Anticipation for Shah Rukh Khan’s “Raees” had been building up steadily ever since the release of the first teaser in July 2015, and exploded with the release of the official trailer late last year. SRK’s turn as a Gujarati gangster seemed to hearken back to the violent, gritty, and often absurd Bollywood crime dramas of yore, and promised to be a return to more crowd-pleasing fare for the superstar following 2016’s somewhat more subdued “Fan”. The film also got embroiled in its fair share of controversy, primarily due to the presence of Pakistani actor Mahira Khan (who plays the female lead).

The wait is finally over, and if the overwhelming praise for the film on Twitter is anything to go by, it may just have been worth it – if only for the performances of the leads. The Rahul Dholakia directed film released today, on the same day as Hrithik Roshan vehicle “Kaabil”, and while the latter film has also garnered a strong reception, there’s little doubt which superstar is coming out on top in this fight – at least on Twitter.

Take a look:

Critics enjoyed the nostalgia trip, as well as the performances:

#Raees is a full 70s 80s ka Bachchan wala mass entertainer with style, @iamsrk & @Nawazuddin_S excel @TheQuint

— Suresh Mathew (@Suresh_Mathew_) January 24, 2017

#Raees calls for a rewatch at Gaiety. @iamsrk makes u want to whistle & shout! @FarOutAkhtar @ritesh_sid @rahuldholakia throughly enjoyed it

— Saiyami Kher (@SaiyamiKher) January 25, 2017

#Raees Review- This movie is best Gangster drama film after Once upon a time in mumbai & equally good as OUTM . I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Must watch

— Sumit kadel (@KadelSumit) January 25, 2017

Especially the performances:

#Raees totally lives up to what it promised: @iamsrk in top form supported strongly by @Mdzeeshanayyub & an electric @Nawazuddin_S

— Udita Jhunjhunwala (@UditaJ) January 24, 2017

#Raees movie review: SRK is sensational. There’s no stopping this one. An outright winner. Just don’t miss it! Link: https://t.co/qXs4liltKQ pic.twitter.com/Eh9BhMTNOg

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) January 24, 2017

@iamsrk Congratulations on #Raees.. Awesome performance.. Continuous whistling in theatre. First day first show..

— Sapna Kashyap (@imsk55555) January 25, 2017

#Raees was awesome. Balance of action, drama and romance. Career Best Performance of @iamsrk. Must watch. @RedChilliesEnt

— SOUMYA SAHA (@SoumyaSaha93) January 25, 2017

@iamsrk just watched #Raees fullon entertainment.Grt performance in negative role.@Nawazuddin_S and @TheMahiraKhan superb acting.#RaeesDay

— Nihar Ranjan Mohanty (@nihar234) January 25, 2017

Fearless performances & brilliant dialogues. @iamsrk ur a true combo of dimag & daring@Nawazuddin_S yet again remarkable performance.#Raees

— Abdul Naeem (@iamnaeemm) January 25, 2017

#raees srk has author backed role anyway. But nawaz’s role is nothing on-paper…yet kills it. His entry scene is a killer.

— Od (@odshek) January 25, 2017

Of course, not everyone was as enthusiastic:

Hats off to u sir @iamsrk for u brilliant performance in #Raees
But the main prob.. is #Mahira & end of the movie…3*/5

— sanjay kumar (@imSanJai17) January 25, 2017

Guru on steroids. American Gangster on Prozac. Narcos lite. Scarface scrambled. #Raees

— Tareque Laskar (@tarequelaskar) January 25, 2017

#Raees is not worst as Happy New Year or Dilwale but it’s not amazing either. Miss old @iamsrk & his wonderful movies.

— Alia’s Omkar (@TheOmkarSethi) January 25, 2017

#Raees But later on the film starts to dip in form in 3rd act. Emotional scenes hav been poorly executed leading up to a rather bland climax

— Od (@odshek) January 25, 2017

#kabil has already recieved decent reviews, same is also expected from #Raees .Both will earn money till sunday,then both will fall flat.

— DRP (@imdrp) January 25, 2017

And this Twitter user raised a disturbing and valid point:

Almost no mention of @TheMahiraKhan in the reviews of #Raees Unfair Unprofessional. work will speak for itself, Mahira! Chins up! @iamsrk

— Shazia Majid (@ShaziaSarwar) January 25, 2017

Given the controversy leading up to the film, one wonders what this signifies.

The post ‘Raees’ Review: SRK Does SRK, Twitter Sings Praise appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

SPOILER ALERT

Yes, this is yet another article about the film which is on a spree at the Golden Globes this year. Let me warn you that it is going to be highly biased and perhaps will also let out a spoiler. The ‘city of stars’ that it created in my head is going to last for a long, long time.

For me, the movie was so much more than just an example of fine cinema. It is about two lovers and their journey to achieve what they want out of life. But more than this, the film changed the definition of a ‘happy ending’ for most people. I had grown up thinking that a happy ending is where you marry the one you love, have a family and grow old together. This film taught me that every person can have their own happy ending. Life isn’t made out of one thing ever. It comprises of people, things, music, art and journeys. Today, we have evolved into beings who can mentally be with another person even when they are far away from us. Love isn’t supposed to pull you down. True love should make you rise.

The film doesn’t romanticise the journey of struggling artists. It shows us the rejection, frustration and heartbreak that one has to go through to achieve what one truly wants out of life. But the poignancy with which it captures these emotions helped me develop a heartfelt connection with it. It is difficult to follow what you want out of life because there is a high probability that you might not get it. The film celebrates this journey of trials and tribulations.

I read somewhere that in this world there are two types of love. One is from the heart and mind where you live, laugh, love and breathe with the other person. You make a life together, and if you’re fortunate enough, you die with each other. The other and the one I’d personally like to believe in, is the one where destiny brings you together and changes your life. You might not live with that person forever or speak everyday, but that person changes your life forever. There is no concept of falling in and out of love with that person because it was always meant to be.

I thank the director and writers of “La La Land” for finally showing that people and love are never unidimensional. People have desires and facets to them. They have a purpose. This is why love should never come in the way, because true love, is actually meant to last forever.

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Image source: La La Land/Facebook Page

The post How ‘La La Land’ Shows Love In A Light We Have Rarely Seen Before appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

We, as a country, are so irrevocably adamant, where notions of belongingness and cultural well-being are considered, that anything that even minutely tries to disrupt or question our stagnated thought process – we begin to demean that entity.

Nonetheless, path-breakers have it in them, to deal with the bitterness and take it in their stride to accomplish what they aspire to achieve in the domain of creative satisfaction.

How, you may ask. Anurag Kashyap spanned the shooting of Gulaal in the course of 6 years, because he could only shoot during Diwali, when the entire nation was lit up. He went ahead and did that because he was of the belief that, nobody owed it to him, and if he wanted to make a film like that, he is the only person who could do it.

Despite the fact that his films were being lauded by the world, they weren’t selling, or even releasing in India. However, his love for film making never wavered. He didn’t play the blame game, he didn’t become a part of the, what he calls the ‘intellectual terrorists’ community.

Kashyap makes rebellion sound worthwhile in his Josh Talk , because he decided to rebel against the idea of following the path of monotony.

Discover more stories like Anurag’s here.

The post How An Outsider (Anurag Kashyap) Broke Into Bollywood appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Kaabil is an exceptional love story of two people with a visual impairment. Two independent singles accustomed to living with their disability and reluctant to get married. They have accepted that people with sight do not want a partner with impairment. When friends force them to meet, they wonder if they can find happiness together.

“Can two negatives make a positive?” This Is what the cheerful, effervescent pianist Supriya asks voice-over artist Rohan Bhatnagar. He intrigues the audience when he says he is willing to try.

When Rohan and Supriya come together they create a magical love that is no different from the love of people with sight. Rohan shows that the most beautiful thing a lover can bring to his beloved’s life is the comfort and confidence to try things she never thought she could. Dancing the salsa in perfect harmony with each other and with a large group of dancers. Feeling the thrill of insane rides in an amusement park, the joy of blowing soap bubbles and feeling them burst on your face.

Without any complex regarding their impairment, they crack jokes and call their relationship ‘love at first sight’.
Supriya believes in dreams she was afraid to dream of before. When they are separated in the mall, one feels the anxiety and pain of their separation. Rohan seeks her out and he proves to her that they belong together. They decide to get married. One is drawn to the world of these two innocent people, enjoying marital bliss. To feel what is denied to them by the society – acceptance and love.

It is then the serpent is introduced into the blissful world of Adam and Eve. A rogue by the name of Amit Shellar (Rohit Roy) and his ally Wasim (Sahidur Rahman). Amit is the brother of the local corporator, Madhavrao Shellar (Ronit Roy).

Amit, the quintessential neighbourhood bad boy continuously picks on Rohan and his beautiful wife. The two accomplices keep teasing them and calling them “andha-andhi” because it gives them a kick. Amit’s repulsive remark, “Pyar andha hota hai suna tha, par andho ko bhi pyar hota hai pehli baar dekh raha hoon,” (I had heard before that love is blind, but I’m seeing for the first time that blind people can be in love.) defines the person he is. He teases Supriya and pays no heed to Rohan’s warning, “Kamzor mat samajh!” because he thinks, “What can a blind man do?”

The two louts find an opportunity and rape Supriya. Rohan’s world is plunged into darkness. Corrupt police officers, played by Narendra Jha and Girish Kulkarni, drag out the investigation.

The humiliation gets too much to bear. Rohan becomes withdrawn and frustrated with his helplessness. The drunk on power corporator Madhavrao Shellar threatens Rohan to forget everything.

One day he returns home and finds Supriya dead, not able to take the atrocities of the two bullies any longer.

The deeper the love, the bigger void it creates. Rohan Bhatnagar, a smiling, resilient, blind man transforms into a vindictive nemesis after Amit and Wasim destroy his happy marriage. Rohan finds the apathetic policemen still play blind man’s buff over his dead wife’s case. They leave him with no choice but to take the law into his own hands. Though we have stellar performers in the Roy brothers, Rohit and Ronit, it is the hero, Hrithik, who gets the loudest applause. He is vulnerable as a lover and ruthless as an assassin.

Rohan begins to live with a death wish for vengeance. How he, a man with visual impairment, uses his senses to plot and execute revenge is the rest of the story of Kaabil.

The film shifts gears; the tragedy turns to a crime thriller. Watching Rohan devise methods to beat his enemies at their game evokes awe. One feels goosebumps and adrenaline rush at the sequences carefully designed by director Sanjay Gupta and writer Vijay Kumar Mishra.

Kaabil is a movie that forces you to think about the power of love amongst persons with disability.

How it elevates them and fills gaps. Once snatched away, it also pushes them from the dizzy heights into an abyss. An abyss of darkness.

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Image source: YouTube

Written by Rakhi Jain and first published on Bonobology.com

The post Kaabil Review: Love Beyond Ability appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

गुजरात के शराब माफिया अब्दुल लतीफ़ से प्रेरित फिल्म ‘रईस’ हाल के दिनों की सबसे प्रतीक्षित फ़िल्मों में से एक है। शाहरूख खान की पॉपुलर छवि ने इसे और भी रुचिकर बना दिया है। अरसे बाद अपनी ही एक बॉक्स आफिस अपील को ज़िंदा करने के दिशा में प्रयास है यह। गुजरात की पृष्ठभूमि पर आधारित अपनी किस्म की फिल्म बन उभरी है रईस। जिस प्रदेश में शराब के लिए कोई जगह नहीं रही, वहीं से अब्दुल लतीफ़ निकल कर आया। दरअसल पाबंदी प्रतिरोध की ज़मीन तैयार करती है। मामला व्यापार का हो तो रईस किस्म के लोग निकल आते हैं। पाबंदी को झुठलाकर बाज़ार कायम रहता है। रईस को मां ने बताया था कि कोई धंधा छोटा नहीं होता,और धंधे से बड़ा धर्म नहीं होता…इसी उसूल को लेकर वो अपने धंधे का बेताज बादशाह बन जाता है।

राजनीति,अपराध एवं व्यापार सहयोगी होते हुए भी एक दूसरे के खून के प्यासे हो सकते हैं। यहां दोस्ती व दुश्मनी हमेशा के लिए नहीं बनती। राहुल ढोलकिया ने इस बात को रेखांकित करते हुए कहानी गढ़ी है। व्यवस्था के खिलाफ़ खड़ा रईस का धंधा बुरा होकर भी कहीं न कहीं भला है। रईस मौहल्ले का रॉबिनहुड था, उसके धंधे से उसके लोगों का कोई नुकसान नहीं हो रहा था। सत्तर-अस्सी के दशक की फ़िल्मों में अक्सर खलनायक जहरीली शराब का ठेका चलाया करता था, रईस में उस ग्रे एरिया से बचा गया है। उसे उसूलों वाला व्यापारी दिखाया गया है, उसूलों के लिए जान लेने वाला और देने वाला था रईस।

फिल्म की कथा भले ही रूटीन समझ आए लेकिन किरदार ‘रईस’ सामान्य नहीं है। एक अरसे बाद सिनेमा के परदे पर कोई मुस्लिम प्रोटैग्निस्ट इस अंदाज़ में नज़र आया है, एक मियां भाई किस्म की इमेज आजकल केन्द्र में नहीं है। मुस्लिम किरदार खलनायक तो होते हैं लेकिन नायक छवि में नहीं, रईस उस कमी को पूरा करने की कोशिश सी नज़र आती है। हालिया फिल्म ‘सुल्तान ‘में नायक की मुस्लिम छवि पर उतना जोर नहीं दिया गया, जो कहानी के हिसाब से सराहनीय भी था। शाहरूख की मुस्लिम इमेज किरदार व कहानी के अनुरूप है। मुहल्ला बचाते-बचाते अंजाने में शहर जला देने पर रईस का अपने को पुलिस एनकाउंटर के हवाले कर देना…हक़ था।

रईस के किरदार की परतें उसे रोचक एंगल देती हैं लेकिन सिर्फ़ शाहरूख ही फिल्म की खासियत नहीं हैं, नवाज़ ने उन्हें अच्छी टक्कर दी है। कुछ एक डायलॉग्स में वो आगे निकल आए हैं, दोस्त सादिक़ की भूमिका (जीशान अय्यूब) को नज़रअंदाज़ नहीं किया जा सकता। दोस्ती की परत और गहरी होती तो मज़ा आ जाता। किरदारों का मजबूत व गहरा होना अंततः कहानी के लिए ही लाभकार होता है। मूसा के किरदार में नरेंद्र झा निराश नहीं करते, जितनी बार भी वो स्क्रीन पर नज़र आए चरित्र के अनुरूप थे। लव इंट्रेस्ट आशिया (महिरा खान) फिल्म को लव एंगल देने तक सीमित रखी गई हैं। आशिया को कहानी में लाने में लेट कर दिया गया है, नतीजा उनके हिस्से ज़्यादा नहीं आया।

एक्शन पैक्ड फिल्म को पोएटिक एंड देने में रईस हालांकि कामयाब है… धंधा करता हूं, धर्म का धंधा नहीं करता… बेगुनाहों को मार कर जन्नत नसीब नहीं होती… मेरे खून के अफ़सोस के साथ जी लोगे मजूमदार साहेब… ये डायलॉग्स देर तक असर करते हैं। फिल्म की ताकत फिल्म ख़त्म हो जाने बाद समझ आती है, घर लौट कर समझ आती है। हालांकि इन सब के बावजूद नजरअंदाज़ नहीं होता कि पूर्ण शराबबंदी वाले राज्य गुजरात में मुसलमानों ने अवैध शराब का व्यापार किया। फिल्म में दिखाया गया कि गुजरात के शराब व्यापार के पीछे मुसलमानो का हाथ था। इस इल्जामपोशी से बचा जा सकता था? एक तरह से मुस्लिम छवि को नुकसान भी पहुंचा है इस फिल्म से।

The post अरसे बाद किसी मुस्लिम प्रोटैग्निस्ट को दिखाता है रईस appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

‘Social skills’ are the ‘foundation’ of every single ‘relationship’ that you have in your life – it pertains to your ‘friends’, ‘family’, your ‘boss’, ‘coworkers’, ‘acquaintances’ and ‘everyone in between’.

Sadly, it seems that these days, people lack ‘basic foundations’ – from having ‘small talk’ with the people around them, to staying ‘connected’ long enough with someone to develop a ‘meaningful friendship’.

In my last article, “The Dishonesty In Today’s Dating World”, I touched on some fairly ‘scary’ thoughts about where ‘social media’ is heading – and why it’s time for people to see the truth behind these ‘(anti) social networks’.

When was the last time you talked to a stranger at a party, or a social event? Were you greeted with ‘warmth’, or a ‘feeling’ that someone was trying to get back into their ‘Instagram-ing’ or ‘Facebook-ing’, rather than having a conversation? It is more than likely that it was the latter. It’s a problem that’s becoming more prevalent today, and it is quite alarming that it’s not being taken as seriously as it should be.

Isn’t it just a little obnoxious that everyone always has so little time, yet spend hours looking through photos of other people, and peeping into their personal lives?

In fact, there’s actual evidence out there that social media is likely to make us more prone to ‘depression’, and also make us more ‘anti-social’ and ‘unhappier’ in general.

So what’s the solution?

It’s not easy to give a solution when so few people really understand the impact that social media has on our brains – on literally a ‘physiological’, as well as ’emotional’ level. That’s right – social media is quite literally a ‘drug’ that produces the same kinds of ‘reactions’ (releasing ‘dopamine’, the ‘feel-good chemical’) in our brains – thereby making us more dependent on it for our ‘happiness’.

However, if anyone is really willing to pay attention – and wishes to develop their ‘social skills’ – how about putting the phone down for a minute, and just having a ‘small chat’ with someone at the grocery store? Or making plans to ‘catch’ up with old friends? Or even just ‘consciously turning off’ Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or whatever other social network you use and simply ‘pay attention’ to the people around you?

It can really be such a ‘simple’, yet ‘rewarding’ thing to do – who knew having an ‘actual conversation’ could be so ‘interesting’? There is also the ‘skill’ part about it – this takes time to develop. As a real estate agent in the ‘real world’, developing ‘charisma’, ‘personal magnetism’, and ‘confidence’ was a huge ‘change’ that I pursued relentlessly. But it is a ‘real life skill’ that has paid for itself many times over – considering I was such a shy child all throughout high school.

But if I could advise a ‘general rule’ to start applying in your everyday life immediately – it’s to not just count the minutes until you can check your notifications again. Make it a goal to be the ‘most interesting person’ in the room!

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Image Source: Nareku/You Tube

The post Social Skills, And Why They Should Be A Priority In Your Life appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

अगर आप पिछले दस सालों की भोजपुरी फिल्में देखें तो एक जैसी ही नज़र आएंगी। जैसे भोजपुरी फिल्म का नायक कोई ‘देहाती मूर्ख’ जैसा होगा, आइटम साँग गाएगा, शहरी हो जाएगा, हीरोइन खुश हो जाएगी वगैरह वगैरह। ऐसे ही बॉलीवुड की डॉन-आधारित फिल्मों का भी इतिहास देखें तो फॉर्मूला ही सनातन सत्य है। अमिताभ बच्चन से लेकर अजय देवगन से लेकर शाहरुख खान तक सब इस फॉर्मूले के आगे कठपुतलियां हैं। कौन कब और किस नाम से ‘रिलीज़’ होगा, कोई नहीं जानता। और अगर फिल्म में शाहरूख हैं तो ये फॉर्मूला भी एमडीएच मसाले में लिपटा होगा। लेख के अगले हिस्सों में स्वादानुसार इसका विवरण मिलेगा।

डियर ज़िंदगी’ के बाद अगर आप शाहरुख खान से बहुत ज़्यादा उम्मीदें लगाए बैठे थे तो आप अत्यंत भोले दर्शक हैं। शाहरूख इस फिल्म में वही करते नज़र आते हैं जो हर दौर में हिट होने के लिए नौसिखिए लोग करते रहे हैं। फिर 50 साल के बाद शाहरूख को ऐसा करने की ज़रूरत क्यूं पड़ी, ख़ुदा जाने! एक ऐसा डॉन जो मरते-मरते भी तीन-चार बेस्टसेलर डायलॉग मारकर जाएगा और फिल्म इंडस्ट्री पर एहसान कर जाएगा।

कहते हैं कि ‘रईस’ गुजरात के बड़े डॉन अब्दुल लतीफ की असली कहानी पर आधारित है। गुजरात में क़रीब दो दशक पहले जिस तरह बीजेपी ने कुर्सी हथियाई, उसमें वहां के वांटेड गुंडों को शरण देने में उस वक्त के मुख्यमंत्री की चमचई और मौकापरस्ती ही फिल्म का सबसे साहसी कदम है। इसके अलावा आदि से अंत तक बस शाहरुख ही शाहरुख है।

बॉलीवुड की फिल्म का नायक कोई मोस्ट वांटेड क्रिमिनल हो या महापुरुष, उसका बचपन नैतिक शिक्षा से ही शुरू होना है। मां थोड़ी ग़रीब ही होनी है और बहुत इंसाफ पसंद। वो बेटे की कमज़ोर नज़र के लिए दो रुपये की उधारी भी बर्दाश्त नहीं करती। और चूंकि भविष्य के डॉन की मां है तो ऐसे नाज़ुक मौक़ों पर भी ब्रह्मवाक्य की तरह के डायलॉग मारनी नहीं भूलती – ‘मैं इसे उधार का नज़रिया नहीं, चौकस नज़र देना चाहती हूं डॉक्टर साहब।’ और फिर बेटे की चौकस नज़र सबसे पहले गांधी जी की मूर्ति से चश्मा चुराती है, पुलिस की गाड़ी के आगे आकर शराब के माफियाओं को बचा लेती है वगैरह वगैरह।

फिर जैसे अमिताभ दौड़ते-दौड़ते या राजेश खन्ना रोटी को लेकर भागते-भागते बड़े होते रहे हैं, ये ‘रईस’ भी मोहर्रम के कोड़े खाते-खाते बड़ा हो जाता है। फिर एक मोहर्रम में जब इस रईस को मारने का प्लान बनता है तो बंदूक वाले शूटर भैया ठीक वहीं खड़े होते हैं जहां से ‘चौकस’ नज़र वाले रईस की नज़र पड़ जाए। आप एक कॉमेडी नहीं, ख़तरनाक डॉन की फिल्म देख रहे हैं। फिर रईस अचानक शाहरूख खान से शक्तिमान बन जाता है। दीवारों पर चढ़कर, छतों पर गुलाटियां मार-मारकर अपने जानी दुश्मन को मार डालता है। उसे अभी फिल्म में सवा घंटे और बने रहना है।

उसे अभी सबसे अच्छे पुलिस अफसर को ख़ाली ट्रक दिखाकर चकमा देना है। खाली ट्रक में अपने माल की जगह चाय का एक कप छोड़ना है। एक बेवकूफ लड़की से प्रेम करना है। एक ऐसी लड़की जो डॉन की सभी बदमाशियों को गाने गाकर भूल जाती है। वक्त-वक्त पर डॉन की फिल्म में गाने का ब्रेक लेती है। जेल जाने पर रईस जैसे बड़े डॉन को भी पहला कॉल रोमांस के लिए करने पर मजबूर करती है। ख़ुदा बचाए ऐसी प्रेमिकाओं से।

हम ‘रईस’ को क्यूं याद रखें। क्योंकि ‘परज़ानिया’ जैसी गंभीर फिल्म देने वाले निर्देशक राहुल ढोलकिया को इस बार शाहरुख ही चाहिए। क्योंकि हम इस तरह की छप्पन हज़ार फिल्में पहले भी देख चुके हैं और इस बार शाहरुख खान है। क्यूंकि आपकी फ्रेंड लिस्ट में आज भी पंद्रह लड़कियां ऐसी हैं जो शाहरूख खान के नाम पर करवा चौथ का व्रत रख सकती हैं। क्योंकि दिन और रात लोगों के लिए होते हैं, शाहरूख जैसे शेरों का तो ज़माना होता है। ओवर एंड आउट!

चलते – चलते : ”पाबंदी ही ‘बग़ावत’ की शुरुआत है।” फिल्म का शुरुआती डायलॉग शराबबंदी फेम बिहार सरकार के लिए चेतावनी की तरह है। यानी नए ज़माने के किसी डॉन का बिहार से उदय होने ही वाला है। इंतज़ार कीजिए।

The post रईस क्यूं देखें- क्योंकि ऐसी 56 हज़ार फिल्में पहले भी देख चुके हैं appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Nationalism, religion, casteism: The more you focus on one thing, the more everything else gets blurred.

Very much like his movies, seldom does Ram Gopal Varma succeed in making a fair point. Owing to the incident that transpired on January 27, 2017, the director sent out a series of tweets that stated a blunt but true fact. Discarding the phoney pride that innumerable Indians, mostly from the Rajput clan must have had derived from the incident – the manhandling of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the exemplary director of our generation, is still a heroic accomplishment for them. For now, three names have surfaced afresh in the minds of the population of the entire nation – Padmavati, Khilji, and the Karni Sena.

Members of the Indian film fraternity, as well as many from the masses, are enraged, for they realise the gravity of the situation, which is blatantly ignored by fanatics who willingly blindfold themselves with ethics that won’t sell for a dime in the market of humanity.

Let me infuse my viewpoint in here. I am in love with films, but Bhansali’s “Bajirao Mastani” didn’t appeal to me, for I believe every character was just so full of itself. I liked his earlier works, of the likes of ‘Khamoshi’. I believe the grander his films became with time; the more hollow was their essence. This is to say; I am no fanboy. But patron or not, what’s right is right and stating otherwise would be nothing short of having an immature opinion.

The incident in question occurred at Jaigarh’s Fort in Jaipur, a monument that perhaps, our forefathers built. We Indians, do care for our ancestors, we preserve our history, we very carefully and devotedly tend to the imprints left behind by our forebearers, but alas, we only forget one thing, and scenarios as such remind us from time to time, that perhaps they are not worth remembering – the morals of the teachings of our forefathers.

We are the citizens of an independent country, having just celebrated our 68th Republic day, and yet artists in our nation are being thrashed by fanatics, for what they assume to be – distortion of history, not entirely facts, but history of a time, the written records of which shall forever be open to one’s interpretation. This is what that happened around noon when Bhansali and his crew were engaged in the pre-production work of his upcoming magnum opus, “Padmavati”. Members of a particular ‘Rajput’ outfit namely ‘Karni Sena’, breached the sets of the film and hustled the director along with vandalising the set.

Like always, these goons and thugs with a unicorn of a cause in their head had their reasons. They had a reason to violate private property, they had a reason to assault a person, they had a reason to take the law into their hands, and they always have a reason to pass a breadcrumb of a judgment and instantly act on it.

According to these mafia men, Bhansali was allegedly portraying a love affair between Rani Padmini and the barbarous Khilji, which was nothing short of being an abomination, for when Khilji’s army was marching towards Chittor and their victory of inevitable, the queen along with other loyal ladies, committed ‘Jauhar’, that is, burned themselves alive in a pyre of fire, in order to save themselves from being tarnished at the hands of the enemy.

Firstly, this is one account of the incident, and the inevitable truth is that there exists many. Rani Padmini committed ‘Jauhar’ in the year 1303, and that was centuries ago. Hence apart from a few facts, every facet of the incident is open to interpretation, and any person is open to interpret, and any mind possesses the liberty to challenge any form of honourable in a verbal manner.

Secondly, are these muscular Karni Sena members, panto maths? Funny, how thugs as such, of the likes of Karni Sena, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena et al. are aptly supplied with factual information upon which the crux of their violence not only rests but is also justified. For instance, in the Bhansali fiasco, these so-called Rajputs were quite thoroughly familiar with the screenplay of ‘Padmavati’ – perhaps Mr Bhansali himself might have given them a reading the previous evening, thereby enraging them. They seemed to know everything. Or perhaps they knew nothing.

The Karni Sena was formed in 2006 and since – after more than a decade, barely a few knew who they were. Thus they thereby decided to attract some attention that was due. They call themselves Rajputs, they take pride in being a Rajput, but their actions speak louder than words. Rajput or not Rajput, we are composed of the same blood and bone, in the end, we all are ashes. As if perhaps religion was not enough, they divided the religion into caste to take the streak of discrimination further ahead – and as if that was not enough, they chopped up the castes and classified the pieces into clans. Division of anything has forever resulted in violence. Period.

And such a form of violence is guided by ego and is greeted with pride – it’s not all right, the limits have been crossed, and the lines have been blurred, for let alone the goons, the literate Indian masses have stormed the social platform of Twitter justifying the honorable actions of the ‘Karni Sena’. In such times, the people too deserve an applause. To go and greet Trump seems like a better idea than to consider their tweets seriously.

These are the views of the people of an independent nation, these are the people who definitely are not the goons involved in the mistreatment of a film crew, but they definitely are the bullies who stand around and derive a sense of enjoyment out of the harassment of innocents. They are, in fact, in the same ballpark.

They do not know any better than the Karni Sena thugs, they might not know about Queen Padmini and Khilji, but they would definitely have their say, they definitely want to be heard, they desperately want to suppress the voice of creative freedom in the nation and sit back and enjoy, until the moment, their own rights are snatched off.

They don’t understand this, today Bhansali’s freedom to express Bansali is targeted, tomorrow their liberty shall be burnt at stake, and they would have played the key role of a catalyst in their own downfall. The tweets contain the words of the likes of ‘lies’, ‘facts’, ‘wrong message’, ‘publicity stunt’, ‘dignity’, ‘liberty’ et al. – creating an issue out of an assumption that Bhansali was not familiar with the facts.

Well, are you? Are you all familiar with what’s written between the lines of the film, ‘Padmavati’, that has not yet been released. Empty words, empty threats, empty actions and an empty mindset. Yes, we are progressing, but in which direction? We are all stranger to the answer, I believe.

It was about the Karni Sena and the dignity of the memory of Rani Padmini. These thugs must really respect women, I suppose. What do they do when they are not in the news for rallying against films and soap operas? I believe, they must be revolting against the acts of sex-selective abortion. I believe every young girl is like Rani Padmini in essence, beautiful and brave and I also realise that Rajasthan is one of the biggest hubs of the grotesque act mentioned earlier.

After a decade of their formation, I believe, the members of Karni Sena must be on the verge of stopping such horrid deeds that transpire in their environment, after all, they flourish with nothing but blessed ideals. Or do they not interfere? If not, shame. You know, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is still the real winner, the hero. He doesn’t need to impose his beliefs or viewpoints on others with the aid of muscle.

He will finish his film, and come November, the members of the Karni Sena shall rub their nose on its release poster, in some corner and then perhaps, it shall dawn upon the masses what Bhansali was trying to portray, and the good old Karni Sena shall disappear yet again, for the good of the people of this nation.

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Featured image source: NDTV/Twitter

The post Bhansali’s Manhandling Shows How Little It Takes For Indians To Turn ‘Intolerant’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Way back in 2006, while waiting at the Chennai Central railway station, I noticed a man getting up from his seat as a lady sat down next to him. The lady, a transgender woman, seemed visibly upset at the man’s reaction. When she de-boarded the train, I struck up a conversation with her and soon found myself following her to one of the slums in the city. There, I met several people from the LGBTQ community, and each of them had a distressing story to share – tales of abuse, neglect, depression and loneliness.

I knew instantly that I wanted to help convey their experiences to the wider world, and as an ally, I wanted to create awareness around LGBTQ issues. I chose to do this work through art.

My first painting exhibition, “A for Art”, was in support of the LGBTQ community and had 200 canvases depicting their struggles and trauma. My work was noticed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the show was taken to Calicut under the banner of ‘Identity.’

Referring to the achievements of LGBTQ people is the painting under the title ‘Milestone.’ Another painting called ‘Migration’ expresses how people in the community are forced to move to places where they are more likely to be accepted.

I want each person who looks at these paintings to have their own interpretation, which is why they only have titles and no detailed descriptions. With my art, I want stereotypes broken.

Each painting evokes the thought process that everybody is human, everyone is equal, that transgender and queer people are as normal as us. The message I want to spread is “accept people with their differences“.

People ask if I have had a difficult experience working with the LGBTQ community. Because I have been so open in my support, there were times when people refused to talk to me. Some even asked my parents if I were a trans woman too, as if being trans was an insult or disease.

I recall another incident when a trans woman called me for help in the middle of the night, and when I reached her, she was drenched in blood. Someone had attacked her brutally and when we took her to the hospital, the doctors refused to take her in. It was very disheartening.

From these instances, I can safely say that my challenge has not been in working with this community but in convincing society to be respectful of them.

As an artist, through my art, I try to create a change in our social outlook. As someone interested in humanity, I strive to do it with sensitivity; I try to expose our social life through my work. My art not only speaks for myself but for people who are silenced.

The post How An Artist Has Used The Canvas To Break Stereotypes Around LGBTQ Indians appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Sanjay Gupta’s 2017 film “Kaabil”, a Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam starrer, is a story of love, separation and revenge. A pretty common Bollywood plot, right? But, this one is different because the protagonists Supriya (Yami Gautam) and Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) are blind.

However, that’s not why this movie could have been path-breaking. No, this movie could have been path-breaking because of its portrayal of Supriya, whatever little of it there was.

Let me start by giving you a gist of the movie. Rohan and Supriya are two people who are blind, who are made to meet and get married. Most of the first half of the movie is dedicated to evolving their cute love story, getting the audience to connect with them. They get married, but shortly after, Supriya gets raped by two abysmal men. Supriya and Rohan try to get a sexual assault examination done but are kidnapped. The very next day, Supriya gets raped again and ultimately commits suicide, reasons for which we shall discuss further in this article. Rohan, torn by her suicide, decides to take matters into his own hands and ends up killing the two rapists and the elder brother of the one who supported and even encouraged the act.

Now, some of you may find this to be a pretty common Bollywood plot, except for the fact that the characters are blind. But, let me tell you, there was another key aspect in the film — Supriya. She was the strongest character in the movie, however, short lived.

Supriya was an independent woman and stayed the same throughout the movie. The strength of her character was made apparent by the simplest and the bravest of her actions.

For instance, Rohan gifts Supriya a watch. She goes on to show him a watch she already has, one that she bought from her first salary. Most of us, if faced with such a situation, would consider the two obvious options, which we would also think are our only ones— either removing the watch she already had or returning the watch Rohan gifted her. But not Supriya. She wears them both and I couldn’t be happier about it. To me, it signified that instead of leaving her own pride and independent self behind to adapt into her new life with Rohan, she rather adds him as an extension of her current self.

To say that Supriya becomes weak after she was raped would be utterly wrong. She was the woman who was raped and then kidnapped for 24 hours so she couldn’t get her sexual assault examination done, yet she didn’t lose herself in her grief. A scene where she is sitting with her husband in front of a corrupt police officer who accuses them of being frauds, she says to her husband “Mere saath rape hua, ab yeh tumhare saath bhi wahi kar rahe hai.” (I’ve been raped and now they’re doing the same to you.) This is one of the most impactful dialogues in the movie, rightly depicting not just their situation but also Supriya’s levelheadedness.

Not just that, later when they’re back at home, Supriya tells her husband she would leave the house and go back to her old life and job if he doesn’t feel the same way about her now that she had been violated. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is downright strong for me. For a rape survivor to have the strength to pick herself up, to not live in a relation with someone who is not comfortable with her, displays strength.

Until this point, “Kaabil” seemed to be going in the right direction, but from the moment Supriya commits suicide and her note is found, everything goes downhill. Rape is treated as nothing but a plot device leading to a ‘justified’ revenge. It’s all about Rohan and his vengeance.

In her suicide note, Supriya explains to Rohan how she’d been visited by her rapists for the second time with a promise of more future visits; how she is ending this by taking her life because she knew Rohan would be devastated by this and she didn’t want to put him through it. So, you’re telling me the rape survivor commits suicide in this movie, not because of her own trauma and fear but because her husband would be wrecked by repeated atrocities against his wife? Oh, I am sorry, I thought she was the individual who was raped, but guess not! What were the people involved in the making of this film even thinking? It’s not always about the man; it’s high time someone tells them this.

“Kaabil” could have been a pioneering movie in the history of Bollywood had it focused more on Supriya and her survival, instead of using rape as merely a plot device. This isn’t how we need Bollywood to treat the sensitive issue of rape. Strong characters like Supriya deserve to be the centre of such movies, not the supporting roles.

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Image source: YouTube

The post ‘Kaabil’ Could’ve Been Path-Breaking But Remained A Stereotypical Revenge Thriller appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Entrepreneurship is a long, laborious road with the risk of failure stalking you at every turn. But sticking it out on this road can often lead to rewards and personal satisfaction that make all the effort more than worthwhile. The following 4 professionals, who have been involved in 4 instantly recognisable multi-million dollar startups which are practically household names in many parts of the world, will show you just how rewarding this road can be. 

1. Kunal Bahl, CEO of Snapdeal, on turning a coupon business into a $6.5 billion company

 Kunal’s story is a relatable one, a boy who worked hard to get into the IITs but couldn’t make the final cut. Then, getting admitted to one of the best business schools in the world, he worked hard at Wharton Business School and got a job with Microsoft, but couldn’t pursue it due to a visa problem. Returning to India, he was faced with a choice – find a job or create one?

The answer to this question is different for each individual of course but when you hear Kunal say with a sparkle in his eyes, “Ever since I was small, I had this ‘keeda’, that I want to do something…,” you know what route he chose.

2. Neeraj Arora, VP of Business Development at WhatsApp, on how it became the app we can’t live without

 WhatsApp’s story – and that of Arora himself – will be an inspiration to everyone who has felt the passion for their ideas, but have struggled to execute them. While acknowledging the difficulties and the big risk of failure, Arora’s experience also shows how careful planning, savvy decisions, and total investment in an idea can pave the way for its eventual success. His story also reflects the emotional investment that a lot of entrepreneurs and developers have in their products, and how beautifully it pays off when a product succeeds. It was this emotional investment that led him to join WhatsApp in the first place, and it is what shines through in his little anecdote, towards the end of the video, about how (and where) the deal with Facebook was signed.

3. Varun Agarwal, co-founder of Alma Mater, on not letting failure in engineering stop him

Like lakhs of other students in India, Agarwal, during his education, went through a period of emotional upheaval, because he wasn’t allowed to do what he really wanted. Put through four long years of engineering, he highlights what is commonplace but never spoken of among children forced into professions they don’t have an interest in – the emotional toll it takes upon them, and the extent of depression and anxiety it induces, something which has even driven many students to suicide in India.

As someone who was lucky enough to learn from his failure during engineering, Agarwal, through his story, inspires us to fight the status quo, and do what we believe in and truly enjoy.

4. Phanindra Sama, co-founder of RedBus, on revolutionising the travel industry

 Sama narrates how the service was conceptualised and what it took to build the success it enjoys today. Like many others who have tried their hand at something new and stepped out of their comfort zones, Sama, who had a steady job before he turned an entrepreneur, was faced with many daunting challenges during the journey, including self-doubt and criticism from others.

This post is a part of a tech and entrepreneurship series by Youth Ki Awaaz, in collaboration with INK. This series aims to highlight unheard stories of individuals who had the courage to follow their dreams, and their journeys of success and failure. Watch more videos from INK here, and if you want to share the story of an inspiring entrepreneur, submit here.

The post Scaling Your Startup To Multi-Millions: How These 4 Entrepreneurs Did It appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

By Diya Gupta:

It’s not much of a stretch to say that most Indian electronic music is played either at ‘EDM’ events and festivals like Supersonic and Sunburn or on the flipside, in the sort of hipster-niche vacuum of your Bandras and Hauz Khas Villages. It’s the difference between mainstream and alternative, so-cool urban city culture and small towns and (this point is especially important in India’s case) the difference between class. It’s in India that you see these differences most obviously – from, seemingly, superficial changes in fashion and taste, to much more pervasive and telling signs like shifts in language. What has reached most of India is recycled content from MTV and VH1 and let’s be honest, bad, formulaic electronic dance music.

In a recent interview with Anupama Chopra however, Udyan Sagar, a.k.a Nucleya, sheepishly claims to be one of the few original Indian producers who has broken past all those divides – and for the intent of this feature, we have to agree.

Irrespective of what you think of his music, Nucleya has made himself heard. From opening for Skrillex and Major Lazer to playing a short set at a small pub in the posh parts of Delhi and playing the main stage at the NH7 Weekender – the growth of Nucleya as a brand and the overwhelming popularity that comes with it has been extraordinary.

Nucleya has become a case study for successful homegrown music circuit that isn’t Bollywood. How does a guy making fusion/Indian-influenced electronic music manage to pack halls in towns that aren’t Delhi, Mumbai, Pune or Bangalore? To convince people to get his lyrics (“fuck that shit”) tattooed on them for the rest of eternity? How does he have young kids across the country from Jalandhar to Chennai yelling his lyrics back at him? Sure, Nucleya’s music does ascribe to some formula most of the time, but Nucleya has repeatedly denied calling his music EDM and has stated before (and we tend to agree to an extent with him here) that his music is a genre unto itself.

It could be the familiarity with Indian samples or the fact that his music is easily accessible and far from pretentious, but we believe that a large part of Nucleya’s success also comes from the right strategies in getting people to listen to it, early on. We called up Udyan and his manager at OML, Tej Brar to understand how and why Nucleya works as well as he does.

Off the bat, I have to say that Udyan was one of the nicest, almost disarmingly modest people I’ve ever had to interview. He’s been making music for almost 15 years now: “I got into it making experimental electronic music and got bored of it. Then I started producing drum and bass, and I got bored of that, so I started making something else. I did house music for a long time after that, but at some point, I realised that many years had passed and I wasn’t making enough money. So then I started making Bollywood remixes.” This was soon before Nucleya moved on to bigger, collaborative projects like the Bandish Project and Order Of The Essence (with B.R.E.E.D.). It was at one of their gigs where he first met Tej Brar, his long-time manager.

He was 33 and a resident DJ at Kitty Su when Brar took over, “The consensus seemed to be that he was a little past his prime and that this was really as good as it was going to get. I disagreed and asked if I could take him over and manage him. I asked Udyan to send me all the music he had ever written, and we ended up selecting six tracks out of them, which went up to make ‘Koocha Monster’.”

Since then, Nucleya’s managed to take his music out of the bubble and create a sound that manages to cross over the Eastern-Western divide to a wide range of audiences. But this wasn’t a conscious decision: “The only ‘funda’ behind Nucleya was to pay my rent and be as creative as I could and showcase different music styles as an artist. I’m just as surprised as anyone else about why is my music working. I have no idea.”

Despite the immense popularity, however, Nucleya never become complacent about his success, which is apparent in his almost sheepish tone of voice and is something Tej can also attest to: “Every time we achieve a goal there’s a new one that shows up on the horizon and I love that. I think Udyan is going to achieve things that he and I cannot even fathom right now. If he pushes the boundaries, he could truly be the bridge between mainstream India and electronic music as a culture.”

Udyan told me at multiple points during our conversation that one of the keys to his success was giving music out for free, emphasising that any substantial income would, in any case, be generated from merch, live shows, “and hopefully streaming in the future”.

“People need to get music somehow, you know? In the easiest way possible. And when you give your music out for free, people share it, and it replicates itself really, really fast and at the end of the day, that’s what you want. I know a lot of artists who’d do really well if they just got people to listen to them.”

Tej tells us that they wanted to give ‘Koocha Monster’ out for free for three reasons – to make it easier for students without access to online payment methods to hear the music, to make it more easily shareable and lastly – to encourage a sense of loyalty in Nucleya’s fans. – “When his audience base received something for free that they know took a lot of hard work and years to produce, they value that gesture.”

“Reaching out to smaller cities is the only way your audience will increase.”

The only way to get yourself out of the very real alternative-music bubble, according to Tej and Udyan, is to play in smaller cities. It’s something that’s worked tremendously for them, and Udyan even tells us about his last tour for the launch of Bass Rani where they played in over 20 cities across India: “That’s when the audience will increase, you know? Otherwise, you’ll have your cool underground hipster audience in Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore, so four hundred, five hundred – maybe thousand people, max. Nothing will move beyond that. For the Bass Rani tour, we went to Jalander; we went to Bhubhaneshwar – we did a lot of these smaller places where the audience is actually really incredible. The kids here don’t get to go for these shows so when they get a chance to enjoy themselves, it’s just mad. This is something everyone should do because otherwise, India’s market will just go to waste. It’s happening; it’s happening at its own pace.”

Udyan also mentions the huge, untapped market that is college audiences: “I do think it’s a huge, huge audience we’re talking about. I mean as an artist I’m not aware of the market, and I don’t know about the market. Like I had this gig at a place called Lovely Professional University, and took it casually thinking bada maza aayega. I went there, and to my surprise, there were some 35/40 thousand kids there. And even more surprisingly they knew all my fucking songs” he tells us, laughing. “This is what all artists need to do!”

Nucleya isn’t just targeting college audiences – he’s also found fans in even younger kids, most recently at the YoutTube Fanfest where he played to still school-going teens, who were at the event with their parents. – “I thought ‘kisi ko samajh me nahin aayega’ (nobody will get it) but my manager convinced me to go, and I was blown away. They knew everything. They knew all my songs, it was amazing.”

Bollywood – the great big temptress of the Indian entertainment industry always seemed like the next logical step for Nucleya, especially considering how much its music has been influenced by Western trends, most recently, EDM. It’s an idea that Nucleya is open to, but not at the risk of his creative agency – “The thing for me is that I will do projects that I feel comfortable doing or a project that will challenge me as an artist (in a good way). Like I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m asked to make music like someone else, you know. I want to work with people who will give me enough creative freedom and space to sort of contribute to the project.”

Nobody is immune to how much deadline’s suck, including Nucleya. With a new album due for September, it’s crunch time for the producer, who’s put all his live performances on hold to get things done on time.

“With the way things have blown up, there’s so much on the line now that I just need to meet deadlines. I’ve given myself a couple of months so that I can finish my album. I need to get it mixed, mastered, the artwork, collaborations and album tour need to be in place, the branding and any endorsements in the pipeline need to be fixed, and the merchandise needs to be finalised.”

We asked him if we can expect any big collaborators on the album and while Udyan couldn’t give us concrete names, he assured us that he’s got some surprises in store: “I’m actually working with national and international artists. I can’t give you definite names till everything’s finalised, but there are some very big names in there.”

The poster boy for success in India’s music space gives us a little insight on what he thinks of the scene, currently as it is – “It’s definitely slow-paced, but it’s much better than before. What we need to do now is get as many people to make music, not just like DJs and producers but also bands, you know? To make clever music, interesting music, not like anything else. But we need to figure out a better way to get people to listen.”

So what needs to change in the industry? Tej rightly states that we can’t expect any evolution to take place without making positive attempts from within: “I’ve always been an advocate of creating change by starting with yourself. If you want to see something happen, you need to do it first and encourage others to do the same.”

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Image Credit (main): Nishan Matta Photography
Featured image and banner: Nucleya/Facebook Page

The post Nucleya: The Making Of India’s Biggest Brand In Electronic Music appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

By Diya Gupta:

In an interview with Alex Macpherson at Guardian in 2010 – a little under two years after she released acclaimed debut 12″, “Please/Simulacrum” – Ikonika protests her skewed depiction in the media, saying she hates being called ‘the first lady of dubstep’ – “Some little blog called me the MIA of dubstep… people have called me a Muslim producer because of my surname. I’m not even a Muslim. Would they call Skream a white, male, Christian producer?”

Aside from the fact that the Hyperdub signee doesn’t make dubstep anymore, and that she’s taken a more politically aware stance of sexism and racism in the industry since that interview – there’s no getting around the fact that in the male-dominated world of UK bass, Sara Abdel-Hamid has knowingly or inadvertently become a proper role model for young girls everywhere. She cites the music and antics of Madonna and Nicki Minaj as influences and gives a no-nonsense interview to magazines about the current state of things in the industry (more recently telling The Fader, “there needs to be acceptance from those higher up, that this industry is both sexist and racist. I don’t wanna hear none of this ‘you’re making a fuss over nothing’ bullshit.”).

The producer carries an air of casual nonchalance, a cheeky ‘don’t-really-give-a-flying-llama’s-left-bottom-about-anything-but-the-music’ manner about her.  At the same time, she’s approachable which makes her immensely likeable – but also fierce in her honesty. An icon and unassuming iconoclast who looks at the limitations of genre and gender expectations, she rolls her eyes and flicks them away like a pesky mite.

Ikonika’s kicked off her India tour with Bill Brewster in Delhi at antiSOCIAL before playing in Mumbai (for Levis 501 Friday) and Bangalore as part of our international property – Various Artists. We got in touch with her before her show tonight and spoke about her home in Hyperdub, her constantly developing sound, and future releases.

The musician was born and raised in West London – right next to the noisy, crowded tarmacs of Heathrow airport – where her Egyptian father and Filipino mother met. She spent her youth playing video games (you can still hear the 8-bit influences in her music today even though she’s stopped playing as much) and listening to music – particularly a new, emerging genre called dubstep – which formed the framework for a earlier work .

“Going to early dubstep and grime nights like FWD and DMZ changed my life. It’s one thing to listen to this music at home but it was an incredible experience going to the clubs and being part of a movement. The music was so physical. The bass would melt your insides and I felt there was a real physical connection there. It influenced me to start producing my own music and I haven’t looked back since.”

“Although dubstep isn’t really part of my life anymore, there’s still a deep love for it because it opened many doors and allowed me to explore other types of genres in my music and DJ sets.”

Dubstep formed the basis of Ikonika’s initial music and can be heard most emphatically in her first release ‘Please’ via Hyperdub – Kode9’s label she’s now come to call home. “Hyperdub’s been great, I feel very honoured to be a part of the roster. I’m really close to Scratcha DVA and we’ve shared a lot musically, and do shows together frequently. I like that Hypderub is an independent label. This means they’re able to work closely with the artists. The music always come first and we have a lot of creative freedom.”

Ikonika’s music has morphed immensely over the years from her debut 2010 album “Contact, Love, Want, Hate” to her latest album “Aerotropolis”. But despite the attenuating sub-bass frequencies and BPM, her sound packs as much, if not more of a punch than it did before, retaining its arrogant, bold and shimmering 8-bit inspired synths, thick bass-lines and the always playful attitude.

It’s been just under 3 years since “Aerotropolis” came out, and new material’s on its way – “I’ve been hiding away for the last 2 years making new music and nearly finished my new album, so that will come out next year. I’ve contributed a track for the Night Slugs Allstars 3 compilation coming this month of November. I should have a single for a techno label called Don’t Be Afraid or DBA for short.” Ikonika also tells us that she’s produced a track in collaboration with Bok Bok for Kelela’s debut album – very exciting stuff overall!

And as to the artists on her radar and playlists at the moment – “I’m lucky to have so many talented friends, I get excited when they send me new music or I see a new mix from them. I’m currently enjoying works from Manara, Jessy Lanza, Scratcha DVA and Jammz.”

I also asked her about how our own little scene can become better. How young bedroom producers and musicians can streamline their work into creating an inclusive community of talent and a mutual desire to help each other grow. Ikonika harks back on her own youth, when she spent a significant amount of time on dubstep forums before actually making music – “Many scenes these days start with discussions via the Internet. I think it’s great to have an online forum for people to connect and share their work. It can influence you enough to start your own party, bring international guests over and really communicate and participate in the global club scene. It’s so important to support your local talent. Give them a space to create positive resources.”

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Image Source: Facebook

The post Ikonika On Hyperdub, Dubstep And Supporting Local Talent appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

‘आरा जिला घर बा त कौन बात के डर बा’ बचपन से सुनते आए हैं, लेकिन आरा में कोई अनारकली भी रहती है इस बात से पूरा बचपन अंजान निकल गया। अविनाश दास अपनी फिल्म में ढूंढ लाए हैं आरा से अनारकली को। अविनाश की पहली फिल्म ‘अनारकली ऑफ आरा’ में अनारकली बनी हैं स्वरा भास्कर। स्वरा के अलावा जिन दो लोगों की फोटो आपने हमारे बैनर पर देखी होगी आप समझ गए होंगे कि फिल्म में ऐक्टिंग किस स्तर की होगी। संजय मिश्रा और पंकज त्रिपाठी पोस्टर में रंगीन अवतार में नज़र आ रहे हैं। सोशल मीडिया पर पंकज की बुशर्ट की भी काफी डिमांड चल रही है।

अविनाश इस फिल्म का नाम पहले ‘अनारकली आरावाली’ रखना चाहते थे। वो बताते हैं कि यूट्यूब पर ताराबानो फैज़ाबादी का एक वीडियो देख कर अनारकली आॅफ आरा बनाने का आइडिया आया वो एक इरॉटिक गाना गा रही थी जिसमें कोई इमोशन नहीं था। हालांकि इस फिल्म के गाने पूरे इमोशन के साथ 20 फरवरी से एक-एक करके रिलीज़ किए जाएंगे।

इन्ही बातों पर Youth Ki Awaaz के लिए निखिल आनंद गिरि ने डायरेक्शन में डेब्यू कर रहे अविनाश दास से खास बातचीत की।

निखिल आनंद गिरि: फिल्म के डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन को लेकर क्या-क्या दिक्कते आती हैं, ख़ास तौर पर एक नए डायरेक्टर के लिए?

अविनाश दास: प्रोड्यूसर का समर्थ होना ज़रूरी है, वही नये डायरेक्टर के साथ फिल्म बनाने का ज़ोख़िम लेता है। फिल्म के फाइनल प्रिंट से प्रोड्यूसर संतुष्ट होता है, तभी वह रीलीज़ के लिए क़दम आगे बढ़ाता है। वैसे कई तरह से डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन होते हैं- आप गूगल करेंगे तो इसका जवाब आसानी से मिल जाएगा। हां, मेकिंग के लिए धन हो और उससे आगे आप ठन-ठन गोपाल हों, तो मुश्किल आती है। लेकिन फिल्म आउटस्टैंडिंग हुई, तो कोई न कोई डिस्ट्रीब्यूटर आपका हाथ थाम ही लेता है।

निखिल: क्या 24 मार्च को और भी कोई बड़ी रिलीज़ हो रही है? क्या रिलीज़ की तारीख तय करने में ये सब गणित भी
देखना पड़ता है? कौन तय करता है?

अविनाश: 24 मार्च को अनारकली आॅफ आरा के साथ दो और फिल्में रीलीज़ हो रही है। अनुष्का शर्मा की फिल्लौरी और अब्बास मस्तान की मशीन। लेकिन हमारी टीम में अपनी फिल्म को लेकर काफी उत्साह है।

निखिल: ख़ुद ही स्क्रिप्ट, डायलॉग, डायरेक्शन करना अच्छा रहता है कि अलग-अलग लोगों से करवाना?

अविनाश: यह निर्देशक पर निर्भर करता है कि वह किस तरह से कमफर्टेबल है।

निखिल: बिना डायरेक्शन की ट्रेनिंग के मैदान में कूदना कितना चैलेंजिंग होता है?

अविनाश: मूल बात है संवेदना, फिर कल्पनाशीलता और फिर उस कल्पनाशीलता की भौतिक अभिव्यक्ति। ट्रेनिंग अच्छी चीज़ होती है, लेकिन कई बार वह तकनीकी मामलों में ही आपको समृद्ध कर पाती है। निर्देशक का मूल काम है सोचना। बाकी एग्जीक्यूशन के लिए वह एक टीम बनाता है और यही टीम निर्देशक की सोच को फिल्म में रूपांतरित करती है।

फोटो आभार: फेसबुक और निखिल आनंद गिरि

The post मार्च में ‘आलम आरा’ से ‘अनारकली ऑफ आरा’ तक पहुंच जाएगा बॉलीवुड appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Being the bibliophile that I was from the beginning, my favourite activity would always involve curling up in bed with a book. I grew up in a virtual world filled with dark woods, enchanting castles, beautiful princesses, handsome knights in shining armour who would come riding on white horses to rescue the damsel in distress, and the wicked ugly witch who tortured the princess but would meet a horrible end.

I was always an avid reader, thanks to my mom who inculcated this hobby in me from a young age. This is a rare and priceless gift which she gave me and has stayed for life. I can’t thank her enough for this. I was drawn into the enchanting world of books, where the characters danced before my eyes; it seemed so real. Little did I realize that these books were feeding my subconscious with stereotypes that would become integral parts of my thinking and personality, and that shaking them off would not be easy at all.

Have you realized that most of the fairy tales of our times are so deeply flawed, gender biased and scarily possess the ability to influence young minds in a very powerful way? “Snow White”, for instance, which has always enthralled us, talks about an evil stepmom, and a beautiful princess who is dumb because she blindly obeys her step-mom. She escapes finally from the clutches of her evil step-mom and ends up with the dwarves. But due to her dumb and docile nature, the dwarves are always seen ordering her around, while she mutely follows their instructions. Then she apparently dies by eating the poison laden apple. *Enter the handsome prince* He is spellbound by her beauty. Note that he knows nothing about her qualities as a person; her external beauty is enough to enthral him. He kisses her, the spell is broken and they live happily ever after.

Did you just notice how deeply flawed this story is! The step-mom is evil, which creates a notion that all step-moms are evil (“Hansel and Gretel” propagated the same). The heroine’s supreme quality is her physical beauty- other qualities are not spoken about at all. Even the prince is drawn to her due to her beauty. She is a meek girl who refuses to stand up for herself. The prince is again shown as someone who rescues her, rather than she herself being the rescuer and master of her fate.

Take any other fairy tale- “Red Riding Hood”, “Cinderella”, “Rapunzel”- the themes are the same. When young children grow up reading these, it is but obvious how badly skewed and stereotypical their thinking would be. It’s time to re-write these tales to show our young girls and boys that, for example, the heroine can be someone who is bold, compassionate, and has dreams for herself and the courage to chase them. She writes her own destiny, she is not a damsel-in-distress who awaits the prince to rescue and marry her. She creates her own ‘happily ever after’. The prince is not a supernatural guy but the boy-next-door who plays with his sister, helps his mommy in the kitchen, is a friend and companion. He dreams with her and they write their story together.

I was really impressed by reading an article about Scandinavian schools who have decided to completely do away with these old fairy tales because of their gender stereotypes and skewed theories. They want the kids to be in sync with the reality of our times to the largest extent possible. Their stories depict different types of heroes and diverse family models like adopted children, adoptive parents, single moms and dads, and same-sex parents.

We always talk about how divorce is a taboo in India. And while it is difficult for the adults in question, it is always tough for the kids because they are looked upon as outcasts by others in school; people whisper about them and, chances are, very few befriend them. This behaviour comes, to a great extent, from the experiences our children are subject to – through books, conversations etc. Imagine if they read stories which spoke about single parents, adoptive parents and the like. It would just seem a normal thing to them when they would hear that someone parents’ decided to separate.

Some may argue that these are just fairy tales and we will eventually grow up and move on from them. But we often fail to recognize the damage these stories cause. Gradually, bit by bit, we are feeding such irrational and outdated ideas to young kids. When they grow up, see the world and eventually learn the reality, how many are able to shake off these notions and carve their own destiny? This is a question we must all ask ourselves.

It is time we work towards creating a gender-egalitarian society by doing away with these fairy tales which propagate biases and feed us with so many wrong notions of beauty, ‘happily ever after’ and prince charming. We should work towards creating innovative stories which are in sync with the reality of our times and steer clear of gender stereotypes.

The post How We Feed Our Children Gender Stereotypes Through Stories appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Living in a democratic society as an author and a common person is like trying to seek an answer the difference between a channel like DD National and various privately owned channels. We must first think where the freedom of press is headed towards. May be the glitter of news presentation is driving young and fashionable minds more towards private channels. Digitization, huge branding and online platforms are also giving huge competition to DD National. Speed and exaggerations reach out to people faster than we admit. News content is brimming everywhere – but it is the filtering machinery that differentiates one channel from the other.

When Indian viewers began deserting the prosaic DD channel for more colourful private TV channels in early 2000, Prasar Bharati actually aided this exodus by driving away many talented producers. It’s control raj pomposity and never ending ‘demands’ resulted in numerous, indefensible court cases that weigh it down till today. National News broadcasting on Government run podium, or through private conglomerates, to ‘channelize’ news for the common masses, is the major goal for broadcasting channels. Any news channel can cater to news throughout the day to make people aware, to ask for their participation, to bring changes, and to elect what is right for them. Basically to involve everyone in the democratic system – one can listen to, hear, and watch news. The mighty medium of broadcast is therefore complex and fully strong.

But just to hold their ground in the wee ‘business of news’, some channels spread dirty linen among the public – some dramatise the content in varying levels, some run after news which dig into the personal zones of others, just to spice up the entire material – and finally, that lands the news material in trouble and also misguides common people. To be the voice of 120 billion people one particular channel is completely insufficient. There must be a machinery which can have variations as many as needed to satisfy the entire mass in one go. The possibility of this machinery is very lean as they say even the Almighty cannot satisfy all people at a single time.

One more reason behind the presence of various channels is that different political agendas back up the functioning of a particular channel or newspaper, as per their publicity and norms. So every government has declared that it is keen to improve Prasar Bharati but many have also ensured, or winked at, losses made by patronising sub-standard programmes. If someone is serious about DD channels, it has to decide once for all whether it has to maintain some 50 mini-TV stations, with hundreds of trained staff and enormous public investment in equipment, land and buildings in prime urban locations: to produce just 6 hours of programming in a whole week. Can a new corporate entity, therefore, be free to shut down most of DD’s 1,400 analogue TV towers because of negligible viewership?

The DD channel was an agency providing a window to creativity and to private enterprises, but today it has been totally left behind – whereas popularity is being earned by other private media houses. Media is a very complex, volatile world where speed, adaption, learning and re-learning matter the most. Unfortunately, the ‘genetic make-up’ of government servants is such that these essentials are not realized easily. You can’t blame them because it’s like telling a railway engine driver to fly a plane.

These issues call for completely different sets of skills. There is a high turn-around in the foreign public broadcasters, operating in the country. People come and go. But in India, getting a government job gives one an air to relax and dominate real talent, and to sabotage diligence among subordinates. Though there are exceptional pioneers and those with a good push, they are very few in number.

An issue such as the revival of the Doordarshan Network depends on a perfect partnership between the DD channels, Prasar Bharati and the government. However, there are forces within these organizations, that don’t understand, or want to understand the procedures. If there is perfect coordination between these institutions, we can certainly revive the DD Network. But we have a long way to go. Ever since Doordarshan shelved the auction plans after conducting two failed application rounds, Jawar Sircar, Ex Chief  Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan & All India Radio) has left no stone unturned to revive the process. The agenda was to discuss the suspended auction as well as Doordarshan’s future. Even though some leading production houses like Balaji Telefilms had evinced interest in the auction, Doordarshan decided to scrap it, citing shortcomings in the applications. An internal panel, scrutinizing the applications, found that certain applicants did not fit the eligibility criteria. While some had failed to submit the document fee, others did not submit the declaration that they had not been Doordarshan defaulters in the past. The auction was therefore scrapped.

Luckily for Doordarshan, Jawar Sircar eventually succeeded in reviving the auction with the help of the board: “The board of Prasar Bharati has unanimously resolved to execute the slot sale policy as a part of its ongoing efforts to make transactions more transparent.”

This episode sheds light on what ails the state-run broadcaster as it struggles to keep pace with competition from private television channels.Now finally we can draw a line that both Doordarshan and private channels are playing their parts. But Doordarshan must get back its glamour to continue with its ‘unadulterated’ news broadcasts peacefully, and come up with new methods to attract more and more viewers with the same simplicity and ‘genuine’ news for the masses, as of old.

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By Aishik Purkait and Neelofar Jokhun:

For all the alarm and outrage that conservative leaders have ignited lately with regard to actions perceived as attacks on women rights and freedom, there has been a fierce counter-offensive that is giving activists on the other side a larger voice and greater visibility.

While international organisations are marshalling forces to end the abuse and oppression of women and girls worldwide and enact laws to advance gender equality – here, in India, women have been forced to be cultural warriors.

This is not a new phenomenon in our culture. Remember Draupadi in the Mahabharata? She was successful in winning back the freedom of her enslaved husbands. She was saluted by Karna, as being ‘one of the world’s most renowned and beautiful woman’ to have accomplished such a task. She prevented her husbands from drowning in a sea of sorrows. She was a life-saviour. Yet, she refused to take any boon for her personal needs – because with her husband free and in possession of their weapons, she had no other need or want.

No twenty-first century woman can be thought to be this self-sacrificing. Imagine a woman having to suffer an attempt at being disrobed with her husband sitting mute, then facing abduction in the fore-stand, having to accept her husband forgiving the culprit, be molested again in court and be scolded by her husband for creating a scene, be carried off to be burnt alive, find all her friends and family members put to death – and then remain sane!

It feels that conservatives find it an obligation to convince as many people as they can that women are supposed to submit to their husbands – and that feminism is a lie from Satan meant to pull women onto the path of destruction. The ‘Culture Wars’ were never just about changing the laws: it was about changing the culture around us.

It’s perhaps ironic that none of that has actually changed. Oh, it’s changed in substance – but not in form. Instead, along with the physical abuse, there has been the addition of abuse in the virtual world.

The advent of the internet has created an alternate space for voicing one’s opinions. This space is instead turning out to be a draconian space for women, where their oppression has now almost become a norm – especially in war or conflict zones. Be it in Kashmir or in Bastar, women have been the worst sufferers of collateral damage. They have indeed become victims of a ‘double oppression’ – firstly, of the primary oppressor (be it the state or a foreign invader) and secondly, of a patriarchy which echoes from the actions of men in their own houses. The irony lies in that these are the very same men who demand independence, liberalisation, democracy and freedom – but in their own houses, their women are tied with shackles. Religious references, holy text citations make abolishment an easy task. Since the beginning of human interactions, suppression has been carried out through physical methods. With modernisation, however, virtual methods of oppression and suppression have also become a reality.

Zaira Wasim, a native of Kashmir, met the Chief Minister of her state, Mehbooba Mufti, after the success of her movie, “Dangal”. This caused a huge debate among the local people, accusing her of supporting those, who they believe, are responsible for the turmoil in Kashmir. Online trolls accused her of going against her faith, against her State – with people claiming her to be against Kashmiris – and terming her work in mainstream Indian movies as an activity against their idea of Kashmiriyat. Trolls on social media calling her names were rampant – and she was quick to be considered as an insult to their religion.

Previously, something similar happened with Indian cricketer Md. Shami’s wife when he had posted a picture of them, where the latter was wearing a sleeveless gown. This affair gained so much notoriety that Md. Shami had to shut the trolls up by Facebook and Twitter posts, justifying the act. Unlike him, Zaira Wasim had to apologise for her ‘actions’ in order to stop the detractors. The 16-year-old actress put up a long post on Facebook stating: ”I understand the sentiments behind it especially considering what had happened over the past 6 months.”

This did not end with there – she was further mortified by the regular Friday protests at Nowhatta, Srinagar. The online barrage transformed into physical demonstration. Her pictures, along with Chief Minister Mufti were burned, leading the young girl to write another Facebook post apologising – but then taking it down after it went viral, with undesired connotations.

Similarly, the lush green heartland of Chhattisgarh, Bastar, has been a war zone, with the Maoist guerrillas and the Indian Army fighting each other out. In a documentary by NDTV, called “Weapons of War” – a woman claims that the security forces pressed her breasts to check if they were lactating, even after she told them that she was married. The collateral damage which such incidents cause might end up creating a parallel opposition against the forces. The women were left after the forces got the necessary ‘proof”. Apparently, the process of checking whether women are lactating is a normal pattern in the region. The fight between the two sides usually end up in innocent, helpless, tribal women being unintended but also worst casualties. The men and boys run away fearing that they will be branded as ‘Naxalites’. Instead, it is the activists, who take up the cause of the tribal people – along with the women – who are charged of inciting the tribal people against the forces.

The outbreak of any war changes everything. Family life is severely disrupted. In a conflict zone, women, who are expected by society to uphold culture and traditions, therefore become easy targets. They are subject to religious, societal, economic, political, sexual and every other form of oppression.

This is neither a new phenomenon nor does it seem that it will end soon – if the society we live in does not change soon. There is no honour in attacking a sex which is inherently perceived to be weaker. Whatever the rhetoric, the systematic brutality towards women is not merely evil – but also cowardly.

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Image Source : Daniel Berehulak, Himanshu Kumar/Getty Images, Facebook Page

The post Kashmir Or Bastar, Women Always Suffer The Most In Conflict Zones appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

The year is 2017, India has celebrated 100 years of Bollywood but even after 100 years is the industry still as good as it should be? There are several important questions that need to be answered, the key among them being on balancing artistic freedom with sentiments of the diverse population that the country is home to. The year 2016 gave us the #IntolerantIndia movement, but have things changed a year later? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

The country is still run by (to quote Steve Rodgers) “People with agendas, and agendas change.” A year is definitely too little a time for any drastic changes, but it seems like even a small one has not happened.

This of course, comes just a day after one of India’s top directors Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted on the set of his latest film “Padmavati”. I have mixed views when it comes to a Bhansali movie, his attention to detail is simply stunning but the films are often long, slow and very difficult to sit through. Nonetheless, he does have his fans, and we cannot take away all the great work he has done – four national film awards are a testimony to that.

So what then promoted the “fringe group” to attack him on the set? This question is not simple to answer, since India’s love for politics and religion is a core part of the answer, and the tangled mess that is a result of the larger political game, is very hard to untangle.

The first major task is to understand what the fringe group is, and what sort of connect they have to the locals. The protesters are “allegedly” from the Rajput Karni Sena and created a ruckus following the “alleged” love scene between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. They key word here is alleged, we know for a fact that there were protesters, but as for the love scene Bhansali has openly stated that there is no such thing, so why create the ruckus?

It is well know that even though Bollywood creates films based on original stories, they do tend to take liberties with the facts since that is what people want to see. If one wanted to know about the truth one could just refer to the NCERT textbook. The ability to distort facts within the scope of a well known reality is not an easy task, and takes a lot of creativity . There is also a statutory warning before the film, so people are made aware that they are watching a work of fiction, so who gave these “guardians of culture” the permission to stop a shoot?

Given the size of the country, it is understandable that someone or the other will feel ‘hurt’ or ‘offended’ with every work of art (book, film or painting) that makes its way into the public spotlight. Just because someone gets hurt does not mean they have to create an issue, there is an option of not watching the film that few exercise. Instead causing harm seems to be a more apt solution, ironically for a country that became famous for its non-violence movement.

The face of Mahatma Gandhi is printed on every note, hangs in every school, office and station yet people choose the path of violence in order to show their disapproval. I do not see the more intelligent people cry for  Salman Khan or Rajinikanth’s retirement because of the sheer nonsense that there movies are (admittedly Salman’s latest works do seem to be a step in the right direction), or the stupidity that comes free with every Sajid Khan film.

None of the intelligent community resort to violence or even despite the insult we have to bear when our dear beloved Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi say something so wonderful that we are forced to hang our heads in shame. Education is a key factor, the well educated know that common sense means liv
e and let live, maybe this should serve as a wakeup call in order to improve the standard of education.

Leaving aside the need for better education, one should also look at the state of politics as a prime reason. India’s politics has long been a game of power, nothing more and it is not likely to change any time soon. There is a reason we refer to the people in power as politicians and not as civil servants, appeasement politics is a seasonal event- the season being elections. Post elections very few actually live up to their promises, and even fewer actually do something about the larger issues that lead to such incidents.

This is not a first, several times in the past films sets have been vandalised and films stopped from releasing (Pakistan is the true source of all evil is what students are taught I believe) and yet there is no solid action from the netas (politicians/ministers) to protect these artists. Of course, standing up for the national anthem in a theatre while littering the streets is perfectly patriotic, while making a work of art is not so, I suppose.

A person can be jailed and shamed for chewing gum during the national anthem, but cannot be for disliking a country and not wanting a person from there to ply his trade in our borders. No one asked – why do we choose Pakistani actors from a creative aspect, maybe if these patriotic souls did they would understand why so, but. Cclearly the fact that they are Pakistani is so blinding (like a headlight at full beam on a national highway at night) that we forget to focus on the essentials – (the need for streetlights).

The time for the film fraternity (Bollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood, Tollywood and the rest) to stand together is nigh, not just to protect themselves from bodily and financial harm, but to most importantly protect the artistic freedom that is now in the recycle bin.

India doesn’t deserve films like PK, Aarakshan, Satyagraha, The Lunchbox, Udta Punjab (I can go on and on, but I guess you get the general idea) it needs them. Parallel cinema needs to come out of the shadows and go mainstream in a big way. Maybe our dear censor board needs to ban commercial movies that are ‘“sanskaari (traditional)”’ and clean and let the raw, rough true India come out.

As Tony Stark (the name of the protagonist in Iron Man) once said – “We need to be put in check” and it is to ensure that art is not for art’s sake, but because the artist has a message he would like to share. Our netas cower behind several vehicles and a small army, why are they scared of actually making a difference?

The post Dear Karni Sena, Creativity Raises A Point, Your Violence Doesn’t appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Film-making is rightly considered as one of the profession that allow people the widest creative ability. A director puts their creativity to use in an attempt to create a world of his own. A film-maker takes all sorts of cinematic liberties (they’re bound to). Historical depictions are subjected to a considerable amount of distortion. Distorting history can prove extremely fatal. The recent attack on director Sanjay Leela Bhansali comes as a wake-up call to the harsh reality that Hindu extremism is no longer a myth.

Bhansali was slapped and beaten by the members of the Karni Sena while he was working on the sets of his upcoming film Padmavati, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. Bhansali was attacked in front of his crew and security personnel. Karni Sena is a group of hardcore Hindu radicals(well, it would be right to call them radical after the attack). The situation slipped out of hands and the security personnel were forced to fire in the air in order to disperse the goons.

The fact is that Bollywood celebs have become a soft target for religious fundamentalists all across the country. Bhansali was apparently attacked because the film contains a dream sequence, in which, Allauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) and Rani Padmavati (Deepika) are shown romancing. The fictional reconstruction of the largely inadequate historical records is quite obvious.The fact of the matter is, without a reasonable degree of creativity and imagination, historical biopics can’t be created.

Another thing which is quite obvious is that the assaulters, who have a problem with an incomplete, unreleased movie,were angry over an imagined dream sequence showcasing inter-religious romance. (What a pity).

Films such as Jodha Akbar, Mohenjodaro and Bajirao Mastani were largely fictional accounts of history. The creative fraternity has become an easy target, along with writers and journalists in contemporary India.  The attack on Bhansali was aimed at licensing and normalizing violence through various online and offline modes. It was aimed at instilling permanent fear among the members of the creative fraternity.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time such an incident has happened. Mahira Khan, the Pakistani actress, wasn’t allowed to be a part of the promotions of “Raees”. Furthermore, filmmaker Karan Johar was forced to pay a ransom of ₹5 crore just because Pakistani actor Fawad Khan was a part of his directorial venture “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”. Bollywood’s Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan too, came under immense scrutiny for airing his wife Kiran Rao’s opinions on intolerance.

Needless to say, It’s easier for people to complain. The attack on Bhansali says that the “Senas” are completely unafraid of the law. The reason for their fearlessness  is strong enough for them to beat renowned filmmakers in a clearly organised manner.

It seems  that people are far more scared of a figment of someone’s imagination than they are of reality. Indian history has been an epitome of secular thinking. Real history is made up of numerous intertwined threads which have helped produce some breathtaking architecture, art and music.

The fact that the attackers hadn’t even read the script, but had heard of a possible dream sequence between the lead pair is speaking volumes. It brings to light the fact that rumour mongering and hearsay have become a means of spreading instant fear .

Art is bound to lose its relevance if it is confined by boundaries. It’s quite disheartening to see that in the name of patriotism, we aim to confine imagination,art and culture that’s abstract.

The post Karni Sena, You Need To Get Your Facts Right! appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Due to its relatively nascent appearance as a medium, games have not received much analysis from the humanities. Yet, gaming as a medium is exceptionally powerful, due to the constant interaction between the player and the game. This then calls for the studying of moral rules of the universes that we are given. It brings us to the question of whether allowing one free will in a game to loot corpses, and then calling said character, a hero, not wrong?

I want to draw attention to the  question of how morality affects the player and the game itself. I base my comments on my personal experience with games from the year 2010. Morality and its effect on narrative Modern Games:

Morality is something that all societies, irrespective of their location, cultural practices and other factors, possess. Morality, ultimately, is the system that says what is right, and wrong, and without which, society would collapse. How does morality, i.e., the sense of right and wrong, operate in the fictional universes of video games?

Morality has a complex intersection in games, with different strokes from the same brush. Different games approach it differently. For example, the game Fallout 3, which was released in the year 2008 t, can be said to have a flexible morality system, with attempts at real in game consequences. Behave well and evil mercenaries come after you, which, in theory, should make life hard for you. Behave well, and random villagers come to you, give you supplies. Do the reverse, and you could be in a world of hurt.

But does it truly make a difference, from a narrative perspective, on how the game pans out? You could be an absolutely evil psychopath, or the greatest hero ever, but you still finish the story the same way: killing thousands of nameless enclave soldiers, after which you install project purity, which as three dog, the radio announcer says, is fighting the “good fight”. But will it truly be worth it? Shouldn’t one get a chance to know the views and fate of the  random NPC’s who die and live in the wasteland? Why do we not, then, care about them, or do their deaths not matter?

On seeing this, I began to dig in deeper and interesting perspectives. This isn’t an academic paper, so I won’t cite, just leave a section for further reading. The next game that we shall look at is Mass Affect, an action adventure role playing series by Bioware. Over the course of the games, the hero, Commander Shepard, recruits a lovable gang of misfits who help him/her out in missions and drive the story along. One such example is what can be dubbed the “Virmire Problem” ). On the planet Virmire, towards the end of the first act, Commander Shepard has to choose between leaving one of two squad mates with a nuke to destroy Saren cloning facility. Whichever character you choose, in theory, should have lasting ramifications on the game.

Yet, what ends up happening is that the characters are terribly written and utterly forgettable, which removes any point in saving or killing any of the two. Ashley, the female character, is a boring, stuck up racist dick; Kaiden, the male character, is entirely meh. Whatever import the scene has, therefore, can be easily lost.

This is the fundamental problem. Morality in these games is supposed to be one of the reasons why the character that we play does what he does in the first place. It is used to give a backstory and a reason for the player to do what he does. But in the real world, the order of morality is held up with the stick of punishment for defiance. But in games, punishment never has any implications, beyond a certain point, because that would be seen to have broken the interaction between the player and the game.

In any role playing game, for example, one can play  a “saint”, by helping those who are seen as  the “wronged ones”, the ones who fall inside the circle of those characters in whose name the player fights. But can reload the game, be a giant prick by stealing and looting and whatnot, even if we are “punished” by dying, we just reload our save and begin anew. Why does this happen? Because games are fantasies, which need to be real enough to allow us to build a world, but disconnected from objective morals enough that the player can impose his worldview on it.

The player, who wishes to escape, needs not to be reminded of the world which he really inhabits. Violence and immorality can be defended on the ground that beating the game is everything. But mechanics are needed which make the player pause and think, “Am I doing it to win for myself, or am I doing it for the characters?” Why do I say so?

Firstly, When one is playing a game, the player does give meaning to it, as human beings have the ability to give meaning to things that are inanimate, empathizing with them, and giving them anthropomorphic (human like) qualities. Game designers, knowing this, try to create “realistic” designs, with “life like” animation, designs, and voices and so on. An good example would be Witcher Three’s strong story based universe.

Secondly, when players approach a game, they wish to believe that they are a part of it, that they are immersed in it. If the media stimulus is well designed and displays social cues appropriately, it takes effort to recall that a character “is not real,” because automatic social perceptions suggest otherwise. (Taken from “It’s Okay To Shoot A Video Game Character”) This makes one believe that a character, even when it is not.

Thirdly, games wish to ensure that they  very rarely remind that it is “not real”. Games go to great lengths to ensure that the player is well interested in the gameplay and it’s mechanics, and reminding that the characters are not real is thus not usually done. So how does moral disengagement in games work?

Moral disengagement essentially means that the violent actions of any individuals are justified, and the other is seen as not human, or lesser than the aggressor. This allows the victim to be  the wrongdoer, and thus liable to punishment. How do video games approach this?

Firstly, moral cues are given to the player, such as working for the “good”, which put the entities against the player as the “evil” which are acceptable to kill. This is especially important as players can be made to feel empathy for these characters too. A very good example would be the Collectors from Mass Effect 2. They are essentially mind controlled slaves of the Reapers, the true enemy, who drove the Protheans, the ones who built the mass effect, into extinction. Yet on finding this out Commander Shepard says that they must kill the collectors, nonetheless, to not allow the Reapers to destroy all the spacefaring races.

Secondly, users can dissociate from the game altogether, and remember that they are essentially killing pieces of code that have no soul. This allows for players to escape feeling guilt.

These mechanisms are how modern games regulate and enforce morality. Knowledge of these may initially stop the immersion of the game, but in my view it gives us a chance to build better worlds.

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