Dinesh Kamath’s movie column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (Taken 3, Tevar and Big Eyes) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Taken 3

Taken 3 (also stylized as Tak3n) is a 2014 English-language French action thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It is the third and final installment in the Taken trilogy, and the sequel to the 2008 film Taken and the 2012 film Taken 2. The film stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen and Forest Whitaker.

In this film, Bryan Mills, an ex-government operative, is accused of the murder of his wife Lenore "Lenny" Mills. As he is tracked and pursued, Mills again brings out his particular set of skills to find the true killer and clear his name.

A more clean idea of the film could be obtained by going through the stories of its previous two sequels.

In Taken (2008), a retired CIA operative named Bryan Mills goes out of his way to rescue his daughter and tracking down and killing her kidnappers after she is taken by human traffickers for sexual slavery while traveling in France.

In Taken 2 (2012), Murad, the mob boss of the gang of human traffickers and father of Marko, whom Bryan had killed by electrocution, plans to capture Bryan, who is vacationing with his family in Turkey, and avenge their loved ones.

In Taken 3 (2015), Bryan has been framed for the murder of his wife, Lenore. He then sets out to clear his name by going after the real killers, while also eluding capture from U.S. authorities that he formerly worked for.

The film has Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, Forest Whitaker as Inspector Franck Dotzler, Maggie Grace as Kim Mills, Famke Janssen as Lenore "Lenny" Mills, Dougray Scott as Stuart St. John, Sam Spruell as Oleg Malankov, Leland Orser as Sam, Jon Gries as Casey, Jonny Weston as Kim's boyfriend and Dylan Bruno as Smith.

Tevar

Tevar (English: Attitude) is a Bollywood film directed by Amit Sharma and written by Gunasekhar. The film stars Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee in lead roles. It is a remake of 2003 Telugu Blockbuster Okkadu starring Mahesh Babu.

The film has an interesting plot. Pintoo is a young Kabbadi player who goes to factionism hit Kurnool to take part in a life changing match, which decides his sports future. There, in a twist of fate, he saves Radhika from Gajendar Singh, a dangerous faction leader, who is in love with Radhika and wants to marry her against her wishes. Pintoo tries to comfort her because Gajendar Singh killed both brothers of Radhika. Pintoo brings Radhika to his house in Hyderabad and decides to send her abroad to save her from Gajendar Singh. This is complicated by the fact that Radhika falls in love with Pintoo and that Pintoo’s dad is the top Cop in charge of finding Radhika, as per the order of corrupt home minister of the state. The home minister is into helping Gajendar Singh. Pintoo conceals Radhika in Charminar, this forms an integral part of the story. Whether Pintoo is able to achieve his Kabbadi target and whether Radhika and Pintoo unite is the crux of the story.

Big Eyes

Big Eyes is a 2014 American biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton, and starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. The film focuses on American artist Margaret Keane (Adams), whose work was fraudulently claimed in the 1950s and 1960s by her then-husband, Walter Keane (Waltz), and delves into the story of their heated divorce trial wherein Margaret accused Walter of stealing her paintings.

The film has an interesting plot. Artist Margaret Keane's work became phenomenally successful in the 1950s, but she received no recognition for it. Her husband, Walter Keane, claiming to be the artist, became a national celebrity and talk show fixture in the 1950s after he pioneered the mass production of inexpensive prints of big-eyed kids. Using his marketing savvy, he sold the prints cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the United States. Margaret generated the paintings from their basement with Walter's contribution being his signature added to the bottom. The ruse ended their marriage, and when Margaret tried to make it known that she created the paintings, the couple end up in a court battle after she learned that Walter had taken the paintings without permission. The case culminated in a dramatic courtroom showdown.

The film has Amy Adams as Margaret Keane, Christoph Waltz as Walter Keane, Danny Huston as Dick Nolan, Jon Polito as Enrico Banducci, Krysten Ritter as DeAnn and Jason Schwartzman as Ruben.

Dinesh Kamath found two contestants in Bigg Boss House interesting and exciting - they are Karishma Tanna and Sonali Raut

Dinesh Kamath found two contestants in Bigg Boss House interesting and exciting - they are Karishma Tanna and Sonali Raut

Karishma Tanna is undoubtedly one of the hotest contestants in the Bigg Boss house. She is hot and seductive. The leggy beauty’s entry in Bigg Boss house has indeed taken the hotness quotient up a notch. Although many people who watch the show find the actress selfish and self-centred and say that her attitude towards the game has been negative from the first day, I personally find her interesting.

Someone said the following about Karishma: ‘Karishma, it is amply clear now, continues to be her irritating and highly annoying self. It seems that she just needs a reason to argue on any brainless topic. Always ready to pounce on her fellow mates with her caustic tongue Karishma just opens her mouth to spew some venomous words. If she doesn’t get an opportunity to show her prowess as the most irritating contestant of this season (if not in the history of Bigg Boss), she creates situations to simply make a comment.’

I personally don’t feel that Karishma is that bad. She is both exciting and interesting.

Sonali Raut has her own mannerisms where she might try to grab attention by getting intimate with other contestants. I liked the way she seductively walked up to Upen, and sensuously kissed him on the cheek. This was followed by a romantic dance by the two. Also Upen kissed her back.

Sonali was indeed the inhouse fashionista  and she was another hottest contestant.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Only those information supported by evidence is true' that was published in Newsband

Only those information supported by evidence is true

Some people want to wallow in past glory. Lets keep our scientific temper and learn to be skeptical about tall claims: irrespective of the origin being Western or Eastern.

The mindset of our Indians is like if there is any mention of present day scieintific advancements in the ancient scripts even if is just a conceptualization then we try to credit the ancient saints as the inventors. We are so much obsessed with our ancient culture and philosophy that for preserving it we don’t consider anyone else credible for the present day advancements rather than pouring the whole credit in the bucket of ancient monks and scholars.

Several civilisations have contributed to the advancement of the frontiers of scientific knowledge for the human race. India has had its fair share of contributions that she can rightly be proud of. Modern Indian scientists have several discoveries they can claim credit for - although many of them win acclaim outside India’s shores.

It is high time every Indian learnt to distinguish between mythology and reality. What is unfortunate is that some people tend to eulogise and glorify whatever they can find about our past, even without valid evidence. In the absence of any evidence, efforts will be made to produce part of the evidence in favour of antiquity. Anybody who talks about these things has the responsibility to prove these things as well - at least on a small scale. If you see the drawings presented with the Vedic papers, it is grotesque. It is now known where we are going by glorifying the past. It makes sense if the ancient knowledge is put to use, not otherwise.

Research is an important part of Science and without doing any proper research nothing should be accepted. Any research or output comes into mind first. Without having idea nothing is possible. Then comes hard actions. Agreed that there are new breed of so called think tanks, scientists and historians, who believe Hindu means full of mythology. That’s not true. Information supported by evidence should be accepted. Whichever fields of ancient Indian science were based on verified and documented work by the ancients have survived to this day - such as Ayurveda and some fields of Mathematics and Astronomy. The rest of it must be taken as Mythology and part of our cultural beliefs and must not be intertwined with hard science.   

Several people express their opinions. Bu none is keen in a fact finding mission. If the Sanskrit works are only fictions, let us once for all prove it and abandon it. But till such time can we not hold the over enthusiasm to rubbish ancient texts?

We are becoming a bunch of fools in the eyes of the world by glorifying our past although there is nothing we can show in terms of usable products. We are still dependent on the Western technology whether it is mission to mars or computers or day to day application of modern technology in every day life. There is nothing we can show that we have developed based on our ancient knowledge. If we are that great we can immediately close down all our labs and hospitals. We should immediately stop this business of saying that we knew everything and we are great. This is detrimental to the development of our science and technology.

It is fine if such boasting of our rich ancient heritage is used to boost our moral and we strive to scale new heights in science But if such claims is going to make us do nothing in present to improve our scientific achievements then it is useless to claim these ancient legacies. India was a pioneer then, now its time to ensure that our country will be a leader in the future to come.

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Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Health should be made a fundamental right' that was published in Newsband

Health should be made a fundamental right

On the last day of 2014, the Union government made public the draft National Health Policy 2015. The policy is a first step in achieving universal health coverage by advocating health as a fundamental right, whose “denial will be justiciable”.

Can universal access to affordable health-care services become a reality? It is high time the dysfunctional health-care services in the country are set right. Insufficient funding over the years combined with other faulty practices have led to a dysfunctional health-care system in the country. The failure of the public health-care system to provide affordable services has led to many avoidable deaths.

Adopting a National Health Policy and proclaiming health as a fundamental right is a good step. Equitable distribution of health care is a dream as of now. Quality health care is available only to the elite. Strengthening the public health care system should be the top priority with proper monitoring and evaluation. Corrupt medical practices should be stopped. Pharmaceutical pricing is a major policy challenge linked to providing universal health coverage.

At the same time, it has to be ensured that the Health Sector does not evolve into an industry through rampant commercialisation. There has to be a monitoring mechanism to curb the ills in this sector like arbitrary pricing, indiscriminate / unwanted tests and medical procedures, lack of transparency, etc which are bringing a bad name to this humanitarian service area. Such a holistic approach is what is urgently required if the common man should get his due. Whatever increase in health care spending is envisaged, it should not go towards paying insurance premiums to major insurance players. Instead strengthen basic facilities and ensure proper nutrition and sanitation.

The Policy on health care has to be addressed to common people’s aspirations. The primary health care system in all the states is in want of dire changes. The indifferent attitude to public health care comes to the fore when there are calamities of accidents, onset of communicable diseases when the administration finds it difficult to attend to the severity of the situation. A case in point is the dengue attack in several states when the availability of common drugs was in scarcity. Also the allocations to the health sector towards the treatment at hospitals for the senior citizen are at the mercy of the hospital administration. An open hearted approach to this problem will go a long way in making a healthy nation. A new look is essential in the deployment of essential medicines at the hospitals and a decent financial allocation to this sector. The drug cartel is to be reined in to supply the essential medicines at a decent price. Health care should not become a contentious issue.

Nutrition and health are the most important human needs. The Government's concept of Health as Fundamental Right is in the right direction. It is an unparalleled measure. Refusing health care must be made a punishable offence. It is only then will it have desirable effect and contribute to healthy nation.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Turbhe MIDC Police celebrate ‘Raising Day’ through Health camp' that was published in Newsband

Turbhe MIDC Police celebrate ‘Raising Day’ through Health camp

By Dinesh Kamath

Above Picture: Left:- SI Deshmukh, ACP Massal, SI Alphonso, DCP Umap, DCP watch DCP (crime) Mengde doing his BMI test.

TURBHE: In a bid to initiate "Health is Wealth" for the Public and the Police, the Turbhe MIDC Police decided to celebrate “Raising Day of Maharashtra Police” (RD) in association with Heart Foundation, Acharyaji Nanesh Hospital & Thyrocare on 5th January 2015 through a Health Camp which was held from 9 am to 5 pm at the Police station where over 200 took advantage of the camp.

The inauguration of the Health Camp was done by ACP Shri Vivek Masal, Zone 1. Talking on the occasion, ACP Masal said, “It is a very good initiative to take care of the health of the public and our Police Personnels. We would like to continue to serve the community by standing by their side constantly.”

Talking to Senior Police Inspector, Chandrasen Deshmukh,  Senior PI Turbhe MIDC Police Station, he said, “It was on this day (2nd January), that the Maharashtra Police was handed over the current flag by the then Prime Minister Late Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru.” He also added that various programs have been slotted for the benefit of the society at large, like meeting member of different industries in their beat, giving them tips on safety, holding seminars of Public Interests with various sections of the society.

The camp also had various talk shows on stress, anger, relationship, time, image and money management by renowned Physcatrist, Dr. Alexander Martin.

“I felt awesome to join hands and be a part of this Health Camp for the Police and the Public. We are also glad to be working with them in regard to drug and sexual abuse,” said Dr. Ellis Jayakar, President, Heart Foundation.

“I am very happy and delighted that our Police department invited us to serve the Police through this camp. We were able to have consultations in Physiotherapy, Orthopaedics, Dietician, Psychiatrist, Dental and General Physicians," said Dr. Shashiraj Shetty, MD, Nanesh Hospital.

The camp had around 31 blood tests sponsored by Thyrocare. According to the doctors who checked the Police force, they were amazed to see that only 10% of them suffered from Hypertension and almost all were fit in spite of their hectic work schedule. Talking to some policemen, they acknowledged that they went through a lot of stress related work.

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