Book conversations: Bollywood A History

This book by Bose is to Hindi cinema what Corner of a Foreign Field by Ramachandra Guha is to Indian cricket.  Truly educational.  If you are a Hindi film buff, then this would be an indispensable guide to the film industry, its history, and its key players over the years.  

Notice how I am using the phrase, 'Hindi films' and not 'Bollywood' as used by the author, because I dislike that term.  It makes our films sound like a poor country cousin of Hollywood films.  Apparently, it was coined by a person who had nothing better to do, taking a cue from 'Tollywood', the Bengali film industry based in Tollygunge.  Since the term is so widely used, it is difficult now to change it to anything else.  Still, since Bombay is now Mumbai, shouldn't it really be Mollywood?

Coming back to the book, Bose takes a measured approach to what is essentially a mammoth task of deciphering the history of the film industry, given the difficulty in getting accurate information about the films and their makers.  He starts off with the earliest part; the time when there was neither colour nor sound in our films, having been brought into the country by the pioneering European inventors.  

Despite challenges; such as lack of infrastructure or technology, lack of support from government or society, the travails of those who took the pains to improve the medium is well enumerated.  

We learn about the making of, and inside stories of some of the iconic films at each stage of film development; Alam Ara, Awara, Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay and Lagaan.  We get to know about the men behind these efforts; the early Parsi contingent, Dadasaheb Phalke, V Shantaram, K Asif, Mehboob Khan, the Chopras, Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Rakesh Roshan and Karan Johar.  

At the same time, we also learn about the major stars, starting from the very first superstar; K L Saigal, to the next one, Ashok Kumar, on to Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, and the three Khans.  

Bose then introduces us to the other characters of film world, the musicians, comedians and singers.  As expected Lata Mangeshkar's story is given prominence.  The part about Kishore Kumar's eccentricity evokes mirth.

In keeping with the male dominated status of the film industry, which is acknowledged even by Kareena Kapoor when Bose goes to interview her in her 'vanity van', the heroines hardly get a mention.  They only figure in the affairs that the men indulge in, as in, Dilip Kumar-Madhubala, Raj Kapoor-Nargis, Dev Anand-Suraiya, Guru Dutt-Waheeda Rehman, Dharmendra-Jeetendra-Sanjeev Kumar-Hema Malini, and Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bhaduri-Parveen Babi-Rekha.  There is hardly any information about Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit - a sacrifice that was probably essential due to Bose's task of doing justice to such a gargantuan topic.

There are some hilarious moments from the above stories, but Bose also combines them with the social and political events of the time; particularly the Emergency and its effect on cinema, as well as the views of prominent film makers such as Shyam Benegal.  But if you are perceptive, you can glean a streak of mental illness in some of the stories; Guru Dutt: depression and/or suicide, Parveen Babi: schizophrenia, and Kishore Kumar: mania/bipolar disorder. 

There are also a number of flaws; spelling errors - especially of the film names, a few grammatical errors (probably an oversight), and one factual error: Kunal Kapoor who has acted in Rang De Basanti is said to be Shashi Kapoor's son (Shashi Kapoor does have a son of that name, but the one in this film is his namesake from a modelling background).

On the whole this is a light, racy read; very interesting if you are a film fan.  

If you have time, you can even read it without an interval!

Image source: https://www.mihirbose.com/index.php/books/history-and-biography/bollywood-a-history/

Child abuse in Bengaluru school

The Udaya Vani, a Kannada daily broadsheet carried The Sun-like headline today: 

IN 2013 THERE WERE 270 CASES OF RAPE OF CHILDREN!

This was in the wake of yet another case of child abuse that garnered the headlines in Bangalore: of the school staff abusing a girl child in the school premises.

Recently I was taken aback to hear what my daughter was reading out from her moral science book: 'we should always respect and obey our principal and teachers as what they say and do is always for our good'!

Sorry, I beg to differ.  There have been innumerable cases of the very same principal or teacher abusing a hapless child, usually in our government schools, or as we see in this case, even in the middle of the software capital of India.  

Actually why should we be surprised?  Why do we need sensationalist headlines to remind us that child abuse of all forms is rampant within our society.  Why do we need a film star to tell us that our children are being abused in schools, homes and orphanages?  

We are still totally ignorant or not bothered about this crime which can alter the very fabric of future society.

That the school - Vibgyor High School, no less - tried to hide the issue and even said that it was not responsible for what has happened would serve to show the attitude we have towards this most heinous of crimes: that one can totally wash one's hands of the issue by giving a trivial excuse. The school's in this case was that they had asked the parents to sign an agreement that the school would not be held responsible if anything untoward should happen to the child.  

Really?  Then who should be held responsible?

Consider this particular incident: it occurred within the school, the child was punished and sent to a dark room, two men - staff of the school - then assaulted the child in darkness, the school did not inform the police or parents - it was only when the child fell ill that the matter came to light. 

Isn't it known that young children when distressed react in a way which is different from others.  If the perpetrator threatens the child with consequences, would the child reveal anything to anybody?  Isn't it the case that child rapists and paedophiles congregate in areas where their victims can be easily targeted; like schools and orphanages?

Whose responsibility is it then to make sure, one - the matter comes to light and the child gets the attention that it deserves, and two - that this would never happen again?

Would the principal of the school say the same thing if a child of his family were to meet a similar fate?  Further,

• What background check has this school, or any school for that matter done on its staff?  
• What background check have you done on those you entrust your children with - ayahs, school bus drivers, domestic aides, helpers, and yes, relatives too - because in a huge number of cases, the culprit is well known to the family. 
• When was the last time you told your child what a 'bad touch' is?  Or how to report any incident of abuse to you?
• What special arrangement do we have in place - organisational or legislative - to make sure that 'the future of our country' are not abused?

With the child protection act, we are still not sure if any case of abuse should be mandatorily reported to police or not.  

Even families of victims hesitate to report cases as the 'family honour' would be affected by this.  For them the uncle's or family friend's honour is more important than the security of the child.

There should be absolutely no compromise on child safety and happiness.  Obviously a radical change is in order - hopefully one involving parents, NGOs, legislative agencies, educators, and the community as a whole.  

But the need of the hour is vigilance: raise awareness about this issue and constantly monitor for any signs of abuse.

In this case, one hopes the school loses its licence and the perpetrators are given their deserving punishment in time.

Image source: https://www.shoutoutuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/o-CHILD-ABUSE-facebook.jpg

Book conversations: Untouchable

This may be an old one, but it is still relevant today.  Mulk Raj Anand, the distinguished writer of yore who wrote on dalit issues gives us the fictional tale of Bakha, a toilet cleaner in pre-Independence India.  

We are taken through a day in his life - a day that is fraught with unusual goings on, which in turn serve to highlight the plight of scavenging outcastes, the tension that exists between upper and lower castes of those days, and some possible solutions for the problem.

There is a memorable description of how his sister has to wait for a passing brahmin to draw water from the well that she is not allowed to venture close to it lest she should defile it, and how she has to fight other dalits waiting to get his favour similarly.  Further, Bakha gets assaulted during the day for running into a higher caste man, and has to endure his sister being molested by a brahmin priest in the temple.

Solutions are offered to him in the form of possible conversion to Christianity by a 'sympathetic' missionary.  Thankfully our hero does not fall prey to these machinations, as his plight would have continued to remain the same even after conversion, as we have seen that discrimination and groupism exist in this very religion to date. 

Next, he comes across Gandhiji, who has arrived to his town to deliver his speech denouncing untouchability and to declare that all Indians are equal.  At the same venue, he overhears a conversation between two eminent personalities attending the speech, whose identities are not revealed, but one of them talks about the flush commode, which will eliminate the need for manually emptying night soil.  

While these solutions are but options offered to the suffering dalit masses of those times, it is sad to see that each of these three options still apply to the existing world.  

Conversion is very much rampant, as it seeks as many wretched souls as possible to accept the 'true' path, ostensibly to give them a better life, but ends up dividing the society through its intolerant approach.  

We still need to change our attitudes, as Gandhiji exhorted us to do, especially in smaller towns and villages where khaps, caste politicians and vested interests still rule roost.  Even in today's so called metropolitan cities, is it not a common practice to bathe after having had your hair cut at the barber's?  I was even admonished if I touched anything at home after a hair cut, but once I found out the real reason behind this, I broke this taboo by making sure I touched just about everything in the house, including people.

Technology, no doubt, has improved.  Yes, we do have flush toilets, we even have Italian and German made commodes and shower capsules.  But where does all the night soil go?  Down the drain, through the sewerage system, and into a nearby river or stream.  We still have manholes that need clearing once blocked, and for this, we still have the corporation employed scavengers.  They still do not have any protective gear as they go about doing this, and they still operate like this:

We have a lot more to do to make our living conditions change for the better.

So 'watch out for opportunists, treat everyone equally, and help scavengers get their basic rights', would be the take home message for me from this book, and we have to thank Mulk Raj Anand for this.


Image sources: 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/Untouchable_Cover.jpg/220px-Untouchable_Cover.jpg

http://counterview1.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/manhole-cleaners-in-chennai-unprotected-like-elsewhere-in-india1.jpg

Visit to Dharmaraya Swamy Temple

There is much history associated with this temple.  Pre-dating even Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bangalore - or Bengaluru from Bendakaluru - as it is colloquially known, this temple was supposed to have been used by him as a central reference point for erecting his four famous pillars marking the extent of the city.  

However it is most well known for its other association - the Bengaluru Karaga Festival.  Apparently this dates back to the days of the Mahabharata, according to the press release by the official Karaga website.  Draupadi, having fallen down during the Swargarohana episode of the Mahabharata, was assaulted by Timirasura.  When she prayed to Lord Krishna, as she did during the vastrapaharana episode, Krishna this time advised her to realise her own power - as that of Adi Shakti.  Having realised this, she created an army which helped her in destroying the asura.

After this, not knowing what to do, her sons from the army asked her what they should be doing in the future.  She ordered them to strive to maintain the honour of women, the cow Kamadhenu, Mother Nature, and to promote oneness in the society.  Further she also indicated that during the momentous occasion of the killing of the asura, which coincides with the Chaitra Pournima period, she would descend to bless her children.  This is celebrated every year as the Karaga festival during what is also considered to be the first Navaratri of the calendar year.

Due to this legend/history associated with the temple, and also due to the fact that this is probably the only temple where the Pandavas and their consort occupy the sanctum sanctorum, while the Gods are arrayed around the main temple, I grabbed this opportunity to visit this landmark when I had some spare time.  

Besides, the temple and its main event, Karaga, are amazing symbols of communal harmony: the Thigalas who consider Draupadi as their main deity speak a combination of Tamil and Kannada, and the Karaga procession itself briefly stops at the Tawakkal Mastan Baba dargah in he neighbouring Cottonpet.

It is actually well connected by buses - the Corporation stop is a walking distance away from the site of the temple.  The area, called Thigalarpet, after the Thigalas, is a small one with narrow lanes.

Right at the beginning you encounter two temples - Parvathi temple with Shivling, Ganesha and Shirdiwale Sai Baba, and the Satyanarayana temple with Hanuman - on each side of the main street leading to the Dharmaraya temple.  It being a Thursday, Sai Baba pooja was going on in the Parvathi temple.

I reached there at about 8:30 am, and had the whole main temple to myself, if you leave out a few stragglers.  The main temple is flanked by two smaller ones: one for Ganesha on the left, and another for Muthyalamma on the right.  The sanctum houses the main deities who can be viewed through a rather narrow door, which obstructs the view of the deities on the extremes.  

Even though it is named after Dharmaraya - Yudhisthira, Draupadi occupies the pride of place, and is flanked on either side by Yudhisthira and a mustachioed Bheema with his gadha - mace, a bit behind her by Arjuna and Krishna, and fully behind by the Madri twins - Nakula and Sahadeva.  All in all it is an impressive sight, and a very unique one; human-gods elevated to the status of godhood, much in keeping with the Vedantic principle of oneness and the omnipresence of Brahman - the formless God.

A priest was setting out the associated brass figures, presumably used during the Karaga procession, in between attending to visitors.  He kindly permitted me to take a few pictures. 

I went around the sanctum in a form of a pradakshina, but mainly to click pictures of the scenes depicted on the walls.  Both the sanctum and the murals are impressively carved, and those interested in temple architecture would be delighted to see them.

The Muthyalamma temple has a woman priest - another unique feature, although she did not offer me the aarti or teertha when I went there, making me wonder if she was indeed the priest.  The Ganesh temple on the left was closed, but the deity was still visible, with school going children crossing the temple courtyard bowing their head before Him as they passed.  

Opposite to the main entrance is an ashwath katta - an area with a tree and an image of the Nagadevta, who had been anointed with milk.  As I approached, I startled a huge rat which was blissfully partaking of the sweet milk offering, quite unmindful of the irony - stealing milk from the snake god who is its natural enemy!  But then again, they do peacefully co-exist with Ganesha!

It was a very good experience over all, one which I highly recommend you undertake.  If you don't mind the crowds, then visiting the area during the Karaga festival would be a rare treat.

Yet another place of spiritual importance in this sacred land of ours, Bharata.

For further information consider these links:

1. http://www.bengalurukaraga.com (the official Bengaluru Karaga website)
2. https://www.flickr.com/photos/122366131@N02/13637919315/in/photostream (from the Karaga website)

Thanks to the Bengaluru Karaga organizers for sharing this post on their Facebook page in August 2014.

     

Film conversations: Oggarane

Okay, it's been ages since I have seen a Kannada movie; probably decades.  Not because there is a dearth of Kannada releases in theatres, but because of the dearth in quality.  

But this one came with a huge reputation and good word of mouth; I was enticed.  

Apparently it is a remake of a Malayalam film, but it is more like Cheeni Kum meets Beladingala Baale; the former was about old age romance in the backdrop of cooking, which this film is, and the latter - a Kannada film - had a young female fan expressing her love over the phone to an ageing chess player, which this film resembles to a certain extent.    

I am not entirely sure about the title though - Oggarane = thadka, or the final spicy seasoning which many Indian foods have - suggests that one of the principal characters is a cook.  But the cook is a supporting actor; the main character is a foodie, and there is not a lot of oggarane going on!  In fact, the lead characters share a recipe of a triple layer cake in the middle of the film!  

But there is a lot of cooking going on in the film, and the title track and sequence are about people downing eatables in various settings, all of which form a culinary backdrop to what's actually cooking in the main story - a mature love story.

There is a subplot going on about the lead character involving himself in a adivasi - a tribal guy's secret Ayurvedic formula, which some cronies want very badly.  What this has to do with the main story is mystifying, as this plot ends abruptly towards the latter half of the movie and doesn't even figure in the climax.  

There are some good moments though; such as the lead pair's trials and tribulations related to a lonely, partner-less existence, a gay person lamenting about having to remain single, etc.  The support cast is excellent, although the leading lady's associate, played by Urvashi, is supposed to belong to a Malayali Christian community, but has a distinctly Tamil accent.

Leave out the trivialities, and you have a fine film, quite distinct from the usual slam-bang Kannada films.  And we have to thank Prakash Rai - yes, it is RAI - not Raj! - for bringing this to us through his production house.  

Rai's political leanings may be unfortunate, but - I believe in giving credit where it is due - his acting abilities are first-rate.  Oggarane is his show all the way, as the camera celebrates his awesome screen presence and towering performance.  

It is refreshing to see him in a 'normal' role; quite a relief from the stereotyped Hindi film badman roles that he has been essaying by the dozen.  

Image source: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bjkx0KtCYAAjOHM.jpg:medium