DRY IDEAS is a creative contest in its 5^th year. An initiative of  Dainik Bhaskar group is a part of its CSR ‘Jal Satyagrah- JAL HAI TOH KAL HAI’. It aims to harness the creative talent and expertise of the advertising industry. The winning Print communication is exposed in the Dainik Bhaskar group’s publications to promote water conservation during Holi.

ENTRIES CLOSE ON 18^th Feb 2010 ( rules and regulations)

Holi is the festival of colours, unfortunately use of chemicals and wet colurs lead to huge wastage of water first in playing then in cleaning washing  and bathing. It in fact due to use of chemical and paints also leads to water table contamination. Dry Ideas is just a positive step toward stopping this criminal waste of water.

Every year it sees 300+ entries from individual professionals and agencies from all parts of the country, be it Delhi, Mumbai or  Tier-II towns like Indore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur which are judged by a panel of Industry experts  

This year the ‘Greed of an award which also makes some impact in the social milieu’ is the trigger used for inviting entries.  The communication humorously takes a dig and shows a creative assembly line with Copy Writers, Art Directors, Creative Directors hopefully creating their entries.  

This year there are two themes for the entries. (1) Promoting water conservation by discouraging use of wet colors and chemicals that lead to wastage and contamination of water. (2) Playing Tilak Holi, which means promote playing Holi by only applying a Tilak on the forehead.

Tilak Holi has been a natural progression to the DRY IDEAS. Though the contest is talks of water conservation and playing dry holi, at the local reader level it has moved forward to TILAK HOLI. And this has picked up as a concept.

Dainik Bhaskar 2010 JURY AND RESULTS. Bobby Pawar and Pushpinder Singh have already agreed to be the judges. Further jury members are yet to confirm. Judging will take place on 22nd February 2010. The results will be declared on 1st March 2010, when the festival of Holi is celebrated.

Dainik Bhaskar Dry Ideas Contest 2009 was judged by Prathap Suthan, National Creative Director, Cheil Communications, Shivjeet Khullar, Creative Mentor, K Factor Advertising,   G. Sanjay, CMO, Hyundai. Prajjal Saha, Associate Chief Editor, Afaqs!.. Rahul Jauhari, Creative Director of Pickle Advertising was judged to be the winner. The winning creative showed a kid holding a spray gun against his head looking down with a line mentioning “Celebrate Holi with Dry colors”. Simple , clear and impactful.

Dainik BhaskarDRY IDEAS contest 2008: The winning ad was created by Anish Doshi, art director, Concept Communications. The ad shows several piles of rope in the background, and a small bucket in the bottom corner of the picture. The tagline says, ‘Thodi aage ki sochein. Holi khele magar bina paani ke (Think of the future. Play Holi, but without water).’

Past winners of the contest can be viewed here

Further details can be seen at www.bhaskar.com, www.bhaskarevents.com   and www.divyabhaskar.co.in

Not yet official but I am told GOA FEST  is scheduled for  8^th-10^th April 2010 and most likely at the same venue. And I am going to be there. Most likely I will have my team there- quite a few under 30.

Apparently all talks of shifting venue has been trashed after the Luke warm response from young crowd that actually makes Goa Fest what it is. The open venue will not look that great and neither will allow operational freedom in any 3-4-5 star location.

On makemytrip good hotel bookings are slowly popping up signs of few rooms left. Mumbai-Goa flights still at Rs 2010 a decent price and the train reservation currently showing available.

List of categories for awards yet to be announced and I suppose it will take time. There are rumors that they may try final judging at the Venue itself to avoid a 3^rd time scoop by ET.

A small survey done at my end tells me First level memories associated with Goa Fest are  

(1) Beer: Can we do something to ensure that people remember the Brand rather than the category. Will options help- so I remember I drank Kingfisher and not Foster. The 10 bottles per person was great experiment last year and most likely will be continued. As usual after sometime no one will be asking for them!.  But can we ensure enough cold beer

(2) Rain Dance- The activity that draws maximum eyeballs. Scores far better for the sponsor but still not a direct connect with the brand. The ring side view last year was great. Maybe the area deployed for that should be increased.  

(3) Award Nites - Group M and O&M. These two power-hubs do far better than any of the sponsors as Brand recall.  Can we have clarity much before the awards which is better how the points will be counted? I love the way we search for the person who will be coming to collect the award and we should not get to formal to get all the award winners on one side or front row.  

(4) The gesture of subsidizing attendance of under 30. Much appreciated. we must find ways to continue with this even if that means that the paid delegates pay a bit more. There were complains last year on allocation of FREE perks-  can this not be in a ratio of participation. Many an organization that does not have senior level participation is sending huge number of under 30 as a holiday package. We should ban that and only paid delegate’s organization should be allowed under 30 schemes.

 (5) Transport problems – talk to younger people and not who can and do afford cars. We can do something as TAXI in Goa is very costly. Goa is no longer called safe place. We better have better places and people be warned.

(6) Food quality and service. Can be better. Any fast food koint will be welcome

(7) Re-diff shack. Great equity and lot of comments. Great Mr Chauhan.

(8) Surprised PRESENTATIONS join the list only after some aided probing. As it hit so lower in the order, one tried further probing and get to hear (1) Relevance- just getting a  big name is not enough- tell me and bring me Indian relevance (2) Every person / speaker is just trying to sell their company their philosophy. (3)  The space is not really comfortable (4) time lines are not met

As such we have combined advertising and media bodies to become one force and make GOA FEST the final standard in India- but I am really surprised why CRIBS

ADVERTISERS and MEDIA OWNERS are just given the status of sponsors and are not allowed to enter work directly.  Why should an advertiser be dependent on its agency’s decision? Now we know that MacCann has decided to attend but not to enter for awards at the fest. They do have a valid reason; not finding something worthwhile to enter! That is there decision and it should be respected. But why should some client of MacCann who may want to enter work done by MacCann for them be deprived of the chance, just because GOA FEST only accepts entries from agencies.

The creative is owned and is the property of the advertiser post he has paid for the creative (check all agency contract) and in fact it’s an advertiser who can stop best of the creative from getting entered.  More so, as many advertisers have in-house agencies and quite a lot of work is done house, due to the archaic rules its agency who had no role ends up entering. This is real work- fake agency- the other kind of Scam that needs to be checked. If the awards are means of recognition and aimed to encourage we good work, why should that be only at the agency level and not at the client level.

SPONSOR DELIGHT. A subject that GOA FEST need to focus very strongly if we want the Fest to grown in size and for that more sponsorship to come in. No one remembered Main sponsors- forget seminar sponsors. The only items even all time Goa Fest diehards remember are the TOI Towels- Mirchi Rain dance ( was that Mirchi)- Initial year VTV pack in the rooms. If the brands that are sponsoring and not getting enough return- why would they want to come next year.  Most of these are media companies – Pamper them and provide them solution delights.

SUGGESTIONS

Some action that GOA FEST COMMITTEE MAY WANT TO CONSIDER

1. Goa Fest should allow advertiser to enter awards
2. Goa Fest should also give client a representative trophy for the winning entry. And if the Advertiser enters directly the agency.
3. Fix number of under 30 to be funded and announce that number.
4. Fix a ratio for paid and unpaid ( under 30 ) for organizations
5. Allow people who have been participating in Media Quiz, Young Gun etc a direct pass ( if under 30)
6. Have early bird, member and non-member categories for registration.
7. Throw in a full package programme- including Hotel- as most of the shows do
8. Do something that the sponsors get a bit more out of the deals and are treated better. Ie Brand association can be strengthened
9. Respect their representations like any other function
10. Let’s try making conclave a conclave.  Not just a discussion that needs to be finished before the bar can be officially opened.  
11. Limit numbers of invitee for the conclave as per the organizational or individuals strength, importance and Industry standing.
12. Ensure all time wearing of the cards. Last year there were too many non-registered people in the venue.

AMYBE SEND ME A FREE REGISTRATION CARD FOR THINKING ABOUT ALL THIS.

“Till yesterday, If a lady friend of mine was emotionally upset,  would have not thought twice to hold her hand emotionally supporting her, but no longer”. Reason is simple, yesterday at night, I caught EMOTIONAL ATYACHAAR – the new  show on Bindass and truly was glued to it. It raised a lot many questions.

Emotional Atyachaar redefines sadistic Voyeurism to a new height. This is making available the power of sting operations down to masses. It shows how easy it is for things to happen. If you thought that it cannot happen to you- just watch for the hidden camera and keep your Bindass attitude in check. BINDASSS is the attitude of EMOTIONAL ATYACHAAR- a no constraint show.

The show is simple. One of the partner ( whose fidelity is in question) is caught on camera, which is streaming visuals to the other partner ( the instigator ). Like ‘Saach Ka Samana’, there is a button which can be pressed if it is felt that going further will be hugely inconvenient. Then there is the much awaited face-off with the guilty partner and that is the climax of the show.

First half is to find,  how far will the partner go (It’s in channel’s interest to ensure it goes all the way) or is your love true, Second half is devoted to cliché that you would hear in any such situation;  I always knew, how could you be so, was there something missing, I don’t want to see you again, we are off and all such statements.

Timing of 7 PM is not apt for the show. The 1030 PM repeat should be the time of telecast. Twilight zone at 7 PM catches Kids and adults alike. This leads young kids to ask questions that are tough to be answered or it will surely create wrong impression in their fragile emotional mind-space.  

So, what is adult content. Is that just  NUDITY, sex, kissing and skin show or is this adult behavior and related problems. If ‘KAMINEY can be title of a movie, and ‘3 IDIOTS’ a refresher course on child delivery maybe by that logic  ‘ISHQIYA’ should have been a ‘U’ certified. .

How is ‘Emotional Atyachar’ different from ‘SAACH KA SAMNA’. Why are questions not being raised now? Is this right as per the so called Indian culture? And who has the F$%^&*g right to authorizing capturing actions of the guilty person. Is that not infringement of my rights to privacy? If Police needs court directive for tapping telephones of criminal, who authorizes the video tapping of these enactments? Time one of the parties that is the victim SUE the channel.

The pitch from the channel, in case you have any doubts about your partner and think that you are being cheated or could be cheated, Bindass makes available to you the opportunity to test. Sting Master BINDASS as a PUBLIC SERVICE will help you to discover truth, helping you avoid EMOTIONAL ATYACHAAR.  I can bet that the way the show is created; even Vishwamitra will come out like Villain. He did stray one time.  Maybe it will lead to separation or Open relationship. Maybe the Villain will come out looking as a saint. The advantage lies with the person who instigate and approaches the channel to do the operation

As per Heather Gupta, Channel Head- UTV Bindass, “This concept is a stark contrast to the regular and rather monotonous form of reality shows which involve music, dance, etc. This is a groundbreaking and original concept which promises not only to be an extremely engaging watch but also a reflection of what people actually experience. Fidelity is an absolute requirement in most relationships and a test of that on national television will certainly be worth the watch.”

I say Bullshit, this is trash, and this is soft emotional pornography. This is everything for TRP, this is wrong justification of an utterly baseless reasons. Life is after all a compromise most of the time. Things do happen and there is hardly any saint around. I doubt if the any of these spokesperson will come out unscathed if someone really did this to them.

Knowing that your partner is cheating is one of the most painful experiences. Maybe it’s best not known. There is nothing called a short term pain. Or it’s not that all are sitting on a time bomb that could explode anytime. What Angad Bedi, the host of the show says is trash, “I genuinely believe that it is better to endure a short term pain, than to discover an infidelity down the line, when a relationship may have moved to a much more serious level. After all, if someone was cheating on you, wouldn’t you rather know? Thankfully UTV Bindass is here to save you from ‘Emotional Atyachaar’.” Unfortunately he seems not to know that emotional scars are not short term. The more you try forgetting more strongly they get entrenched in your psyche.

Is the show ‘reality-reality’ or just ‘Reel-reality’. I want that to be communicated. If they are the staged scripted to the core, then wish that the channel be transparent in telling the viewer, the truth at every turn of situation. This may help in avoiding making people over cautious and full of doubt’s.

To watch the episodes click here

More on emotional Atyachar  at Bindass site click here

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Are we stretching the premises of being democratic? Here are few of these example and issues that more frequently lead to such uproar. Take your sides, you are expected to, make up your mind, throw in your argument, comment and debate in a healthy manner.  But refrain from creating a situation out of these. I will take a few subject each time, # 10-11  are here, read on.

CERTIFCATION OF SUITABILITY

A, U/A & U are just silly alphabets not shouting how far the film has ventured into no-go territory. Or how far have they been penalised for being contemporary. 3 Idiots was U/A, being an Aamir khan film, I expected a decent U/A, somewhat adult but ok to watch with children. The full time child delivery, the flip chart demonstration, Aamir coaxed to go under the covers to see Crowning, use of suction. It was a gynaecology class in theatre. Or it was considered educative enough. Surprised how come the government not given this ‘Tax benefit’ under sex education.

Definitely even I a progressive father felt odd viewing it with my kids. That was a cost of being misinformed. Was there no other situation in the earth which could have lead to change of heart of the dean?

PORN SITES

Surprisingly there has been least of public censoring this. There is too much of it available across the system. It’s sheer impossible for govt or public intervention to plug the hole. Hence they will continue to grow. Where are the moral pundits that cry at the simplest of the deviations in entertainment, why do they refrain from agitating about it? Most likely because they do not know who is responsible or they know they will not be able to control it.  

There is a lot more of so called Moral Policing that we as a citizen are being subjected. I could raise more- but then what the ‘F’ will I be able to force issue, ensure action- positively Not. So I got tired and stopped for a while.

I would invite comments- views and examples that the readers can think of and would like to further develop this debate. Please do let me know- if it’s fair to use your name (hyper linking to your designate sites profiles ) your name when I update this article.

SWAYAMVAR SEASON –II billed as one of the biggest reality show (everyone is the same) and tagged as ‘RAHUL DHULHANIYA LEY JAYEGA’.  I am confused about ‘what the Indian Audience may want to see?’  WATCH IT SADISTICALLY AS LADIES TRIES TO WOO RAHUL MAHAJAN

First 3 weeks will define shows success. Will this once again make the working spouse reach home early to watch- just as they did for Katron Kay Khiladi, IJSMB and BIG BOSS-3. This is a calculated risk from NDTV Imagine. Hoping that reversing of the sexes will do the trick for them. We will soon see ‘Perfect Groom’ coming up soon following ‘Perfect bride’ like the laughter and the dances give birth to kids challenges. Many feel, the show should have been called Swayambadu. Conceptually Swayamvar is not to define choosing of the bride, it’s choosing of the VAR- BOON in form of spouse- with whom you would live your life in the best and the worst of the time.

The show will do OK TRP’s. Rahul (34) son of one of the most  promising politician of the nation - Pramod Mahajan, Poonam Mahajan’s brother and Munde’s relative, probed for death of Pramod’s secretaries, and being one of flirtiest housemates giving  hot massage to Payal Rohatagi  - chasing Monica Bedi in Big Boss 2008, who married under public glare  within a year of his father’s death and then went through an equally public divorce  enjoys  a semi celebrity  status is attempting to find his life partner.

Show had a lukewarm beginning with Rahul (34) at the gate welcoming the ladies in his Robotic pre-programmed voice ‘Aapk kitni kubshoort hai- yeh phool uskey samney kitney kamjoor hai- aap parti mai pahuchey- mai fatafat jopin karta hu’ (You are so beautiful- the flowers that I am giving you are so inferior before you, please join the party I will join you in no time’. Rahul with no variation is the trump and the weakest link of the show. Hardly articulate or smart enough to converse, he further made the situation worsen with his trademark punctuated Ravan Laughter in 1^st Gear. Rahul, looks serious but a lot nervous. He is so eager to meet and talk, be the Krishna he loves playing, he is going to have the ball of his time and will surprise us with his blatant honesty and layered with political DNA in his blood.

Once the party started it looked as if it was Topaz bar, Girls dancing waiting in anticipation of fishing a rich admirer. There is a mind-frame shift required to appreciate season -II. Seeing girls fight for a man as possible spouse is an acquired taste. Expect most viewers to be women. None of the women ( I did not count but anywhere between 12 to 16) other than ‘Dimpy’- who in real business pitched her candidature by silently taking Rahul away for first talk, kept Rahul’s eyes darting to her assets, allowed a glimpse under her side cut dress, took on the  first mover’s advantage- is worth watching for. I don’t know if this is a coincidence or a strategy that she made friends with another tall girl- this is no competition, this is advantage for Rahul to be trapped for similar looks.

Contestants who made to final, were selected from 16,755 candidates who applied via phone, sms and emails. Maximum 5,063 entries were from Delhi and 4,188 from Mumbai.

All finalist tried looking glamorous but looked worse than the over plastered – totally buttoned up with Cherry red lips Rahul Mahajan.  glam, they are mostly working, age bracket 19 to 29, averaging at 23- yet no pull in-spite of lot of cleavage show from Indian standards.

The cause of success for the show will be the ladies. Each with star in her eyes. Lanced with advantage of having seen Rakhi’s Swayamvar are  very competitive. They have already showed how bitchy , ugly,  mean can women be. The verbal fights have started, personality assassination is expected, bitching is the smallest of the weapon we will see being used, branding of anti culture and the dress sense of each other as revealing has already happened, we should be ready to see fights verbal and physical in the show. And we will see slow seduction as the show gains time. Where men showed chivalrous behavior, nice physical strength and warm mannerism to charm Rakhi- what will we see from these women- culinary skills, singing, dancing, conversing, knowledge of culture,- will there be some bikini sow at pool – possibility remains endless.

It was surprising that we have 16 ladies who want to marry Rahul, be on air- competing for his hand. All of them willing to come back to life and live with a tag ‘She contested for Rahul- and was rejected- lost etc’ Branded clearly as a woman with Rahul in her mind. This is the country where ‘man wants to be the woman’s first love and the woman willingly settles to be the last love of the man’.  Where broken engagement’s’ as well as rape is a women’s fault. Will Indian males willingly accept this as a game- or the search for the flaw that prevented the girl from being the winner is always on.

Is that about the change we see in the countries social fabric. This show could not have been thought of a few years back. It will be a success (‘I feel) just like LAMHEY would have been a super hit- if it was released now.

The concept of the show is so Indian, prospective bride paraded before the groom for evaluation as marriage material. It happens with tea at home and an outing under vigilant eyes of accompanying sister and Bhabhi (sister in law) but here on National TV – LIVE!. I can also see some of them post show coming back to haunt the viewers as Bhau and Bhabhi’s in TV channels. No there is no heroine material. For some this is just this opportunity- Rahul is just a byproduct.

Surprisingly the culture protectors have not raised a voice, women protection groups have not broken windows and demand for stopping the show has not been made.

NDTV Imagine after being caught at the wrong foot with ever controversial Rakhi Savant doing a reverse sweep of her commitments and not marrying the eventual winner.  So at the very start on TV Ram- the Anchor of the show clearly asks Rahul Mahajan (who can be said as equally controversial) and gets a commitment that he will be Married at the end of the show. I am sure that will happen- as Inside story is that unlike in case of Rakhi Sawant this time the selected candidates have even passed the filter of Rahul’s selection criteria.

There exist a possibility (and how much fun will that be ) if the final winner decides not to marry Rahul!. No law in this land can make a contestant marry under pressure or contract; there is ample protection, more so for the women in the show, no contract can be so tight to be foolproof. Channel knows it and hence is covering their base with all positive statements from Rahul and the contestants. We were there- they were ready- they changed their mind- what can we do. Just not make shows like this.

I am not sure if I will see or blog about this show. Time has the answer and Rahul is currently busy trying to understand the women options.

CATCH THE SHOW on NDTV Imagine
8 PM MON-FRIDAY and 9 PM on Saturday.

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LEAVE KIDS AT HOME. GO WATCH IT. Interesting. Full PASIA VASUL.

They say a writer makes the story come alive playing in the arena he knows best. Writer Vishal Bhardwaj gets back to what he seemed to know best and bring to life, the rustic eastern Uttar Pradesh. And another story set among the people on crime trail, but these are not the dons of Mumbai Underworld, their life and crime has the smell of real life more than the reel life. The crooks are very relatable.  

Ishqiya

It’s not an on-the-edge kind of film. There are no major action filled –high speed chase of gang bashing. There is enough meat in the story to keep you guessing and move along. Suspense, passion, double crossing and straight talk , right out of life.

 Abhishek Chaubey  as a debutant Director has done well. The treatment is just right, there is no wastage of time on building up the character or the background and it still works. Drama starts immediately with the film taking you along its saucy and sometime real straight talk. Its treatment is adult for a subject that is very adult. I am sure that not using foul language would have hindered the story telling but am sure by the reaction of the crowd that it added a lot to the film.

Two thieves seeking refuse from their boss, running away from someone they know too wheel, escaping from his clutches, finally find place with another friend of theirs, but the friend is dead and they meet the widow. In process there is romance, love and lust all making a heady cocktail of constantly gripping drama?. Who is the biggest crook and who is involved or using someone for their own gains is well camouflaged. Result the wheels within the wheels of the story keeps projecting new lines and thought as the story builds on.

Ishqiya

So,  you see difference between the pure romantic emotional love of Khalujan ( Naseer)  - who in one of those moment- even removes the picture of his presumed wife from his wallet- as he finds new love, Older but yet in the game and his tough buddy , his nephew Babban ( Arshad) with whom love has more rustic and lusty meaning. The love triangle of Chacha ( Uncle ) and Bhanja ( Nephew )  falling for the same girl who ends up seducing both could have been overplayed but is just kept understated. In spite of Vidya Balan playing a character that is scheming and planning all the time, playing to be in love with two chaacters because she has some thing to gain by it. She is loved more than hated for her fragile eco-system she has created around her.

The director for want of being commercial understands that the audience in India demands that Lust must always be subservient to love. So the widow, Krishan- (  Vidya Balan) worked within these constraints. She yet is experientative and for a change has raw energy. Vidya is proving a lot of people wrong, from the MUNA BHAI she has come a long way and does full justice in playing a complex character that is vulnerable yet aggressive. She brings becomes an unknown quantity brought to life, Pure yet not, Lusty to an extreme, desired yet unknown. An anti widow format of Indian characters. Maybe only other person I can think who could have done justice would have been Tabu.

Vidya is central to the movie. She has everything going and nothing to exploit, anticipate other than the will and the grit of the tender yet very strong character. There is that chemistry between Naseer and Arshad that explodes in the screen. You love to hate and hate to love. All characters are different shades of black, from the husband to the Gun smuggler, to the don and even the child who knows what’s wrong with a gun. The end is where the movie loses its grip a bit but thankfully that is wrapped in no time.

The song are all part of the movie, they help in explaining and taking the story forward. In fact they are well entrenched as part of the narration that you may think the movie had no songs.

Dil To Bachcha Hai by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is great so is the IBN-E-Batuta by Sukhvinder and Mikka I can expect these to be played lot many times in parties. Ab Muhjey Koi  and Badi Dheer jaitil by Rekha Bhadwaj  are not at the same level.

DIRECTOR : Abhishek Chaubey PRODUCER : Raman Maroo & Vishal Bhardwaj   STARS : Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan MUSIC : Vishal Bhardwaj

FILM REVIEWS

• Chance pey dance
• Pyaar Impossible
• 3 idiots (chetan Bhagat controversy)  
• 3 idiots film review  
• ROCKET SINGH
• PAA
• ALADIN  
• ALL THE BEST 
• DIL BOLE HADIPPA
• CHANDINI CHOWCK TO CHINA
• GHAZINI
• PUBLIC CENSOR MORAL POLICE -I

Are we stretching the premises of being democratic? Here are few of these example and issues that more frequently lead to such uproar. Take your sides, you are expected to, make up your mind, throw in your argument, comment and debate in a healthy manner.  But refrain from creating a situation out of these. I will take a few subject each time, # 7-8-9 are here, read on.

MISUSE OF TEMPLES, GURUDWARAS, CHURCHES AND MASJID. 

Really sensitive issue and we must ensure that the sentiments of the community are not hurt. Trust me no one wants to. Lack of understanding and local guidance is what leads to it.

The only solution is to stop at the start. Why raise ‘Katrina skirt’ post the event. She was out in the public, there were trusties seeing her, gatekeeper watching her- I believe all who knew what was right and wrong, yet no-one objected. True as a respecting citizen, next-time she visited- she covered herself. Media unfortunately is news hungry and raises heat around such topic even more than the hemline.

Well if the pagdi is not properly tied or if the pallu is wrongly worn or if the person is sharing the same name. Too many things that are binding in an era of ‘nothing called a bad publicity’ it has becomes a great marketing ploy.

Way festivals are celebrated and prayers are offered has been more or less template in Indian creative expressions. The scarf on head, the sieve see through to moon, the dancing diya on water, the tilak, the last rites. Then how come we still end up making such gaffes in public or are we there just testing how far we can take advantage of a celebrity crazy public.

Costume designers and the researches should pay attention for proper depiction. After religion this is one of the most important parts of an India (or should I say Bharatwasi)

BAR DANCERS :

Divided opinion exist on this. The night life has never been the same in Mumbai- after the ban Mr Patil imposed. Bar dancers were supposed to be against Indian culture. Indian Mythology and stories have a lot of Raja and nartaki, Jaam and the saki, Madira and madhoshi. It’s about choice. It was light entertainment.

We must be in a position to differentiate the symptoms, cause and effect. Bar Dancing is not wrong, the act of prostitutions under it is wrong. Maybe people will see the difference. And maybe that is the reason that in big-hotels- private parties skimpily clad women do the dancing and deep necked high hemline babes can cosily ask you for drinks.

It has been imposed where it could be imposed. In truth if we are really serious then should we not cut out even public drinking? Truth- cutting accessibility, affordability and availability never lead to stopping any vice; it just found new alternative ways, shifted places, touched newer geographies.

But we are from  country that believes in keeping own house clean by just dumping the garbage outside the house, living in parda- till it’s not known or seen by outsiders its really ok. We create and harbour cancer and treat when people from outside complain.

CHOICE OF SUBJECT FOR TV SHOWS

Balika Vadu- what’s wrong. It is story based on the practice that is still prevalent. The treatment, expectations and the result are all part of the story. There is progressive thinking fighting with the retro custom and rituals. Brilliant I say.

‘Saach Ka Samana’, what’s wrong for a citizen who can vote to decide how much of his life will he bare for public. I’sh Jungle sey mujhe bachao’. Less skin being shown by Sweta Tiwari than the babes in many films. Yet there is a hue and cry.

We never shouted that loud for a wrong representation of Indian women in family- in all the ‘k’ serial it seemed that women in Indian houses were all vamps, plotting and planning, killing and seducing. Where is the system to raise the voice against ‘Raaz peechley Zanam Ka’ or even ask the astrologers and alternative medicine providers to place a SEBI kind of warning? These are not proven; you may order and use them at your own risk.

I would invite comments- views and examples that the readers can think of and would like to further develop this debate. Please do let me know- if it’s fair to use your name (hyper linking to your designate sites profiles ) your name when I update this article. Next on 4^th Feb 2010

THE OBVIOUS – REVIEW-

You don’t need sight to have a vision,

You don’t need a voice to express,

You don’t need to have legs to stand up against all odds

Watch it with children – friends or alone. This is something that will inspire and motivate you. Whoever you may be the sheer passion, pursuance, ability, agility, thought process and conviction demonstrated would make you raise tough questions with yourself.

SUPER IDOL a initiative by IBN7 & Bajaj Allianz in partnership with Dainik Bhaskar to identify India, celebrate and honor 20 ‘differently-abled’ achievers who have gone beyond the confines of societal and physical constraints. The event happened at Taj Lands end on 20^th Jan 2010. TELECAST 26^th Jan 2010 at 7 PM on IBN 7

This is where I realized how incompetent and challenged I am. Seeing the differently challenged people in person narrating their story of struggle laced with self confidence and belief that helped them achieve what they aimed for. I am sure that each one of us in the audience felt the same and felt motivated in our own fights.

Each of these stories is life transforming, of challenging the norms, of taking a fight for self or other differently-abled people. They just had themselves as a support.  You will feel blessed as blessed as these people with the real guts are. To know that in India there are 9 cr ( 90 million ) such people opens your eyes to reality.

I sat watching each one of these challenger champions. I may not remember who said but lot of words of wisdom was shared by them.

“when god made you, he knew you as weak, so like car stephney, he gave you two legs instead of 1, 2 eyes, 2 ears etc’, ‘The new disability will be digital-dis-ability- the era to come is of ‘Roti, kapada , makan and Digital’

Aamir Khan showed how senstitive and caring he is. He stood through the 150 minutes of award function. He was late and being on time would have helped –winners sat through additional period waiting for the chief guest to arrive. But Aamir made up for the delay by his interaction. He agreed to play chess with  CHARU JADAV  and TT with  PRADEEP RAJ He asked the cameras to fiocus before he yelled ‘Hi Malavika I love you, take care’, Malvika is the daughter of      SK KALI living at Jodhpur, he made  RADHA   sing and made Anu Malik sitting in the crowd agree to give her a chance, he and Ashutosh ( IBN7) made Krapashankar ( Mumbai Politician ) agree to initiate discussion to ensure inclusive society by inclusive education.

His observation were great, when he interacted with the winners, when he stood holding the cordless mike for the blind or when he slowly took 2 steps forward realizing that       while speaking to the audience is always looking backward to see his reaction.

Its immaterial that the winners were classified into eight categories: Sports; Business and Employment; Rehabilitation; Entertainment; Education; National Service; Idol Makers and Lifetime Achievement.

Here are the winners and their stories in short

Pradeep Raj He had a polio attack when he was just 11/2 years old, that affected his one leg and he walks with a limp. But that didn’t deter him from becoming a TT player. He lives in Delhi and works through Association for Disabled People and trains disabled people in sports. Today, he trains many disabled and has been working to improve conditions in Para Olympics

Charudatta Vitthal Jadhav He became visually impaired due to an eye disease at the age of 13. Today, he is 41 and lives in Mumbai. He plays and promotes chess among the visually impaired; also he was the first Asian to be the Vice-President of International Braille Chess Association. He is involved with the All India Federation of Blind for Chess and many of his students have participated in world chess championship. His chess software for visually impaired is helping people in 18 countries.

Nityananda Das He lost one leg in an accident about 10 years ago, in spite of that he is a Nayapalli Odissi Dancer, living in Bhubaneshwar. He left home at the age of 10 and joined Jatra where he learned Odissi with the group. He dances with one leg and he is also a choreographer and a teacher who runs a school by the name of Kalashram.

Radha Roy She is an upcoming singer grappling with a cleft palate and is wheel chair bound, but none of these has dented her self belief. The high point in her career was when she performed with A R Rahman at the CavinKare Ability Awards in Chennai.

Nassema Mohammed Amin Hurzuk She is paraplegic since the age of 16 and lives in Kolhapur. She looked beyond herself and founded Helpers of the Handicapped an NGO that has assisted in the rehabilitation and employment of over 8000 people.

Rahul Vasantrao Deshmukh He has been visually impaired since birth. Rahul comes from a family of agricultural workers and went to Pune to do his schooling at a blind school. While in class XII, he started Snehankit(Association for the Non-seeing Friends) that helps the visually impaired, in particular the youth from rural Maharashtra, to achieve independence, self-confidence and dignity. Snehankit now also offers training on basic MS Office Skills and programming languages like C and C++ using speech enabled software – JAWS to the visually impaired.

Kusumlata Bhandari She is a quadriplegic with 80% disability due to polio at the age of 3 years. At the age of 11 she was introduced to letters and within three years she had cleared he 10^th standard exams. 11 years after starting her studies, she had become a lecturer with 8 disabled students and helps about 100 students presently. She helps them to become independent by providing free-of-cost vocational training.

SMA Jinnah He is visually impaired, now lives in Madurai. He was born in poverty and had huge odds stacked against him. Undeterred he overcome them to reach out to over 300 other visually impaired people-helping them through education, training and employment opportunities. He is also the Secretary General, Indian Association of Blind Higher Secondary School and has rehabilitation centre at Sundararajan Patti, Madurai.

Malini Chib She suffers from cerebral paisy, uses a wheel chair and speech synthesizer. She completed her education in London and came back to Mumbai to start ADAPT – a group that stands for the rights of both able and disabled people of the society. She is also an event co-ordinator at the Oxford book store in Mumbai.

Mohammed Umar Due to polio, he is severely disabled. He is 35 years old and lives in Jhansi. While working for the pension related issues of the disabled he has formed Bundelkhand Vikalang Vikas Smiti – an organization which puts forward the issues of the disable people in front of the government and fights for their rights. He has created awareness about the pension for the disabled and has been successful in increasing the amount of disability pension from Rs. 125 to 300 by the UP government. He also succeeded in getting a separate reservation window for the disabled in Jhansi and many other stations in central railways.

S. Sankara Raman He suffers from muscular dystrophy and lives in Ayikudi in Tamil Nadu. He joined Amar Seva Sangam 16 years ago and since then has done remarkable work, helping run a hostel for 100+ Disabled boys and girls, imparting vocational training and also running a school cum daycare for 48 children with muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy.

Amitabh Mehrotra Suffering from cerebral palsy, he is paralyzed on the left side of the body, living in Lucknow. Amitabh works through SPARC-INDIA a society that renders services to the cerebral palsied and the disable. Its mission is to serve and to create a barrier-free environment for marginalized sections particularly the disabled, where they can realize their rights and lead a life of dignity.

Syed Salaudding Pasha 25 years ago he started a dance troupe of disable people and since then has been working with them in the area of theatre. His first play ‘Ramayana On Wheels’ happened at the age of 15

Ruma Roka She has established Noida Deaf Society with the purpose of improving conditions of deaf people in NCR. Now she is working for the rehabilitation of the deaf. So far she has helped about 300 deaf people mostly from the lower income group families, helping them to find employment at various places. Ruma on stage while receiving the award felt a bit uncomfortable with voice- as she uses sign langaugae as a prime mode of communication every day

Kali Vinod Tiwari Paralyzed waist down due to polio, he lives in kanpur and has steel fabrication enterprise. He developed the first auto tri-wheeler in 1978 and has facilitated mobility for hundreds of mobility impaired persons. He has participated in rallies across India to popularize the tri-cycle and has designed over 50 versions to meet the needs of the differently abled. Currently, he is working on a folding in-cycle.

Krishnakant Mane He was visually impaired at the age of 3 because of an eye disease. He is 31 years old, lives in Mumbai and works in the field of developing new software for the disabled and underprivileged. He has become an achiever in his field so much so that the Brazilian and Malaysian governments have sought his help for such software. He runs his own company ‘Compact Software Solutions’ and works relentlessly to spread computer technology among disabled students across India. One of the most clear headed person he spoke of the digital disability.

As per IBN7 release ‘the awards will not just honor the differently-abled achievers, but will also recognize and laud the efforts of those individuals who have been working with the differently-abled to ensure equal rights and opportunities for them as well as enable their integration into the mainstream’. 

Speaking on the initiative, Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN7 said, “The significant contributions of the differently abled to our society and our nation need to acknowledged and applauded. Through this initiative, IBN7 aims to recognize these inspirational brave hearts who have never let their disability become their inability to give their best. This initiative also appreciates the contributions of those selfless individuals who have fought for the rights of their differently abled brethren and proved to be the wind beneath their wings.”

Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-chief, IBN18 adds, “it is an initiative that will acknowledge and felicitate the individuals who have excelled in their career by overcoming the challenges of their lives. We salute the spirit and courage shown by these individuals and hope to bring forth more such talents by providing them a unique platform like Super Idols that will help them to set an example for others to follow.”

Dainik Bhaskar has been associated with Ability Foundation work for the last 4 years with Cavin Kline. And this partnership with IBN7 efforts just takes the initiative further.

Are we stretching the premises of being democratic? Here are few of these example and issues that more frequently lead to such uproar. Take your sides, you are expected to, make up your mind, throw in your argument, comment and debate in a healthy manner.  But refrain from creating a situation out of these. I will take a few subject each time, # 4-5-6 are here, read on.

SMOKING AND DRINKING

Oh yes, we are not to show villain or the hero (and everybody else) smoking. When High Court said this was unconstitutional it was appealed. Fine. No smoking pub, now a reality. No more rings throwing vamps, cigar smoking villains, confidence oozing hero. Maybe there was too much smoking happening. The ban is manageable but not required. 

So while all that cleavage and thigh show, that entire foundling and wanting to get into the bed is fine- but please don’t smoke.

Why not charge a fee to the producers per second of the smoking shot and invest that for the treatment of people suffering from ailments of smoking instead of taking away his creative license. This may not be best of the solution but just ensuring that the brand being smoked is not visible will be a small but equally effective measure. There is far lesser co-relation between takings on smoking after seeing in the films than cancer due to smoking. Are we not really barking at a wrong tree?

Cigarette smoking starts from peer pressure, loneliness, lack of confidence, seeking attention, lack of social life , wishing to be macho, wanting to be treated a grown up while you are growing up. Find solutions to that. Neither over pricing of cigarettes nor restricting cigarette shops away from school & colleges the only answer. But yes they do make their contribution.

USE OF PROFESSION AND CAST TITLES.

Billu Barber, a simple name, what’s wrong; was that not the common word used for the profession depicted in the film. There I think we went overboard and Khan changed the name. Or you never know if it was not just a marketing gimmick for the silly film it was.

I read somewhere that in one of the south states, ‘Teaches’  and ‘Doctor’ brand of whisky cannot be sold as the rules does not allow for Nobel profession to be named as brand for liquor. But you can be motivated to ‘keep walking’

Someone had to stop the use of word Chamar and some one Moochi  from their songs. Blip was Ok an audio effect of choice. But Kaminey as a movie title is Ok with us. But Bar Girl association cannot raise its voice for Chandni Bar. Are they sensible or Madhur did not need a gimmick for the film. Police has never raised issue on wrong representation (or that was a reality) or Ardh Satya.

So in AVATAR we talk about white race dominance and then in Tiger Wood case a priest complains that at-least one of the 18 holes that he played outside could have been black.

USE OF OLD VS NEW NAMES OF PLACES.

Will wrongly referring to a place in a film make so much of a difference? Are we not giving too much weight-age to the medium? And also to the people who are pushing for it.

So Karan Johan had to apologise for using Bombay instead of Mumbai in ‘wake up sid’. Truth would be that Khan could not have banked on the security assurance from Govt and hence did what suited his business best.

We all are proud of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and the financial capital of the country. But do we disrespect it if we utter the name Bombay or Mumbai , most likely not. It’s just that the name Mumbai might not have totally got entrenched in our mind-space.

And if Mumbai is really really to be forced, it will not be possible just be renaming things like ‘Mumbai Stock Exchange’  Or ‘Mollywood  films’. Or ‘Mumbai Scootish school’ or ‘Mumbai Gymkhana’. The trick is to get people to use the names on everyday basis but not by use of force. For that citizens drive for associating and feeling of ownership of the cause is required. Which is too much to expect?

We still are fighting for ‘Rajeev Chowck’ (Connaught place), ‘Chatrapati Shivaji terminus’ (VT).  Why not define which country we reside in Hindustan, India, Bharat- why is there a leeway there.

I would invite comments- views and examples that the readers can think of and would like to further develop this debate. Please do let me know- if it’s fair to use your name (hyper linking to your designate sites profiles ) your name when I update this article. Next on 27th Jan 2010