The Friday Dichotomy

Bollywood is India’s Reserve Bank of dreams—dreams woven on celluloid. For almost a century, Indians have lapped up every offering with utter voracity and keep asking for more. Apparently we have an appetite for all kinds of movies. If movies had calories, India would be the obesity capital of the world.

With the burden of keeping almost a billion people entertained for three hours, one might think filmmakers would have a huge sense of responsibility to deliver films that are entertaining, educational and thought provoking? Not really! Most film producers are good businessmen and like good businesses they know their audience; they know what the majority customer wants.  An escape! From the dire poverty that plagues their lives. They want a three hour escape where they can see countries they will never visit, fancy cars they will never drive, scenarios where the rich man marries the poor girl or vice versa; they want to see all those things for which they don’t hold an inkling of hope in their own lives. Consequently, majority of films made are hackneyed “formula” films also aptly labeled masala films.

A fresh story is a novelty, twice is palatable, but ‘done to death’ seems to be the Bollywood way. When Hum Aap Ke Hai Kaun came out in the early nineties, it was a much needed respite for the audience. We had been subjected to a decade of “action” movies with saggy yesteryear heroes romancing girls half their age, bashing up hundreds of goons while dancing on Tablas amidst Holi bombs. But who would have thought the grand Indian wedding story made famous by Hum Aap Ke Hai Kaun is still being used till this date? The script reads something like this—boy meets girl at a wedding, boy romances girl at another wedding, a dozen songs (in and around the wedding), a stumbling block (usually involving a wedding), a climax (usually at an airport/train station/bus stop/taxi stand) or the classic climactic “stop this wedding!!” technique…either way, in the end, boy marries girl! That’s the decoded formula for you!

Cinematic history was created with movies like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayange (DDLJ), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and other ‘chiffon wonders’ of the 90s. Since a few of these turned out to be massive box office hits, the late nineties and early 2000s were mostly dominated by classic romance/drama themes. The producers did not take any chances; they stuck with the winning formula. In my humble opinion the only explanation for the survival of banal cinema over the years is a ‘mass hypnosis’ effect created by the Gucci-Prada-Switzerland dipped recycled storylines that numb us out of our senses and consistent exposure to them trains our minds to accept them as normal.

In the next five years we enjoyed the witty yet slapstick Hera Pheri; we devoured Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Rang de Basanti, Omkara and Chak de India. Even romantic comedies like Hum Tum and Jab We Met were loved because they broke the mould while staying within the realm of family entertainment and struck a chord with the vast majority. These movies cleverly addressed serious issues such as homosexuality, corruption, abuse, immigrant problems, and patriotism without being boring art films with minimal audience appeal, leading us to believe or hope that film makers were finally breaking out of the hackneyed masala formula and venturing into more thought provoking, educational and entertaining films.

But I wonder if they have gone too far? This Friday I watched Dev D with some of my friends.  Ironically enough it’s the same beat up story of Devdas redone in a modern style.  A mish mash of Pulp Fiction and Montage, the film certainly pushed the upper limits of what the desi audience considers screen worthy. I could sense discomfort and feel us (a group of modern, educated professionals) cringe at several scenes, dialogues and the sheer guts of the movie. We speak of pushing the envelope, this movie managed to tear it to shreds. I can only imagine the effect it will have on the more conservative movie-goer.

Progressively, Bollywood films have gotten bolder in their use of foul language; the excessive display of physical intimacy; the excessive display of skin (male and female), bold themes and raw gore. Which makes me wonder if some filmmakers are overestimating what Indian audiences can handle? Are these films intended to pull India out of the conservative era and into a modern or western era? Or are they merely a strategy to ‘shock and awe’ to create revenue. Whatever the reason is, I get the sense it’s not going to sit well with most of the viewers, especially those in India.

If that’s true it means we are hypocritical when it comes to judging movies. When we watch a foreign language film (read French!), we take for granted it will be bold, and brazen and thoroughly unsuitable for family viewing. But we can never feel the same about a good old Indian homemade movie. If life imitates art and vice versa, movies like Dev D are portraying life as it already exists in India. But yet we don’t appreciate it when we see it on the big screen.  I wonder if we sugar coat and rose tint our movies as a means of protecting and saving our traditional pristine cultural heritage which seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate as India’s middle class acquires wealth and movies have become a means of holding on to those lost values.

No value judgments can be assigned to movie styles or story lines. With a billion people to entertain film makers focus either on money making films or on topics or styles they are passionate about.  The different styles are a sign of Bollywood growing up.  Progressive film makers are willing to take a risk, a risk that the audience or some of the audience will appreciate the new style and hopefully other film makers will recognize the creativity too.  Until the entire nation can enjoy a movie like Cinema Paradiso (or its Bollywood equivalent if made), this dichotomy is absolutely necessary for Bollywood to thrive.

Dr. Ambedkar: A Great Indian Nationalist

Imagine being a lawyer defending a case in court and your bailiff throws your client’s file at you because he doesn’t want to touch you even by mistake because that would mean he had touched something impure.  Has anyone every made you feel impure?  “Impure” is exactly what people born in a Harijan family feel every single day of their lives.

We all want to believe that this atrocious practice has been ripped from its roots in India, but that would be wishful thinking. It is unfortunately still practiced avidly in the rural areas and in a modified form in urban educated cities. A CNN documentary shot recently called “Untouched India” shows the plight of the untouchables. Most of the atrocities on untouchables are customary and scarcely registered as crimes. Untouchables account for a 1/5th of India’s total population and they represent the inhuman existence of human beings. Their touch, shadows or even voices pollute high caste Hindus. They have no right to education, dignity, or respect and are assigned menial jobs with remuneration in the form of abuse or leftovers from chaste Hindu households. They have no access to public services such as clean drinking water, temples, schools etc.

Just like other injustices, the Harijan cause too had a leader. India is fortunate to be the motherland of leaders with unmatched fearlessness, unbelievable compassion and extra ordinary intellect. Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, popularly known as Babashaeb among his followers, was one of them. Born on April 14, 1891 in Maharashtra, India, Babasaheb was the fourteenth child of Subedar Ramji Skapal and Bhimabai, a Hindu untouchable family. Untouchability is a curse on India and though illegal under the constitution is still diligently practiced in villages and in a transformed form in cities.

Dr. Ambedkar was fortunate that his father worked for the British army where education was compulsory for all relations of military service men. He lost his mother at age six and was raised by his father and aunt in a very disciplined environment. His father, Subedar Ramji Sakpal, although headmaster of a military school and a very well respected personality, could not prevent his own children from the oppression faced by the members of untouchable community. Early in life Dr. Ambedkar learned the harsh reality of being born an untouchable. The repeated insults and maltreatments in the name of caste hardened him and his resolve which later culminated in his vow, “If I fail to do away with the abominable thralldom and inhuman injustice under which the class, in to which I was born, has been groaning, I will put an end to my life with a bullet”.

In 1915 after finishing his Masters, Dr. Ambedkar presented a paper on May 9, 1916 “CASTES IN INDIA: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development”. He presented an exhaustive study of castes and concluded that absence of inter-marriage or endogamy is the only characteristic that is peculiar to caste and is a conscious creation of a community of crooked minds for selfish ends. A year later finished his Ph. D. with a dissertation titled “The National Dividend of India – A Historical and Analytical Study”. His academic success was honored by students and professors of Faculty of Arts at Columbia University. The extension of his thesis was later published as a book titled “The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India” in London by Messrs. P. S. King & Son, Ltd.

Dr. Ambedkar’s passion for education took him to London but he had to return to India due to lack of funds and began to serve as the Military Secretary to the Maharaja. Unfortunately in spite of his academic achievements and recognition abroad he was still an untouchable who could not drink water from a common pitcher kept for his underlings, who would not place file at his table but throw it from a distance so as not to get polluted, Some of these events have been depicted in the movie “Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar”, by Jabbar Patel. Even the Maharaja showed his helplessness to change the caste practices. Frustrated he left and was out of work till his appointment as Professor in Sydnham College of Commerce and Economics. His untouchability followed him wherever he went in India and high caste Hindus as students or colleagues did not like the presence of an untouchable among them.

Later, Dr. Ambedkar started his first fortnightly paper “Mook Nayak”, (Leader of the Dumb), and the “Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha” a community organization to represent before the Government the grievances of untouchables.

He was member of the Flag Committee of the Constituent Assembly that adopted the Tri-color flag of India with Ashok Chakra. Drafting a constitution for a country so diversified as India as Chairman of the Drafting Committee was an exceptional challenge which only he could take on as he saw in it an opportunity to mould an India of his dreams.

Frustrated with politics Dr. Ambedkar resigned from active politics to focus on social reform. His two books “Who were the Shudras” and “Untouchables” provide an explanation for the untouchables’ existence. Shudras were the Kshatriyas who were degraded as a result of a conflict with the Brahmins and the Brahmins refused to perform the thread ceremony for them resulting in the fourth Varna. He traced the origin of the untouchables to 400 A.D.; they were born out of struggle between Buddhism and Brahminism. Untouchables were Buddhists who had refused to join the renaissance of Hinduism.

“Man must eat to live and live to work for the well-being of society”, he said. He regarded that an educated man without character is a curse to the society. Character is more important than education and it comes through religion. He argued that the very basis of Hinduism is inequality and the depressed classes will never attain their development under the Hindu fold. Two personalities that captivated him were the Buddha and Christ. In his thoughts on religion he wrote that:

(1)   The society must have either sanction of law or morality to hold it together

(2)   Religion must be in accord with reason which is another name of science

(3)   It is not enough for religion to have moral code but the moral code must be based on liberty, equality and fraternity

(4)   Religion must not sanctify or ennoble poverty

According to him Buddhism satisfied all the requirements and he formally adopted it on October 14, 1956. Just before his death on December 6, 1956 he completed his famous book entitled, “The Buddha and his Dhamma” one of the best books in Buddhism that he wrote after years of research to bring to the followers of Buddhism on what the Buddha said. His life dealt a shattering blow to the arrogance of those who held that individual elevation and attainment were the monopoly of the privileged few. He was conferred the honor of Bodhistava a level close to the fully enlightened one.

There are many lessons we can learn from Dr. Ambedkar’s life. Perseverance and passion come to mindimmediately. One person, one passionate person can make a change in another person’s life, in a country or even in the world. What are you passionate about today?

NetIP Houston: Bookworm Wednesdays!

by Shyam Pillai, Member, NetIP Houston

On a breezy Wednesday evening (May 12th) at the Cafe Express Breezeway a sizeable group of NetIP Houston members, also known as ”Bookworms”, met to discuss Shilpi Gowda’s debut novel “Secret Daughter”.  The group interestingly enough consisted of both avid book readers and non readers looking for a fresh literary start, which made the discussion fascinating as we had a wide range of questions and opinions.

The gang put their critique hats on and discussed the minutest aspects of the book with zest.  From small gestures of the characters that we either loved or expressed disbelief over, to big sweeping plot changes, we put it all on the table.  Since the book deals with several issues that are relatable to a huge diaspora of the South Asian population in the US, we each talked about at least one personal event similar to ones desribed in the book.  Whether it was getting sick in the stomach while visiting India; the heinous dowry system (some of us did not know it still existed), adoption issues, interracial marriages, traffic in Indian cities or possibly the worst – female infanticide, we each had our own experiences and opinions to share.

We mostly applauded the author on her simplistic writing style, attention to detail, very well organized chapters and her ability to capture human emotions to perfection.  However, where there is praise there will also be criticism… Some felt the story was somewhat “Bollywoodish”, that  a few plot turns were cliché and the potryal of the ideal Gujarati family was unreal.

The crowing glory of the evening was, Shilpi Gowda, the author of the book, who called in to answer questions and have an informal tete-a-tete with us and this phone chat turned out to be quite a treat. We chatted with Shilpi about her upbringing, why and how she became an author, the different aspects and book and thus got to know the person behind the writing talent; a rare and one-of-a-kind event for sure.  We also got an exciting list recomendations for our next book club event, if this were a movie, I’d call it a Box office hit!

For more information on NetIP Houston and their upcoming events please visit www.NetipHouston.org or www.facebook.com/NetIP.Houston.

Edited by Latha Nehru, VP of External Affairs, NetIP North America

www.NetIP.org

NetIP Houston hosts 1st Annual For the Love of Food

by Sejal Bhrambatt, National Liaison, Network of Indian Professionals Houston

NetIP Houston hosted and participated in its first annual For the Love of Food cook-off on Sunday February 21, 2010. After being approached by member Shephali Patel about this event to get the community involved in learning about healthy cooking and raising money for local charities, NetIP Houston eagerly got involved. Whole Foods Market and Madras Pavilion (MP) gladly donated their facilities and chefs to teach two cooking classes. The Whole Foods class focused on western dishes such as an asparagus pesto lasagna whereas Chef Sunil with Madras Pavilion focused on the Indian side of things like chhole, chicken and saag paneer.

The cook-off was open to those who participated in the cooking classes and also those who just wished to get involved and showcase their cooking skills. Madras Pavilion owner Mahesh Shah was such a great host and allowed us to have the cook-off at the restaurant. The weather was gorgeous and Jay also with MP helped us every step of the way. Pranav, NetIP Houston VP, set up his turntables and got the crowd going with the Bollywood tunes. MP also graciously served delicious appetizers and beverages to all of us. Our eight contestants had one hour to whip up a dish using paneer as its main ingredient. The dishes ranged from personal creations to fusion entries. There was friendly banter back and forth but definitely with a competitive edge! Our own president, Farida, was one of the contestants and represented NetIP Houston fabulously.

At then end of the hour, the contestants presented their dishes to the two judges. Mr. Shah with MP and Rebecca with the Houston Food Bank judged all the dishes on taste and presentation and Tyna with NetIP Houston presented prizes to the first, second and third place winners. The prizes were generously donated by local businesses. Upon presentation of the prizes, everyone had an opportunity to sample the tasty dishes.

All the money raised through the cooking classes and the cook-off went to charity. Over $600 was raised and the money was split between the Houston Food Bank and a charity reputably linked the Haiti Earthquake relief efforts. We had a great turn-out and are looking forward to next year’s event!

NetIP Announces March Leaders of the Month

Kamana Sharma, NetSAP DC

Kamana Sharma has done outstanding work for the Greater DC area

through the Community Service Pillar.  Philanthropic events

produced by NetSAP DC have increased in frequency, attendance has

tripled, and more underprivileged individuals and groups are

benefiting from NetSAP DC’s community work.  Kamana approached the

NetSAP DC board in January wanting to create a monthly community

service event based on President Obama’s call to action on

www.serviceusa.org.  Kamana believed that NetSAP DC members should

participate in President Obama’s call to action as a community of

South Asian American professionals and has achieved this goal through

each month’s Second Saturday of Service. Each month’s service event

assists a local organization, so NetSAP DC members are not only

promoting the importance of service in the South Asian community but are also

positively impacting the local Washington DC community.

 

Farida Hasanali, NetIP Houston

Farida Hasanali has been the beacon of enthusiasm and innovation on the Houston

board.  The comfort and warmth that people see in her has helped NetIP

Houston keep its member base loyal.  Her exemplary leadership

exhibited in organizing NetIP Houston’s International Women’s Day

event demonstrates her commitment and passion for the chapter.  Farida

decided to host the event at her home and was responsible for all the

logistics such as invitations and program details.  The home setting

and the women-only criteria provided the perfect environment for the

event. This event was a prime example of how Farida’s outgoing and friendly

personality has made everyone with whom she interacts an instant friend and

supporter of NetIP.