How Award Wapsi Drama & Abuses Will Benefit Modi

When Babri Masjid was demolished, the incumbent BJP government in then Uttar Pradesh collapsed and BJP could not come to power even today 24 years after the unfortunate incident. When hundreds of Muslims were murdered in Gujarat riots following Godhra carnage, BJP lost all local elections in Gujarat. LK Advani who master-minded Ayodhya Rath Yatra could never become prime minister and had to endorse more acceptable AB Vajpayee. The common theme in all these developments was that Hindus who form over 80% of Indian population never ever endorsed anybody even remotely associated with communal riots or vandalism. Hindus always refused to be a monolithic homogeneous vote-bank. Then how could Modi win 3 consecutive assembly elections in Gujarat before coming Indian PM with majority landslide victory ?

2002 Gujarat riots which are one of the most deplorable chapters of Independent India catapulted Modi into worldwide notoriety. Right wing Hindus refer to Godhra train arson as the trigger point, Muslims refer to Babri demolition as a precursor. The jugalbandi goes on with references to Rath Yatra by BJP used to counter Mandal politics instigated by VP Singh to counter Rajiv Gandhi who started it all by unlocking Ram Janmabhoomi gates to balance his own Shah Bano case disaster. The story spirals to many many layers of hatred precipitated by all political leaders to appease either ends of spectrum. So holding either community accountable for the existing hatred is ignorance and idiocy.

Unfolding the events across Gujarat riots, Godhra train compartment was set on fire on Feb 27th, the backlash against Muslims occurred on Feb 28th. By the end of Feb 28th, police was deployed all over violent areas and by the next day March 1st, army, rapid action force, shoot at sight orders were in place and the violence was contained to a major extent within 2 days of the trigger point. Modi requested governments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (all neighboring states governed by Congress at that point) who refused to send forces to riot affected areas. Despite non cooperation from congress CMs and flaring emotions fueled by death of karsevaks, provocation from people like Pravin Togadia, Bal Thackeray, a 2 month old CM did a decent job the fact which most left liberals either sabotage or conceal in their attempt to defame Modi.

Then started a juggernaut of malignant campaign against Modi who terms riots as program, genocide, holocaust and what not. While Muslims did not deserve to die and riots should have been prevented, one may point out Modi's inability to subdue violence in a day, but accusing him of state run cleansing of Muslims is way over-board. The actual slander started by a handful of journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and few agenda driven NGOs who referred each other's articles and opinions are proofs to stigmatize Narendra Modi. Groups of people (Indian citizens) stooped down to the level of complaining  and lobbying against an elected CM on international fora; sent signed petitions to deny him travel to other countries and stirred what can be called as a most successful propaganda of Independent India.

Fast forward to 2014 elections. Modi was by then stigmatized, smeared, decried as a villain of minorities despite he not uttering a word against Muslims nor endorsing violence against the community. But the man proved to be an astute politician and was successfully able to convert the willful vilification to his credit by riding on the sympathy wave of the educated masses. He also shifted the goalpost from communal politics to development, stability and welfare. Whether his claims of development and numbers is factually correct or not, he was successful in convincing the masses that he is pro-development and all negative spin given by media about him was a deliberate campaign against him. Supreme court exonerating him added to his credibility. He also engaged his Machiavellian lieutenant Amit Shah who could polarize caste infested politics of UP and Bihar and abracadabra - Narendra Modi became the first Majority PM of India after Indira Gandhi.

The current political and social situation is in a way rehash to what happened to him earlier. The murder of an innocent senior in Dadri accused of consuming beef is most deplorable and so are other events like smearing a pro-pakistani politician with ink, raiding Kerala house etc. All these were avoidable incidents but accusing the prime minister to 1.3 billion people of these isolated incidents and running a vested campaign by those who received patronage from other political ideologies is ludicrous.

Number of sahitya akademi awardees and now padma bhushan, national award winners who incidentally were known Modi baiters and those who either campaigned for either left-liberals or received their patronage raised curtain to this award returning drama they started claiming they can't handle the on-going intolerance :)

These religious fundamentalism backed incidents, riots, murders, rapes, carnage, arson were sporadically occurring since 1857 much before independence and the the trend is fortunately decreasing. But those pseudo intellectuals who see the intolerance only today in wake of current incidents is not only preposterous and absurd but also anti-national.

By returning awards, they are insulting the institution, jury who decided to award them, insulting the nation. And the bigger hypocrisy was they never returned the prize money or the money they raised in the same nation when more intolerant incidents occurred. National award returning directors should have taken permission of the entire film crew and unit because of whom their talent got the acclaim. And how can they erase memory of common man who knew they were awarded the decoration earlier; and how can they erase the undeserved fame (or notoriety) and media air-time they are receiving now. They are well-aware that by claiming to return awards, they don't lose anything.

I have a word for these award returnees: You didn't deserve the recognition from the Union Government of India. You might have proved to be good in your respective fields but that in no way means your common-sense, duty towards nation, gratitude to the society are worth noticing or endorsing.

One positive factor in the on-going drama is the recurrence of common man's awareness and discernment. They see everything transparently and the sympathy wave is bound is back Modi all over again. Who's the fool here ?

BTW, how many media outlets published this news on their first page that India identified as 7th most valuable nation brand in the world surpassing Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Sweden etc. Not important, eh ?

Change in Canadian Government - What it means to me !

The second largest country in the world elected its new government and the prime minister-elect is a 43 year old Justin Trudeau who overcame all criticism against his inexperience, dynastic lineage and policies.

Since this was my first chance to exercise my voting right in any federal elections, I was closely following debates and policies of all three major parties including incumbent Conservatives. opposition NDP and third place Liberals. There were some major policy similarities including tax cuts on small businesses and emphasis on economy growth (albeit different approaches).

As an immigrant myself, I should have been a part of  traditional liberal constituent, but I refused to be party to communal, culture based vote-banks. Though the losing conservatives (whom I voted for) were on a right pitch for most of their campaign which was fueled by their able financial management, iron-fist against rising terror threats and steering the country right away from recession, the biggest faux-pas was when the crazy idea of vote polarization popped up.

If there are two reasons why conservatives lost this elections, they are (1) Much criticized and unnecessary bogey of hijab wearing women during citizenship ceremonies and (2) Introduction of C24 bill which strips citizenship of those who got convicted of terrorism.

The first reason (hijab) was truly an unnecessary and xenophobic one, and certainly an irrelevant election issue. Conservatives tried to play polarization politics to bag votes of traditional conservative republican types but the ploy backfired big-time pushing all liberals, minorities, traditional anti-conservatives onto a single platform propelling liberals and Justin onto the pedestal. The second reason created a furor of two classes of citizenship and raised paranoia which totally pushed the incumbent conservatives into a minority.

Justin Trudeau must be admired and truly credited for bringing a low morale liberals into prominence. His campaign was positive and around policies. Personally, I was not very much impressed by his promises about investment in infrastructure at the cost of deficit, loose immigration policies and refugee management ideas. But he won on the platform of inclusion, tolerance, hope and liberty - his party's namesake.

Coming to what is in store for Canada and people like me: Justin promised tax hikes on wealthiest 1% and reduce taxes on middle class. This sounds wonderful because most of us fall under the latter and hoping that the hike on the wealthiest doesn't spiral down to others in the social structure.

The four major areas where I totally hope the new government manages well are

(1) Deficit Budget: Justin promised that he will invest in infrastructure, transit heavily that could result in many jobs and amenities to many citizens and when asked about deficit budget he famously declared that budget will balance itself later. Hope he has some viable plan for that and not just a poll promise magic wand gimmick. Otherwise the deficit may cause huge irreparable damages and recession later on. Canada is different from USA prominently because of better managed finances and balanced budgets. That should be maintained

(2) Immigration & Refugee Acceptance: As a human first and an immigrant later, I would not and never be against immigration. I am all for economic immigrants who could bring in expertise, skills and contribute to the development. It is also completely understandable accepting refugees from Syria and war torn areas as a mark of humanity. But what is the limit, checks and balances. Hope Justin has a fool proof plan for this too. World already saw an example of Sweden which is now bearing the brunt of its own benevolence where generous immigration is causing social issues affecting the very fabric. As of one the richest, developed and free countries of the world, Canada attracts people from all over the world. It all boils down to who are ready to assimilate themselves in the success story of the country and who acts against her.

(3) C24, C51 bills: Though liberals supported conservative bill of anti-terrorism to strip off citizenship of convicted terrorists, they also promised to make amendments to balance security of the country and rights of all citizens. Will have to watch how better or worse these bills can get.

(4) Marijuana legalization: Could be a vote winner but if the government legalizes weed, how far is it going to affect teens and related crimes.

Regardless, Justin Trudeau is young, comes from a lineage of Pierre Trudeau, took the entire country into confidence and won a landslide election. He has a golden opportunity and so does Canada. Can't wait to be part of the changing history.

PS: This is my first article on Canadian politics. Here wishing to publish more.

A Brand called SS Rajamouli

Let me put a foreword at the outset that this is not a review of Rajamouli's magnum opus Bahubali, neither do I intend to watch it anytime sooner nor was I ever a fan of his work. What fascinates me is his journey from movie to movie and building a formidable brand which could resonate across every Telugu speaking belt in the world (and now across Indian diaspora, hopefully). More than his cinematic genius, I'm awestruck by the way he planned and executed his success story in his own terms.

Though I'm nobody to comment or criticize Rajamouli's talent and body of work because the world had already put him on pedestal showing his near universal acceptance, his style of films are not my cup of tea. He seemingly pushed forward the Raghavendra Rao or B.Gopal schools of hero oriented, grand visuals based movies which drove me off Telugu movies in early 90's. I always enjoyed more subtle, light hearted, dialogue driven movies of K.Viswananth, Vijayabhaskar, Sekhar Kammula, Imtiaz Ali, Raju Hirani on one extreme and more gritty, hard hitting crime thrillers of Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Madhur Bhandarkar on the other. Rajamouli falls somewhere in between and I personally felt dialogues or conversations in his movies always have been his achilles heel.

But as agreed earlier, my opinion won't take away anything from him as his fans would vouch for (and some may even bay for my blood) and this article is not about merits and demerits of his movies but his entrepreneurial skills and his ability to convert his passion into a strong brand which is a case study for even IIM or Harvard students.


His first few movies, though absolute money spinners were more pandering his heroes and their maniac fanbase. Those flicks helped those lead actors expand their demigod status. Though skeptics might not have liked those movies, he became an household name by then.

But magadheera changed the entire canvass. Though the second half period drama and visuals were epic, the contemporary setting was quite ordinary. But the movie showcased how effective a showman can be he. The movie rampaged all box office records, well galvanized by chiranjeevi's fans. Till Magadheera, Rajamouli was only a creative master and a visual epic story teller but he did not make any conscious effort to build brand Rajamouli.

His next movie was a textbook guide for brand building. By making maryada ramanna with a relatively smaller budget and smaller starcast, he'd hit the bulls eye. He successfully toned down expectations after the mega hit which many other talented filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowariker miserably failed at. With maryada ramanna, Rajamouli made a glaring statement that he could still be a showman with smaller starcast - first departure from his hero orientation obsession. By then, he was already a brand which was proven by the success of son of sardar, a poorly made remake of supposedly second league movie by Rajamouli. That along with success of Rowdy Rathore, another remake of his work, paved the way to his recognition nationwide.

Subsequently, Eega made his invincible. The movie showcased his technical finesse and ability to plunder box office with no star power. Nationwide audiences again approved of notwithstanding poor collections in the northern belt. But Rajamouli made right noises across trade pundits all over the world.

Making of Bahubali is more epic than the movie itself. Rajamouli knew it would take a couple of years but he began the PR blitz right after inception of the movie. He made people anticipate, film industry wait, ensured everybody knew about the movie. Even Amitabh, Rajnikanth couldn't wait and made favorable statements. Icing on the cake was to rope in Karan Johar to present the Hindi version. Already planned as a multi lingual, Karan Johar's brand association made the movie much bigger across not just India but also among diaspora.

The movie will be a sure shot earth shattering, thundering blockbuster. No second thoughts about that. The movie will be review-proof, critic-proof, piracy-proof, negativity-proof because he was successful in bringing his spectators and audiences aboard the journey of making that they started feeling Bahubali is their own product. Most sensible and movie loving audiences will voluntarily avoid piracy, spread positive talk regardless of the content. THAT IS SUCCESS. And that is BRAND RAJAMOULI.

As a telugu speaking person, I'm proud of the scale, podium and canvass Bahubali will be released and hopefully accepted across. Wish the movie rings the Telugu movie bell across worldwide movie fans.

Travel Diaries 4 - Viva Italia !

After two years of visiting Italy, I'm still awestruck at the versatility, breadth and range of Italy's greatness, beauty, capabilities and their well-deserved pride. While attempting to write this article, I could vividly imagine a montage of ancient ruins in Rome, postcard beauty of Florence, magnificence of Pisa tower, enchanting canals of Venice, breathtaking Alpine scenes.

While Switzerland is sheer poetry in terms of visual scenery, France more in terms of history and fashion and Germany more about engineering and architecture - Italy can easily give a run for their money in their core areas.

How can any one country be a birthplace of an ancient civilization (Roman), ideologies (capitalism, fascism), engineering (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati), fashion (Armani, Versace, D&G, Prada, Gucci et al), mafia (Sicily) cuisine (Pizza, Pasta, Gelato), art and renaissance (Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo)

I had both glad and sombre moments in Roma (anglicized name being Rome) yet the city didn't fail to fill me with awe and some unforgettable moments. The majestic Colosseum and the way Italians have preserved their heritage and ruins will make anybody agape in disbelief. Rome - a city filled with narrow tiled by-lanes, pizzerias with chairs arranged all along streets, activity at piazzas (small city squares), friendly Italian bystanders and localites trying hard to respond in English, the humongous Roma Termini train station, Trenitalia high speed trains can never be forgotten.

There are two things which are common between Italy and India. First being closely knit families. No offence to families of other ethnicity but Indians and Italians are a breed apart. Second common thing is their aversion to traffic and lane rules. It was so refreshing for me to witness an equally laid-back nation which simply doesn't bother about maintaining lanes, traffic lights or just-name-it.

Vatican (though officially another country but geographically landlocked within Rome) is a world in itself. The serenity and papal ambiance brings about divinity in the atmosphere. St.Peter's square, the enchanting dome (which we inadvertently scaled to the top) are mind-blowing.

Pisa tower is a bit overexposed and overrated but never disappointing but the underrated Florence is a visual epic. The city, birthplace of famous renaissance which shaped the artistic, cultural texture of the world has to be seen once before we die. It's simply a marvel which pulls you over into the artistic history of Italy.

Venice will be in the top 3 dream destinations of any person who is romantic at heart. Rightly positioned as the most beautiful place in the world by many surveys, Venice is a different utopian land which we can only imagine in the wildest romantic fantasies.

Built on some 117 small narrow islands connected by canals and located in the Adriatic sea, Venice is a picturesque fantasy. Can you imagine traffic and commutation only by boats, gondolas, canals dividing multi-floored buildings on both sides throughout the city ? Venice city by foot is another experience with tiled narrow lanes, cathedrals and the famed Saint Mark basilica.

We missed Cinque Terre, Naples and few other prominent places. May be some other time but whatever Italy I visited, experienced and witnessed first hand, I could say that the country grew upon me. I can't wait to go back there. This is a feeling which no other place or country could stir up in me, except India ofcourse.

VIVA ITALIA !