Message Is In The Medium

Recently we all found out that the Madras High Court banned TikTok application because it is indecent for children and it connects vulnerable impressionable kids to lurking sexual predators. If you read closely, the same argument applies to internet as whole and might even be used to ban internet as well. TikTok, not any more complex than Instagram or Dubsmash still gets a ban unlike the other applications simply for its content and not the company policy. It's like overthrowing democracy in India because there are too many corrupt politicians. But this is not really the first time that we have had such an approach to our problems. This really is the Indian way of dealing with any issue. The solution to every problem. Don’t talk about it. Ban it. We have caste discrimination in our country. A section of people are humiliated for what their ancestors did as a livelihood. So much that names of communities have been equated with swear words. How did we solve the problem? We ...

The election fever is soaring in the country with no one but politicians and media people going crazy over the supposed festival of democracy. Though they always find a reason to bellow through microphones, the season of election gives them a particularly bizarre energy. The powerful become vulnerable and the forbidden questions resurface. For the past one month I am being bombarded with advertisements and promises of Utopian worlds and fears of broken ones. I get calls from Arvind Kejriwal himself telling me what my problems are; Narendra Modi hopefully looks at me with innocent eyes from every web-page that I open. Suddenly everyone is a well-wisher. As an example, someone allegedly(they told me) from Aam Aadmi Party called me to inform me about my name being struck off the electoral roll. Though I was skeptic from the beginning, I played along and asked what I should do. The person at the other end told me not to worry in a completely mechanical tone, as if he had said the s...

The Great Indian Novel  by Shashi Tharoor sits on the shoulders of two mammoth Indian fables everyone discusses still no one really knows about. The epic myth Mahabharata by Vyasa and India's historical struggle for freedom, that come together in this book, are both tales so far behind in the past they might as well be the same for the  young  India of today. Tharoor binds the two sagas, dwindling between facts and myth, which feels like a fading memory or an elaborate dream, to create this masterpiece. But one must not consider it religious just because it follows the plot of a Hindu epic; the book tells the history of India. The epic myth Mahabharata provides the satirical vehicle for the story. The Great Indian Novel  tells the tale of India's freedom struggle and the subsequent culture of majoritarian democracy in the country through the characters and events of the Mahabharata. The characters in Tharoor's novel lie somewhere between their counterparts in ...

Skimming through popular news and avoiding rampant hateful opinions, I stumbled upon a trivial news about filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia. He found grand success of films like  Total Dhamaal  worrying. Tigmanshu Dhulia has directed films like  Paan  Singh  Tomar  and  Sahib Bibi Aur Gangster.  He played the famous Ramadhir Singh in Anurag Kashyap's crime opus  Gangs of Wasseypur . It seemed unlikely an artist of that statute be jealous of a fellow filmmaker's talent. Yes, he could be jealous of a fellow filmmaker's bank balance, of course. So, I dug in. You see, I need to give out a long introduction for Tigmanshu Dhulia. He is not famous enough. Though, this could be a reason for him to crib about  Total Dhamaal , it surely was reason enough for the news portal to not give him even 200 words to explain his side. Nevertheless, it got me thinking. He says success of such films talk of poor state of the audiences. Poor state. Not poor taste...

With elections on our head every time, it becomes difficult to avoid them. I know I shouldn't care about other state elections, but it's all over news. Besides, it's fun! So I watched one of these discussions on YouTube which tried to decipher what Indian politics is. They are all useless but fun, really. But then it hit me. Indian politics is just like the popular reality TV show, Bigg Boss. Up until a few years ago, I followed Bigg Boss quite religiously. To an extent that I had to ban myself from watching any more. Yes, I peeled myself off from the TV a few years ago when I realized it took too much and gave back absolutely nothing in return. Even after that, I accidentally(Hehe!) viewed a few episodes of Bigg Boss and got involved in some of the issues of the contestants, which really were non-issues. I got sucked right in. I could come out of that madness only when I began consuming even crazier acrobatics: The Circus Of Indian Politics. And literally thi...

Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul on Koffee with Karan Ever since Hardik Pandya appeared on  K offee  with  Karan , the opinion outlets have overflowed with opinions on feminism and social patenting. The cricketer's unrestrained confessions of his own life have tingled the debate on morality for celebrities. Why talk about it? While most outraged social warriors find Pandya's comments sexist, they don't have much issue with what he does in his private life. In fact, they appreciate the "all-rounder" for having safe sex. Their isn't even a problem with him having multiple sexual partners as long as it is consensual. The hidden sneaky sexism lies in  talking  about it. This is bizarre. Weren't we fighting for movies like  Lipstick Under My Burka  just last year which  showcased women owning and expressing their sexuality? Can we not see the social parenting that prohibited women from expressing themselves is at work here? Or is it because w...

December,2038 Waow sir/ma'am My heartiest congratulations for the recent façade of a success of your recent Masala action scenes compilation. The success party even made to those paid prime time news. That’s really something. Obviously we live in the most progressive era where there are absolutely no issues to talk about. That reminds me though, the love story shoved in the film was a new touch. I think it was revolutionary. I watched the film with my mother and she threw up just before the interval. The movie was great! I write this in regard to that much publicized elite advertisement which shows only in star kids' newspapers. TL;DR I could be your hero. *smirk* As you must have noticed, I have already began appearing in my parents' press conferences for better limited exposure. Yes I am the Taimur Ali Khan. I am the royal blood and the only one of my name, the prince to the imaginary throne and salvation for entertainment journalists. The constant camera flashe...