Goodwill Gone Sour - The Sunday Indian Online Magazine India

Putting a list of ministers’ properties triggers a debate

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik is not known to land himself in unseemly controversies. But by doing what he thought was a good turn, he appears to have done just that. In fact controversies were only to be expected when the chief minister uploaded the list of his own properties along with his council of ministers on the official website in a bid to make it public.

That was the trigger which the opposition BJP needed to demand a probe into properties owned by the chief minister. Among other BJP claims, it was alleged that Patnaik had understated the value of his assets in Delhi and Faridabad. “He has mentioned the value of his farmland and building over an area of 22.7 acres at Tikrikhera village in Faridabad district of Haryana at Rs.3.34 crore while the actual value of the property is far more than that. The value of Patnaik’s property shown in the list would be more than Rs. 200 crore which has been shown as Rs.12 crore,’’ queries Ashok Sahu, BJP vice-president.

There was more as the opposition cited other charges, however trifling. “While he has shown the value of his property as Rs 7.73 crore in the affidavit filed before the last assembly elections in 2009, the recent property list shows he owns property worth about Rs 12 crore. The CM should clarify how the value of his property has increased by about Rs 4 crore in the last two years?,” alleges a BJP spokesperson.

The chief minister’s office (CMO) offered a clarification. “All the immovable properties of the chief minister are inherited from his parents. The rates of properties in Delhi and Haryana have been raised substantially by their respective governments in the last two years.”

The scrutiny then moved on to some other cabinet members. For instance Orissa’s law minister Bikram Keshari Arukh’s revealed that his list included two houses built on government plots. It further came to light that the law minister had bought two plots in Bhubaneswar under the discretionary quota of the state urban development minister.

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The accidental actress - The Sunday Indian Online Magazine India

A foxy combination of both hot and cool, Anushka Sharma speaks her heart out in a conversation with Nishita Mahajan.

You always wanted to be a model, and films were never on your mind. So, how did you end-up getting signed by the Yash Raj banner?
It pretty much happened by fluke. I was asked by my modelling agency to go for the auditions at Yash Raj Films. I went there without any agenda in my mind, not knowing that this could be a turning point in my life. The rest, as they say, is history.

Shahrukh is someone with tremendous amount of experience, and it was your first time in front of the camera. Tell us about your first day of the shoot with SRK...
Working with Shahrukh Khan is an experience in itself. He makes his co-artist extremely comfortable while shooting, and especially when it’s your first time in front of the camera. I was a little worried and nervous thinking about sharing camera space with Shahrukh, but he made me so comfortable that instead of being nervous, I could concentrate on my work.

In Band Baaja Baaraat, you were working with a first-timer. What advice did you pass on to Ranveer that you might have learnt from SRK or Shahid?
The first time I met Ranveer, I was bowled over by his energy level, and I’d told him with a straight face to “be yourself!”

The chemistry between you two was rocking in Band Baaja Baaraat. Tell us about some fun moments that you remember. Who do you think you share the best on-screen chemistry with?
I know! Lots of people told us that we look great together. I have lost count of the fun moments we had during the shoot. We were one big family having a whale of a time! I have worked with SRK, Shahid, Akshay and Ranveer, and I feel that I look good with all of them on-screen. Mostly, I have been told that Ranveer and I look the best.

How much do you rate him in looks out of ten? Do you think looks matter a lot in this industry?
Ranveer is an unconventionally good-looking person. Out of ten, I will give him 7 – this is a very objective rating. Yes, looks matter to an extent, like if you are a very good-looking person, you may get get noticed for sure, but ultimately your acting skills will sustain you in the industry.

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Movie Review: Miley Naa Miley Hum

Miley Naa Miley Hum, the debut movie of Ram Vilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan, is a plain, boring and unentertaining B-grade movie, which leaves no impact whatsoever. If you must know, the story goes like this – Chirag’s (Paswan) parents separated because his mother was upset that his father was playing tennis when he was born (huh!). His dad (Kabir Bedi) is a strict disciplinarian, who owns a vineyard, and mom (Poonam Dhillon), an extremely successful businesswoman, is rather carefree. The boy is torn between the two and thus starts leading parallel lives to make both the parents happy. He hides from his well-read mom that he is a tennis champion, and she only finds out when her manager tells her about it, and so she switches on the TV to find out the truth!

Now, to score points with their son and to prove that they’re better than the other, each of the parents finds a prospective girl for their son. To escape from the situation, Chirag hires an aspiring model Anishka (Kangana Ranaut) to bail him out and pays her Rs 20 lakh for 20 days each! And predictably, the two go on to actually fall in love with each other. Now, Chirag has to convince his parents, and also win a tennis match, which takes a lifetime to get over!

Chirag Paswan is expressionless, stiff and tries too hard to act. He lacks the charisma and versatility that most newcomers these days exude. Neeru Bajwa and Sagarika Ghatge are in a blink-and-you-miss role and Kangana Ranaut does nothing to revive the film. If one wants to waste their money, time, and energy, then this movie will help you to do just that and more.

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Stop Child Abuse

At the age of seven, Harish Aiyyar was like any other child his age… innocent and blissfully unaware, he loved to spend time outdoors, often hours, playing and chattering, particularly with this one close relative. Being brought up in a joint family, it wasn’t unusual to be fussed over by relatives. Little did he know that the expression of love, rather loathsome lust by this close relative would leave him wounded, physically and emotionally.

One day, this relative invited Harish to give him a bath and joined him in the shower. “I didn’t have a stitch on and neither did he. I remember feeling slightly awkward about him taking off his clothes,” recalls Harish. What began as a playful boy-bath together, slowly took an ugly turn. “He started fondling my private parts and then wanted me to take his in my mouth. I was scared. I refused. He suddenly grabbed me, and before I knew, he had forced me into oral intercourse.”

There was no one at home so his screams went unheard. He bled, he cried and was threatened to not tell anyone or he’d face dire consequences. Since that day, Harish was repeatedly sodomised by his relative till he turned 18.

Recent statistics reveal a shocking figure of 53.22 per cent of children having faced sexual abuse in India. More disconcertingly, in 50 per cent of the cases, the abusers are known to the child. “After being abused a number of times, my mind had become so numb that the moment I was cornered by him, I would take off my clothes and lie down in front of him,” remembers Harish. Wincing at the memory, he continues, “At times I was also beaten up because I wouldn’t get an erection.”

The acts of cruelty reduced Harish to a self-conscious wreck and shattered his confidence. In school he would hesitate to use the washroom, wouldn’t participate in sports and would shudder even at the slightest touch from the same gender. “I had become the butt of all jokes because I wouldn’t mix with the boys. In fact, I remember that I would feel so much pain that I couldn’t sit for long hours on the wooden benches in the classroom, and my classmates would laugh at me,” he shares.

Harish turned into a recluse; he started to make abstract conversations and spent hours talking to trees and birds.

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Small Wonders: What makes the world of child prodigies go round

Children never cease to surprise. Sometimes they surprise you by their innocent antics, at others by their prodigious deeds that often verge on the incredible, like an 11-year-old giving lectures to B.Tech students or a 9-year-old directing films! These are exceptionally talented students, often described as child prodigies. TSI peeps into the world of these little masters...

Ashutosh Padhy, 13

On cue, always

Ashutosh Padhy has done Orissa proud. At age 13, he has achieved what nobody in the eastern state has ever accomplished: he has won a cue sports national title.

Padhy bagged the sub-junior title in the national billiards and snooker championship in Chennai in July 2011. It has been a steady rise for the Bhubaneswar boy and he now dreams of being a champion at the senior level one day.

It is not as if cueists from Orissa have never reached a national-level final before. But none ever went on to grab the crown. Ashutosh has ended the drought; he also aims to make it a habit.

On July 24, he bagged the sub-junior boys’ snooker title by getting the better of defending champion Dhuvaj Haria of Gujarat by two frames to nil. Dhuvaj, winner of the sub-junior boys’ billiards title, hadn’t lost a frame until the final.

Ashutosh, a student of Class 9 at Delhi Public School Kalinga, fell in love with billiards after playing pool games. He took up cue sports seriously in 2008. Recalling his journey, he says, “I started playing at Bhubaneswar Club and became passionate about the game. There I was coached and guided by Rabi Mohanty, Debasish Mohanty and Biranchi Mallik. Later on, I practised at the Cue sports Academy.”

In 2009, Ashutosh took part in state-level competitions. Though success didn’t come instantly, he improved quickly and emerged as one of the best young cueists of the state.
His first title came in the sub-junior segment of the 15th State Billiards and Snooker Championship. He kicked on from there and made rapid strides at the national level. “Winning the state championship boosted my confidence. I began to devote at least six hours a day to practice, which went a long way in helping me win the national title,” says Ashutosh.

Has his love for billiards affected his studies in any way? “No,” he says. “Sport has never hampered my studies. I am an above-average student and secured 91 per cent marks in the last class promotion exam. This has been possible due to my teachers, who are very supportive. And my parents too help me a lot to manage my studies alongside the game,” says Ashutosh.

Ashutosh, son of Bipin Bihari Padhy and former minister Surama Padhy, adds: “I want to be a world champion when I play the game at the senior level.” “I have two idols among the greats: Geet Sethi and Mike Russell," he says.
Snooker and billiards are his passion. But Ashutosh is also a keen follower of the game of football. And like all other teens of our times, he loves to spend his free time surfing the net.

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Garam Dharam turns on the heat!

The living legend Dharmendra is the only actor in the history of Indian cinema with more than 50 movies, which have been registered golden jubilee successes. His looks of a Greek God made him win the title of the most handsome man in the world and the World Iron Man in his youth. Undefeated in action, comedy, and romance, after more than 200 movies, Dharmendra continues to win our hearts with his humility, persona and talent

Tell us about your role in Tell me O Kkhuda?
My character’s name in the film is Anthony, who is a part of the mafia from the underworld and is very powerful, yet soft hearted. Aggressive by nature, betrayed by fate and friends, completely let down in love in his youth, he is merciless in his fight against anything unjust. Anthony bumps into Tanya (Esha) and her friends. He had loved a woman deeply in the past who couldn’t be hers, so there’s an emotional rush when he hears about a girl who wants to find her parents, as she’s completely broken after knowing that her biological parents disowned her.

What convinced you to be a part of this film? Was it because your family was involved or was it because you liked the script?
Many people were considered for this role, but one fine day Esha asked if I’d do this and I said yes immediately. Anything for Esha! It was because of the script as well. The story is different and nice. It’s about a girl and is very touching. My role also is very important in the film.

You had reservations about Esha working in the industry. Are you now okay with Esha being a Bollywood star? How did the transformation happen?
Yes, I was reserved about Esha working in the industry earlier. I’ll tell you one thing – my father was also reserved about me working in the film industry in spite of me being a boy. He used to tell me that this industry is like a brick of a well. If it fits then everything is well, otherwise it’ll go inside that well and everything will be drowned with it. In a way it is true. That’s the life of Mumbai. Thousands of people want to be a part of the industry every day and rarely does someone actually become a part of it.

My mother used to tell me that she prays that nobody’s child becomes an actor, as one lives and dies with every film of yours. Talking about my case, I was lucky and had won All India Talent contest and so I became a part of this wonderful industry. It is very tough to be an actor as there is a load on your shoulders with every release, but I kept my hopes high because at every step one has double thoughts about the success and failure of the film. We all are human beings and this is basic human nature. So, I never wanted my children to feel the same stress that comes with every film, since there’s cut-throat competition here and everything is very unpredictable. I did not want Esha to feel the burden everyone here feels, as she even has to get married one day. Being a father, that was what I thought. I think no father in the world would want their children to have a stressful life. That is why I said no. But then, you know, when your children want something, you can’t say no, as parents are born to do everything that makes their children happy. So, she wanted to act and then I agreed.

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Shortcomings of the India news channels in coverage and delivery

The Constitution of India guarantees Freedom of Speech and Expression and included in it is the Freedom of the Press as well. Ever since India gained Independence, there has been a freedom of expressing ideas and opinions with certain due constraints. With the onset of the era of liberalization and globalization and with the participation of the private players, the India news media has grown tremendously. Today you find a number of news channels on the TV in different languages which compete with one another to get the maximum number of viewers. However, the growth of the media technologically and also numerically has not necessarily made it mature. There are certain shortcomings of the TV channels which are quite evident to everyone. Some of these shortcomings are the following:
1. Sensational Delivery of the India news: There is an unmistakable tendency to sensationalise the delivery of news by most of the channels. This might be a ploy to gain the attention of maximum number of viewers but this looks, at times, highly unprofessional.
2. Negligible coverage of foreign news: Except for some channels which do give some reasonable time for coverage of the foreign developments on a regular basis, most of the others do not cover. At best, there are confined to the quick fire round of news headlines only unless there is some really big development.
3. Incorporation of soap programs as news: If there is some popular soap opera running at some other or same channel, the excerpts of the same are used an a news item. The underlying objective is to keep the viewers glued to the channel by showing the popular program clippings.
4. Abysmal coverage of development news: There are dedicated programs on crimes and criminals but there are very few channels which make it a point to cover something interesting, valuable, creative and positive in the real life. You can find the dedicated political news, business news or even the sports news but there is extremely less coverage of the development or socially relevant news.
5. Encouragement to superstitious tendencies: It is quite common to find the news channels predicting the end of the world at some time in future. This kind of news delivery clearly shows the lack of maturity of the media.
These are some of the shortcomings of the India news media which needs regulation. The poor selection of the content, the highly biased coverage of the news, inappropriate time allocation to different categories of news and unprofessional delivery of the same to the viewers are some of the main shortcomings which the media faces.
To an extent the same shortcomings are also present in the print media as well. Whether it is the newspaper or magazine, many of the above mentioned issues can be pointed out. Some people argue that the most of the India TV media channels have lost their way and are also deviating from the journalistic ethics and professional code of conduct. This calls for stricter regulation which does not adversely impact the Fundamental Right.

Multilingual online magazines: Symbolic of Unity in Diversity

Media plays an important part in Indian democracy. It gives the news of the latest happenings around the world, debates the issues and helps in formulating public opinion. The Constitution guarantees the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression which extends to the media as well and ensures that it is able to function in free and fair manner and without any favor or prejudice. Spread of internet to the common populace of the country through the wired and non-wired networks and on different devices has made it possible for people to log on to the favorite media channels and read whatever India latest news or features which they want.

While the India news channels give the latest news and show the live debates on topics, a more comprehensive analysis of the news and issues is done in the magazines by the experts in their respective fields. The online magazines provide these in the form of features which are read by the people. These could be of different character. Some might be dealing exclusively with the political news while some others might be devoted to the business news. Further, there could be a specific political ideology or business area or a sport on which the online magazines could be based. If it is a sporting magazine, it could be based on sports news cricket or tennis dealing exclusively or essentially with one sport only.

If you draw the Indian magazines list, having online presence, you would find a number of such magazines in different regional languages. These languages could be English and Hindi which find nationwide coverage as well as in the regional languages. The presence of the regional language editions of these magazines bears a positive influence on the Indian diversity and allows them Freedom of Speech and Expression. Some sections of the analysts have feared that these could give a further impetus to the regional consciousness among the people of the different regions. The voicing of the local concerns could suppress the larger national objectives from coming to the limelight. Further, there has been a concern that these magazines in Marathi or other languages could be used in a biased way leaning towards certain sections of the society. These can also become a convenient tool in the hands of powerful locals to quell the voice of the other marginalized sections of the society.

However, the fears are unfounded since there are strong undercurrents of journalistic ethos and counter-weight forces which keep these tendencies in
check. On the contrary, these are key elements of Indian democracy which prides itself in being a unity in diversity. Regional online magazines in Assamese and in other languages of the north-east are able to connect with the rest of the country and throw light on the situation in these areas. Also, the north-east people living in other parts of the country can know what is happening in their respective regions and states by reading these online magazines. Whether it is the online Urdu magazine or any other, the movement towards the use of digital media signifies acceptance of the modern media far and wide.

Distinctive Features of Online India News Media

The online India news media is fast carving out a niche for itself. With internet reaching the homes and mobiles of the people, the current news is only a few clicks away. As the reach of the internet increases across distances and devices, a fundamental transformation is undergoing in the way we interact with the India news media. This transformation is due to the features of the online media which sets it apart from the traditional media.
It is a fact of life that in the busy routines, it is not possible to read through the morning newspapers which many of us subscribe. On the other hand, there is a growing dependence on the computers and internet and people spend most part of their times in front of computers. This section of the digitally active people can check out the latest happenings using the online media and keep well informed.
Second important feature is that if you are not interested in going through the pages of the entire newspaper, but want to know about a particular section only, then the online media is far better to make use of. You can subscribe to the RSS feeds of only those sections which are of interest to you. So, you can get the exclusive sports news or political news or even the business news in your separate feeds aggregators without having to check out the website of the online magazine. And, you can do this aggregation from not just one but a number of online news media.
If you want to look for some old newspaper, this is a difficult task to locate it physically. But, the online edition of the same can be found with ease. Just type in the required date in the archives section and you will get to see the archived online magazine of that period.
India is a multi-lingual society and therefore, there are national and regional news media which are operational in different languages. While the Hindi and the English news media, be it the printed newspapers or magazines or the channels, can be found nationwide, there other languages are confined to certain specific regions only. It is not easy to find the newspapers or magazines in one regional language to be available in the other parts of the country. The online India news media can be readily made multi-lingual in character. The same news can be read by the thousands of people from different linguistic backgrounds at the same time in the language of their choice.
Yet another important feature which distinguishes it from the other media is the scope of reader interaction that it provides. There are limitations with the both the print and the TV media when it comes to interaction with the readers. The former has the limitations of space and the latter has the limitations of time. However, there is no such limitation associated with the online media.
It is due to these and many more distinguishing features that the India news media is making use of the online platform for better dissemination of news and for greater participation of the readers in providing their feedback.