CC5- Bollywood

2013 was a very special year for cinema. Why? Bollywood completed 100 years. When I was TMOD,  I had prepared a long, elaborate presentation highlighting the beauty of cinema. However, now is the time for the other side- the bad, the ugly, the senseless.

When Dadasaheb Phalke released his magnum opus, Raja Harishchandra on 13^th May, 1913, little did he know that one day, this industry would reach such colossal dimensions. Also, it would have been impossible for him to guess that the same weapon would also lead to proliferation of buffoonery at such colossal dimensions.

Once upon a time, movies used to be all about highlighting the grandeur of India. High octane action, flawless performances, over the top melodrama, resplendent sets, uplifting music all added to the old-world charm. Movies used to be made by people who loved cinema to make people love cinema. Even the stupidest of clichés seemed enjoyable. Cinema was all about celebrating life, celebrating people, celebrating beauty. 

Who can forget the subtle beauty of Pather Panchaali? Who can ignore the magnificence of Mughal-e-Azam? Who doesn’t remember the nail-biting action of Sholay?

However, as they say, change is inevitable. 

Acting gave way to stardom, direction gave way to filmmaking, quality gave way to technology and love for the audience gave way to love for the coveted 100 crore club. Now, a typical Bollywood movie is either a highly mutated, dismembered, limbless remake of a Hollywood movie (or many Hollywood movies) or just a collection of highly senseless scenes clubbed together to somehow make the audience giggle away to glory.

A stereotypical Bollywood movie is full of clichés.

LOVE- the most cringeworthy Bollywood cliché. Be it in Kashmir, Tokyo or London, love makes the filmi world go round. The best romantic songs are mostly imaginary sequences where the lead hero and heroines take off to foreign locales for a cosy duet. And if you didnt know yet,love  is the evergreen plot for any Bollywood potboiler.

20-something-actresses comfortably romance the Shahrukhs, the Salmans and the Aamirs, while blissfully ignoring the fact that they are young enough to be their nieces.  Speaking of the Salmans and the Shahrukhs, they spread their arms, bend their knees and sing songs in Switzerland, while the Swiss do not bat an eyelash, let alone wonder why a weird middle-aged man is posing in the middle of a street.

The heroes float over water, jump from 20 story buildings, bash up 20-odd goons with ease. A bullet through the heart isn’t enough to kill our hero, but a mere punch from the protagonist is enough to knock the villain out like a light for the next 24 hours.

Unless the hero is a part of the police force, the police will always be depicted as useless. They arrive at the crime scene only after the hero saves the day and then meekly listen to the hero issuing them instructions like he is the Godfather. 

One thing that really irks me about Bollywood is that people are either portrayed as saccharine sweet- I mean courtesans with hearts of gold, really?- or as supremely evil, complete with the villainous laughter- muhahahaha. It is highly impractical, considering the fact that all individuals have shades of grey. Nobody can be purely white or purely black. This is extremely misleading, especially to young children.

Speaking of young children,

Item numbers- the new fad of attracting cinema goers. Directors somehow think that adding a tacky, over the top item number with scantily clad women mechanically gyrating will somehow increase footfalls to the theater. However, what it really does is makes us regular audience cringe in horror and embarrassment while making an otherwise family-friendly movie into one unfit for children.

I borrowed this wonderful paragraph from Wikipedia-Bollywood plots have tended to be melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.

Where is the originality?where is the creativity? most importantly, where is the love for cinema? Highly cliché plots, lack of novelty and actors sleepwalking through their roles is what defines your average commercial movie. talent is compromised for pretty faces, plotlines are compromised for commercial value. Established actors take it for granted that their name will make viewers flock to the theatres. And that is true, people do rush to theatres to watch their favourite star, but return severely disappointed. isn’t that cheating? Isnt that betrayal of trust?

However, no matter how grey and dull it may seem, every cloud has a silver lining. There are filmmakers like Farhan Akhtar, Shimit Amin, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra who try with all their hearts to instill quality and realism back into movies, hence restoring the true essence of cinema

No matter how much we curse our Bollywood, we cannot deny the fact that it makes us laugh, it makes us cry, it makes us sing, it makes us dance, and most importantly, it makes us believe in happily ever afters.

“When I make a film I’m always in reality among the trees, and among the people like yourselves. There’s no symbolic or conventional filter between me and reality as there is in literature. The cinema is an explosion of my love for reality.” – Pier Paolo Pasolini

CC4- Fiat Justitia

FIAT JUSTITIA

“I wept today because right had been done.

Not justice?

No. Not justice. Right. It is easy to do justice-very hard to do right. Unfortunately, whilst the appeal of justice is intellectual, the appeal of right appears for some reason to induce tears in court.”

-Sir Robert Morton, The Winslow boy.

Today, I will tell you the story of George Archer Shee, probably the most famous teenager of Great Britain. What makes Archer-Shee famous is a tale. A tale of honesty, innocence and right.

George Archer-Shee was a young naval cadet studying at Royal Naval College, Osbourne. On 7^th October, 1910, Archer-Shee was expelled from school on the grounds of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. He was expelled without any proper evidence, save a statement from a school clerk and without being given a chance to defend himself.

However, George Archer Shee claimed that he was innocent. And innocence isn’t something that can be taken away from you.

Martin Archer-Shee, his father, and a staunch believer in his innocence engaged Sir Edward Carson, the most famous barrister in England at that time.

What followed was an epic battle. A battle of a 13 year old who had been labeled and ticketed for all his future life as a thief , traitor and forger. A battle by a father to prove his son’s innocence to the world. A battle by a barrister for the greater good.

Sir. Carson cleverly proved all evidence against George as baseless and was on the verge of winning the case, when another bomb was dropped on the Archer-Shee family.

Britain was in the shackles of WW1, tension and distrust arose from every nook and corner of the country. The admiralty argued viciously that the safety of the country was more important than “a mere case of a 13 year old boy”. The case was temporarily suspended in court.

That’s when Sir. Carson pled to the judiciary using the petition of right, which gave an individual the right to challenge the court.

The petition was received by King Edward VII, who signed it with one phrase.

“Fiat Justitia-Let right be done”

That day, ladies and gentlemen, right triumphed. the petition of right was filed, the case was FINALLY brought to court and Sir Edward Carson  proved Archer-Shee’s innocence, before famously breaking down in court. In a period when an Englishman’s castle was rapidly transforming into his prison, Martin Archer Shee’s fight for his son’s innocence proved that honestly and right prevails above all. In a period of time when Britain was being gripped by the First World War, Sir Carson’s triumph proved that humanity still existed. His triumph embodied hope. His triumph signified the triumph of right.  Archer Shee’s case was immortalized by author Terrence Rattigan through his drama, The Winslow boy, which I recommend all of you to read.

Now, you may ask me, what is the purpose of my speech?

We know theoretically that the judiciary is a phoenix that rises from the ashes of injustice and despair to ensure that no poor civilian is denied right. , however, now, these words seem increasingly hollow. right is being thwarted time and again by corruption, greed and the government. 

Sanjay Dutt, a man who possessed weapons unlawfully during the Mumbai 1993 bomb blasts, has politicians and film stars and the creme-de-la-crème of the society requesting to the judiciary to reduce his sentence. Why? He’s a film star. A man of power. What happens to the son of a poor farmer who was unlawfully arrested by the local police? He remains rotting behind bars.

In fact, the last case I remember where the powerful was thwarted by justice happens to be Jessica Lal murder case. Jessica Lal was murdered in 1999, but her killer got his sentence only in 2006. Ajmal Kasab was finally hanged…when? After 4 years- approximately 50 crores on his upkeep. Is this what we pay our taxes for? So that a recognized terrorist gets to live like a king?

 Is this the “justice” our country seems to advocate? Is this the right our preamble ensures to our citizens?

If , even in a time as grave as the first world war, the pleas of a 13 year old do not remain unheard, the name of an innocent is prevented from being tarnished, what is stopping us in today’s world? Why is the battle of good and evil transforming into a battle of power vs. justice?

We are the country. The people. We make the democracy, we pay the taxes, we run the country. If the people learn to fight for right, justice and common goodwill, that day won’t be far away when right will truly prevail above all.

So, the next time you see injustice happening, be it something small like your local grocer  charging you above the MRP or something on a much bigger scale,

Remember the story of a father, who, despite his failing health, fought against the world for his son’s innocence. Remember the story of a 15 year old boy who refused to be labeled a thief and a forger. Remember the story of a barrister who gave up the post of “Chief Fleet Judge” so that he could fight the boy’s case.
And remember to raise your voice and say, “let right be done”

CC3- Fairy tales

FAIRYTALES

I’m Sailee Sansgiri. Death metal chick. Grammar Nazi. Snow Queen Extraordinaire.

Now, how many of you would believe that my favorite movie happens to be Tangled?

Yes, the sappy, gooey Disney musical retelling the story of Rapunzel. Not only that, how many of you can possibly believe that I actually cried when Flynn rider looked into Rapunzel’s glistening green orbs and told her, “You were my dream”?

Good evening toastmasters and guests. Today, I will be speaking about how fairy tales are good for children.

What do Charles Dickens, Joseph Campbell, Albert Einstein and Rudolph Steiner have in common?

A Love of Fairy Tales.

All of these great thinkers felt that fairy should be an integral part of every childhood. Fairy tales- the world of whimsical castles and ferocious beasts lurking in the shadows. The land of fair maidens and princes riding on stallions. A world where no dream remains unfulfilled, no wish remains unanswered.

These have been a part of traditions, handed down from generation to generation and told with love. Fairy tales, in their classic form, integrate literature, morality and human understanding

For one, fairy tales help improve your child’s vocabulary. My parents believed that children should be exposed to the wonderful world of literature at a very young age. Naturally, I couldn’t start reading Hamlet at age 6, so I started the next best thing-Cinderella. And trust me, it sucked me into the world of literature like that. The best way to develop an interest in literature is to make your child read the fairytales themselves, as opposed to the parents reading it out to them.

Fairy tales are simply magical. They may provide a window to another world, a chance to look beyond the mundane. They nurture and nourish a kid’s imagination. I remember reading out this fairy tale to my 5 year old niece, called Mary’s child  and the awe and wonder on her face was priceless. The original Grimm fairy tales include vivid description which further aids to develop the child’s imagination.

Most importantly, they teach a child life lessons.

 In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, most people are familiar with the ending in which Goldilocks runs away and is never seen again. In the longer classic version, Goldilocks actually comes back and helps repair the chair and also helps the mother cook more food. She remains friends with the bear family and comes back to visit periodically. The lesson being, when you do something wrong, you make it up to the other person. These are building blocks of friendship.

In Cinderella, at the end of the story when Cinderella moves to the castle and marries the prince, she invites the stepsisters to live in the castle, the moral being ‘forgiveness.’

In Little Red Riding Hood, after the wolf is killed there is another part to the story. Little Red Riding hood is again approached by another wolf on a trip to Grandmother’s house and this time she remembers not do talk with him and does not stray from the path. After arriving at Grandmother’s house she tells the grandmother about this second wolf and they come up with a plan to keep this wolf from eating them. The moral is ‘learning from your mistakes.’

Beauty and the beast tells all of us to look beyond physical attributes of a person.

Every single fairy tale, has a hidden moral in it, which has a big impact on the child’s psychology

Fairy tales speak directly to the natural morality in the child and to his or her sense of moral order in the world. When the good wins and the evil is punished, a child is visibly satisfied. The child identifies with the hero in the story and the hero always has resolution in the end.

Pessimists will still argue that Fairy tales are highly impractical; they give children false ideas which are brutally destroyed when the child grows up.

It amazes me how we can complain about fairy tales which spark the imagination of children and do no harm. 

Should we just let our small children be exposed to the violence and selfishness that adults have for each other or should we let children be children instead of smaller examples of ourselves? When you take away the imagination from a child, you take away the building blocks of an ideal society, for imagination fuels hopes and dreams. 

As the child grows up, he automatically starts distinguishing between what is right and wrong. Somehow, somewhere he loses his innocence. It is because of these fairy tales that the child will have a part of his heart, albeit tiny, which will always be optimistic. It is this optimism that will helps overcome hurdles and difficulties in life, because he will believe that his fairy tale will always have a happy ending, so he will try best to strive to achieve the happy ending of his life. 

A wonderful quote by author Neil Gaiman sums it all up. “Fairytales are more than true. Not because they teach you that dragons are real, but because they teach you that dragons can be slain”.

CC2- Beauty, Media and Society

Beauty, media and society

I woke up early today morning. Not really having anything to do, I stood in front of a mirror And looked at myself. After 2 minutes, I got bored. I shrugged, fluffed my hair and then proceeded to read something. Perfectly Normal.

However, if my life was a television ad, I would still be sitting in front of the mirror and moping about how I’m dark-skinned after which my extremely fair roommate would lend me her fairness cream.

And lo and behold, 15 days later, I would suddenly turn extremely fair, get the confidence to wear really chic clothing and then strut on the roads like it’s my personal runway and get appreciative glances from my male counterparts.

Today, I would like to raise an important question, which may have irked all of us at some point in time-What is beauty?

According to many, being fair is equivalent to being beautiful. It is estimated that that four in 10 women, and now many men, in India think they are too dark to be attractive. That, of course, is something that has been drilled into their heads not only by their narrow-minded counterparts, but also by the innumerable advertisements. Endorsed by high profile celebrities, these products promise to make you fair. But, more disturbingly, they also promise to make you lovely in the process.

And that is where the problem lies. Fairness starts getting equated with beauty, happiness, confidence and success. A personal quality which is a result of your nature and personality is made to appear as an extension of your skin tone.

The ads portray dark skinned girls depressed with failures in love, career and life in general. And after they apply the expensive cream-they land movie roles, air hostess jobs and of course, a husband.

According to some, being thin is equivalent to being beautiful. Seeing the reed-thin models in advertisements and on the runway , the size-zero fad popularized by the likes of Kareena Kapoor are all contributing to women, especially young girls develop an unhealthy body image.

Many of us girls, including me, think twice before eating something extra for fear of weight gain. Many young girls develop eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia because of these unnatural standards set by celebrities and the media. 

Dove launched its famous 'Campaign for Real Beauty' after conducting a global survey. The survey confirmed that the definition of beauty had become impossible to attain. Dove found that only 2 % of women described themselves as beautiful and, when it came to body image and weight, women from all countries were unsatisfied with themselves.

Leaf through a magazine, search the internet or open up the television and you’ll see these standards or, what we call today as the ‘beauty norms’. What we see in these ads are women and men who seem to be ‘physically perfect’. Fair, flawless skin, 36-24-36 body statistics, shiny locks that becomes instantly perfect the minute you comb through it with your fingers, and pearly whites that cannot be stained by coffee and the like. These are the typical beauty norms for women. On the other hand, media portrays perfect men as guys who have toned muscular body builds, perfect abs that leave women drooling upon their wake, and natural, beautiful hair that can be styled even without the help of hair products. These types of persons are often the spokespersons of outer beauty. What I want to know is why media chooses these kinds of people to represent the masses, when hardly 5% of the entire population look like them?

Mass media, through these certain types of ads, doesn’t really promote inner beauty. They are much more concerned with the superficial type - the outward appearance. What it does to the youth is it limits and confines us to these standards. If we don’t conform to it, we would be on the margins of the social pyramids and for most, that’s a fate that would even be worse than death itself. the widespread usage of Skin lightening treatments, hair extensions, coloured contact lenses, “weight management programs” all are testimony to this fact. 

However, to say that all types of superficial beauty don’t promote inner magnificence is admittedly, biased. There are celebrities that use their fame and beauty to inspire people to love them for who they are. Celebrities such as Tyra Banks and Sophia Bush are two representatives of many more. However, they are the exception and sadly, not the rule. 

We all can agree that mass media can be a powerful tool for influencing the mind of the public. And I believe that if used to the advantage of the greater good, they can do wonders in transforming this society into a much more pleasant one - one that cannot be divided by race, color, weight, and height. A society where there are no beauty stereotypes and each and every one of us can find the real definition of beauty inside us, so that we can, in turn, inspire other people to do the same. After all, true beauty is meant for inspiring, not pleasing.

I conclude by quoting Audrey Hepburn, often considered the most beautiful woman of her times.

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.”