Lokmanya (Marathi Movie) Review

January 6, 2015 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

Rating: * * * *

The basic motto of a biopic is to do complete justice to the person on whom it is based. The next challenge for such genre of films is to leave behind a solid impact on the heart and mind of the viewer through his message or teachings. Om Raut’s Lokmanya – Ek Yug Purush succeeds in both areas while also making sure it is not just any other freedom fighter biopic.

Lokmanya – Ek Yug Purush focuses on the life of India’s freedom fighter, journalist, teacher and social reformer, Bal Gangadhar Tilak aka Lokmanya Tilak from the time he was a college student till the end of his life. The film highlights his fight against the British rule through various means and its consequences.

The story of a newspaper journalist (Chinmay Mandlekar), based in today’s times, is also narrated simultaneously. Hailing from Mumbai’s middle-class, he is about to marry his rich fiancée (Priya Bapat). But a chance incident ignites some serious inner conflict within him.

Biopics face a danger of becoming a bit boring or a drag, making it unacceptable for the youth. But Lokmanya steers clear from it. Through a riveting screenplay, powerful dialogues and appealing presentation, you are kept engrossed. It also makes sure that the protagonist’s inspiring lines don’t turn out to be fake or corny. Although the film is filled with soul-stirring events, the sequence about the explanation of the Bhagvad Gita and the sad truth during opening credits deserve mention.

But as mentioned before, the film stands apart from the usual biopics. This is due to the story of the journalist, based in today’s era, which is connected to the life story of Tilak. This aspect will break your heart about the kind of lives people are living today. It will force you to question not only others but also yourself.

Lokmanya has few issues though. The commercial element in some sequences should have been toned down. But the biggest question mark is the change of heart of a supporting character, which is unconvincing.

Ajit-Sameer’s music enhances the proceedings to a greater level, especially the theme song. The same can be said for the technicalities (camerawork, background score and editing), production values and costume designing.

Lokmanya wouldn’t have been reached this level without Subodh Bhave’s brilliant enactment of the protagonist. With a powerful and heartwarming act, he shows why he is one of the finest artists around. Sameer Sanjay Vidwans too shines in the role of Gopal Ganesh Agarkar.

Chinmay Mandlekar succeeds in displaying frustration and helplessness, mostly through his expressions. Priya Bapat too plays her part perfectly. Angad Mhaskar, as Daiji Khare, Prashant Uthale, as Chapekar, and the rest of the actors play their parts well. However, the actor in the role of Swami Vivekananda is a miscast.

Overall: Lokmanya – Ek Yug Purush is an ideal film for today’s youth to know this important personality from India’s freedom struggle. It is expected to do well at the box office.

Director: Om Raut

Writers: Om Raut and Kaustubh Savarkar

Producers: Neena Raut Films and Emmay Entertainment

Cast: Subodh Bhave, Chinmay Mandlekar, Sameer Sanjay Vidwans, Priya Bapat

Music: Ajit-Sameer

Genre: Period Drama

Swades: 10 Years of Simplicity (Memorable Scenes Included)

December 17, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta with valuable inputs from Padmanabh Subramanian

Whenever a list of most memorable films from a particular country or film industry is made, it is obvious that it will only contain names of box office successes. However, there are quite a few films, at least in Hindi cinema, which have become cult classics over the years despite the fact that they didn’t succeed at the ticket window when they released.

Films like Jane Bhi Do Yaaro and Andaz Apna Apna are classic examples of such films. But they slowly started gaining huge appreciation in the following years after they were screened on television and cable channels, so much so that now they are labeled as ‘classics’. Over the last decade or so, yet another Hindi film has achieved this status in spite of its box office fate.

Ashutosh Gowariker’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Swades found a lot of takers when it released in December 2004, especially the lovers of meaningful cinema, despite its strictly average box office performance. Like the aforementioned two films, its appreciators kept on increasing over the last decade at a rapid pace and the film gained a respectful status of Gowariker and Shah Rukh’s one of the best works.

Today, Swades completes exactly 10 years of its release. The film is known for striking an emotional chord with the viewer without or hardly saying much. It is this simple visual narration that is largely responsible for the film gaining such applause.

So let’s have a look at the film’s most memorable scenes, which say a lot without saying much:

– The first one that comes to our mind is the one where Mohan Bhargav buys a glass of water from a child vendor. In fact, this can even go down as one of the most memorable scenes from Bollywood. By just showing the character purchase and consume the water, the writer and director have portrayed Mohan’s massive change of heart, or hriday parivartan, since, before this scene, he strictly drank only packaged water. Of course, SRK’s brilliant expressions also say it all.

– The climax sees Mohan returning to Charanpur, India forever after quitting his lucrative job at NASA. But such major story development is shown without any rona dhona and by just a sweet Kushti scene. In spite of this, it succeeds in moving you.

– The village of Charanpur strictly followed caste system, wherein the members of the ‘upper caste’ stay away from the ones of a ‘lower caste’. In the song ‘Yeh Tara Woh Tara’, the protagonist gives an overwhelming message against this division by making the kids, sitting at the area reserved for ‘lower castes’, pass over and sit in the area reserved for ‘upper castes’. Once again, a strong message without dramebazi.

– The film also speaks about Indian culture. This was seen the most in the pre-climax as Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) gives a teary farewell to Mohan. But as per the intelligent narration in the rest of the film, there is no gyan giving on Bharatiya Sanskriti. Geeta makes her point about the same by just presenting a box to Mohan with few items that would enable him recall India.

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– In this particular scene, Melaram wants to point it out to Mohan that there is no point going away from our near and dear ones in our country and serving some other country. But all he says is, “Apni chaukhat ka diya and giving light to neighbor’s house.” It says all!

– Kaveri Amma hands over Mohan the task of recovering money from Haridas, who stays far away from Charanpur. Mohan is deeply hurt to see the abject poverty Haridas is facing. However, he hardly expresses this and lets his expressions speak. Even while he is returning, he keeps the same expression throughout the journey.

Patient Solidarity Day: Demand for healthcare access to all

December 10, 2014 by Keyur Seta 4 Comments

By: Keyur Seta

The ever-increasing medical cost is fast becoming a big reason for increasing number of deaths currently in India. Sundari Raju lost her husband due to the same reason. After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, his troubles started increasing and with that, his medical bills too. “There came a time when he was required to take four injections per month and each cost Rs 8,000. So it was impossible for us to afford it. I wish I could have afforded. He would have been alive then,” she said.

Sundari Raju

She was speaking on the occasion of Patient Solidarity Day in Mumbai, where doctors, patients, members of patient groups, pharmacists, bloggers and laymen had assembled for a round table discussion on how to provide proper access to healthcare for all patients across India. The event was organized through the efforts of Dr Bejon Misra, Partnerships for Safe Medicines (PSM) India, Consumer Online Foundation and International Alliance of Patients’ Organization (IAPO).

When it comes to the high cost of medicines and treatment, the mention of multinational companies, which manufactures medicines, shouldn’t come as a surprise. “MNCs are here to make money. Philanthropy is not their goal; it will never be. Government wants to do something about this. But they won’t unless we and various NGOs keep pushing. They also have to listen to courts so we should use that option too. Medical Council of India can also help,” said Dr Salunke.

Another doctor present at the discussion raised the point of new doctors forced to recover the enormous amount they spent to study medicine. “People spend around Rs 1 crore in private medical colleges. So obviously they won’t do any social service. Government also keeps spending more on private colleges rather than government run colleges. The ratio of both types of colleges is very high in favor of private colleges.” He also stressed on the need for qualified nurses, who can take away half of the headache of the doctor.

India has also become home to diseases like Fibromyalgia. Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli, who is suffering from it, expressed the need to spread awareness about it as hardly anyone in India knows about it. Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculo-skeletal pain, stiffness and tenderness of muscles and joints and also psychological issues. “Today I am at this event. So tomorrow or day after I might have to take bed rest. There are cases where parents ask their daughters to be active despite being diagnosed with the disease and not disclose it to their prospective grooms. But the daughters don’t wish to lie. There is an urgent need to include study of Fibromyalgia in medical curriculum,” said Anuradha and her demand was agreed upon by Dr Misra.

Dr Ketan Parekh

Since recent times, there has been a constant demand of making generic medicines available to patients as their cost is much lower. “Generic medicines are available in Tamil Nadu. So if they can be made available in TN, why not in Maharashtra? Our ex-Health Minister Suresh Shetty also didn’t do anything for this in 10 years,” continued Salunke. Dr Jahangir also echoed his sentiments and expressed bewilderment at some doctors criticizing it. “I can’t believe a doctor criticizing generic medicines. Rather than letting a patient die, let him get treatment.”

The situation in rural areas was also described. Said Dr Ketan Parekh, “Twenty percent districts in Maharashtra don’t have a pediatric surgeon, whereas 2% of all new born babies require immediate surgery. A list of 80 doctors, who were willing to volunteer, was given to the government. But there was no response.” Salunke also added an incident he witnessed at a village. “A doctor was giving just 1 cc injection dose to patients. When I asked him the reason for giving such a tiny dose, he said they have just one bottle of dose and the number of patients is 35.”

This wasn’t one of those events where people would discuss and then just disperse. Dr Bejon Misra announced and assured that the discussion will be followed by action. “We will collect evidences and each one present in this room (for discussion) will come together to make sure our voice reaches to the people in power. If they don’t listen, we will be compelled to go to courts. Universal healthcare should become a reality and not just remain a dream.”

More pictures from the discussion:

Dr Bejon Misra

All pictures courtesy: Partnership for Safe Medicines India

“High time we clean up our country” – Prasoon Joshi during Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

November 26, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

We are well aware that well-known lyricist and script writer Prasoon Joshi has penned a heartwarming song/ slogan for the ongoing Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sung by Kailash Kher, the song is called ‘Swachh Bharat Ka Irada’.

But he didn’t want his contribution to be limited to this. He was keen to contribute physically too by literally cleaning up a locality. So he took up the task of cleaning the garbage laden compound of Sofi Mahal Building in Mumbai’s Lalbaug. He was joined by bloggers – myself and Heena Shah Dedhi and few volunteers. This particular event was called Clean Sweep and it was in association with IndiBlogger.

Children in Lalbaug’s Sofi Mahal building were unable to play cricket in their compound since long due to the presence of huge amount of garbage being dumped there. But after Joshi’s initiative, the kids were finally able to resume play much to their joy. The occasion was celebrated with a professional cricket match between the two teams of the locality.

Picture: Radioandmusic.com

“This initiative has induced consciousness in the country regarding cleanliness. It’s not that people didn’t know what cleanliness is. But in spite of that, there was this inertia regarding this issue. Even in this locality, it wasn’t that people were unaware about keeping their surroundings clean, which would also enable these kids to play. But I am glad that our PM’s initiative has spread awareness about this,” says Joshi.

An interesting thing about the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is that the celebrity, who cleans up a locality, should nominate 9 people for the same task. “I was nominated by Anil Ambani. I have nominated Kiran Rao (producer and Aamir Khan’s wife), Venu Srinivasan (CMD of TVS Motors), Mr Birla, Shankar Mahadevan (composer and singer), Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (spiritual guru), Irrfan Khan (actor), Jeev Milkha Singh (golfer), Nitish Kapoor (CEO Reckitt Benckiser [Dettol]) and Aman and Ayan Ali (music composers).”

There is always a section of the public that is cynical for every social movement. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is no different. Joshi has a message for people with such a mindset. “To those who keep saying that we will gain nothing from this, I would like to assert that if I am asked to choose between doing something and not doing anything, I will always choose the former. Of course, there won’t be change overnight. But there will definitely be some difference. In our culture, we are asked to keep our hearts clean. But now it is high time we clean up our country too.”

Obviously, the success of this initiative largely depends on whether the masses would stop littering the roads. Like many others, Joshi too feels they should be penalized. “There is a need for a law. If there is fear of getting caught and fined, people will stop doing it. Plus, they also need to be taught the difference between dry and wet waste and how to separate it.”

Even the most humongous task starts with a single step. Here’s hoping that this single step is followed by million more.

Feed a Child campaign: Small acts transform the world

November 20, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

According to Business Standard, 100 of the 2325 billionaires are from India. In this way, our country ranks sixth in the list of most number of billionaires in a country. This sounds as an achievement, doesn’t it? Not for me though because daily millions of people in India face starvation; of which many are children.

Hence, I have no qualms in saying that there is nothing delightful in the fact that India has 100 billionaires when millions of kids are struggling to overcome a necessity as basic as food. As per 2014, India ranks 55^th in Global Hunger Index.

Picture: Reuters

So obviously, these kids are forced to skip education in order to make ways to feed their stomachs. Looking at such a tragic scenario, the question that lurks in our hearts is whether it is possible for these kids to get proper education and at the same time feed their stomachs at least two square meals per day. The answer to this, according to me, is a big YES!

In fact, I am sure that India has enough wealth to completely wipe out poverty. This might sound too fairytale-ish. But this is possible if all the rich, super-rich and few above them contribute few percentage of their income towards eliminating poverty. Considering the number of such people we have, this contribution will count to a humongous amount. In this way, I am also trying to indicate that poverty is just a consequence of unequal distribution of national income.

When eliminating poverty is a reality, making sure that every child in India gets access to both education and food isn’t a big deal. There are various ways to achieve this goal. These are few of them:-

Government: Both State and Central Governments have enough funds to make sure no child needs to skip education to feed himself. They can start various schemes or plans for the same. The best idea is to start a free canteen in government run schools that would enable kids to have a proper lunch. Of course, getting them to do something so useful is very difficult. So it is necessary for various NGOs and social organizations to keep pressurizing them.

Surplus: This idea is inspired from Amole Gupte’s movie Stanley Ka Dabba. There are hundreds of buffet restaurants in all Indian cities. Naturally, they face a situation of surplus food almost daily. Most of the times, this food is simply wasted. Instead, this food can easily be used to feed a large number of underprivileged kids. The same can be done by normal restaurants and wedding venues. The latter always has a large amount of surplus. Last year, some social organization had started a similar campaign from the surplus food from tiffins supplied by Mumbai’s dabbawalas.

Special Caterers: Government or NGOs can start a catering service with the sole motto of feeding underprivileged kids. People like us can sponsor meal or foodstuffs online or by visiting them. This is how it works – You visit their website and select the number of meals you wish to sponsor with one meal costing as low as Rs 20. So even if we sponsor one or two meals daily, it will help feed lakhs of children.

Recently, The Mind Unleashed shared a message on Facebook – Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Let us all believe in it.

Picture: BlogAdda.com

Tata Literature Live – Objective of mythology to show life’s consequences: Devdutt Pattanaik

November 3, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

When asked about Mahabharata, many of us would describe it as the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas after the latter snatched away the kingdom from the former and tricked them into exile. And when quizzed about Ramayana, mostly people would say it is the story of Sita being kidnapped by Raavan and Ram, her husband, rescuing her by waging a war against the kidnapper with the help of Hanuman.

By knowing this much, many might feel they are well-versed with these great epics. However, one can be called an expert in such subjects only after doing some great in-depth study of these epics through many sources. This was felt by the large group of audience that attended the ‘Revisiting Our Epics’ session by author Devdutt Pattanaik, media veteran Mahesh Samat, filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra at the literary festival Tata Literature Live in Mumbai.

“During my television stint, I came across writers who think they know everything about these epics. They are overconfident. When I ask them how they know, they say we saw in the TV serial. Arre that is only 0.1%,” said Pattanaik and continued, “There are also people who keep saying ‘Humare shastron mein likha hai’. These people have never read any shastras.”

Devdutt Pattanaik (Picture: alephbookcompany.com)

The discussion also went on to the technique of telling stories of these epics. Samat explained, “The problem is that people like jumping to the moral of the story. They don’t visit the various interesting layers of the story, which are as important.” Pattanaik agrees with him. “They like telling parables; stories with moral ending. But the main objective of mythology is to show that this is how life is and its consequences.”

By taking the discussion onto right and wrong, he continued, “Action should not be judged as right or wrong. Different people have different interpretations. Those who benefit from war or violence will say it was necessary while those who are violated will say it was bad. Also, God is not a judge in these epics. One shouldn’t think why Ram did this. Ram did it; that’s it! Let the audience decide.”

Pattanaik, who has written more than 20 books on Mythology, also pointed out the limitations of the TV versions. “There are six chapters after the war of Mahabharata. There is also an instance of Bheem eating the flesh in the bones of the enemy. But you can only show things on TV that appear right, which is dangerous.” He elaborated this. “My friend lied to her niece or nephew that Kunti was taking bath in the river and by mistake the basket containing her child floated into the river. The kid knew the real story so he asked, why are you lying? So the audience has no problem, only the Censor Board has.”

He also stressed how these epics are hailed as revenge sagas on TV. “After the war, Draupadi’s maid points out how she lost her five sons in the war. How feasible is revenge at the cost of five sons? B R Chopra doesn’t discuss this because revenge sells. Also both Mahabharata and Ramayana have tragic endings but this is also not shown. Why tragic? In the end, Ram walks into the river alone and the Pandavas walk into heaven where the villain is already present.”

Our great epics are so vast that discussing them is a never-ending exercise. The same was felt during this discussion. Hence, it was ended due to time constraints. But it was a memorable enough to generate more interest in the subject of mythology for the full house present there.

Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain Review – Can’t get more realistic!

October 29, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

Rating: * * * * ½

The biggest challenge while portraying a tragedy is to make it look as realistic as possible. And when the disaster is as magnanimous as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, it becomes all the more testing, not just for the filmmaker but for everyone involved. The same challenge awaited director Ravi Kumar and his team for Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain, which is based on the said tragedy in 1984.

To say that they have overcome the challenge will be an understatement. What they have achieved is nothing short of a benchmark for realistic cinema because it just can’t get more realistic than this. But the reason why the film on the whole can be labeled as excellent is the fact that it scores high in every department.

The movie is English with partly Hindi. The story takes place in Bhopal in 1984. Dilip (Rajpal Yadav) is a rickshaw driver staying in a slum in the central area of the city with his wife (Tannishtha Chatterjee) and younger sister (Fagun Ivy Thakrar). His family struggles to live from hand-to-mouth from his earnings. Dilip gets a new lease of life when he lands a job at the newly-arrived Union Carbide’s pesticide plant.

Although Dilip is happy to have found a source of earning despite uneasy conditions, he is worried to know that the safety standards at the plant are being ignored. Soon, this leads to a fatal leakage of the poisonous Methyl Isocyanide that kills thousands in a single night making it the worst man-made industrial disaster ever. Even 30 years after the incident, thousands continue to suffer from its consequences.

The base of all great films is writing and that is exactly the case here with a watertight screenplay and real yet dramatic dialogues. To top it up, Kumar has handled the subject with utmost precision. The manner in which he has added realism to such utterly difficult scenes, especially the tragic ones, is to be seen to be believed. As stated earlier, it can’t get more realistic! To carry out such a task in just your second film is no mean achievement.

Naturally, this gives rise to a number of scenes that stay etched in your memory. From these, Dr Chandra (Manoj Joshi) trying to select one person from many whom he can administer an antidote deserves special mention.

Another reason why the film scores high marks is that it doesn’t get depressing despite it being based on one of the greatest tragedies ever. This indicates that its motto is not to bring back terrible memories but to highlight the importance of human safety over profits.

It is difficult to choose a negative point here. Probably the number of characters could have been reduced and the life of the people of Bhopal, especially the slums, could have been portrayed more. This could have been possible as the film’s length isn’t much.

Coming to the technicalities, the VFX team should be lauded as they had their task cut out. Cinematographers Charlie Wuppermann and Anil Chandel have succeeded in displaying their skills. The background score is apt for the proceedings. The fast-paced classical tunes used at the start help a lot in generating interest instantly.

The performances are a top-draw too! Rajpal Yadav gives his best performance till date as far as his serious roles are concerned. Veteran Martin Sheen is excellent as the CEO of Union Carbide. Kal Penn is brilliant too in the role of the cunning journalist. Mischa Barton plays the journalist from US with perfection.

Tannishtha Chatterjee once again proves she is one of the most talented actors in the country. In the role of the doctor, Manoj Joshi is flawless! Akhil Mishra and Joy Sengupta also deserve praise. Satish Kaushik creates an impact in a cameo while Fagun Ivy Thakrar too provides good support.

Overall: Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain is an excellent piece of realistic cinema that shouldn’t be missed. The film requires good word-of-mouth to succeed at the box office when it releases in India on December 5.

Director: Ravi Kumar

Producers: Sahara Movie Studios and Rising Star Entertainment

Writers: David Brooks and Ravi Kumar

Cast: Rajpal Yadav, Martin Sheen, Mischa Barton, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Manoj Joshi, Akhil Mishra, Fagun Ivy Thakrar

Music: Benjamin Wallfisch

Genre: Period Drama

Duration: 96 minutes

Release Date: December 5, 2014 (India)

Spirituality: Indianizing the world

October 22, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

Picture Source: Harekrishnaquotes.com

The word ‘Globalization’ has received a great amount of importance in last couple of decades. It is a good sign that the world needs to be known as a one global community, especially with the development in technology. But in this period of two decades, there has also been an emergence of Indianization in the western world. In other words, the rest of the world is becoming more Indian in various ways of life.

It needs to be mentioned that it was Swami Vivekananda who was one of the first persons to have enlightened the west about the greatness of India.

If one tries to write down the ways in which the world is becoming Indianized, it will be a very long list. So I would like to focus on how the west is getting influenced by Indian spiritual concepts of simple living.

I have elaborated the topic through the following points:

Food: It is everybody’s knowledge that a vegetarian will have a very difficult time in certain parts of the west. But things have been changing over the years. I have learned this from my friends and some news items that now, the westerners have started knowing the importance of vegetarian food for better physical and mental health. The ill-effects of junk food are greatly visible there. Therefore, the people over there have also gained the knowledge of having saatvik food for attaining peace of mind.
Ayurveda: Why is India’s ancient Ayurveda spreading its clout in the west at a time when modern medical science is making some mind-blowing progress? This is because the people from the west are slowly understanding the difference between getting treated and getting healed. As the latter focuses on natural ingredients that help in rooting out the illness, people are getting attracted to Ayurveda and also Naturopathy.
Yoga & Meditation: A monk, who happens to be my friend, has told me more than once, “In today’s stressful times, it is impossible to survive without spirituality, yoga and meditation.” With work pressure, addiction to gadgets, unhealthy food, too much of materialism and consumerism, the peace of mind has gone for a toss. So yoga or meditation seems to be the only answer. Slowly, this is been understood by the people of the west. This can also be seen from how hundreds of yoga and meditation videos featuring foreigners have cropped up in recent years on YouTube.
Mythology: Elders have always told us that epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana are universal. This is proved right by the fact that more and more foreigners are getting fascinated by these epics. I have heard this from my friends abroad and from my Indian friends who have stayed there. One can also see a movie on Mahabharata made by foreigners with foreign actors. Of course, it is not possible for them, like many of us, to believe every act, action or subplot mentioned in them. But it is the overall message that is fascinating them and lighting their paths with knowledge for the betterment of life. Hence, I feel it is wrong to say that these epics are applicable only to Indians or Hindus.

It is indeed a proud feeling for me as an Indian to see the world getting more and more Indianized. But this doesn’t mean that we should look down upon at the rest of the world with a feeling of arrogance. The motto of Indianization, at least for me, is to generate the feeling of oneness and harmony in the world. After all, we all have the same flesh, blood and bones.

As Swami Vivekananda said, “There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming everyday clearer that the solution of any problem can never be attained on racial, or national, or narrow grounds.”

This post is an entry for Lufthansa and IndiBlogger contest “More Indian than you think.”

For more details, visit: http://bit.ly/MITYTIndiblogger

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Here’s why Jadavpur University stuents need your support ASAP!

September 25, 2014 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Right now, India is witnessing one of the strongest student movements ever. It is been carried out by the students of Jadavpur University in Kolkata. But despite the magnanimity of the movement, a large number of people in the non-Eastern parts of the country are completely unaware about it thereby also not knowing its importance. This is largely due to the lukewarm coverage of the protest by the national media.

So here’s the summary of the incident and the resulting consequence that turned into a movement: – (Read the complete story HERE and HERE.)

On August 28, a group of rowdy students allegedly beat up a guy and dragged her girlfriend into one of the rooms inside men’s hostel. She was tortured by a group of drunken men. However, she managed to escape. Next day, she notified the college about it and also registered a complaint with the police but no arrests were made though. In fact, there has been no action taken by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Abhijit Chakrabarti citing a lot of excuses. Although there were committees set up, it turned out to be like crores of other committees that amount to nothing.

Plus, on September 5, two women from the university’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell visited her place without any notice and asked her questions regarding the clothes she was wearing and whether she was drunk. What they said further would shock anyone. The girl was told by them that the incident has brought great shame to the college and if there are stricter laws imposed on outsiders, it is the victim who should be blamed.

Students protesting in huge numbers

This was enough for the students to be vocal about their displeasure at the disgraceful turn of events. They demanded rebuilding the Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell. Since nothing was being done by the college authorities, the students were left with no option but to hold a series of protests. The VC then asked the students to wait till the September 16 meeting of the Executive Councils. But as shocking as it may sound, the result of the meeting was a latter, which, instead of the grave issue at hand, spoke about students’ code of conduct. In other words, they rubbed salt on wound.

This forced the students to gherao the VC and other university officials. However, the VC didn’t even speak with the students and the demonstration went into the night. At around 8 pm, as per VC’s orders, the cops visited the scene. As the talks with the cops amounted to nothing, the protests continued through the night and at 2 am (September 17), the lights were turned off and the students were lathicharged. Students also went on to say that members of Trinamool Congress accompanied the police.

The lathicharge ensured that the VC was escorted out of the campus. But the students carried a roadblock, which ensured more lathicharge. There are also reports about female students being sexually assaulted in the ruckus.

Watch the police brutality against the students

This ensured that people not only from other institutions but from all walks of life joined the protests from September 20 onwards. Needless to say, support poured in for the students on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The ruling party TMC, however, staged a rally against students on September 22. It was reported that a number of people were forced to attend the rally. But if this wasn’t enough, there came a bomb from Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of the Chief Minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee. He questioned as to whether the protests are a result of the recent ban on illicit liquor or drugs on the campus.

This statement had an opposite effect as it helped picking up the moments. It triggered more enrage not only for the VC but also the ruling party and needless to say, Abhishek Banerjee.

Till today (September 24), the situation is the same. The students and the people of Kolkata are fighting with all their might against the wrong doers, who are showing no signs of budge.

So here is an appeal to the people of India to join the protest in various ways, the best could be visiting Kolkata for the same. The movement is not just against the VC but against gender violence in India. At a time when there is a huge demand for stricter laws against safety of women, we have a VC who is just not ready to make sure justice is done to the victim of the molestation. The authorities have also fallen as low as allegedly threatening students individually!

The movement is also about the voice, right and freedom of the movement… Education is being politicised by vested interests, who cannot even ensure students’ security.

If this is not enough to enrage you enough to join the protest, I don’t know what is.

Facebook page of the Jadavpur University protests –

Twitter page of the same –

The hashtag for the movement is #Hokkolorob

2013 reinforced our belief in Hope & Humility

December 31, 2013 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

By: Keyur Seta

Until mid-November, 2013 seemed like an ordinary year as there wasn’t single event that delighted the masses. But after half of the eleventh month was over, when we had hardly any hope from the year, two events emerged that turned 2013 on its head with joy. Those events reinforced our beliefs in hope and humanity. They are as follows date-wise:

Sachin Tendulkar’s Farewell Speech:
All those who listened to the historic speech Sachin Tendulkar gave would agree that it was much, much more than a speech. After having a closer look at it, one realizes that it is a precious lesson on humbleness. Just imagine – a man who is hailed as the God of cricket and one of the most loved Indians is seen behaving like just like an ordinary Common Man.

Tendulkar’s humility and down-to-earth behavior isn’t new to the world. We have seen it all these years from the kind of career he has had and the way he has spoken to the media. But in his extempore speech, where he thanked a list of people who helped him become what he is today, we got a first-hand account of his inner self. It indirectly taught us that even after achieving the unachievable, one needs to hold on to humbleness, despite receiving a Godly status.

Children are often preached by their elders and teachers on how to become good human beings. Now, they have an easier option of making them listen to the 20 minute speech by the Master Blaster.

AAP’s Miraculous Success:
Till the start of December 2013, the nation had witnessed the triumph of the Common Man only in movies. It won’t be an overstatement that the masses had given up any hope as far as cleansing the politics was concerned. But how things changed once the results of the Delhi general elections were out!

People from the political fraternity had laughed at Arvind Kejriwal and his team when they decided to contest Delhi elections through their Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). I too, personally, thought it won’t garner any success. Although I had no doubt on their determination, I felt it was next to impossible to change the current filthy political scenario. But the impossible was made possible on December 8 when AAP won 28 seats in their debut election. Earning this many seats in your very first election is nothing short of a miracle.

Now all of a sudden, the masses slowly but surely got awakened to the power of ordinary citizens. The same people who had given up any hope from politics are now unable to stop talking about the subject simply because Kejriwal and AAP have shown a ray of hope, which was missing since time immemorial.

Ever since AAP formed the government on December 28, their popularity is increasing day-by-day. This has sent shockwaves in almost every political party of India. Talking about the politicians that had made fun of AAP, the joke is on them now.

In 48 hours after AAP formed the government, they have already begun delivering by making water free for Delhites, discarding VIP culture and red beacon cars and declaring Rs 1 crore compensation to all police officers sacrificing their lives on duty. If this continues, India will soon see a political revolution like never before. All the best to them for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.

Here’s wishing more power to the Common Man in 2014!