom of speech and expression.
• I am not against people's right to decide, what they want to watch...how they wish to be entertained...after all, there are enough people who find, movies of Farah khan, Sazid Khan, Karan Johar etc, extremely funny and entertaining...
• I am not against self deprecating humor...on the contrary I encourage that..big celebrities doing it, is actually fun and in good spirit...
• I am not against use of expletive cuss words..in fact all of us do that in our private lives..

Did I laugh while watching it? 

Yes I did...at least intermittently..

Was It funny?

Yes it was..at least in bits and pieces..

Does it mean there is audience for such content?

Yes indeed..

But does above alone justify public performance and public circulation of such content?

Hmmm....????...I have my doubts...

So what next then? How about live pornography? 

Hey that's a great idea..involving celebrities will be fun...how about we check with Deepika/Ranveer, or may be Karan/Ranveer/Deepika ( :) ) if they could do a live show...After all AIB sold "Roast" tickets for Rs 4000..I think we can easily price something like this at Rs 50000. And we can package it with some nice charitable cause, so that audience with conscience can go back home guilt free, thinking they paid for charity...  

In essence, my point is where are we leading with this? The moment you do something which no one has ever done, you give someone else an idea to go even further...now that's a good thing if subject is technology, science, or even craft of film making...but questionable if it pertains to rules of society..

This become all the more complicated when you involve celebrities...celebrities command followers, power to influence people...so celebrity endorsement also means something which could have been considered "Gross & vulgar" can be looked as "cool and hip"....

Let me present a scenario...Now what stops people from considering this as acceptable humor at work place too...so if some people start using such language, gestures with their female colleagues, or take a derogatory dig on their personal lives, will it qualify to be an attempt at humor or harassment at work place?

Let me present another scenario, if you are a women walking on a random street, and you pass by a group of unruly men. Those men did exactly the same..used filthiest of the words, gestures etc, and mind you, not directly at you (may be just talking among themselves but loud enough). would you consider it acceptable? 

If I am guessing it right..I think genesis of this idea (humiliating celebrities publicly), must have been that, we Indians are often blamed for having very poor sense of humor..we don't appreciate humor, we don' laugh much, least of all at ourselves...we get offended too soon (latest example being Deepika Padukone getting hugely offended by Times publishing her cleavage photo with juicy headlines...I will come back to this later)

Yes, our society is a bit too intolerant..which is not a good thing...but food for thought is, while we expect society to be tolerant, do we know where to draw the line?

All of us at some point have been outraged by moral policing, online or offline. It is anyways sad that our society (and by extension our institutions such as police/judiciary) still looks down upon public display of affection...so there are young couples being arrested for kissing/holding hands in public...But at the same time if we allow this, some other group might demand cuddling/being intimate in public places as their right...than some other group will emerge demanding right to fondling of "private parts" in "public places"....and finally some morons will even claim that "having intercourse" in open public places as their birth right...

So again question is where to draw a line..

To conclude, what AIB and Karan/Ranveer/Arjun did in "Roast" is nothing new. In fact that kind of humor is very much part of our lives. We indulge in such humor on a daily basis, BUT in our own privacy or with close circle of friends (including those naughty WhatsApp groups all of us have)...any one who have ever lived in a hostel, would tell you that they have seen and been part of even worst...but again that is within a close knit circle..

Problem with this AIB approach is that they made it too public...and by doing that they may have opened another pandora's box...what will it lead to next is food for thought...

A society lives by rules....some rules are law driven hence legally enforceable, some rules are in the nature of self censorship...and every society needs to find its own balance....How to find a balance between legally enforceable rules and self censorship rules is a big question.....

P.S: 

By the way coming back to Deepika, isn't it amazing how sportingly she took all those nasty comments in the AIB show? just few months back she was so furious when TOI published that cleavage pic and all hell broke lose. She invoked all sorts of adjectives for the paper and reporter including blaming them of being misogynist. Well I think people change. 

Open Letter to Mr Arvind Kejriwal...which Mr Modi should also read...

Well, Elections is the ultimate topic of discussion currently. Like anyone else, I also have clear opinion on Who should Win? & Who will Win?


Anyways, right now my interest is in antics being played out by our erstwhile (use of word intentional) crusader Mr Arvind Kejriwal....here is my attempt to reach Arvind through this open letter...and before he reads it, he is entitled to answers of two important questions...

Who Am I?

I am that typical middle class (and also middle aged :) )...well at mid thirties you can't really call yourself young....or can you ? :) ....voter, who so far really didn't bother much about exercising his franchise...partly due to political apathy, partly due to administrative hassles, and majorly due to "who cares about politics and politicians" attitude...If media reports are to be believed number of these new breed of voters is sizable..And I can see this happening around me...people who fit into above description are all around us...in our families..in our offices..among our friends..Lets call ourselves  Aam Voter if you like...what caused this change of mindset in Aam Voter is beyond the scope of this post....

Why Should You (Arvind) Read this letter?

Because, This Lok Sabha Elections, I am NOT voting for you and your party......

However...someone said....there is always a silver lining..and your silver lining is...Though I have decided to Vote for Mr Narendra Modi and his Party BJP (I chose to write name of PM nominee first and party later...for obvious reasons)....But should he NOT be able to deliver on his agenda post coming to office...and bring about that "CHANGE" ....all of us expect him to bring...then....you know what... "JANTA MAAF NAHI KAREGI".... :) ...So you need to hold your horses, revisit the basic philosophy on which AAP was born, and INTROSPECT... in the interim, may be...consolidate your outfit, train your troops...and wait...

So happy reading...


Dear Arvind,

Though I am not voting for you in Elections 2014, but I want you to know that, I still consider you a strong alternative for Elections 2019.
You should know that, with tremendous support from Aam Voters, you were able to write history in Delhi Assembly elections. While Lacs of Aam Voters voted for you in Delhi, equally great number of Aam voters supported you elsewhere, through donations and digital campaigning etc...

So while this Aam Voter Supported and voted for you wholeheartedly in Delhi, is Not willing to vote for you in LokSabha Elections for two reasons ---

Because this is National Election not state election...

We believe in strong and decisive leadership at the center...corruption is still a burning issue for us but, we can't afford to vote for a party which knows little beyond corruption. "Corruption free governance"  is just about basic hygiene expected from national leadership...There are other major deliverable from national leadership, which you and your crew are not equipped for at this stage.

• Analogy for students: Can you become a good scientist if you are good in maths but know nothing about physics & chemistry?
• Analogy for corporate types: Just being good in one subject makes you "subject matter specialist" , it doesn't make you a good Leader/CEO. 

Because we are disillusioned by You...

You promised, politics of change, but it seems, rather, politics is changing you.

To quote from one of my earlier blog .. "Power has Power to corrupt"

(Incidentally, I wrote this, when you were riding the anti corruption wave in the national capital, to mark my apprehension, about you changing the very ground you stood on, once in power)

• To begin with, your very decision to fight LokSabha elections, at such a large scale, less than one year into politics, smells more of "opportunism" than "nationalism".

• Just six months back, you wanted people's opinion on whether you should form "minority government" or not....how can we ever forget your SMS campaign...first ever such democratic initiative. But strangely you and your same team felt quite empowered to take decision on going national in such a short time.

• You claim, that you believe in "inclusive governance" hence gimmics like " sms opinion". Well we believe you but if we vote you to national platform, then god knows how many such SMS campagins we will have to participate in future. Democracy anyways has its own flaws as it believes in principle of "majority is always right", please don't complicate it any further, by involving ordinary citizens in decisions which you should be making.

• Do you really think your team had the bandwidth to scrutinize applications of aspiring AAP candidates and finalize candidates for more than 350 seats, in such short time, without compromising very fabric on which AAP was formed. And why do you think we should trust these candidates? just because you are saying so? You must be a person of great abilities if you think, you found 350 political novices, with God gifted talent to run the country.

•  Data on "Association of Democratic reforms" website claims, 16% of your candidates have "criminal cases" against them. I am sure you will have explanation for each one of them but so do BJP and Congress...so how do you think you are different ?

• Same data also suggests 43% of your candidates are "Crorepatis". So what happen to AAM Aadmi? How many of your voters you think are Crorepati? so who are you seeking votes from? Crorepatis? in comparison only 13% independents are Crorepatis. Of course I am not comparing you to BJP and Congress here, as you have always alleged them to be elitist. 

Lastly your decision to fight against Mr Modi from Varanasi, smells more of arrogance than anything else. Also are we reading too much into Mukhtar Ansari withdrawal from that seat? Anyways, in my humble opinion "Humility" is a virtue which a leader must have.

So if a leader must choose between arrogance and humility then what should he choose Mr Kejriwal?

Now don't tell me, you are going to run a SMS campaign to find answer ... :)

Also Please don't go on Dharna to protest against contents of this letter...

Yours Truly,

Aam Voter....

What's Up Business Managers/Leaders

Do you think Indian Managers/Leaders running corporate are any different from so called Daily wage workers?

And when I say Managers/Leaders...I mean right upto CEO/Chairman....

A daily wage earner earns by the day..hence lives.. and most importantly works...by the day..so we know, he doesn't have to worry about grand plans..big picture...vision...Well in case of corporate types..we may not be earning by the day...but work by the day? ..well may not be...But by the month...???....ah some certainly...may be in certain roles..industries...companies...Not All roles/industries/companies of course....

Work by the Quarter??? ....well certainly, you can now have a sizable number of roles/industries/companies....

Work by the Year???....grins..ear to ear...do we have almost all roles/industries/companies now? ...
So live by the day..earn by the month (also partly year..bonuses etc..)..and work by the Year..This is it..

Before I start inviting frowns..angry reactions...let me set the context..

Why do you think "WhatsApp is an American baby" and not an Indian? Google anyone? Facebook? ...ok Apple? ...how can i miss Apple...Steve Jobs devotee that I am known to be...

Well now start jumping on your seats...and dig out every little Indian connection, these mighty companies might have...talk about, how their top team is all Indian..IIM/IIT of course...after all No company of any significance can ever be built without an IIT/IIM connection..right? ....and also talk about how Mark Zuckerberg or Jan Koum...or Warren Buffet...all of them eat out of their Indian Leaders hands...


I find it kind of funny...how quickly Indian media and business journalists of repute are able to put together so called "India connection" story..the moment any International deal of any significance is announced..while conveniently missing out on a Big issue...Why are we not creating these modern business wonders?

Well creating a USD 100 Bn company (read Facebook) on the Internet...which neither manufactures anything..nor gives any service.. requires something...Vision..

Creating a mobile application...with less than 100 employees...and being able to sell it in 5 years, for USD 19 Bn...means a lot...and certainly requires something...Vision..


So what are we doing...are we comfortable playing second fiddle...i guess so..

And what do we lack?

Engineering/Technology talent?..I think we have plenty...

Creativity...again..we may lack institutional structure to encourage creativity..but talent we have plenty.

 Entrepreneurship...ah..there it is ..we certainly lack entrepreneurship culture..but then it is also a function of misplaced social/family values (social stigma with failed business ventures..typical parental middle class dream of son/daughter being a successful engineer/doctor/bureaucrat/academic etc )...and the fact that it emanates from a very weak social security system...Here I am again reminded of ..WhatsApp and Jan Koum..how he lived through state allowance for his mom and himself...What are the chances that Jan Koum would have called it quits if he was born in India and faced such survival crisis?...I will say pretty strong.. I am sure in Indian context, faced with such survival crisis he would have settled himself in a 9-6 job..How else could he have fed himself and his mother?... By that analogy i think..lot of Indian talent must be getting wasted playing second fiddle..may be third..fourth too...as you read this...

Vision...so back to where I started from..Vision is certainly not about working by the day..or month..or Year..in most cases, first casualty of sticking to your Vision is, short term results...with Indian Corporates and Managers aggressively chasing elusive Quarterly numbers, Vision is bound to be compromised..

I also find it quite amazing that how our entire business eco system is designed to reward short term results..
So you have most business managers jumping all over with latest Quarterly/Yearly results, claiming it to be a result of their grand strategy (of course only if it is better than last quarter/year....)...and often showing it off to prove how they have been better than their predecessor...i dare say, seldom,  means to achieve those superlative short term results could be at the cost of long term interest of the organization. But who is watching?

It is indeed no rocket science to figure out what we need..A solid business idea..a sound business model to implement the idea..Hiring right people to execute...and faith that you have done earlier 3 steps right... then lots of Patience...patience from investors/shareholders...patience from Leaders...

Acclaimed Historian and writer Ramachandra Guha in his book "Makers of Modern India" explains his rational for exclusion/inclusion in the coveted list of individuals who shaped the Indian Republic. He makes an interesting distinction between "Pure Intellectuals", those who wrote and spoke but did not, in a meaningful social sense, act And "Pure Activists" those who were men of action but may not have been much of a thinker...so, he argues to exclude both categories and include Only "Thinker-Activist".

I am wondering if we could apply this criteria on business leaders...Leaders who are thinkers (Visionary) and also men of action...Thinker-Activist Business Leaders so to say...

So are these people creating modern day businesses such as Steve Jobs...Jan Koum...examples of Thinker-Activist leadership? ...Goes without saying success depends on so many more variables..but could this be the key which differentiates Men from Boys of the corporate world...?

Time to leave you thinking while I put aside my Thinking cap and switch on my Action mode...After all its Sunday..and I have so many household chores to take care of... :) 

May Be British were right...We are simply incapable of managing our own country

So after a good one year gap India is out again on streets for a right cause, up against an ineffective and indifferent government. Recent event in the national capital has hit where it hurts the most....in our collective conscience as an individual first and than as a society. 

Though as a country we are not new to gruesome crimes and specially crime against women, but brutality of recent #DelhiGangrape will remain with us forever. Nothing, we do on streets or write on blogs/twitter/facebook, can Undo, this inhuman crime and save us from sharing collective responsibility.

somewhere i think we all are directly or indirectly responsible for this tragic event and many more...as we have allowed our society to become what it is today. 

If we go by the current outcry and outrage may be this incident becomes a Tipping Point and we are able to mobilize our anger constructively towards building a better society. Utopia may just be an imagination and Indian Society may never become synonyms with Utopia but can we at least try and not be antonyms?

There are lots of suggestions floating in the digital world on how to make India safer for women, right from increased police vigilance to having lady bus conductors on night buses to death penalty for perpetrators of rape. Voice demanding capital punishment for rapes is getting stronger. I think reaction is natural because when human beings are provoked beyond a point violence seems to be the only solution. 

I think A logical mind will never subscribe to "An eye for an eye" argument but an angry mind will. I believe as a society we need to think better and do better. A good reference point is a scene in recent hollywood movie "Ides of March" when US presidential candidate played by Gorge Clooney is asked a question around death penalty. My apprehension is most of these suggestions only attack the symptom and not the disease. A solution without diagnosing the disease will only offer short term relief.

Sadly there is no reliable study/research done on this crucial subject. Its already understood well that rape is not only a Sex crime, it is revenge crime, it is a Power crime, it is also a crime of entertainment for many.
In even a larger context one can  argue that  rape is about "Mindset".

1. Mindset which makes one believe that it is ok to rape a women.
2. Mindset which makes one believe that he can get away with anything.
3. Mindset which further makes one believe that even if he couldn't get away, its Ok, as he has nothing to lose.

For point 1 we as a society should take responsibility. point 2 is indicative of Government's failure to create deterrent in terms of investigative and judicial system. Point 3 is about a society where a major fraction comprises of "people who have nothing to lose". This is a much wider concept and needs elaboration not suitable for this article. 

I am neither an expert in criminology, sociology nor in psychology. I think from a layman's perspective. So in my opinion an expert panel comprising criminologists, psychologists and sociologists will be better placed to study this issue in detail. A good starting point for the panel will be to study the past crimes and their perpetrators, study their educational background, socio-economic background, their moral beliefs, their religious beliefs. I am confident that some very revealing facets will emerge and THAT can become base for solution.

I think it is appropriate to mention as a last note, recent report on "Global Gender Gap 2012" published by World Economic Forum. "Global Gender Gap Index" is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender based disparities in different countries. India ranks a poor 105 in a study of 135 countries, while our earlier rulers UK from whom we won our so called freedom ranks at 18.
This obviously triggered Subject of my article. While it is premature to link this report with crime against women, but i think it will be interesting to figure out if there is any strong correlation between Ranking on this report and rate of crime against women in a particular country.

Why so much crowd in Ramlila Maidan?

THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less sense;

more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicines, but less healthiness;

We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet

the new neighbor.

We build more computers to hold more

information to produce more copies then ever,

but have less communication;

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods

but slow digestion;

Tall men but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window,

but nothing in the room.

.......His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

I couldn't find a better description of current times than the one above by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama.

Entire nation, The politicians, religious scholars, social workers, intellectuals, are seemingly caught up in a long argument on corruption/Anna Hazare.....But this time around "Common Man" isn't only listening, he is talking (basically arguing)too..... Few years back I read a book by Nobel laureate Dr Amartya Sen "The Argumentative Indian"....I was wondering if it will make an interesting read in current scenario ....perhaps YES...go figure out...I have been reading views of eminent intellectuals on this issue for last couple of days and had opportunity to interact with some....some great articles which come to my mind written by , Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, Shobhaa De, Aseem Chhabra, Pratap Bhanu Mehta etc make an interesting read.  

Looks like common man is spoilt for choice...if you research a bit you will realize choice is not as simple as some people will have you believe that it is .....you are either "Pro Anna" or "Anti Anna"..... here is a quick list of possible camps you may want yourselves to get associated with ----------

1. I believe in Anna Hazare, the cause itself is secondary......

2. I believe in legally elected democratic government and its ways, there is no room for "Satyagraha" in modern India.

3. I believe in the "cause" (read corruption), who leads the crusade is immaterial. (not averse to Anna leading it, his clean image only makes the movement stronger)

4. I believe in the "cause" and "Anna Hazare" but what is he doing with likes of "Swami Agnivesh", "Bhushan Duo", "Baba Ramdev" etc 

5. I believe in the "cause" and "Anna Hazare" but does not believe in "proposed solution i.e. Lokpal Bill".

6.  I believe in the "cause" and "Anna Hazare" and "Lokpal Bill"

7. I believe in the "cause" and solution "Lokpal Bill" only if it promises to leave ME out of this (interesting camp for A Raja, Kalamadi and many more)

7. I am confused, i will go with the crowd

8. Somebody please tell me who is "Anna Hazare" and why so much crowd in "Ramlila Maidan"... isn't there still time for Deshara?

Now which camp do you belong to is completely your prerogative. And i guess there is nothing wrong with any of these camps as long as it is either just "state of mind" or translates into action which is "legal and constitutional". People gathered at Ramlila Maidan obviously make a statement on "lost faith on democratic institutions".  If you perhaps do a nationwide survey then, i will not be surprised if you can easily slice India into such small pieces or may be more......Actually I would love if any one of you could suggest few more possible camps.....

I have another interesting observation. We could also profile ourselves on the basis of the "cause" itself in different personality types --- 

1. I am only a bribe giver. I don't accept bribe. (read my earlier blog "corruption whose problem is it anyway")

2. I am only a bribe taker. I don't give bribe.

3. I do both.

4. I am a bribe giver (Honestly, i never had an opportunity to demand bribe...may be if i was in a position...well you couldn't be sure....power corrupts you see.....)

5. I do NONE.

Now hand on your heart...how many of us can claim to be personality type 5.... or worst, leave aside the past how many of us can at least vow that they would henceforth be type 5....anyways you can be of any one personality type and still be with either of the camps mentioned above....I only wish that at least our leader is type 5.....the kind of guts Anna Hazare has shown against the might of government , his personality type can easily be guessed....but that's for TODAY...sceptics would say who knows the future...ultimately POWER has power to corrupt...........

Bollywood coming of age...Intellectual value vs Entertainment Value

Three recent Bollywood productions got me thinking...what an amazing variety of cinematic experience is on offer from Bollywood....and surprisingly all three did pretty well at the Box office...The three movies i am referring to "Chalo Dilli", "Delhi Belly" and "Singham"....have completely different style of narrative, treatment and creative inputs (read actors/directors)...

while "Chalo Dilli" is a small budget road movie, with no big star cast to boast of and relies primarily on an excellent script and equally excellent acting by lead actors Vinay Pathak and Lara Dutta..."Delhi Belly" on the other hand, set in urban India is a black comedy...and best part is it is situational comedy...its easy to relate with characters in both these movies..."Singham" obviously is in a different league ...characters are larger than life...but it does appeal....Now i could be part of a small section of audience, who enjoyed watching all three...common perception is if you like uber cool "Delhi Belly", you cant like over the top "Singham"....anyways that's not the point i am trying to make...my point is explained below.....

There is always a thin line between being critical and being cynical (see how well they rhyme :) ) ...sometimes that line is breached and we deal with possibility of critics sounding like cynics (with reference to movie reviews).....I often read excellent commentaries on Indian issues by a US based Indian journalist Aseem Chhabra which  gets published every Sunday in MUMBAI MIRROR.....i wouldn't say that i am a fan but i must admit that his commentaries do offer a refreshing outside perspective (may be it has something to do with our fascination for anything foren...be it a suncream lotion or recognition of our art and creative geniuses)...so may be Mr Chabra has that unfair advantage of being a Indian journalist on foreign shore....

So coming back to the point, recently post release of Bollywood blockbuster "Singham", Aseem literally tore apart the movie and genre of Bollywood masala films in his weekly column in Mumbai Mirror....which left me thinking why do critics use different standards for analysing a bollywood movies vs a hollywood flick......i am particularly intrigued by use of different lenses by critics while offering reviews for hollywood/bollywood productions...so what if action is over the top..so what if background score is at your face...we call it bollywood action...one might want to call it bollywood masala which also works fine...after all we dont always want to watch "Intelligent Cinema" ....also at the grassroots of cinema is an artist's desire to entertain and audience desire to get entertained....so i guess as a critic when you write about a movie, first question to be asked is Does it entertain? and yes its a tricky one as entertainment can mean different things to different people....so one should look at target audience....and undoubtedly Box office collection can answer the first question to a large extent...a week after Aseem's postmortem of "Singham"...Indian newspapers were flooded with reports of "Singham making it to TOP FIVE bollywood grossers of all time along with 3 Idiots, Ghajini, Dabang etc.."  so ultimately Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgan had the last laugh :)

 Doesn't Hollywood has a fair share of such so called "Action Masala" movies....what would you call a "Transformers series" or a "spider man"...not to mention mindless broomstick tricks series "Harry Potter"...which are given "cult movie" status by may be the same critics.These are Hollywood blockbusters and will remain so...because they have managed to strike a chord with a particular set of audience...if spiderman is larger than life so is Bajirao Singham (actually Singham is even better as he doesn't have to rely on borrowed spider web to beat up the bad guys :) ) ...so the message is its not always "Intellectual Value" of a movie a critic should be worried about ...look beyond and ASK is there an "Entertainment Value"...if yes then go ahead and don't be shy in giving stars....for who knows that could prove to be next top grosser of Bollywood...........