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The firsts in Indian cinema
The roots of Indian cinema are almost as old as those of the medium itself. Within eight months of taking Paris by storm, the touring agents of Lumiere brothers' Cinematographer landed on the shores of India. On July 7, 1896, The Times of India carried an advertisement heralding the arrival of "the marvel of the century" and "wonder of the world". Four screenings took place that historic evening at Watson's Hotel in Bombay (now Mumbai). The entry fee was one Rupee. The show received an overwhelming response. Motion pictures were subsequently introduced in Calcutta towards the end of the year, and in Madras (now Chennai) in the next.
Stripping bare the riot masterminds
Ten years is a numerically compulsive occasion for retrospection. Both for Javed, Teesta and their team, and for those well-wishers like us who have seen them wage a lonely battle since 1993. The introspection bit has to be done by the rest.
The rule of the philistines
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• Originally published in M
• Originally published in M
One is amused and amazed at the fact that the terms ‘moral policing’ and ‘freedom of expression’ are much in the thick and thin of things these days. Is it because there is now an upsurge of conservative militancy? Or, is it because the world has not suddenly become a bad place; but that news travels faster now, and television and the Internet are there to blow things up? Look closely, you will know there is a little of both to it.
A decade or so back when Shiv Sena hoodlums plundered the offices of a small Mumbai-based newspaper called Mahanagar, there were few to take up the cudgels on its behalf. But today when the Star News office is pillaged by marauders of an unknown entity over what good journalists will not think of as earth-shaking news, it does have more people reviling the act. And yes, most would have seen the leftovers on television.
Officers and scoundrels
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Two drunk schmucks get horny in a bar, and try to fiddle around with a woman. (Commonplace behaviour, we might say, in a bar at least.) When they are asked to behave themselves, they turn violent. (Just as commonplace, we might agree too.) They are, thankfully, apprehended and detained at a nearby police station. And after a while, all hell breaks loose. For, a gang of their armed, pillaging, comrades land up at the police station and thrash the policemen black and blue.
The script might sound all-too-familiar; only that it isn’t from a sleazy Bollywood potboiler. This happened for real, and the schmucks in question are squeaky clean officers of the venerable Indian Army. Hmmm. Why am I not surprised?