Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'All Indians must know Hindi' that was published in Newsband

All Indians must know Hindi

There is nothing wrong in Indian people learning Hindi. In the guise of opposing imposition of Hindi, leaders fooled the people of some State and prevented them from learning Hindi. People should not be prevented from learning for political reasons.

There's nothing wrong in learning Hindi, just like there's nothing wrong in learning Malayalam or Punjabi or French or German or whatever. There's nothing wrong with someone from UP learning Tamil or Malayalam as well. If Tamil is rejected in UP then Hindi will be rejected in Tamil Nadu.

Barring Tamil Nadu, all southern states of India has no grudge against Hindi.  Anti Hindi and Brahmin sentiments is a fulcrum of Tamil politics since advent of Dravid movement. State has undergone sea change over a period. Hindi remain no more untouchable. Bollywood films are popular. North Indian apparel & cuisine is common in major cities of Tamil Nafu. Present controversy is mere political drama.

There is no harm if people learn English, which has an undeniable repository of knowledge. The funny thing is current generation North Indians are eschewing Hindi. They feel ashamed of it. Hinglish is their tongue.  Modi could do better if he promoted Hindi to North Indians. More languages a person learns, lesser chances this person will have in developing Alzheimer’s

Politicians should not give impression that they are against Hindi. It will harm interest of ordinary people. It seems politicians of Tamil Nadu have a fear i.e. learning of Hindi by the people will pave way to national level political parties in the state. They are holding power at the cost of innocent people's larger interest.

At the Centre, there has been no Prime Minister from Tamil Nadu till now, which has high education percentage and is one of the industrialized state.  

Equal opportunity is not available for known reason that this country is for Hindi speaking people. All other state educated people are slowly moving outside the country to save their cultural freedom. Though they lose at last. It’s a lose-lose situation for all non-Hindi speaking states.

Dinesh Kamath's column 'Movie World: Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Kabir Singh’ excels at Box office' that was published in Newsband

Movie World

Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Kabir Singh’ excels at Box office

Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh has become seventh Bollywood venture in 2019 to score a century. Film trade analysts now believe that there is a strong possibility of Kabir Singh to emerge as the highest grossing film of 2019, surpassing Uri’s lifetime business.

Bollywood, in the first two quarters of this calendar year, is matching the growth momentum of 2018, which is considered as the richest year for the Hindi film industry. Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh, that hit theatres on June 21, has minted over Rs 100 crore within five days of its release, becoming the seventh film so far to cruise past the Rs 100 crore target.

This is also going to be Kapoor’s first solo century. His last successful offering was Padmaavat, in which he was sharing screen space with Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone.

Kabir Singh’s successful opening makes South Indian remakes a hit formula for Bollywood

In 2017, there were nine films in the Rs 100-crore club, 2016 had seven such films, 2015 and 2013 six such films and in 2014 the count stood at eight. Big-ticket films that earned over Rs 100 crore in 2019 include Salman Khan’s Bharat that entered the club in four days; Akshay Kumar’s Kesari in seven days; Ranveer Singh’s Gully Boy in eight days, and multi-starrer Total Dhamaal in nine days. Ajay Devgn’s De De Pyaar De is another film that entered the Rs 100 crore club this year.

With an estimated budget of Rs 60 crore, Kabir Singh’s success is as surprising for the film industry as the success of ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ that went on to rake in Rs 245 crore. Film trade analysts now believe that there is a strong possibility of Kabir Singh to emerge as the highest grossing film of 2019, surpassing Uri’s lifetime business. Running in over 3100 screens, Kabir Singh is witnessing a strong run in Tier II and III markets, which was unexpected from the film as it was considered to be more urban-centric.

The romantic drama is even seeing a repeat audience, which is further helping Kabir Singh trend even during weekdays.

The first two quarters of 2019 have emerged as big money churners, with the opening three months of the year getting as much as Rs 1,000 crore, a feat not achieved in the last few years.

Kabir Singh’s success will not only be a value addition to the overall business of the film industry, but it could also be a turnaround for Shahid Kapoor’s career, who single-handedly could carry very few successful ventures in the last few years.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Kabir Singh might have invited the wrath of critics for glamourising misogyny, but the film is cooking up a storm at the box office. Despite negative reviews, Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani's film has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark. After crossing the Rs 70-crore mark in its opening weekend, Kabir Singh has now entered the Rs 100-crore club within five days of its release.

Released in 3123 screens across India, Kabir Singh is going strong at single screens as well as multiplexes. Kabir Singh, which is Hindi remake of Telugu film Arjun Reddy, has emerged as the fourth biggest Hindi opener at the domestic box office this year.

Shahid and Kiara are on cloud nine after the massive success of their film. In fact, the Kaminey actor took to Instagram to share a happy picture with Kiara and director Sandeep Reddy Vanga to celebrate the opening weekend collection. While Kabir Singh is refusing to slow at the box office, the film has been slammed by critics for its toxic masculinity.

Giving the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, India Today reviewer Ananya Bhattacharya wrote, "Kabir Singh spends 120 minutes of its 154 in showing Kabir either drinking or drunk or snorting cocaine or needling in morphine or fighting with people or, slapping his girlfriend or screaming at her. Or making out. In the remaining 24 minutes, his repentance is done with, and we all go home with a happy ending. If you think it is okay, if you think it is justified because 'movie hai yaar, it's not real life', you are part of the problem. Misogyny is not cool. Neither is Kabir Singh."

While the movie is receiving some serious backlash for some of its problematic sequences, it has still managed to intrigue the audience at large. The film’s main plotline revolves around a brilliant but arrogant surgeon called Kabir Singh who falls in love with his junior at medical college. Things take a dramatic turn when the couple’s families enter the scene.

Kabir Singh, is being described as misogynistic when actually it is basically the story of a man who becomes addicted to alcohol and drugs after his girlfriend's family refuses to accept their relationship, and marries her off to someone else. The movie hit the screens on 21 June and has divided opinions sharply.

The lead character - played by actor Shahid Kapoor - is a man-child who belittles his girlfriend, Preeti Sikka, tries to control her life and objectifies women. The lead female role, as you know, is played by Kiara Advani. Singh is volatile and violent - in one scene, he threatens to rape a woman at knifepoint when she refuses to have sex with him. He eventually backs off, but it's no credit to him.

This is not the first time an Indian film has irked people for its treatment of women. Misogyny is not just commonplace in many Bollywood scripts but it is also deeply rooted in the industry. Stalkers are often glorified, toxic masculinity is normalised and even molestation is justified as a legitimate form of courtship. Films driven by strong female leads are rare, but women, including leading heroines, frequently appear in titillating dances.

But in a country battling patriarchy, sexist stereotypes and endless violence against women, the movie's creation of a hero out of a bully has been questioned by many. In a country plagued with violence against women, it is nauseating that Hindi cinema continues to showcase the worst kind of violent, male archetypes like in ‘Kabir Singh’. Yes, there should be creative freedom but is there nothing called a sense of social responsibility? Surely a balance?

And yet, the film has had a great opening, having earned more than 708m rupees ($10m; £8m) in just three days. Many have also lauded Kapoor for his "intense" performance.

The 38-year-old actor has starred in several critically acclaimed films, including Udta Punjab, which revolves around the drugs crisis in Punjab state, and Haider, which adapts Shakespeare's Hamlet to tell the story of a conflicted young man in Indian-administered Kashmir. So, some have questioned his decision to portray the role of Kabir Singh.

Thus actor Shahid Kapoor may be receiving flak for his choice of role and film with his latest outing, Kabir Singh, but the movie has set the cash registers ringing at domestic ticket windows.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Everyone must get their basic rights' that was published in Newsband

Everyone must get their basic rights

What are basic rights? How are they different from other fundamental rights? Basic rights flow from basic needs such as physical security or subsistence. Needs are different from wants. Their non-fulfilment can cause great harm, even kill.

Needs depend on the way human bodies are constituted. For us, nothing can take the place of water, food and air. Basic needs are not what we live for. They don’t make our life worth living. But anything really worth pursuing depends on the satisfaction of basic needs. People suffer if basic needs are met inadequately or with delay. They are then denied a minimally decent life.

A right is something that is owed to us; it is not a favour. So, rights help the recognition of anything that satisfies basic needs as an entitlement. These rights are basic also because many intrinsically valuable rights can be enjoyed only once these rights are secured.

The right to minimum economic security and subsistence includes clean air, uncontaminated water, nutritious food, clothing and shelter.
The right to primary health care is also an integral part of the right to subsistence.

 Credible threats to these rights can be reduced by the government by establishing institutions and practices that assist the vulnerable. When a government fails to provide primary health care to those who can’t afford it, it violates their basic rights.

It follows that governments must make arrangements for people to demand that their basic rights be satisfied, to complain when these demands are not met, to report lapses and omissions on the part of governments, point fingers at apathetic government officials, criticise the government for its failures and to do so without fear. Anything short of a minimally decent life is simply not acceptable.

Everyone talks about what the government should do, but no one demands that the citizens also do their duties. Should a poor couple who can barely look after themselves be allowed to have a child year after year- maybe 10 more children total - and expect the government to give them all a life of dignity and free from basic needs? Impossible!

Basic rights and basic needs are within the tenets our Constitution and no one should be denied.

It seems allocating budget for technology and other things will help in better growth and development but we don't want to invest more in basic rights of food, shelter, uncontaminated water, Education and physical security. Who will use these better growth and progressive development if the life of future citizens are at stake and who will be help in this so called development? It feels that our forefathers were much happier with less development and more fulfillment of basic needs from the nature.

Dinesh Kamath's column 'Movie World SRK excels during last 27 years in Bollywood' that was published in Newsband

Movie World

SRK excels during last 27 years in Bollywood

Shah Rukh Khan has completed 27 years in Bollywood. 27 years ago, Shah Rukh Khan made his Bollywood debut with Deewana. The film also starred Divya Bharti and Rishi Kapoor in the lead roles.

Shah Rukh Khan has not signed any films after Zero's failure. But the love and support from his billions of fans around the world, give the superstar every reason to make a smashing comeback.

SRK, who hails from Delhi, got his big break in Bollywood with the movie Deewana. While the actor started his career as a negative lead character, he went on to become the ultimate king of romance and made his place in the hearts of his fans. The actor did have his highs and lows but the love he got from his fans kept him going and even today, Shah Rukh Khan is receiving the same, or even more amount of admiration from his fans.

The netizens made sure to shower their love on the superstar of Bollywood by sending him love through their Twitter handle. More and more fans came forward to show their love for the actor and tweets like 'My man completes 27 years in Indian cinema today. Thank you for being a part of almost my entire life so far. Thank you for lighting up our lives and making us feel giddy with your every new movie!', 'A man who brought Bollywood to world level whose acting is flawless and has over 1bn fans worldwide. Congratulations KING.....', started pouring in. Not just via their social media handle, but some even made sure to cut the cake and mark the day.

Shah Rukh Khan started his career through the Television show Circus, from where he made his existence. Later on, the Baadshah made his debut in the Bollywood Industry with Deewana, helmed by Raj Kanwar. From then on, he did some iconic movies like Chamatkar, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Baazigar, Karan Arjun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and others. Shah Rukh Khan then earned a super fandom, but somehow the latest releases went flop on box-office collections.

Here are some of the films which went flop in terms of earning money on box-office:

Zero - The film featured Shah Rukh Khan in a dwarf character, along with Anushka Sharma

Happy New Year- A film helmed by Farah Khan garnered negative reactions from the audience. The film was featuring Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah, and Jackie Shroff.

RaOne - Helmed by Anubhav Sinha, the film was featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Armaan Verma, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami and Tom Wu in the lead roles.

Fan - The film was helmed by Maneesh Sharma and featured Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role.

Jab Harry Met Sejal - The film was featuring Anushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan.

Dear Zindagi - The film featured Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt for the first time. Dilwale - A 2015 film directed by Rohit Shetty, featured Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, and Kriti Sanon, with Johnny Lever and Varun Sharma in the supporting roles.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'US biased against BJP?' that was published in Newsband

US biased against BJP?

The ruling BJP accused the U.S. State Department of a “clear bias” against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party in The ‘2018 Report on International Religious Freedom’. The 2018 report had listed 18 attacks against “Non-Hindu and Dalit” victims, in which 8 people were killed in violence linked to cow protection. In addition, the report quoted various Christian NGOs that had documented 300-500 cases of alleged violence against Christian priests and churches nationwide.

Religion should be a unifying factor of all cultures. Religions have separated man - the Catholic, the Protestant, the Hindu, the Muslim and they are all saying, "We are all seeking one thing". Therefore freedom means negation of being conditioned by any culture or by any religion. We are concerned with peace, living in a world in which violence, the separation, the brutality is to end. The function of any serious religious person is to unify man through the factor of religion because religion is the only factor that unifies man.

Let us talk about the situation in US. If we fight over religion here they too fight over complexion. We fight over a man-made issue but they fight over an issue on which man has no hand. Just imagine what would have happen if US was as diverse in religion as India is.

Whenever needed, Modi and other BJP leaders have deplored violence against minorities and weaker sections. Modi government should ignore this Pakistani sponsored so called intellectuals (but basically those who do not want a strong government in India). Common citizens stand by Modi Government. The background should be checked and if proved they should be booked under sedition law.

US should stop destructively interfering in the local activities of our country. We have an elected government and that has been entrusted with the responsibility of running the country. It is their basic job. It has no business publishing such reports which basically increases hatred among communities. U.S will have to grow up to understand Hindutva & religious freedom which talk about our way of life.

This was bound to happen. One cannot fool the international Media.  In fact the Courts in India should also have been taken to task.  In many cases there was blatant attack on the individual freedom and liberty. The Judiciary which is entrusted with protecting the civil rights of citizens has failed miserably. In fact we cannot expect much too, with the CJI himself implicated in a Sexual harassment case.  The Indian story is now reduced to such trivialities - criminal feted by Ministers. Do we have any future, with the kind of politics we are seeing now?

US annual report on International Religious Freedom does not carry any conviction, so far as its Indian component is concerned, as it is not vetted and authenticated.  It only enumerates reports received from various sources without taking any responsibility for their veracity. It thus appear to be a mere tool in the diplomatic power-play rather than a real indictment. A kind of veiled blackmail to get better off the bilateral relations!

Americans do not know the ground realities in India. Congress ruled for the maximum period after Independence with the help of Muslim vote Bank and Christian vote bank and corrupt Hindu politicians and businessmen who used to fund the Party. This led to corruption in entire India. Whereever you put hand there is corruption. Violence in America is more serious than in India. In India it is controllable. Electronic media nowadays is simply biased. The innocent people whose vote was never considered by Congress has gone to BJP. BJP is not a Communal party. Since Congress is not in power, we yet have some reputation Internationally due to their past Nehru and Indira policies doing all the negative propaganda defaming India and the BJP Internationally.

Dinesh Kamath's column 'Movie World: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to play a negative character in Mani Ratnam’s next venture' that was published in Newsband

Movie World

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to play a negative character in Mani Ratnam’s next venture

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will play a negative role for her favourite director Mani Ratnam. Mani Ratnam and his favourite actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan early collaborated on Iruvur, Guru and Raavan. Now they are coming together for the fourth time for a film called Ponniyin Selvan, in Tamil and this time she’s playing an out-and-out antagonist.

Earlier Aishwarya was reluctant to go grey. It isn’t even grey. It’s an out-and-out black character. Aishwarya was not inclined to do a negative part at this stage of her career at all. She believes, and perhaps rightly so, that as an iconic actress she has an example to set to her fans. In a country besieged with crimes she doesn’t want to glorify negativity by playing a negative character.

However it was Mani Ratnam who convinced her about the character and her need to play it. He narrated the whole script and explained why as an actor she must do this.

Aishwarya had started her career with Mani’s Iruvar where she had to play a complex character of a politician and speak in Tamil. She knew nothing about either politics or the Tamil language. But Mani had faith in her. That’s what gave her the courage to go for it.

Will this be the game changer in Aishwarya’s career that she so needs? Wait and watch. It’s been Mani Ratnam’s longtime desire to adapt Ponniyin Selvan into a film with a huge star cast. Over a decade ago, he had almost announced the project with Vijay, Vikram and Mahesh Babu, and later with Karthi and Ram Charan. But for reasons unknown, the film never took off. Now Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been roped into the essay the role of Princess Nandini, the wife of Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar.

Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar is the chancellor and treasurer of the Chola kingdom in the epic novel, written by Kalki Krishnamurthy.

It was told that Lyca Productions is most likely to bankroll the project. Apparently, buoyed by the success of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, Lyca has agreed to come on board to fund Ratnam’s dream project. Mani Ratnam is currently in talks with Jio Studios to co-produce the project. If everything goes as planned, the project might kick off from this year-end or early next year and it will be simultaneously made in Tamil and Telugu.

After Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Baahubali star Anushka Shetty has been roped in for Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan. The Tamil-Telugu actress Anushka Shetty has been approached by the makers to play a pivotal role in the film. The makers of Ponniyin Selvan are in talks with Anushka Shetty and her team. The Bhaagamathie actress is yet to confirm her inclusion in the film. She will most likely sign on the dotted line soon.

Earlier, Mani Ratnam had initiated talks with Nayanthara as well. However, it looks like the talks fizzled out.

The historical film will showcase the life of Chola Emperor Arulmozhi. The gorgeous actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing one of the female leads in the film. Meanwhile, Keerthy Suresh is a part of the epic saga. With such talented actresses in one of the most wanted director's film, something big and better is expected. The epic saga is currently in the pre-production stage and the shooting is likely to go on floors by the end of 2019. It is indeed that one film that moviegoers are eagerly looking forward to next year.

Actor-playwright-theatre artiste Elango Kumaravel has been roped in to co-write the screenplay of Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan along with the director. The actor had earlier been part of the writing team of the renowned Ponniyin Selvan theatre play in the 90s, in addition, he plays the character of Ravidasan in it. His experience in adapting mythological stories might have landed him the opportunity to work with the Guru director. He is currently working on the script. The pre-production will take a few more months. They are working hard to give the audience something very special.

Actors like Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Keerthy Suresh, Mohan Babu, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, and Amala Paul are said to be part of the period film. While Aishwarya Rai had confirmed in a Cannes interview that she is a part of the project, the others are yet to officially confirm their participation.

Ratnam, who has almost put together his team for the project, is currently in talks with Reliance Entertainment to co-produce the project which could be easily be the most expensive film in the filmmaker’s career. AR Rahman has been signed to compose music. The industry grapevine is that Santosh Sivan, frequent collaborator will Ratnam, will return as cinematographer.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Need to improve quality of life in India' that was published in Newsband

Need to improve quality of life in India

India is set to become the most populous nation; improving the quality of life is crucial. National leaders must redouble their efforts to raise education, health and living standards for people everywhere. They must singularly focus on improving education and health access for women.

There is a rise in life expectancy. There is a growing population of older adults. It opens up prospects for employment in many new services catering to them. Urban facilities have to be reimagined, with an emphasis on access to good, affordable housing and mobility.

There is need to make progress in poverty reduction, greater equality, better nutrition, universal education and health care, needs state support and strong civil society institutions. Making agriculture remunerative and keeping food prices stable are crucial to ensure nutrition for all.

Many young career oriented women have been refusing to have more than one child; often have none at all. Thus entrants into the country's labour force are declining in nos. Within only 10-12 years we have very few and declining trained personnel to take over the basic service and production systems. Serious manpower planning is necessary in India.

There is the dire need for controlling population. We should have a national population policy. We cannot afford to multiply like rats having regard to the limitations of land availability, production of food grains and other produce for feeding the population. Instead it is advocating the need for producing more for meeting the demands of the rising population. Whenever we talk of population policy, it becomes a religious issue with certain sections of minorities opposing it.

Fundamental indicators of quality of life include have sufficient nutrition, adequate accommodation and environment, social and psychological fulfilment, and health. However, modern development is responsible for creating and/or facilitating many of the world's evils. They include a sense of spiritual and cultural loss, environmental degradation, rapid population growth, Third World debt, social unrest, unemployment, vastly increased capabilities of humanity's destructive potential and a sense of declining societal standards.

It seems the two child norm followed from the early days has taken a back seat these days. Brushing aside such stipulations there are certain group of people who feels  that their number in the nation is comparatively less and should gear up for more kids. So regardless of the community one belongs to, an equally  applicable population policy needs to be implemented. Education remains the prelude to achieve such an objective.

We need to take immediate steps to curb the growing population as it will hinder the path of developing nation. India must seek support from other countries who needs manpower. India could become the supplier of skilled manpower that will benEfit both countries.

China's population has been declining gradually since the application of one child policy and a noticeable reduction in its population is now on the surface. India will become the most populated country in the world because of its enormous number of existing population which is on the 2nd rank worldwide and the effective as well as rapid actions taken by other countries to reduce their population will also push India towards the 1st rank.

Huge Indian population & ranking as the most populated country in the world by 2025 is not a great achievement under any circumstances. In fact there is an urgent need to control population in the country which is already running out of valuable resources like water besides climate change destruction of flora & fauna & forests causing damage to the environment & global warming with high toxic air content making living a night mare. India in the future will pay a heavy price if it neglects controlling the population as there can be less jobs & food scarcity