Racism is well and alive in America

Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood superstar, was on his way to Chicago to attend the Independence Day celebrations. He was detained at the Newark Airport and questioned for about two hours before the Indian mission intervened and secured his release. Khan said he was “angry and humiliated”. The incident took place on Saturday and Shah Rukh Khan termed it as, “uncalled” for! This is another case of a ‘redneck’ getting away with murder. Barack Obama had an opportunity to stick-it –to-them earlier this year but he chickened-out. Sgt James Crowley, an authentic redneck, in Cambridge area, is not only a racist but prides himself for being an SOB! Obama should have got him investigated and served the interests of ordinary people from the unchecked abuses of US Police Departments. Instead, he calculated his vote bank of rednecks and pussyfoot the whole affair. Shah Rukh Khan has a similar chance to sue the booty of this racist at the Newark Airport for racial profiling and discrimination. There must be consequences for America and their racist officers. If someone tells me that this guy was just doing his job, my answer would be, “take a hike”. We know what racism is and we recognize it when we see it.

‘Jhatka’ culture of Indian entertainment industry!

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs started on June 5, 2009 with usual gaudy sets and adults talking to children as if they were retarded. These are 8-12 year old children, not 3 of 4 year olds. We don’t even talk to our not yet 3 year old grandson like that. What do you think these children would grow up to be – mentally retarded? Shri Subhash Chandra of Zee TV needs to bring some adult supervision to his lower-middle class entertainment programs. The last Sa Re Ga Ma Pa started with high quality talent in 2008, and despite clean-shaven boobs of Himesh Reshammiya the show was promising till the end when the ‘Ghatis’ of Shiv Sena took over the stage.

India is a country with exceptional talent in every single human endeavor, including entertainment industry and yet we have failed to evolve as a sophisticated audience. One of the reasons for that is a low expectation from our domestic entertainment industry. On one hand India has produced a film like ‘Cheeni Kum’ and then goes and churns out garbage like ‘Chandni Chowk to China’. This extreme contrast in tastes and perceptions is shocking for an emerging India. We have had 60 years to develop our tastes and sensibilities and yet we seem to equate a dehati ‘Tamasha’ to urban entertainment. The sets of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs 2009 are worst than a ‘Munni Bai Ka Kotha’. Indian media, specifically the entertainment media, ought to take professional help from qualified stage designers and pay them for their badly required services. We need qualified professionals behind quality productions!

Indian poverty is uplifting not demeaning

India does not hide its poverty like China or Pakistan. We just accept it the way it is. This does not mean we are happy about it. People like Amitabh Bachchan should stop being defensive about it. He belongs to the ‘Indian Elite’ that has no concept of real India. Poverty does not mean people are necessarily unhappy, they just hope for the best and wait for their chance! My wife and I visited 28 districts of Rajasthan in November-December of 2006. We planned to photograph the story of Rajasthan including its people. We shot over 45,000 photographs and not one picture was demeaning or depressing. We took hundreds of portraits and everyone gave us a bright smile irrespective of their material conditions. People of India are temperamentally happy and contented. In time they would work their way up like the current Indian Cricket team. Bachchan should chill-out and watch India Rising!

We have lived in the United States of America for more than 20 years and we have done extensive photography but it has been lifeless. There is no soul in America. We love to photograph in India, not the poverty but the colors and landscapes. It is so much fun to photograph Indian people, their dresses and features. There is so much variety and aesthetics in India that photography in the US is boring. Does it mean we want to show poverty of India or glamorize it? Nothing could be further from the truth, we are all Indians and we are so proud of India. How could we ever think of demeaning our own country? Having said that we also understand the India is a land of stark contradictions. You have a list of Forbes billionaires of India on one hand and you also have 300 million poor in the villages of India. You also have an emerging middle class of hundreds of millions of Indians at the same time.

We have not seen the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, as yet but the criticism that it glamorizes poverty is absurd. India is big enough to be featured in all its variety and form. The critics have shown their own guilt by their phony defense of India. Poor are not complaining in India, they understand that their time would come too!

‘Slumdog’ bites a piece of Hollywood’s ass!

Last evening the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ shocked the highly insecure crowd of Hollywood at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. It felt like an arranged marriage where everyone was uncomfortable! Nobody could pronounce A R Rehman properly and nobody came forward to correct it. Rehman himself was nervous which is understandable. He tried a joke; no one could understand his accent. The only person who appeared comfortable was Shahrukh Khan, but even he couldn’t get a laugh from the celebrity crowd. To me they all appeared shocked and embarrassed at their own ignorance. A low-budget film about India found popular support in the market!

Hollywood has been pretty good at displaying their liberal pretensions in full public view, but last evening they were completely taken by surprise and couldn’t hide their hypocrisy. The only other time such disappointment and a kind of anger was on display was when the film ‘Gandhi’ swept the ‘Oscar Awards’ in 1982. Steven Spielberg was openly contemptuous of the decision but the others hid their emotions and gave Sir Richard Attenborough a standing ovation. Spielberg’s ET was an obvious choice of the ‘Hollywood Biradari’ (community) and lots of people were visibly heart-broken. Something similar seems to have happened this time around!

The ‘Hollywood Biradari’ has also become pretty sophisticated in kissing the ‘black babies’ in Africa or wearing red ‘Buddhist Choga’ in the safe confines of Dharamsala, the Indian protectorate of Dalai Lama. But when it comes to genuine competition from a third-world country, the well-stuck Hollywood makeup falls apart and you can see envy, anger and frustration. Bollywood is not even in competition yet! As long as they have their David Dhawan and Abbas-Mustan making films or Salman Khan and Govinda acting in them, Hollywood is pretty safe.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa degenrated into a ‘Marathi Tamasha’

Last night, Saregamapa Challenge 2009 3rd Jan Episode48 was shocking! The only professional music program in India is also turning into a crude political vehicle. What else would qualify the ‘Marathi creep’, Raj Thackeray to be shown on the program, supporting a Marathi contestant? As if that was not enough, the entire Shiv Sena appeared this morning on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and supported Vaishali Made but not Yashita Yashpal Sharma, who was also born and brought up in Maharashtra! This entire Marathi Gang is anti-national and must be watched carefully!

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 3rd January 2009 Part 8