Behenji- genius, enfant terrible or just simply mad??

Notwithstanding the glittering diamonds, satin dresses or the handbag, history will remember Mayawati as one of the most powerful woman in Indian politics. Reminisce kindly or with malice, only time will tell. Judging by her current maddening rush to convert all of UP into a personal memorial to self and her dear idols, it will be the latter.

Not happy with siphoning off 1500 crore already for various monuments, parks n structures erected in the memory of Kanshiram, Babasaheb and Ramabai Ambedkar and self, she’s demanded for an additional Rs 550 crore for her dream projects, which includes Rs 27 crore for new statues. The judiciary has already demonstrated it’s impotency in restraining her by stating that the process has been approved by the state cabinet and the the court can’t intervene till reports of misappropriation are brought into focus. Kudos to that! The centre too is doing what it does best, being a silent and a-not-so-silent-one-when-pressurized spectator.

Agreed that this is nothing new in India where idol worshipping has moved past the realms of religion to everyday life since time immemorial. Be it our own kings or the foreigners, everyone did it in their own time. Even her political colleagues are no exception. Some argue that she’s consolidating power this way and that this is her way of leaving a lasting legacy. What a pity.

The point is, how far will she be allowed to go? The fact that her state is one of the most under-developed in the country simply cannot be ignored. Impressive progress in every field and good governance MUST be visible to earn the right of going on a self-immortalizing orgy. If the hindi heartland would not have been languishing in utter poverty and that it was a growing hub of development, we would have turned a blind-eye to her antics, considering it an act of well deserved self indulgence. But it is not so. And it has to stop at all cost. We people are pretty damn forgiving and all we ask for is good governance. This is just not done. Or else it won’t be long before all of UP population crowds the already bursting metros and all that will be left in UP would be the statues and the birds shitting on them.

A new day...

Saw Love Aaj Kal today. Didn’t like it. Obviously. All that was visible in the movie was money, money n more money. It’s funny how the filmmakers of today think that once they no longer have to work on shoestring budgets, money can be a substitute for all the other aspects of a movie. The story is replaced with designer wear, exotic foreign locales. Sleepwalking through the role is the latest acting trend. The sole objective seems to make as slick and stylish a film as possible, without caring two hoots for the content which gets glaringly abysmal with each passing day. And the worst thing is smart directors like Imtiaz Ali falling into the same trap. We are ready to be as patient and understanding an audience we can be and extend our generosity to people like Anees Bazmi, Soham n many others who, though perpetrate mediocrity, are not capable of anything brilliant anyway and so can be excused for their lack of intelligence. But when good directors get tempted to take the audience for a ride and insult their intelligence, it’s a tragic situation for movie-lovers. Coz we can neither avoid them nor like them. I’m pinning all my hopes on Kaminey, desperately hoping that it comes out as a tight smack in the face of bad cinema and it’s makers and be the torchbearer for the continuity of intelligent hindi cinema. Even if it’s the only one this year. We will live with that. Afterall, it’s the hindi movies that have made hopelessly romantic fools out of all of us! Fingers crossed til 14th August.