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Movie Review: 'Gabbar is Back' is a sheer exercise in boredom

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Gabbar-is-Back

Banner: Bhansali Productions
Produced: Sanjay Leela Bhansali & Shabina Khan
Director: Krish
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Suman Talwar, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sunil Grover, Ishita Vyas, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Chitrangda Singh & Ravi kapoor
Music: Chirantan Bhatt, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Manj Musik & Sandeep Chowta

Débutante director Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish in his debut directorial offering ‘Gabbar Is Back’ has tackled the currently ongoing trend of corruption. But trying to make even the character naming comparison with the cult classic of the year 1975’s ‘Sholay’ was his biggest folly. In any case the film has nothing to do neither with the film ‘Sholay’ nor with its varied famous characters including Gabbar. And by the way the film ‘Gabbar Is Back’ is a remake of director Krish’s own Telugu film ‘Ramanna’.

The carelessly and boredom oriented scenario kickstarts with a very righteous man, Professor Aditya (Akshay Kumar) and his tryst with corruption. He is on a mission to infuse a sense of purpose & hope amongst his students in ‘National College’, the place where he teaches the 5 elements of survival, in both, theory as well as practicals. Besides being a professor, he is also a vigilante who functions under the name of ‘Gabbar’. He and his team inject fear amidst the corrupt officers. The main mission of his team is to eliminate the corrupt individuals, from all the spheres of life, but, in a systematic manner. When he’s not bashing up the bad guys, Prof. Aditya also finds time to go on coffee dates with Devaki (Shruti Haasan). There is also a back story of Aditya that finds him romancing his wife (Kareena Kapoor – Khan) and how tragedy strikes him, courtesy industrialist Digvijay Patil (Suman Talwar). While the laidback police officials are unable to nab Gabbar, it takes an enterprising ‘English speaking’ constable Sadhu (Sunil Grover) to get the vital clues & leads about the whereabouts of Gabbar and his team. The only problem with Sadhu is that, because he is a ‘driver’, none of his superiors take him seriously and always belittle him. Amidst all this, when the police & the government land up in a very tight spot because of their inability to nab Gabbar, they hire a razor-sharp topcop, who vows to nab Gabbar at any cost. And when he sees Sadhu’s clues of nabbing Gabbar, he immediately offers him all the support that he needs.

Director Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish has done a complete hotch potch in ‘Gabbar Is Back’. Though his  intention of tackling corruption was noble. But he lacks finnesse in his directorial skills. It comes out as a loud and over the top exercise in sheer boredom.

Performance wise Akshay Kumar as usual tops the list. He carries the film on his sole shoulder but still…….something is amiss. But of course his switch from comic & action to meaningful roles is praise worthy. Shruti Haasan is the latest glam doll of Bollywood minus any histrionics capabilities. For a change the comic actor Sunil Grover of ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’ is a scene stealer as a cop. Suman Talwar fails to impress as a villain. While the rest of the characters like Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishita Vyas, Chitrangda Singh & Ravi kapoor are so so. And of course Kareena Kapoor Khan in a cameo as Akshay Kumar’s wife leaves a lasting impression.

Tail Piece: ‘Gabbar Is Back’ is a strictly avoidable fare.

Mayweather defeats Pacquiao in 'most lucrative fight'

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Long-awaited Las Vegas bout ends with judges scoring American boxer higher than Philippine icon in unanimous decision.

mayweather_Pacquiao

by Al Jazeera

Floyd Mayweather has beaten Manny Pacquiao on a points decision in one of the most lucrative boxing matches of all time.

Neither of the fighters succeeded in landing a winning blow during 12 rounds late on Saturday night, and judges awarded Mayweather the fight at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on a points decision.

All three judges scored Mayweather higher than Pacquiao in a unanimous decision. The new unified WBC, WBA and WBO Welterweight champion scored 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.

American Mayweather took his unbeaten record to 48-0, with Pacquiao’s record slumping to 57 wins and six losses after the Philippine national icon’s defeat.

Saturday’s long-awaited bout, which had been more than five years in the making, transcended the traditional boxing scene.

It catapulted the sport back into the public consciousness and promised to rewrite the record books as the richest fight of all time.

Las Vegas was buzzing in the run-up to the welterweight world title showdown.

The total revenue for the bout could reach $400m, driven by as many as three million pay-per-view purchases.

The figures – touted as high as a possible $180m payday for the unbeaten American and an estimated $120m bonanza for Pacquiao – intensified the spotlight on a fight between two of the most successful boxers of their generation.

Al Jazeera’s Andy Gallacher, reporting from Las Vegas, before the match, said the atmosphere in the city was “electric” as hundreds of thousands of people had swarmed there just to be close to the fight.

“It’s been building up and counting down and now the streets of Las Vegas are completely packed,” he said.

In the Philippines, Al Jazeera’s Jamela Alindogan, reporting from General Santos, said an “unofficial holiday” had been declared in the country of 100 million, with streets packed with Pacquiao’s supporters waiting to watch the match on TV screens.

USA: Gunmen killed at controversial exhibition featuring cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad

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Two suspected gunmen shot dead outside an exhibition depicting the Prophet Muhammad in suburb of Dallas, Texas.

REUTERS/Mike Stone

REUTERS/Mike Stone

by Al Jazeera

Two gunmen have been shot dead outside a controversial exhibition featuring cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in Dallas in Texas, US authorities say.

The shooting was reported shortly before 7pm local time on Sunday outside the Curtis Culwell Center in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

The two armed suspects drove up to the front of the building in a car as the event, called the Muhammad Art Exhibit, was coming to an end, and began shooting at a security officer, the city said in a message posted online.

Garland police officers then exchanged fire with the gunmen and both suspects were shot dead, the city said.

The security guard was shot in the ankle in the gunfire, but his injuries were not considered serious and he has already been discharged from hospital.

A police bomb squad is reportedly at the scene and is inspecting the dead gunmen’s car.

A Garland police spokesman, Joe Harn, said there was a large police presence already at the scene, as police “had prepared for this event, in case something like this happened”.

Lockdown

Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, who is near the scene of the shooting, said an area of about a kilometre radius around the incident had been locked down, following reports that a third suspect was seen near a shopping centre.

A New York-based group called the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) had claimed it was exercising their right of free expression in running the contest.

The judging was supposed to be on Sunday, with the winner from some reported 350 entries from around the country offered a $10,000 prize.

Zhou-Castro said the woman who led the AFDI group, Pamela Geller, was “known to make anti-Muslim statements”, and had gone to the courts several times to be able to place anti-Muslim advertisements around New York.

Following the shooting, Geller had tweeted from inside the cultural centre that the incident was “a war on free speech”, however her critics on Twitter said she had “been trying to provoke an incident like this for years”.

Islam forbids depictions of its prophet.

Controversial advertisement

In April, AFDI won a case in the US federal court that allowed it to display a controversial advertisement referring to Muslims killing Jews on New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses.

US District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan said the AFDI ad, which had previously run in Chicago and San Francisco, was protected speech under the First Amendment of the US constitution.

Similar AFDI campaigns have also run elsewhere, including in Washington DC.

The ad portrayed a menacing man wearing a scarf around his head and face, included a quotation “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah” was attributed to “Hamas MTV”, and then stated: “That’s His Jihad. What’s yours?”

Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right politician who is well-known for his anti-Islam beliefs, was one of the main speakers during the event. Wilders shared on his Twitter account that he had just left the building before the shooting.

Wilders caused a scandal last March when speaking in The Hague he asked party supporters whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in the city and in the Netherlands”.

“Fewer! Fewer!” the crowd shouted as a smiling Wilders answered: “Then we’re going to take care of that.”

​Karnataka government to form panel on sex workers

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prostitution-in-India

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will soon form a panel to look into problems faced by sex workers, Women and Child Welfare Minister Umashree said on Monday.

“The government, in a day or two, will form a panel to study the plight of sex workers across Karnataka,” she told reporters here.

However, she declined to make any concrete statement on legalising prostitution in the state in the backdrop of some religious leaders and politicians, including former law minister MC Nanaiah favoring wider discussion on the matter.

“The question of legalising prostitution will only arise after the panel submits its report,” she said.

Umashree said the issue is sensitive and there have been differences of opinion among several eminent personalities.

“The issue of legalising prostitution is sensitive. There have been differences among several eminent people on the issue,” she said.

The minister said the modalities for setting up of the panel is in progress and she would finalise the names proposed.

The committee will look into the challenges and sufferings of sex workers and submit a report to the government as soon as possible, Umashree said.

The panel will offer solutions in terms of rehabilitation and legal aid to sex workers, she said.

Nanaiah, who is also chairman of an expert committee, had suggested wider discussion on legalising prostitution to prevent crimes against women, including rape.

Noted writers and religious leaders, including Nisar Ahmed and Mathe Mahadevi had urged legalising prostitution as has been done in many countries.

(Agencies)

Asaduddin Owaisi: AIMIM will contest BBMP polls

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asaduddin-owaisi

Mysuru: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that his party would field candidates in the upcoming elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The Hyderabad-based party had performed well in the elections to the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation held recently.

Owaisi, who is on a private visit to the city, hit out at the Congress and the state government for imposing a ban on his entry to Bengaluru city.

The emergence of AIMIM in Maharashtra has started to haunt the Congress, Owaisi said and added that the party (Congress) had not learnt a lesson from the poll debacle in Maharashtra.

In an interaction with media persons, he said that Muslims and dalits face common issues like poverty, high rate of school dropouts, less graduates and social discrimination.

Owaisi said that there was no law and order problem after he addressed a meeting near Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district.

Owaisi said that he has appealed in the High Court against the ban order.

“I can speak in the Indian Parliament, but not on the streets of Bengaluru… they are afraid of me,” the MP added.

“If they (Congress) have done so much (for dailts and Muslims), why is that in 2009 and 2014 elections not even a single Muslim was elected to the Parliament from Karnataka…How many Muslim MLAs are there in the Assembly…?” he asked.

He charged that successive state governments have failed to develop areas with a large Muslim population in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the state like Kalaburagi, Bidar and other places.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Six-year-old girl raped by high school boys

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rape-case

Bengaluru: A 6-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two high school boys at Bannerghatta near here, police said today.

The incident took place yesterday when she was playing with her brother and the boys, they said.

The boys took the girl to an isolated place nearby and raped her. Her brother who arrived at the scene searching for her soon rushed home and informed his grandparents about the incident, police said.

The girl was immediately taken to a doctor for medical examination by the police who visited her soon after getting to know about the incident.

“A case has been registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and various sections of IPC,” Bangalore (Rural) Superintendent of Police, Ramesh Bhanot, told PTI.

“Both accused are minors. One of them was arrested yesterday, while search is on for the other who is absconding,” he said.

(PTI)

Modi’s helpless wife moves State Information Commission with fresh RTI

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Jashodaben

Ahmedabad: Jashodaben, wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, filed a fresh RTI application at the State Information Commission in Gandhinagar Saturday, challenging the Mehsana RTI appellate authority’s February 6 order, which denied her information she had sought under RTI in November, 2104, on her security and privileges as PM’s spouse.

In the February order, Mehsana District Police Superintendent J R Mothalia had denied Jashodaben the information, arguing that it came under LIB department and as per a 2005 circular of Gujarat Government’s home department, the LIB was exempted from providing the information.

Distressed by the stonewalling of attempts made by her to seek information under RTI twice, Jashodaben may go to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister, said her nephew, Sandip Modi, who is also her advocate.

Jashodaben has also objected to her being referred to by her maiden name, instead of her married one. In her application, she has reasserted her legally married name of Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, overturning the RTI reply, given to her by Mehsana Public Information Officer, which simply referred to her as “Shrimati Jashodaben, daughter of Chimanlal Modi”.

Jashodaben came to the Information Commissioner’s office with Sandip Modi Saturday to file the application. Sandip Modi told The Sunday Express, “We have filed an application, challenging the order given to us in February. How can they (authority) change the status of her name — Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi?”

(Agencies)

Nepalese slam Indian media, #GoHomeIndianMedia trends

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GoHomeIndianMedia

Kathmandu: The Indian media is facing flak for its coverage of the earthquake disaster in Nepal with complaints in the social media that it was treating the tragedy as a “public relations exercise” on behalf of the Indian government.

As Nepal picks up pieces in the aftermath of last month’s devastating earthquake that killed over 7,000 people and injured more than 14,000, some have picked holes in the “relentless and aggressive” coverage by the Indian media.

By Sunday evening #GoHomeIndianMedia, which was created on Twitter for slamming the Indian media, was the top trending hashtag in Nepal with more than 60,000 tweets on the topic.

As grief-stricken people in Nepal took to social media in droves to complain what they called as Indian media’s “insensitive” reportage of the worst earthquake to hit the Himalayan nation in 80 years, the criticism ironically came on the occasion of the World Press Freedom day today.

At the same time, there have been critical responses to the negative reactions in the social media with comments like the Indian media coverage being “largely responsible” for how the rest of the world saw the Nepal tragedy and even driving global response.

While grateful for the aid and help in rescue efforts, some sections of the media were panned on the social media for pitching the tragedy as a “Public Relations exercise” for the Indian government.

“…Media humiliated poor Nepal in order to take credit & cheap publicity in the hour of crisis. Sad,” said one tweet.

In a blog published on CNN, Sunita Shakya of Nepali origin writes, “Your media and media personnel are acting like they are shooting some kind of family serials.”

She also goes on to describe a couple of instances where she says the reporter did not do enough to help the injured person in need.

“Thanks to tons of reporters who came to Nepal from those rescue planes of India, you took a seat where a victim could be transported to hospitals/ health camps. Thanks to you all reporters, you took a seat where a bag of food and supplies could be placed to send to those hardly hit places,” she added.

Kunda Dixit, a veteran journalist, was quoted has having said that some Nepalis, not all, feel India media is a bit patronising in their attitude and that is perhaps why such sentiments are being expressed. That is how a section of the Nepali media also feels, according to Dixit.

The Indian media was accused by the Twitterati of being insensitive to survivors, asking them irrelevant questions such as “How are you feeling?” and not rendering help to those needing immediate medical aid.

“If your media person can reach to the places where the relief supplies have not reached, at this time of crisis can’t they take a first-aid kit or some food supplies with them as well,?,” asked Shakya.

Some tweets said that Nepal is a sovereign country and not a “satellite state”.

Dear@narendramodi our Dharahara may have fallen not our sovereignty! Sinerely Nepalese #GoHomeIndianMedia, said one tweet while another sarcastically said, “Mr. @narendramodi please call your media back. They r just hurting us more.”

“The height of event management!!! Shame on media’s sycophancy,” read another tweet.

“#GoHomeIndianMedia is about Indian Media. It has nothing to do with Indian Government. Indian Government was the first to reach Nepal,” was another tweet.

Ajay Bhadra Khanal, a veteran journalist, was quoted as having said that the Indian media’s “aggressive presence” and the way they are highlighting only their government’s role in resuce and relief efforts has affected the perception among Nepalis of the Indian government.

Here are some of the tweets:

A tweet from a person followed by Indian Embassy Kathmandu shows how serious the matter is #GoHomeIndianMedia pic.twitter.com/2i5s2Zd2KF

— I Blocked Aajtak (@umeshd516) May 3, 2015

Stop your Media-quake!! We are already in pang by devastating Earthquake and your news are not helping the victims!! #GoHomeIndianMedia

— सूचना घिमिरे ツ (@artless77) May 3, 2015

Dear Indian media, we shall welcome you back once you learn the basics and ABCs of journalism. For now leave. #GoHomeIndianMedia

— prakriti khadka (@khadka_prakriti) May 3, 2015

#GoHomeIndianMedia @aajtak @abpnewstv @IndiaToday Mr. @narendramodi please call your media back. They r just hurting us more

— लुरे (Nishan Aryal) (@fantastic_fan) May 3, 2015

According to the Nepalese police, the death toll recorded in Nepal till date is 7,040 and nearly 14,123 people have been left injured.

(PTI)

One in four Indians admit to practicing untouchability: Survey

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caste

New Delhi: 65 years after untouchability was abolished, one in four Indians admit to practicing it in some form in their homes– a shocking fact revealed by a pan-India survey that was flagged at a seminar of Dalit intellectuals, writers and academicians here.

Indians belonging to virtually every religion and caste group, including Muslims, Christians, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, admit to practicing untouchability, shows the India Human Development Survey (IHDS- 2).

The survey was conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and University of Maryland, US and its full results are to be released later this year.

The issue was highlighted at a seminar “Rise of the Oppressed: Impact of Dalit Literary and Cultural interventions in Maharashtra and Beyond over the weekend.

Speakers including former member of Planning Commission Bhalchandra Munagekar Y S Alone, Professor of Art and Aesthetics, JNU, and Waman Kendre, Director of National School of Drama, Suhas Borkar of Working Group on Alternative Strategies, called for waging a war on “the mindset of social injustice”.

After Borker spoke about the findings of the survey, other speakers including Mungekar, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, said that the revelations were quite shocking.

Munagekar recalled the pain and hardship he and his family had to undergo due to the stigma of being a Dalit. He, however, said that the writings of Babasheb Ambedkar and Jnanpith Award winner V S Khandekar had greatly influenced his way of thinking.

Alone said dismantling of hegemony of the upper castes began with the rise of the Ambedkar movement in the country.

Kendre dwelt upon the tradition of great Dalit writers and poets like Namdev Dhasal, Annabhau Sathe, Daya Pawar, Shantibai Kamble and Narayan Surve among others and how their revolutionary writings brought about a resurgence and gave a sense of self-confidence to the Dalits.

Smita Patil, Assistant Professor, School of Gender and Development Studies, IGNOU spoke about the contribution of Dalit women writers.

Speaking about the impact of Dalit literature beyond Maharasthra, Ram Chandra, Associate Professor of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies at JNU, called for rejection of the “exploitative and unjust” Hindu caste system.

The seminar was organised by Maharashtra Sanskritik Ani Rannaniti Adhyayan Samiti and Working Group on Alternative Strategies.

(PTI)

Why women are more at risk than men in earthquake-ravaged Nepal

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Nepal_quake

by Shelly Walia & Akshat Rathi, Quartz

Natural disasters are thought to be indiscriminate killers—but is that strictly true?

It turns out disasters affect women much more than men. A 2007 study by researchers at the London School of Economics and the University of Essex found that between 1981 and 2002, natural disasters in 141 countries killed significantly more women than men, and that the worse the disaster, the bigger the gender disparity.

The latest figures from Nepal show that among the 1.3 million affected by the earthquake, about 53% are female—a small but not yet statistically significant bias.

That might soon change. According to the Women Resilience Index, a metric developed to assess a country’s capacity to reduce risk in disaster and recovery for women, Nepal scores a paltry 45.2 out of 100. Japan scores 80.6, by comparison, and Pakistan 27.8. 

And lessons from previous disasters show that the bias affecting women can worsen in post-disaster relief.

Is biology destiny?

There are many factors that contribute to this bias—both social and biological.

For instance, the excess female deaths during both the 2001 Gujarat and the 1993 Maharashtra earthquakes, which killed 20,000 and 10,000 people respectively, were blamed on the fact that more women were indoors while men were in open areas.

In 2004, when the third-largest earthquake in recorded history triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, up to four women died for every man in hard-hit Aceh, Indonesia. One factor: women in Indonesia do not usually learn how to swim or climb trees.

During and after the 1998 floods in Bangladesh, many women suffered from urinary tract infections, due to the lack of sanitation and the taboo attached to menstruation.

“Common cultural practices dictate that women’s needs for privacy tend to be higher, so relieving themselves in public is harder than it is for men. Menstruating women face additional difficulties when access to water is lost or limited,” a spokesperson from the international aid agency Oxfam told Quartz.

After the calamity

The discrimination doesn’t stop after the immediate search and rescue is over. Sushma Iyengar, a social educator who works in Gujarat, told Quartz that during the 2001 disaster, “there was a much higher percentage of orthopaedic injury—and a lot of people got spinally impaired. And among those who became paraplegic, a huge number were young women, because they happened to be inside their houses.”

The paraplegic young women then became more vulnerable to the risks of their husbands leaving them if they were alive. “Not immediately after the calamity, but as the reality unfolded, and families come to know that the woman is not going to bear children, and that she is spinally impaired, and dependent, and she will not be earning, so she was abandoned,” Iyengar said. “It’s too early to figure out the extent of injuries, but what happened in Kutch [site of the Gujarat earthquake] might unfold in Nepal, too.”

Women are typically more vulnerable than men, especially in patriarchal societies, due to issues of personal safety and violence and access to scarce resources. Therefore, when a calamity strikes, the situation is accentuated.

“In calamities, you’ll see the best of humankind for the first few days. And then slowly, as the struggle looms large that you’re going to be without shelter and livelihood, that’s when a lot of conflicts occur,” Iyengar said. “At such times, women are vulnerable to different forms of trafficking and exploitation.”

A report by the UK department of international development refers to this as “double disaster,” where indirect or secondary impacts make life worse for women. But some efforts are being made to address the disparity.

Flipping the situation

In Nepal, the plight of thousands of pregnant women is being given particular attention. The UN Population Fund, for example, is distributing hygiene and reproductive health kits.

Such efforts have in the past been shown to have a two-fold benefit. Not only are the lives of women improved, but many of them then get involved in relief activities. Local women, for instance, are the most effective at mobilising their communities.

For instance, an Indian non-governmental organisation, Swayam Shikshan Prayog (Hindi for “learning from one’s own experiences”), which had been focused on helping women in disasters for 15 years, helped spearhead a programme to help rebuild homes after earthquakes in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

So those working on relief efforts in Nepal would do well to pay a little more attention to the needs of women. The rewards would be well worth it.

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