THE RISE OF NOTA POWER THE SHOWDOWN IN TAMIL NADU THE ART OF ZOYA AKHTAR w w w o p e n t h e m a g a z i n e c o m 11 march 2019 / rS 50 MODI'S MASCULINE NATIONALISM FACES UP TO PAKISTAN BRAHMA CHELLANEY ON CHINA-PAK AXIS MJ AKBAR ON BALAKOT IN HISTORY contents 11 march 2019 42 locomotif the showdowN iN tamil NadU Enough said By S Prasannarajan Both BJP and Congress hope to gain by piggybacking on AIADMK and DMK, which in turn are stitching up patchwork alliances with smaller parties By Shahina kk oPeN diary 46 By Swapan Dasgupta soUtherN rethiNKiNg The man behind DMK’s social media strategy works towards a Dravidian makeover 16 BUsiNess Scrappy stuff as strategy By V Shoba 24 By Aresh Shirali 38 18 54 Prose & Politics Free spirit 18 By Siddharth Singh oPeN essay The new axis of evil By Brahma Chellaney 42 60 56 fiNe BalaNce 24 Rama Vaidyanathan expertly treads the line between classicism and popular appeal the fog of war By Malini Nair Modi’s masculine nationalism faces up to Pakistan 60 By Ullekh NP & Siddharth Singh Zeitgeist Zoya What’s it about the Gully Boy director? 30 By Rohan Sandhu aN area of darKNess Balakot and the backstory of jihad By MJ Akbar 66 Not PeoPle liKe Us 32 BeyoNd BalaKot Reopening an old file involving the Indian Air Force would decisively help settle matters in Kashmir By Rahul Pandita 11 march 2019 36 oNe Before all No screen coupling yet 38 By Rajeev Masand Nota Power Placing the individual, not society, at the heart of the Constitution What the protest voters want? By Gautam Bhatia By Lhendup G Bhutia Cover by Saurabh Singh www.openthemagazine.com open mail editor@openmedianetwork.in Editor S Prasannarajan managing Editor Pr ramesh ExEcutivE EditorS aresh Shirali, ullekh nP Editor-at-largE Siddharth Singh dEPuty EditorS madhavankutty Pillai (mumbai Bureau chief), rahul Pandita, amita Shah, v Shoba (Bangalore), nandini nair crEativE dirEctor rohit chawla art dirEctor Jyoti K Singh SEnior EditorS lhendup gyatso Bhutia (mumbai), moinak mitra aSSociatE EditorS vijay K Soni (Web), Sonali acharjee, aditya iyer, Shahina KK aSSiStant Editor vipul vivek chiEf of graPhicS Saurabh Singh SEnior dESignErS anup Banerjee, veer Pal Singh Photo Editor raul irani dEPuty Photo Editor ashish Sharma aSSociatE PuBliShEr Pankaj Jayaswal national hEad-EvEntS and initiativES arpita Sachin ahuja gEnEral managErS (advErtiSing) rashmi lata Swarup, Siddhartha Basu chatterjee (West), uma Srinivasan (South) national hEad-diStriBution and SalES ajay gupta rEgional hEadS-circulation d charles (South), melvin george (West), Basab ghosh (East) hEad-Production maneesh tyagi SEnior managEr (PrE-PrESS) Sharad tailang managEr-marKEting Priya Singh chiEf dESignEr-marKEting champak Bhattacharjee cfo anil Bisht chiEf ExEcutivE & PuBliShEr neeraja chawla all rights reserved throughout the world reproduction in any manner is prohibited Editor: S Prasannarajan Printed and published by neeraja chawla on behalf of the owner, open media network Pvt ltd Printed at thomson Press india ltd, 18-35 milestone, delhi mathura road, faridabad-121007, (haryana) Published at 4, dda commercial complex, Panchsheel Park, new delhi-110017 Ph: (011) 48500500; fax: (011) 48500599 to subscribe, Whatsapp ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 or log on to www.openthemagazine.com or call our toll free number 1800 102 7510 or email at: customercare@openmedianetwork.in for alliances, email alliances@openmedianetwork.in for advertising, email advt@openmedianetwork.in for any other queries/observations, email feedback@openmedianetwork.in Disclaimer ‘open avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing initiatives and Open takes no responsibility for the consequences of using products or services advertised in the magazine volume 11 issue 10 for the week 5-11 march 2019 total no of pages 68 C letter of the week MJ Akbar’s article on Pakistan’s reaction to the Pulwama attack by its agents revealed our neighbour’s long history of deception and subversion (‘The Last and Lost War of Pakistan’, March 4th, 2019) We mourn the tragic deaths of our gallant CRPF jawans even as we are deeply hurt Had this deadly ambush of an Indian police convoy been plotted by amateurs, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan , expecting intense retaliation from India, would not have reacted so appeasingly In the recent past, India has underestimated Pakistani terrorists, preferring to use the euphemism ‘cross-border terrorism’ for what were ‘acts of war’ by Pakistan We have further compounded our mistake by describing Pakistani agents as ‘non-state actors’, giving Pakistan an opportunity to declare terrorists in Kashmir ‘freedom fighters’ We have three probable solutions One, declare Ladakh a Union Territory, as it is least affected by Pakistani terrorism This will let the Jammu & Kashmir government concentrate on counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley Two, make the J&K administration more sympathetic to Kashmiris to change its public perception Or three, repeal Article 370 of the Constitution giving J&K autonomous status to put an end to the terror economy there Enough with peace How long will we continue playing their hide-and-seek game? Why we not force them to play our game, the way Indira Gandhi did in 1971? Vinod C Dixit needless suspicion It is unfortunate the opposition tried to politicise the the visit of the Saudi crown Jaideep Mittra prince Mohammad bin Salman because it came close on the heels of his visit to pummel pakistan well non-economically till it Pakistan (‘A Partnership for MJ Akbar is right: enough is improves its ways and is able the Future’, March 4th, 2019) enough (‘The Last and Lost to take responsibility for the Relations between India and War of Pakistan’) It is the terror outfits operating on Saudi have been cordial for a Indian Government’s soft ap- its soil long time, therefore there is M Kumar no need to view the sequence proach that has encouraged Pakistan over the past few of his visits this time with decades to instigate terror at- MJ Akbar’s historical and suspicion In fact, New Delhi tacks continually in Kashmir thought-provoking essay on and Riyadh are inking agreeThe only long-term solution is Pakistan clearly reveals the ments in tourism, broadfor India to adopt a tit-for-tat threat Pakistan-sponsored casting and infrastructure terrorism poses to peace and attitude Imran Khan must Moreover, the Saudi prince democracy on the Indian remember that just like the has not only affirmed his captain of a cricket team is re- subcontinent It is high time country’s position to not sponsible for his teammates, we started considering every support terrorism but has terror attack against India as the Prime Minister he is also agreed to share intellias an act of war and needless responsible for the actions gence with India KR Srinivasan aggression The Government of his citizens—directly or of India needs to be firmer in indirectly All diplomatic the leader in the east relations with Pakistan must its stance Pakistan needs to be cut off till it owns up to the be shown how a country with Sunanda K Datta-Ray’s essay resolve responds to terrorism was a balanced portrayal of role it plays in aiding terrorMamata Banerjee (‘The Iron Indian soldiers have been ism The global community losing their lives in wars with Sister’, March 4th, 2019) as a whole should boycott A Surendran Pakistan since Independence Pakistan economically as 11 march 2019 LOCOMOTIF we have been consistently reminded, are the cleanest ones too, and this is certainly a big deal in a country where the traditional political hand stands for the entitlements of power safe hands also bring out the vulnerabilities of the country they promise to protect in the face of extra-territorial adversity the strongman, the action hero, alone can make the country stronger—and safer it is powerful imagery in the politics of stronger-the-leader-saferthe-nation it overwhelms india today, for better or worse by S PRASANNARAJAN i’ll noT leT The counTry bow down Enough Said W ords are everything Words build nations stronger with raw material drawn from fear Words make being great possible when the wretchedness of the present is of the enemy’s making Weaponised and deployed in a terrain caught between excessive patriotism and liberal scepticism, words unify, inspire, divide and frighten Words make all the difference, for the kinetic force of history is preceded, or followed, or powered, by the politics of language—all those theologies of liberation, all those ideologies of resistance Words take us into the minds behind change they add poetics to the hopes and anxieties of an age so we hear Churchill, the war poet in power, telling them that “without victory, there is no survival”, that he has “nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” We hear gandhi telling them that “the weak can never forgive [because] forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”, that “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” We hear an Fdr simply shrugging that “i hate war.” Words are at play at a time when we are nervous; words that emotionalise the mood, obfuscate the intent, tap into our anxieties, and nevertheless tell a story of our time i choose some The counTry is in safe hands they won’t, ever, for the strongmen in power are alpha nationalists they, in their self-portraits and the wall paintings by the awe-struck, are the arbiters of our present, the custodians of our future, and the most authentic restoration artists of our past the so-called populist, the sorcerer of the mass mind in the post-revolution age, is a hyper-nationalist and a reborn nativist narendra Modi is not exactly one of them he is not your textbook populist; his sense of the nation verges on the spiritual the Prime Minister’s job, as he tells you, is to keep the nation’s head high When his opponents attribute the expediency of realpolitik to what he considers his nationalist mission, he doesn’t project himself as a nationalist under attack he stands there as the dutiful protector of a nation under attack—and he sees to it that no one misses the point: pitted against him are those who think patriotism is a milder form of jingoism this is a portrait of the nationalist as warrior monk, still the only showstopper in indian democracy Guess who’s poliTicisinG iT silly things are said when the rhetorical urge overcomes political realism War is politics, war-speak is politics, and peace, too, is politics it gets outrageously political only when don’t-politicise-it is uttered with sanctimonious detachment Politics has an emotional quotient; so does history When countries are under attack, or when the defender plays the no-nonsense nationalist, the political is inevitably emotional it gets exploitative only when demagoguery creates a simulated oneness We are not there yet, thankfully, but the holy smoke emanating from the grand alliance of doves is bad politics nationalists assume they alone can play the politics of resistance and retribution, though we are not sure so speak the strongmen, here and anywhere, and their legion is growing, in democracies and the grey zones beyond some of the leT’s Talk peace most obvious ones are autocrats, like a Putin or an erdog˘an, busy From the other side of the border, someone aspires to be creating their own mythologies as the safest hands in homelands statesmanlike the problem is the state, which has made terror scarred by a bad history they need the legitimacy of a doctored a religion no amount of ‘reasonable posturing’ can hide the democracy—which their apologists would say is preferable to fact that almost every other attack in the name of the Book free-for-all versions—to play the ruler-deliverer, always tapping since 9/11 has a connection with islamabad What it has into grievances of the past the ‘safe hands’ of india, it must be internalised as an ‘insufficiently said, have democratic legitimacy imagined’ state, as salman rushdie they reach out to the people in a manner called it, continues to express itself in set by the Constitution; and their legend the only language it knows—and it’s is built on the assumption that we are not made of words still paying for the sins of weaker hands of the day before safe hands announce War is politics, Words still make all the the masculinity of hope, the action herowar-speak is politics, difference ism of the ruler the safe hands of india, and peace, too, is politics 11 march 2019 www.openthemagazine.com open diary Swapan Dasgupta A n interesting fAcet of the Pulwama bombing of february 14th has been the popular reaction to the deaths of over 40 crPf soldiers Any terror attack—regardless of the casualties—generates anger At times, this is not merely directed at terrorists but is often channelled against the government for either security lapses or ‘intelligence failure’ Along with this anger, however, are the contrived outpourings of human solidarity—expressed through peace marches, multi-faith prayer meetings and candlelight vigils in Mumbai, a city that experienced a spate of devastating terror attacks from the serial bombings of 1993 to the 26/11 attacks in 2008, a ‘spirit of Mumbai’ industry took shape its main objective, or so it seemed, was to dilute popular anger in sanctimoniousness and divert attention from the hard questions that needed to be asked to me, it was akin to turning the other cheek After Pulwama, i have found a paucity of candle marches—Mamata Banerjee staged one in Kolkata, but it was an exception More often, and particularly in the non-metro and small towns, the tone of the demonstrations have been quite vengeful the ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai!’ chants have been accompanied by a desire to lynch the nearest available Pakistani Unfortunately, in some places, Kashmiri students and traders have been harassed and some have left town Hopefully they will return soon and resume their normal lives But these have been isolated incidents that, at best, have allowed some liberals an opportunity for anti-nationalist grandstanding the attacks have extended to social media trolling of those who either urged restraint or used the Pulwama killings to mock Prime Minister narendra Modi Here too some intellectuals and media celebrities milked the abuse they got on social media to draw attention to themselves, as if their unquestioned right to be contrarian, rather than terrorism, was at the centre of popular anger it was a remarkable display of self-indulgence Public memory is woefully short and an impression is often given that sharp and nasty attacks on the social media is a feature of right-wing resurgence in india, if not globally in Britain, a country in the midst of existential soul-searching over its future outside the european Union, both the right and the left have charged each other of making the lives of some members of Parliament intolerable Pro-eU conservative MPs have been trolled by Brexit supporters for being unmindful of grassroots opinion and moderate Labour MPs have been pilloried by the left for different sins, including being sceptical of the leadership of Jeremy corbyn On top of all this, there have been claims that at least two foreign powers—russia and china—have quietly and surreptitiously worked to mould public opinion and even influence the course of elections i doubt if Pakistan has the technological competence and the intellectual astuteness to be able to mould india’s public discourse, even remotely the high point of Pakistan’s soft-power diplomacy was in the pre-liberalisation days when it banked on two things first, sponsored trips to Pakistan where, apart from the generous hospitality the country is famous for, the guests used to be showered with expensive carpets and onyx lamps second, the local High commission used to provide generous supplies of free scotch to the so-called opinion-makers in the media As a young journalist in the 1980s, i was both horrified and disgusted by the extent to which some editors were compromised by supplies of booze and biryani Mercifully, after the easy availability of good scotch in indian shops, Pakistani diplomacy has run out of ammunition even the sponsored trips of the likes of ghulam nabi fai have come to an end following his exposure and conviction in the Us as an isi functionary nevertheless, courting and influencing public opinion, apart from funding disruptive movements of Khalistanis, Maoists and islamists, is a declared objective of Pakistan’s global outreach the methods have probably changed and gone below the radar, but to discount this influence just because it is no longer that obvious is wrong Pakistan hates india, has relentlessly pursued the ‘war of a thousand cuts’ and its more islamist functionaries believe in the ghazwa-e-Hind prophecy—invoked, incidentally, by the Pulwama bomber in his boastful video message—that puts faith in the islamic conquest of Hindustan We may not be able to stop Pakistani subversion altogether but there is absolutely no reason why, as a country, we should make its task easy this means showing Pakistan’s ‘useful idiots’ their place n 11 march 2019 Tune into Saturday 9:30 A.M | Sunday 1:30 P.M Apollo Hospitals and Times Now present India's first reality based medical emergency series Inspired by true events at the Apollo Emergency, showing real challenges faced by the doctors and their medical teams who are running against time, fighting odds to save lives from the brink of trauma and death It's a gripping series with a collage of emotions that make you feel life is worth fighting for openings PIB Narendra Modi inaugurates the National War Memorial in Delhi, February 25 NOTEBOOK remembering with glory T he NatioNal War Memorial was inaugurated on February 25th the next day, early morning, in retaliation to the suicide-bombing attack at Pulwama, the indian air Force targeted terrorist camps in Pakistan, taking hostilities between the two countries to a level not seen in decades the Pakistanis launched air attacks a day later across the border, escalating the issue the two countries are now perilously poised with war, even if not necessarily imminent, a greater probability now Whether one is a peacenik or warmonger, the sequence of events is a testament to the case for the war memorial the decades before the World War i were called a time of great peace among warring european imperial empires if mankind was then thought to have outgrown its warring tribal proclivities, then the illusion was shattered in 1914 a quarter century later World War ii proved even more barbarous the technological, psychological and philosophical leaps of the 21st century had not changed anything in the instincts of societies to mobilise themselves towards an endgame in which tens of millions of lives would lay strewn across ruins So long as there is going to be war—and there is nothing to show even now any permanent diminution in humanity’s appetite for it—those who participate in it on behalf of nations must be feted and remembered this is to show gratitude to them and also to keep the emotion that makes people volunteer to be soldiers going strong a war memorial is public architecture with a purpose one reason it took india more than 60 years from the time the idea was first mooted to finally having a national war memorial is its ambivalence towards war its ideals are pacifist but in practice violence is intrinsic to its nature as illustration, consider the freedom movement, touted to be based on non-violence but whose real history is another thing From Chauri Chaura to the bloodletting of Partition, violence followed step by step with the beginning of the indian nation-state after independence, we have had three formal wars, not counting the Kargil engagement to remember those who died in wars should have been the natural priority of governments but there was never a social or political impetus for it beyond demands from leaders of the armed forces this was General VP Malik, chief of army staff 11 march 2019 during the Kargil war, writing in 2010 in The Tribune: ‘historically and culturally, despite having to go to war so often for external and internal security, we indians never take pride in our military achievements or our military heroes it is a strategic cultural weakness the military is sidelined as soon as the conflict is over till date, there is no national war memorial Questions are raised whenever the military wishes to celebrate an event to maintain military traditions and to inculcate regimental spirit and esprit de corps that is also the reason why our long-term defence planning continues to suffer Kargil heroes and martyrs like those of 1971 and other previous wars are facing the same neglect.’ on February 26th, he tweeted his delight thus, ‘28 Jan 14 Was privileged to attend public function ‘aye Mere Watan Ke logo’ with PM candidate N Modi & lata Ji in Mumbai asked N Modi to make public commitment for construction of War Memorial in Delhi Glad promise kept thank you PM!’ an egregious element in the delay of the war memorial is that it had long been an agreed project only inability to execute it made it remain a noting in files even the land for it had been earmarked in the vicinity of india Gate, itself a memorial for indian soldiers who fought in World War i the location in lutyens’ zone, at the heart of the indian Government, was as apt as it could be Spread over 42 acres, the memorial competes with india Gate in being gloriously and solemnly imposing the design was the result of a global competition that Chennai-based WeBe Design lab won about the location, its website notes, ‘the lutyens plan had another garden planned to terminate the axis in the rear side of india Gate which never got built the proposed memorial is designed as an extension of the india Gate as a huge public open space with garden as a closure point of this Central axis.’ For the design, it took inspiration from the chakravyuh battle formation, a series of concentric circles entrapping an enemy, alluded to in indian mythology ‘the Design intends to create an experience of walking amidst soldiers in a war field in its varied layers the concept is interpreted as five concentric circles of varied elements as layers with its own functionality and conveying different emotions (protection-bravery-sacrifice), at different levels.’ the circles so imagined are the ‘Circle of Protection or the rakshak Chakra, followed by Circle of War or the Yudh Path the next layer is the Circle of Sacrifice or tyag Chakra, then the Circle of Bravery or Veer Chakra and finally rebirth or Punarjanam’ War memorials are not signals of military triumph the US has a memorial to the Vietnam war it lost two years ago the UK unveiled one to soldiers of the iraq and afghanistan wars, which no one terms a victory for the allied forces now among the 25,942 names of martyred indian soldiers on our memorial are also of those who died in the lost war against China a nation is an artificial construct existing purely by an agreement of its people it can be both resilient and fragile for this reason to those who died to protect this idea, remembering with glory is the least even a peaceful nation can n By Madhavankutty pillai 11 march 2019 AFTERTHOUGHT mAn AnD nAtUre eviction of forest dwellers is not an answer E arlier thiS MoNth the Supreme Court passed a judgment ordering the eviction of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers in different states who could not prove their ownership of land in forests across india approximately one million people were affected by the judgment this led to a chorus of protests across india on February 28th, the court stayed its judgment the court’s earlier judgment came in response to a challenge to the validity of the 2006 law that granted rights to forest dwellers who had lived there for a long time but could not produce formal titles to land and their homesteads the law was challenged in 2008 and the litigation has continued for a long time the number of claims that have been rejected are huge in states such as odisha, West Bengal, andhra Pradesh and telangana Ultimately, the Union Government woke up when the court passed eviction orders had these orders been implemented, a near chaotic situation would have developed across india Now the Centre has asked various state governments to file appeals against the judgment apart from the inherent problems in uprooting people from their habitat, implementing the order would have created serious internal security problems as well Most tribals dwell in precisely those locations where left-wing extremism remains entrenched the displaced and disaffected population of tribals would have simply turned into a recruiting pool for Maoists a flick of a pen would have created a major headache for the paramilitary forces there is, however, another aspect to the matter that has been highlighted in the petition: conservation of india’s vast but imperilled forest resources there has been some debate on the matter whether the poor are the key to conserving forests on one side are ranged civil society activists who claim these dwellers of forests have lived there for hundreds of years and have played an active role in conserving their habitat on the other side are forest conservation activists and state governments who have implicitly argued that it is cruel to expect poor people to give priority to conservation over consumption of forest resources there is some truth in the latter assertion: at very low levels of consumption, there are few incentives to save, be it money, resources or environmental assets this is a vexed debate that is unlikely to be resolved by evidence and pronouncements by courts n www.openthemagazine.com books Free Spirit Is a return to socialism a worthy option? F reedom of choice lies at the core of free societies ness of will) finally at Time 3, John feels regret The question At one level the idea is so deep-rooted that the thought that On Freedom raises is whether a social planner can fashion of any ill effects flowing from this freedom is considered ‘commitment devices’ that can alter the course of John’s action next to impossible But think again from a host of health at Time (or Time 1, when he may be deliberating whether to disorders to maladies that are clearly the products of illbinge or not) informed choices to the problem of ‘navigability’ in general, The issue is complex What is so special about intervening the pathologies of choice are too glaring to be ignored at Time to change John’s preferences? isn’t Time 2, when he On Freedom by cass r Sunstein (Princeton University Press; indulges himself, a better stage to prevent him from doing 136 pages; rs 1,300) is a slim but deep volume that delves into what he did? There is no general recipe for altering preferences these issues Based on his holberg Prize lecture, the book looks and behaviours for multiple problems of self-control, lack of not only at his pet theme—‘nudging’ people to better choices— information or a more extreme problem like addiction but at the very structure of bad choices and how they emerge ‘Why does John or edith deserve authority at Time or Time These are complex questions and perhaps they are a prod3, rather than at Time 2? What makes either of their views auuct of a time when goods, services and choices are abundant As thoritative or authentic, rather than the choice at Time 2? What Sunstein and a host of other scholars have elaborated, so have makes the planner so special, or the regretter? To be sure, both options with negative consequences designing appropriate John and edith might have had less than complete knowledge responses that preserve the element of choice (and imporat the time of choice; in all probability, they did not fully or tantly, freedom that accompanies it) is a adequately appreciate the consequences difficult task Sunstein’s examples and of their choices They were exporting costs his breakdown of what can be done are to their future selves They might have illuminating and highlight the complexiignored or undervalued these costs That ties involved Two are worth citing here is important; it suggests a good reason one: John is at a dinner celebration to deny authority, in some cases, to the The food is terrific he eats a lot of it he chooser at the time of choice But at Time has a wonderful time The next day, he or Time 3, there might well be incomplete steps on the scale, and he finds that he has knowledge as well, or at least incomplete gained two pounds he wishes that he appreciation of the situation at Time 2.’ had not eaten so much he feels terrible This is an interesting perspective it Two: edith is at a work-related conferfinally leads Sunstein to conclude, someence for a week She is happily married what controversially, that ‘in my view, She meets a married man named charles, there is no alternative to some kind of and there is an immediate attraction They external standard, involving a judgment Nudges are likely to have a brief, steamy, wonderful romance about what makes the chooser’s life betquickly traNsForm When she comes home, she feels terrible ter, all things considered This judgment about it She does not tell her husband, but might require moral evaluations of iNto commaNds but the memory haunts her; she wishes the options and outcomes it might require the idea oF helpiNg romance had never happened some kind of aggregate judgment about people Navigate one way to look at these events is to people’s personal well-being.’ break them down into three stages: Time clearly, this is a slippery terrain for their lives with 1, when the preferences of people like example, consider addiction to smoking better iNFormatioN John and edith may or may not be clear cigarettes in many cases, smokers don’t aNd Nudges while for example, John knows the dangers of know the dangerous consequences of overeating The actual decision/action preserviNg Freedom what they are doing An appropriate takes place at Time This is the time nudge would be to put pictorial warnings oF choice is brilliaNt when John abandons caution (or is unof what happens to smokers’ lungs on able to control himself or displays a weakcigarette packets if it were a simple mat54 11 march 2019 PROSE & POLITICS By siddharth singh Saurabh Singh ter of lack of knowledge, this will deter a smoker But it is well known that a large majority of smokers simply ignore these warnings does this require something stronger? for example, higher taxes on tobacco products? This would be in line with Sunstein’s reasoning But here’s the problem: this will violate the choices available to a smoker, while the idea of nudge is to gently make better information available to change a person’s preferences at Time in contrast, higher taxes come close to interventions at Time These are matters that require careful deliberation about design, choice architecture and policymaking many of these problems of navigability and self-control were known in an earlier age as well At that time, paternalistic states were expected to take major decisions that affected a whole range of personal choices in case of socialist states (or those with mixed economies with a pronounced socialist bias, for example india) this was enough of a ‘solution’: if consumer choices are limited by the goods that are available, then many of the problems of self-control and navigability that Sunstein discusses don’t exist or at least they don’t emerge to an extent as they in societies with much greater freedom is a return to socialism of sorts an option to overcome such problems? That is an opinion that has always remained popular among people of a certain persuasion Any reasonable 11 march 2019 person will agree that this is an extreme solution This is for two reasons one, this comes close to cracking the egg with a hammer: the negative effects of choices associated with freedom are sought to be overcome by extinguishing freedom itself Two, historically, the most well-known examples of socialism, in eastern europe and the Soviet Union, did not end well To be true, the problems associated with choice did not exist in these societies but delegating these choices to the state ended up creating economic pathologies that had not been seen before There is, of course, a wide gulf between nudging and socialism But one element is common: a social planner decides when to intervene and how to that ideally, this would be done in a simple and transparent manner But as Sunstein’s examples show, this is not easy in practice in societies with better information aggregation and processing abilities, this may be possible as the creation of behaviour analysis units in different governments has shown Things are a tad messy in countries like india with a much more stifling bureaucratic culture: Nudges are likely to quickly transform into commands But the idea of helping people navigate their lives with better information and nudges while preserving freedom of choice is brilliant On Freedom offers a neat look into these complex issues n www.openthemagazine.com 55 dance Fine Balance Rama Vaidyanathan expertly treads the line between classicism and popular appeal By Malini Nair In the mid-1970s, Yamini Krishnamurthy had decided to start teaching dance at her south delhi home in Chanakyapuri the youngest in the class, a bright-eyed seven-year-old would invariably push ahead of the front row, within inches of the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer “Back, move back, kid! You are almost into my neck!” But the exasperated guru’s reprimand seemed to bounce off the child’s unabashed enthusiasm A few minutes of retreat and she would be right back the youngster’s ache to be at the top of her class was understandable in the days when the capital city was still an unwieldy urban sprawl with a pathetic 11 march 2019 Rama Vaidyanathan (standing) peRfoRms ViVaRtana public transport system, Chanakyapuri was a painful haul from her West delhi home in mayapuri—two buses and an auto switch after a quick change from the Loretto school uniform into a salwar kameez And she was to this trudge thrice a week, till she turned 18 By 10, the young girl was ready for her arangetram, the full margam 11 march 2019 repertoire including a complex romantic varnam roopamu joochi, which she confesses she energetically danced with little idea what it was all about But not much fazed her then, really the only time she burst into tears for not measuring up, Krishnamurthy had chided her: “don’t be like a cat, be a tiger.” it is a learning that has stayed with young Rama Ramakrishnan, now Vaidyanathan, till date At 51, she is one of the most admired and loved Bharatanatyam dancers of her generation And that includes a huge following in Chennai, not known for an open-arms policy towards ‘outsiders’ it did take her 10 years though to wear down the citadel’s resistance to ‘nonauthentic’, ‘non-Brahimin’ artistes— the barriers tm Krishna has been militating against “Oh, it was a tough fight, often depressing, even humiliating,” she recalls with a woeful laugh “i did my share of 2pm shows with four people in the hall But i wasn’t deterred it took 10 years to get premium timings, top stages there But remember that only Chennai was eluding me at the point, elsewhere i had been recognised.” At her home in south delhi’s Qutub institutional Area, the basement dance space is given over to Vaidyanathan’s rehearsals and classes this is also home to Ganesa Natyalaya, a 45-yearold dance school run by seasoned dancer and her mother-in-law saroja Vaidyanathan On a cold winter evening, she sits nursing an ankle that took an awkward twist at the Konark dance Festival But the pain didn’t stop her from presenting, along with star Carnatic vocalist sudha Raghunathan, a specially curated tribute Samadrishti to the great singer mL Vasanthakumari in an hourand-a-half long performance, she had presented seven choreographies, investing them with the quiet intelligence and vivaciousness typical of her she ventured into a tricky ragam tanam pallavi in conjunction with Raghunathan, partly choreographed and partly left to impromptu innova- tion, very unusual in Bharatanatyam though commonplace in Kathak “my heart was in my mouth,” she says with a laugh Not that you could tell One of Vaidyanathan’s biggest strengths is her remarkable ability to connect with audiences Not for her the aloofness of the divas or complex contextualising of dance Onstage, she is full of zest and brio she is so arresting, lithe and expressive that she rarely fails to draw in audiences even when she portrays melancholia, somehow her dance remains uplifting One Of Rama Vaidyanathan’s biggest stRengths is heR RemaRkable ability tO cOnnect with audiences the alOOfness Of diVas is nOt fOR heR But the line of classicism always remains firmly in place “the spirit, joy, abandon and expansiveness in my dance, all that i grabbed from Yaminiji,” she says “i would often play the role of a 10-minute ‘filler’, doing a hindolam thillana, halfway through her recitals when she would switch from Bharatanatyam to Kuchipudi those years with her were lessons in how to get audiences to watch you in a world full of distractions.” You could see the delicate dance of balance between appeal and creative integrity in her re-interpretation of actor Padmini’s ‘Bharatanatyam’ classic, Aadatha Manamum Undo (is there a heart that does not dance?) sung by mL Vasanthakumari, for the 1960 film Mannadhi Mannan this choreography was a dilemma: it could not be staid because the memory of Padmini’s www.openthemagazine.com 57 dance peppy footwork is now the stuff of celluloid legend but mimicking it would have meant going into the filmi turf Vaidyanathan pulled it off, and with both verve and subtlety “Without forsaking the principles of dance, i make sure my audience understands my dance because i am not dancing for myself so yes, it is an accessible style and i manage that by bringing clarity to the poetry i am interpreting, and that clarity applies to me and the audiences,” she says i N tReAdiNG the line between classicism and popular appeal, Vaidyanathan is more than acutely aware of her own role as an icon and mentor to younger dancers the competition is fierce and the battle for crowds is intense “At every point i remember that i am among the goalkeepers of the form’s aesthetics But i am also a part of its evolution,” she points out “And the next generation i am mentoring shouldn’t be creatively insipid We can’t let mediocrity grow though i have to admit that there is some great work being done by youngsters.” Vaidyanathan is among the few dancers with an easy appreciation of the work done by her cohort A couple of years ago at the side gate of the music Academy, Chennai, where dancers come to meet their fans after a performance she stunned everyone by keeping dancer Vaibhav Arekar in an emotional wordless embrace, tears smudging her face despite her own, early start in dance, Vaidyanathan did take a long step back from performances to raise her two daughters and it was not till she was in her late 30s that she began her quick rise to stardom she was all of 19 when she married CV Kamesh, a technocrat, and her two daughters kept her occupied through most of her 20s (her older daughter dakshina is now a known name in the dance circuit as well.) she did continue her learning under saroja Vaidyanthan through these years, dancing at the odd sabha or temple But 58 it was a break she is now thankful for “i never resent the time i spent away from the full glare of the limelight because it turned out to be a time for introspection i perfected my technique in this period, not always on stage but through intellect What did i want my dance to be? i thought through the question in these 10 years,” she says While she is among those fighting to stay true to the solo margam, Vaidyanathan is equally known for her off-beat works her breakout choreography in this respect was Mad and Divine, on the life of two mystical women poets, Lal ded and Janabai Presented for the first time in 2011, and commissioned for dancer Anita Ratnam it brought her a whole new world from the chamber of her lover, in this case, Lord Venkateswara it would have been easy enough to turn this into a brisk choreography weaving a lot of pouting and prodding Vaidyanathan kept it wonderfully modulated, with the faintest trace of a smile and selfdeprecatory humour, investing her sakhi with immense grace Vaidyanathan enjoys great popularity in the west, especially the Us Part of the reason is her immense adaptability to context and audiences At the erasing Borders festival in 2013 she cheerfully performed the mayuri allaripu at the Battery Park in manhattan with joggers slowing down to watch the vision this ease could also explain why dancer tanushree shankar chose her to withOut fORsaking the pRinciples Of dance, i ensuRe my audience undeRstands my dance because i am nOt dancing fOR myself it is an accessible style” Rama Vaidyanathan dancer “it showed me where to go with choreography and understand my own strengths,” she says “informative” is how she would like her dance to be, more than “entertaining”, pointing to her fabulous interpretation of Kamban’s portrayal of Ravana this is the mighty demon king contrite outside sita’s chambers the night before he knows he will lose all in battle As much as she is a joy to watch for her physical vivacity, Vaidyanathan is also a connoisseur’s delight for her internalised abhinaya Again, that treads a fine line between being expressive enough to be accessible but quiet enough to not feel overstated as often happens with classical dances And nowhere is this more visible than in her presentation of sringara in her tribute to mLV, she included a lovely piece where a friend pokes fun at the nayika emerging with nail marks execute her wildly offbeat idea of getting urban dancers to a 10-day stint with Vaidyanathan and present their learning to the audiences at the first edition of the serendipity Arts Festival in Goa “every day we had two hours of adavu sessions to create three pieces these were fit bodies trained in modern dance and forms like salsa so they could manage jumps and leaps but could they acquire a Bharatanatyam body, its stillness and control, that was my challenge Could they emote for abhinaya?” the result she says was a triumph of dance the araimandi (half squat) was a killer for them, as was the immobility of face But they finally pulled it off, not that anyone would be conned into thinking they are veteran Bharatanatyam artistes but certainly that they had reinvented their dance philosophy for 45 minutes of an evening n 11 march 2019 cinema Zeitge W zoya akhtar fotocorp 60 hile reflecting on the cultural significance of Dil Chahta Hai (2001), journalist Shekhar gupta asked if we were ‘seeing the first stirrings of a postreform urban india that is not embarrassed about being wealthy, where the rich are not wretched by implication?’ Dil Chahta Hai wasn’t the first film about the rich—there’d been Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) which was about wealthy families that spent most of their disposable incomes (and time) organising weddings But what made Dil Chahta Hai a landmark film was its representation of the quotidian lifestyles of the economically privileged farhan Akhtar’s subsequent film, Lakshya, about its protagonist’s complaisance and lack of ambition—a luxury afforded only to the privileged—again lent voice to the angst and aspirations of india’s upper-middle class While Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) may well have been extensions of these worlds that farhan gave us, the larger narrative around them was that they were about ‘rich people problems,’ and its director was given the disparaging moniker ‘princess of posh people’s pain’ A lot had changed between 2001 and 2011 if the early-2000s were about the post-liberalisation aspirations of an upwardly-mobile urban elite, a decade later, the fault-lines of capitalism have become more apparent it was clear that the liberal order was benefitting some more than others globally, the occupy movements had switched the narrative against the elite, while in india, crony capitalism, jobless growth, and anti-corruption movements took centre-stage A simultaneous rise of those hitherto at the fringes and in smaller towns meant 11 march 2019 eist Zoya that the existing ‘elite’ were now the subject of derision—especially, and unsurprisingly, among their own demographic As gupta writes in the same article in 2001: this group ‘loves poverty, the poor are so sexy, and a guilt trip packs such sadistic delights its principle is straightforward: poverty is my birth-right, but you shall have it.’ in terms of the socioeconomic demographic it represents, Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy marks an obvious departure for Zoya But as a story, it is also exceptionally in sync with the zeitgeist— while an underdog story almost always strikes a chord with popular sentiment, this movie also comes during an election year defined by lower middle class aspirations, reports about high unemployment, and agricultural distress And in its making, it also shines a light on a subculture that has existed on the margins But Gully Boy is far more than just an underdog story whose release coincides with the zeitgeist What could have been a hackneyed narrative is elevated by the elements its director has mastered in film after film over the past decade—apart from exceptional editing and cinema tography, a plethora of multi-dimensional characters, a range of intersecting storylines, all underlined by the ‘bigger issues,’ such as gender and class dynamics, which are addressed without ever being heavy-handed it is now time to retire the claim that Zoya Akhtar makes movies about rich people—not because she’s directed her attention to people living in slums, but because Gully Boy is a powerful reminder that our critiques of her previous movies are lazy mischaracterisations Dismissing them as being about rich people is not only reductive but also factually incorrect often the larger discourse causes us to reduce 11 march 2019 stories to convenient categories and issues, rather than exploring the nuances Unlike other hindi filmmakers, Zoya throws a heterogeneous set of issues and characters at her audience with careful subtlety Dil Dhadakne Do for instance was a profoundly-layered story about patriarchy, marriage, family, and identity, that gave the audience at least four fully fleshed-out characters on the other hand, the three protagonists of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara might seem similar, but had vastly different approaches to life, shaped by their individual back stories and motivations A Zoya Akhtar film reminds us of essential human behaviour this fundamental humanity is perhaps best reflected in the father-son dynamics in Gully Boy versus Dil Dhadakne Do While Murad (of Gully Boy) and Kabir Mehra (of Dil Dhadakne Do) belong to different strata of society, what binds them is the domineering attitude of their fathers who impose constraints that are fundamentally at odds with how they hope to define their own lives this fundamental question of identity—and the constraints the world imposes—is the running element through Zoya’s trajectory even in her short films, characters are encumbered by barriers imposed by Unlike other hindi filmmakers, Zoya akhtar throws a heterogeneoUs set of issUes and characters at her aUdience with carefUl sUbtlety What’s it about the Gully Boy director? By Rohan Sandhu family and society in her segment in Bombay Talkies (2013), a young, middleclass boy wants to dress and dance like Katrina Kaif of Sheila Ki Jawaani, only to be rebuked by his father who wants him to conform to socially-accepted notions of masculinity in her story in Lust Stories (2018), while a core carnal desire allows a maid and her employer to share a bed, social constructs make any other union impossible each of these characters has a back story—even if it isn’t explicitly depicted on screen—and is a product of circumstances With this complex understanding of human behaviour, Zoya wants to give every character a chance at redemption—even Murad’s father, who she wants us to know is shaped by his own poverty As a person who seeks to understand human behaviour, Zoya doesn’t want you to judge characters based on their outward actions, but instead carefully peel the layers she has meticulously created to understand the factors that shaped them eventually then, Gully Boy isn’t a departure as much as it is a natural progression for one of the finest hindi filmmakers we have today it is a reminder that Zoya can make a film set in any context, because she is a keen observer of the essential humanity of people—their aspirations, emotions, and relations—even when they are shaped by differing socioeconomic realities this ultimately is why stories are important; while larger narratives point to differences and categories, stories allow us to relate As Zoya said in a recent interview to Anupama chopra, “they are not poverty, they are people.” Zoya’s films are seldom one-dimensional it’s time our critiques of her movies stopped being one-dimensional too n www.openthemagazine.com 61 comedy Laughter and Lament The crucible of the open mic winnows the duds from the real comics By Suhit Kelkar The music pipes down Tonight, it’s a mostly millennial crowd—impossibly slim guys in tight shirts and pants, with a lot of hair on the top of their heads and the sides cropped close, and girls in skirts, with off-shoulder tops They’ve descended on a fashionable performance venue-cumbar in Mumbai They shush when the host for the evening, a woman in her twenties, comes up to the mike and begins talking to those who were unlucky or reckless enough to take the front row She warms up the audience, asking them what they do, where they live, and so on; only to riff up a few jokes at their expense It works The audience is now in the mood to laugh The mood doesn’t last The host calls up the first performer of the evening, a guy who’s more bravado than ability He cracks a joke on the perennial drought of romance in his life mild laughter The wisps of the joke evaporate, leaving behind a void Our hero stumbles on More jokes, followed by waves of non-laughter He cracks a joke about beggars and how, in his opinion, funny they are The crowd looks vaguely disapproving and sip their Rs 300 beers without so much as a heh More jokes emanate They bomb so bad that a mushroom cloud floats over the comedian’s head Then something merciful happens The warning light flashes from the back of the hall, meaning time’s up The comedian cracks a joke about killing himself (even that one is lame), gathers the splinters of his personality, and steps off, grinning Then comes a fairly seasoned comedian Her jokes about being a single woman in Mumbai, her body image issues, her kooky family get the evening back on its feet About time Maybe we’ll get our money’s worth after all Somewhere in Mumbai, almost every day, it’s comedy open mic night That is, a chance for aspiring and new comedians to present their jokes for four or five minutes each All come with the fundamental motivation to perform and be appreciated, but many are serious, so to 11 march 2019 say, and they are at an open mic to test out new jokes, to hone their material, to get their timing right Open mic is where you can sharpen your skills, and maybe, even land the solos, corporate representation, the Netflix or Amazon Prime Video specials The big time Hopefully The open mic scene gives a stage to raw comedians, lets them better their jokes, their presentation, their stage presence, and winnows the duds from the Real Deals In the strange crucible of the open mic scene, bad jokes fade away and good ones pullulate “If not for an open mic ordeal, none of the good comedians you see now would exist,” says comedian Navin Noronha If you want to perform at comedy open mics, though, many places require you to buy a ticket What open micers gain is valuable stage time in front of a live audience What open micers don’t get is money for their creativity and labour Comedians bristle at this inher- “Each set of jokes is tested multiple times in multiple open mics, and if you can make people laugh through it all then you know you’ve got a good joke” Sahil Shah flip side to this: “Sometimes plus-ones laugh only at the comedians who have brought them,” says comedian Masoom Rajwani One place not far from Mumbai makes open micers practice ‘barking’— going out into the streets and inviting people to the show But whether paying for entry, barking or bringing plus-ones, open micers have to ensure that there are sufficient people to watch them precisely because they are not big names “When I was new to comedy I used to open mics nearly every day, for a few months” Shreemayee DaS ently exploitative practice, which, they say, is baked into the open mic scene everywhere That doesn’t make it right, only unavoidable Or, some venues make you bring a plus-one So, if there are 10 open micers performing at a given venue, there are at least 10 audience members who are plus-ones Thus, the open micers are assured of having an audience And the venues know that they will have guaranteed customers There is also a 11 march 2019 So what is in this for open micers? They get a four-minute slot in which to try new jokes, and their success is proportionate to the laughter of the audience The tough ones will persist, either junking the jokes or tweaking them It’s a grind and educational Noronha, for instance, says, “I learnt perseverance [from open mics] I learnt to respect the stage and work on my craft both on and off stage, because the process of bombing at shit open mics can be humiliating Genuine crowd laughter is earned And it only comes by working every kind of room in the country.” Bombing is hard on anyone Comedian Pavitra Shetty remembers her early experiences of not getting laughs, three-and-a-half years ago She says, “The first time I bombed, it was after 16-17 shows had gone well Then I bombed I was like, ‘I don’t want to this.’ But the stage is addictive.” She took tips from other comedians on how to handle failure She says, “The second time I bombed, I didn’t take it personally I started enjoying the process It is not a dead end.” Shetty has developed resilience, and because she stuck to her work, today she is known in her fraternity She has landed corporate shows despite not having an online video Moreover, Shetty now has an hour’s worth of material, much of it run through the open mic wringer, which means she is ready for a solo The newbie or occasional open micer is terrified of failure He sometimes tries to rig the game by bringing multiple plus-ones along to laugh at his jokes—an entourage, if you like This is risky—what if you flop in front of them? This happened at an open mic last year I counted no less than five plus-ones with a first-timer He bombed so monumentally that even his entourage forgot to laugh Imagine his humiliation Occasionally, established comedians will attend open mics to try out their new jokes For instance, comedian Sahil Shah, who recently came to an open mic, says, “Each set [of jokes] is tested multiple times in multiple open mics, www.openthemagazine.com 63 comedy then multiple cities and then multiple age groups, and if you can make people laugh through it all, then you know you’ve got a good joke Some jokes work in places where some don’t, so it’s quite subjective.” Most open micers are, of course, not established comedians While a few are working professionals pursuing their passion for comedy on the side, many open micers are young people with light pockets and no income Typically, they are in college and can barely scrape together money to support their passion More likely than not, their families are sponsoring it Rare is the open micer with ample means Most open micers aren’t rich and privileged They function in the routine, unfunny world of college or day jobs or sucking up to their parents for pocket money, making ends meet like any artist starting out, slogging in a rents and live on a small budget That is why comedy open mics are not inclusive Even for those with means, being a new or an upcoming comedian means sacrifice Some people even travel long distances to perform in Mumbai Recently, I met a comedian from Kolkata, Aakash Singh, who comes to the city for a few days every year to absorb the comedy culture here and to open mics In Kolkata, he says, he and other comedians have to put up comedy shows themselves They go to cafes and other packed venues, and ask to perform there This comedian, a qualified engineer, is trying to get a job either near Mumbai or in Bangalore, because these cities have sizeable open mic scenes (besides Delhi) Some comedians, besides performing, become show organisers and put up open mics for others Organisers “If not for an open mic ordeal, none of the good comedians you see now would exist Genuine crowd laughter is earned” NaviN NoroNha direction that is hopefully up New and upcoming comedians hit the open mics with zeal, sometimes more than one a day “When I was new to comedy I used to open mics nearly every day, for a few months,” says Shreemayee Das, a comedian and comedy show organiser Travel, food and other expenses mount up, especially for those few brave souls who believe in all or nothing, who have quit jobs to make it big in comedy They pay Mumbai 64 book the venue, handle ticketing and social media publicity Nowadays, a few venues such as The Cuckoo Club and The Habitat work with comedians who organise shows for them But some organisers prefer to work differently For instance, Das and Rohan Desai, her co-organiser, run their own outfit called Grin Revolution and collaborate with a range of venues Grin Revolution gives open micers a titbit for their performance, and is probably the only outfit in the city that pays It’s a token amount, but at least, as a comedian says, “a few of these and I have enough to drink” O PEN MICS ARE NOT lucrative like movies or TV, or, to a lesser extent, shows by established comedians What is the economics here? Let’s assume that 10 comedians are performing at an open mic Counting open micers, plus-ones and ‘organic’ audiences, say, that’s 30 tickets sold Assuming that a ticket costs Rs 200, which is typical, tickets worth Rs 6,000 have been sold that night Quite slim pickings per show, particularly when the earnings are divided between the organiser and the venue (Of course, this is true only for open mics Trial shows and main shows by established comedians make much more.) More ‘mainstream’ entertainment industries have a spectrum of roles ranging from elite to middle to bottomrung Not stand-up comedy in India There are stars at the top, who make a good living from comedy, and then there are open micers at the bottom, who don’t make a living from comedy at all “There’s no middle,” says a comedian There’s no chance for a guy to earn the equivalent of a monthly salary doing stand-up comedy—jobs are vanishingly few for writers on comedy shows on streaming services So, open micers, fuelled by hope, dreams and desire for approval alone, often occupy a more vulnerable position in their industry than junior artistes in the film and TV industries Yet, the comedy open mic is the place to be for the newcomers Comedians see that there is no alternative to these They say that open mics are vital for the health and growth of the stand-up comedy scene, which is about 10 years old in India But it is clear that comedy open mics are also places that feed off new and upcoming comedians It’s how the world of comedy works right now The funny business is serious stuff n 11 march 2019 CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE OPEN MAGAZINE Upto 65% OFF on ( Print+Digital) Subscription + Attractive gifts Cover Price Offer Price Your Free Gift 102+102 (Print+Digital) ` 7,650 ` 2,650 Swiss Military multifunctional desk lamp or Swiss Military touch lamp with speaker worth ` 2190 51+51 (Print+Digital) ` 3,825 ` 1,450 Swiss Military toiletries bag or Swiss Military wallet worth ` 990 Period No of Issues year Year FREE With year subscription FREE With year subscription Toiletries bag Features: Multifunctional Desk lamp Features: =Water resistant =Multiple pockets for storage =360° Rotatable neck =Supports built-in convenience microphone and hands-free function =Play Mp3/ WMA, WAV audio formats =Micro USB charging port =Supports USB drive playback =Material: Rhombus pattern polyester Worth ` 990 Worth `1,890 Or Or Wallet Features: Touch Lamp with speaker Features: =Bluetooth speaker with touchcontrolled LED light=Wirelessly listen to and control music =Portable desk light =6 Colour dancing lights =Provides up to hours of playback =PU leather =Total 16 pockets for card storage, ID card, paper currency etc =DIMENSION: L:11.5 x W: (In cms) Worth ` 2,190 TO SUBSCRIBE: Worth ` 990 WhatsApp ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 Visit www.openthemagazine.com/subscribe Toll free no 1800 102 7510 Enclose your Cheque/DD favouring Open Media Network Private Limited Open Media Network Private Limited, 4, DDA Commercial Complex, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110017, Phone: 011-48500500, Email: customercare@openmedianetwork.in * For terms and conditions, visit http://www.openthemagazine.com NOT PEOPLE LIKE US RAJEEV MASAND A Lady for Salman It’s now official that Sanjay Leela Bhansali will work with Salman Khan for his next film, but there is no word yet on the film’s leading lady Word from the SLB camp is that Deepika Padukone ranks high on the filmmaker’s list The actress has been his muse over the last three films; he promised he would not stop casting her after she was married, and because Salman and Deepika haven’t made a movie together, so it’s what is called a ‘fresh pairing’ in Bollywood lingo But there is also talk of Salman being keen on Katrina He had the filmmaker audition her for Bajirao Mastani (2015) when he was briefly attached to star in it Other names that have popped up are Alia Bhatt and Janhvi Kapoor but it is not lost on Bhansali that both actresses would look especially young opposite the 53-yearold star Meanwhile Priyanka Chopra revealed on the last episode of Koffee With Karan that she is currently in talks with Bhansali about a film together Does that make her a contender for the Salman project? No, say insiders, explaining the actor still hasn’t forgiven her for walking out of Bharat at the eleventh hour Besides, sources say Priyanka was referring to a different film (a heroine-centred biopic) that Bhansali might produce but not necessarily direct himself No Screen Coupling Yet Abhishek Bachchan’s and Aishwarya Rai’s fans might have to wait a little longer to see the couple together on screen again The pair was signed to star in Gulab Jamun produced by Phantom Films, but after the company was dissolved recently, the project fell through Gulab Jamun, written and directed by Sarvesh Mewara, was originally described by Abhishek as “a sweet script that we both really want to do”, but reports suggest that the couple dropped out of the film much before the company was dissolved over issues with 66 the script Now it appears the project has been revived with new producers, and Mewara is currently locking the film’s music score with Hichki composer Jasleen Royal However, Abhishek and Aishwarya are not expected to return to the film This is the second project they were looking forward to doing together that didn’t work out, after Kandukondain Kandukondain director Rajiv Menon’s proposed remake of Abhimaan (1973) Abhishek has been busy shooting with Amit Sadh in Rajasthan for the second season of Amazon Prime Video’s thriller show Breathe, and there is no word yet on what Aishwarya’s follow-up to last year’s disappointing Fanney Khan could be Everybody Knows Except Rumours have it that the next person who could be named and shamed in the ongoing MeToo wave is a soft-spoken, high-profile filmmaker with skeletons in the closet According to ‘industry information’, at least two women have been pursued relentlessly and inappropriately by the said filmmaker—these women worked with him at the time as assistants, making it worse and suggesting abuse of power If the story does break, which industrywaalas seem to think will definitely happen—given how many people already seem to know the stories of these two women—it will likely derail a film that was recently announced The filmmaker is all set to direct an actor with whom he previously delivered one of his biggest hits The new film also belongs to the same genre of their last hit The project is currently in pre-production and expected to go on the floors shortly Any such scandalous revelation that could implicate the filmmaker would almost certainly put the film in jeopardy Which is why industry insiders are wondering how the film’s leading man hasn’t already got wind of the situation and put the project off until there is more clarity n 11 march 2019 FAMILY FUN THAILAND Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi: (91 11) 4674 1111, tatdel@tat.or.th Mumbai: (91 22) 22020264 /65, tatmumbaimail@gmail.com www.facebook.com/tatnewdelhi | www.tourismthailand.in ... www.openthemagazine.com open mail editor@openmedianetwork.in Editor S Prasannarajan managing Editor Pr ramesh ExEcutivE EditorS aresh Shirali, ullekh nP Editor-at-largE Siddharth Singh dEPuty EditorS... who’s poliTicisinG iT silly things are said when the rhetorical urge overcomes political realism War is politics, war-speak is politics, and peace, too, is politics it gets outrageously political... belligerence and propaganda, for ing its weight around too aggressively 11 march 2019 www.openthemagazine.com 19 open essay This trend is likely to accelerate with the restructured in the arabian