REALITY CHECK

Sample this: A chopper hovering metres above the ground and its blades trying to shred the hero into pieces when out of nowhere a jeep being driven by the hero’s sidekick at speeds much above the pice of junk is capable of ricochets off a boulder, crashes into the chopper and kills the enemy…sounds like a cartoon? It is actually a scene from a southern blockbuster flick, the name of which I cannot remember.

Southern India has a flourishing film industry in almost all the states just like Bollywood. Thousands of films are made there majorly small budget and B-grade movies. But if we talk about the mainstream cinema, the one thing that intrigues me the most is the high level of absurdity depicted in almost all the flicks.

I have come across some of the weirdest and funniest scenes in almost every read handful southern movie. The thing that intrigued me the most was in fact southern India has a higher literacy rate than the rest of the country; it houses the ‘Indian Silicon Valley’ in Bangalore, which means it produces some the sharpest minds. Still, their taste and preference in movies was perplexing.

Last week when Rajinikanth’s latest offering ‘Endhiran’ hit the theatres, it received an overwhelming response with movie halls being booked for weeks in advance. But more interestingly, it was surprising to see Rajini meeting his fans and followers sans any make-up or tantrums.

It was then that it occurred to me that no matter how surreal the actors, plot and sequences in southern movies are, the fact remains that fans as well as the stars down south are absolutely comfortable with their appearances. They are much closer to real life than the reel life… at least that is the case with Rajinikanth and his followers.

On the contrary in Bollywood a celebrity has to look young at any cost and any time. Bollywood stars nearing their 50’s whenever make a public appearance, colour their hair, shave their chest and put on layers of make-up to hide that saaging and wrinkling skin.

As a matter of fact many of the balding stars spent crores on special treatments like scalp hair replacements. Although playing characters 20 years younger their age with girls barely out of their teens is common to both, it is the Bollywood stars who have to do it with shaved chests and six pack abs.

So, the next time you try to make fun of a “Madrasi” film (I know people love to do it) just think about what you have read here.

CELEBRATING A SYMBOL OF SLAVERY???

“Great opening ceremony…proud to be a Delhiite”, “Delhi hosting the CWG games is a matter of pride”, “Yippeeee…the games have begun” these and many more were the messages, status updates and tweets that I read on the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games Sunday.

Evidently, there are people in the city who are delighted and supporting the games. But what perplexes me is that till a couple of weeks back everybody including the common man and media were bashing the games and the authorities for the sorry state of affairs.

Moreover, as the D-day approached many changed their stance suddenly. Out of the blue they were supporting the games and were all for it.

Is it that things are perfectly fine now? Everything the stadiums, roads, sidewalks, foot over bridges and so on are in place? Or were these people a part of a medical experiment which screws up their thinking process?

Perplexed I tried to find the reasons. The people of India as I have mentioned in my earlier blogs go by the principle of ‘Forgive and Forget’. I maybe going overboard but I suppose it is an outcome of having a short attention span like that of a toddler. Majority of them go by and believe what the media says which is also a gospel truth for them.

But honestly, the ‘Great Indian Middle Class’ which forms the majority of our society anyway does not have time to ponder over issues like the Organising Committee of the CWG going overbudget or allegations of a car rental scam in the baton relay in United Kingdom or for that matter a liquid soap dispenser priced at Rs. 187 but was bought for more than three times it value. It has got its own monthly budget to look after.

So, such sensational news leaves no impact as one ‘expose’ is replaced by another on prime time news shows across channels.

So, till the media was slamming the games everybody joined in but now as they began praising the stadia, games village, roads etc. it was only natural for the people to follow.

This worryingly also showcases the amount of power the media practices over people. Worrying because with power comes responsibility and we very well know how ‘responsible journalism’ is transforming our lives.

Then there are also those who argue that because of the games we got so many new flyovers, roads which were widened, beautiful sidewalks etc. I completely agree that Delhi has become beautiful. It has got facilities which might have taken a decade to complete had it not been for the games.

BUT AT WHAT COST?

No new roads, flyovers etc. can ever justify the total amount of money spend on the games which according to the official figure is 30,000 crores, lord knows what the unofficial figure is.

What are we happy and proud of? History has proved that whichever country hosted any such mega sporting event its economy was left in the lurch. Just like the Vancouver CWG held in 1954 in Canada, which was buried in such a huge debt post the event that it took them three decades to pay it off.

The only exception was the Loas Angeles Olympics of 1984, which through clever corporate sponsors and alliances managed to sail smoothly. This precisely was also needed in Delhi.

It was our taxes which formed a substantial amount of the total expenditure spent on the infrastructure and it will be once again us who will bear the brunt of the debt in the coming years.

Shockingly, the authorities are so darn lazy and unorganized that the games have opened today but still many of the roads, pavements, sidewalks, boundary walls have to be either built, painted or refurbished. Is it something to be proud of really?

A majority of the insane amount of money was spent on the one thing which would be of no use to the majority of Delhiites, the stadia. Will they be of any use post games? Or would the government convert them into ‘rainbaseras’ in the winters for the homeless? Absolutely not!

The stadiums would be locked down forever with the exception of hosting a few local sports tournaments or some government functions, just like the way it happened after the Asian Games of 1982, the biggest sporting event Delhi hosted before the CWG.

But even if all the above written facts are set aside for a second, the harsh reality is that the CWG is indeed a symbol of slavery. It forces down our throats the fact that we were once ruled by Britishers who did not see much difference between an Indian and a mongrel!

I can never be a part of or support any such symbol of slavery. Although, I am all for the spirit of sports and games and it is great to see athletes from different backgrounds mingling with each other, it also reinforces the fact that the ancestors of these very athletes were slaves some decades ago.

To top it all, the Queen (in our case the Prince) herself goes to the host city to open the event. Is not that a great gesture? Reliving the good old days when the English dictated the terms and the conquered countries obeyed them.

The CWG must be a trip down memory lane and must help boost the ego of an island nation which obviously is not as dynamic as it once used to be. Perhaps that is the reason behind the affixing of 'Great' before Britain... It immediately makes you an elitist. It must be ‘jolly good’ for them to tell their lads of their mighty past.

But in reality, the future belongs to emerging superpowers like India, China and Brazil. So, according to me Britain is as 'Great' as our western neighbour Afghanistan is 'Republic'.

Now some may call me a cynic after perusing this blog but then ours is a free country and everyone has a right to express his/her views.

Moreover, I would rather be a cynic than a pseudo-patriot fooling myself into taking pride in what can be termed as a symbol of nothing other than slavery.

P.S. It was delightful to see the Indian contingent entering Jawaharlal Nehru stadium with thousands of people rooting and cheering for them. Though watching on TV, the scenes easily managed to give me goosebumps. But again, I wished it was the Asian Games rather than the CWG and managed the way Los Angeles organised the Olympic.