HANSAL MEHTA ONCE AGAIN STIRS UP DEBATE ON ARTICLE 377.........

Trust the stormy petrel of the Hindi film industry; noted film maker Hansal Mehta to stir up a hornet's nest and tell it like it is whenever he decides to announce his next venture.........
Still basking in the unprecedented success of his last two directorial ventures Shahid and City Lights; Mehta announced his next film based on a sexual escapade between a soon to be super annuated Aligarh Muslim University Professor and humble rickshaw wallah that threw both their unremarkable and mundane lives into a vortex of slime and controversy from which the two of them are still recovering..........
One may do well to recall the fact that practically every journal; newspaper; publication in the country had some time back prominently featured a consensual sexual piccadiloe between the afore mentioned two individuals as the same was captured on a spy cam by a peeping tom; went viral and ultimately led to the suspension and social ostracisation of the noted professor..........
Though the sexual dalliance took place within the supposedly safe and sacrosanct four walls of the professor's apartment within the university campus and was between two consenting adults; the self appointed and styled moral brigade and police once again went on the offensive; grabbed eyeballs and headlines and only rested on their dubious and ill gotten laurels once the university authorities had suspended the said professor for his seemingly "unnatural and deviant" sexual proclivities that supposedly were contrary to the laws of nature and social discourse and practice.........
Hansal Mehta now plans to make a film on this "infamous" incident by launching the same in January 2015 and thereby rekindle and re-initiate a frank; free and far reaching debate on the highly contentious and repressive Article 377 of the Indian Constitution which was framed by the British and is completely irrelevant; obscure; archaic and oxymoronish when juxtaposed against the sexual mores and practices of a so called progressive and enlightened Indian society.........
Noted actor Manoj Bajpai has thus far been roped in to essay the epochal role of the university professor while a few other reputed actors are being short listed to play the role of the rickshaw wallah; on being asked about the need to make this film; Mehta says; "the same is my way of my raising my voice against the reprehensible and deplorable tendency to marginalise and segregate people on the grounds of their religion; sexual preferences; practices and the like".........
"The same also clearly highlights my steadfast and vehement opposition to the draconian and archaic Article 377 of the Indian Constitution that expressly prohibits and forbids consensual and willing sex between two adults from the same sex even though the same act is carried out within the four walls of an individual's home and hearth".........
"How does a sexual encounter or romp between two willing and consensual adults make an iota of difference in the life and times of these self appointed and anointed guardians of our culture and morality who do a lot worse and then adopt an utterly hypocritical ;holier than thou' attitude that has more holes in it than the the moon"..........
"I have quite a few gay and lesbian friends whose housing societies and residents' welfare associations mirror both the state as well as these extra constitutional authorities that have abrogated unto themselves the role of the moral police; I for one am of the firm belief that only the individual concerned has the right to determine his/her sexual practices and nobody else on the planet has the right to either point fingers or then raise objections about the same": a highly disturbed and visibly fuming Mehta signs off.........
Well; I can't comment about you; but I for one whole heartedly endorse Mr. Hansal Mehta's views and take on Article 377; we are the land of the Kamasutra which is nothing more than a celebration and vivid description of the sensual and ergonomic art of love making; so can we cut out the unwanted and undesirable hypocrisy/moral policing and get on with the business of living our lives in the manner that we want to.........

AYESHA SHROFF RECEIVES THREATENING CALLS.........

After a rather lengthy lull or rather long interval; unsavoury elements who had made a business out of threatening Hindi film industry bigwigs with dire consequences seem to be making a surreptitious comeback through the back door.........
In the latest such instance to come to the fore; Hindi Film industry matinee idol Jackie Shroff's better half Ayesha Shroff approached the Bandra (Mumbai) police last (November 18,2014) evening and filed a fresh FIR alleging that she had off late been receiving threatening calls from an unknown number..........
Confirming the news; a senior inspector from the very same police station said that Ayesha Shroff had reached the police station at around 7 pm or so last evening in the company of her husband and son and then proceeded to file a complaint to the effect that she had been receiving threatening calls from the same unknown number for the last 5 odd days...........
Ayesha Shroff had also filed an official complaint earlier this month (on November 8, 2014) against former business partner; actor Sahil Khan alleging that Sahil Khan had cheated her of a sum in excess of Rs. 5 crore during their professional relationship and the Bandra police is now trying to establish whether or not this latest spate of threatening phone calls have any remote link with the complaint filed by Ayesha Shroff against Sahil Khan who is known to have close contacts with some rather unsavoury and infamous elements..........

VIRU-GAUTI JODI NO MORE.........

Is this indeed the end of the road for team India's most successful opening partnership???? it well may be as the duo have opted out of the North Zone side that is slated to take on East Zone in the semi finals of the iconic Deodhar Trophy...........
According to both cricketing pundits as well as analysts; Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have all but put a full stop to their team India related hopes and aspirations (harbouring hopes of making a comeback) by abruptly pulling out of the North Zone Deodhar Trophy squad at the eleventh hour........
According to informed sources; a few uncomfortable questions might have been raised during the selection committee meeting pertaining tot the inclusion of Viru and Gauti in the North Zone squad as they had respectively aggregated 122 and 178 runs from 5 matches in the recently concluded North Zone leg of the Vijay Hazare trophy but would have still made the cut considering their pedigree and sterling past records........
In their absence; the North Zone team will now be led by veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh is the only other senior cricketer to have made the cut (squad) as the selection committee led by former Indian test opener Vikram Rathour has decided to award the youngsters who did their state teams proud by scoring runs and snaring wickets by the dozen in the Vijay Hazare trophy..........
Chairman of the selection committee Vikram Rathour stood up and duly informed his fellow selectors that Virender Sehwag had been kind enough to inform him about him about his voluntary withdrawal from the prospective North Zone squad as he was of the opinion that his selection might end up depriving a richly deserving youngster the opportunity of making his mark in front of the selectors and staking his claim for higher honours; but Gautam Gambhir's last minute withdrawal from the selection process is still being debated and discussed by all and sundry..........
According to one of Gauti's closest friends and confidantes; Gauti is more than aware of the indelible fact that his chances of making the 30 man squad for the 2015 World Cup are all but over what with all 3 openers in the current Indian team (Dhawan; Rahane and Rohit Sharma) doing themselves and their team proud and eternal bridesmaid Murali Vijay waiting in the wings as their replacement if anyone of them happens to get injured or then inexplicably suffers from a complete loss of form..........
Therefore; Gauti chose to read the writing on the wall and make way for a talented youngster who might just end up covering himself in glory and making a bid for future team India selections; Gauti's friend and confidante concluded.........
Well; their loss (if one can indeed call it that) might well prove to be somebody else's gain as former Team India Under 19 skipper Unmukt Chand (who made the cut despite scoring a measly 36 runs from 5 matches in the Vijay Hazare trophy) and Manan Vohra who scored tonnes of runs in both the Champions Trophy (T 20) tournament as well as Vijay Hazare) Trophy will get an extended lease of life as North Zone openers and those many more opportunities to catch the eyes of the national selectors with a few stellar performances..........
Though; there is no doubting the fact that change is the only constant; the fond and emotional heart does yearn for one last hurrah from the incomparable Viru-Gauti jodi for old times sake; will Gauti and Viru oblige their legions of dedicated fans; kindly watch this space for further developments..........

JUVENILE RAPE........

In the latest instance of rape or then sexual assault involving two minors; a 9 year old girl was brutally sexually assaulted by a 15 year old boy in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district on late Sunday evening........
According to the local police authorities; a 9 year old girl was barbarically sexually assaulted by a 15 year old boy belonging to the same village late on Sunday evening; the 9 year old survivor who suffered grievous and critical injuries during the course of the unprovoked assault is in a "critical" condition and is currently undergoing treatment at the government run district hospital.........
According to a fellow villager; the hapless and unsuspecting 9 year old was busy playing all by herself right outside her modest dwelling when the 15 year old main accused who happens to be the survivor's immediate neighbour caught hold of her land and led her to a deserted and desolate spot where he forced himself upon her..........
He subsequently made good his escape from the spot after duly satisfying his raging sexual urges and desires as soon as the survivor passed out from the various injuries inflicted by her tormentor on her fledgling body............
She somehow managed to wend her way towards home and hearth and informed her utterly crestfallen and disbelieving parents about the sorry fate that had befallen her; her parents in turn rushed towards the local police station and registered a complaint against the accused.......
Acting with remarkable alacrity and rare sensibility; the area police firstly rushed the battered and bruised 9 year old to the district hospital and then proceeded to arrest the accused 15 year old from a friend's house within the same village later on that very Sunday night..........
Conforming to laid down procedures in this regard; the local police produced the accused before a court that sent him to a juvenile justice home cum correctional facility on Monday morning.........
Right time to revisit the existing laws pertaining to his age old malaise and tweaking them in order to address or revisit the situation as it stands today methinks; what are your views on this one............

KILL/ DIL OR GOOF BALL.........

Constant and repeated exposure to "intelligent" and world class cinema has certainly succeeded in making a significant majority of our audiences that much more demanding and far less tolerant of repeated gaffes that seem to inundate most if not all Hindi film releases.........
Queen and Haider; to name just two; were the films that have remained etched in my memory ever since I saw or rather viewed them in two different friendly neighbourhood multiplexes and more significantly these two sterling efforts also conspicuously underlined the fact that Indian film makers can certainly push the envelope and more in terms of technique; story telling; performances; script; screenplay; sensibilities; characterisation; cinematography and a lot more besides if they apply their heart and soul to the fine art of film making.......
Like always; there is also a flip side to this coin and Yashraj Productions Shaad Ali helmed so called romantic thriller "Kill Dil" which released worldwide on November 14; 2014 certainly sent the ascendant fortunes of the Hindi film industry plummeting and how.........
Dev (the character essayed by Ranveer Singh); is supposedly a paanchvi fail according to Guru Govinda (Bhaiyya Ji) but effortlessly slips in and out of both Hindi as well as the Queen's English with consummate ease and dexterity depending upon the scene and situation; maybe Shaad Ali has never ever heard and seen a paanchvi fail who struggled or then made his way there with the greatest of difficulty or then he had too much on his plate to flesh out Ranveer's character with due care and diligence.........
During the unfolding of the four and a half minute birthday ditty (Haapu budday to you) picturised on Parineeti; Ali Zafar; Ranveer Singh and innumerable friends and hangers on night transforms into early morning and that too on horseback; on screen wizardry or then has Shaad Ali been taking lessons from one P.C. Sorcar..........
Now let's move on to two more similar situations and glaring errors; Tutu (Ali Zafar) urgently summons Dev (Ranveer Singh) to come to his rescue and rescue him from a rather sticky predicament in 15 minutes or so and lo and behold Dev uncannily arrives on the hot spot and saves his buddy from imminent death; how????? was Dev clairvoyant to begin with or then did the almighty bestow him with "DIvya Drishti".........
In the climax scene of this stinker of a film; Tutu establishes contact with Parineeti Chopra and implores her to reach the hospital where he has taken a mortally injured Dev in a jiffy as her "divine" presence can help extricate his "chaddi buddy" from the jaws of impending and fast approaching death and lo and behold; a suitably chastened appears in the hospital by magic; a repeated case of divine wisdom and gyaan.........
The list of bloopers is never ending and I for one can fill up volumes with the same; suffice to say; Kill Dil is certainly the answer to every film buff's prayer of being entertained(??????) inadvertently/unintentionally and without any conscious desire to do so by the film maker.........
Ladies and gentlemen; I hereby give you Kill DIl a serious contender for the "Razzie" (worst film of the year Award) and a film that s surely not to be missed if you are a purveyor of the worst that the Hindi film industry has to offer...........

BIOPIC ON SANIA MIRZA IN THE OFFING.......

Nixing all reports about a biopic being made on her "dull; dreary and desultory" life; Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza quipped that her life was indeed to mundane and nondescript to even harbour any thoughts whatsoever about the same being ever turned into a biopic........
On being persistently questioned about the chances and desirability about the proposed biopic on her life; an exasperated Sania who graced the opening ceremony of the ongoing National Children's Film Festival; Ms. Mirza remarked that she would want to see flavour of the season Deepika Padukone playing her on screen if such a proposal ever got off the ground in the near future.........
According to Sania; she was an intensely private person who preferred keeping the minutest and intimate details about her life with herself rather than sharing them with any third person; I am not a publicity hungry or media savvy person and have thus far curtailed all efforts to launch a biopic on my largely unremarkable life and times........
Sania who is currently neck deep in the process of releasing her biography tentatively titled "Beating All Odds" remarked that the same was being edited right now and would be released sometime in January 2015 if everything related to the release of the same fell into it's rightful place at the right time.........
Sania turned 28 on Saturday and was celebrating her 28 th birthday on the sidelines of the children's film festival with close friend and actress/producer Dia Mirza who urged her to give up her "hazaar" doubts and give her sanction to a biopic made on her life and times by a director and production house that enjoyed an unique place of it's own within the hallowed echelons of the Hindi film industry..........

MAMATA DIDI'S MUCH VAUNTED "PORIBARTAN".........

Is this the "poribartan" West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee promised with much fanfare a little more than three odd years ago; if so, then India is certainly much better off without the same.......
An unidentified youth who allegedly stole a mobile phone belonging to one of the students putting up in the hostel of a Kolkata based medical college had to pay for his supposed transgression with his precious life that was snuffed out in it's prime by a self appointed group of vigilantes who appropriated the rights of judge; jury and executioner unto themselves late on Saturday night........
According to other hosteliers who were dismayed and outraged (in equal parts) at the sheer depravity and mayhem that unfolded within their hostel premises late on the said Saturday night; the accused young man was bound to a pillar in one of the rooms within the Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital and then clubbed to death with sticks and other rods of all descriptions; his cold blooded murderers then proceeded to mutilate his genitals before leaving him in a bloodied heap on the floor of the room........
A few students who were in control of their emotions and senses immediately rushed this grievously injured youth and his companion who was mercifully spared by the frenzied mob to an adjoining hospital where the doctors attending on him pronounced him brought dead on arrival......
According to police sources; the two young men were stopped in their tracks and questioned by a group of 20-25 students who recovered two mobile phones that supposedly belonged to them from their possession; the now incensed lot of students then proceeded to lead the two accused young men to the carrom room where they securely bound them to poles and then mercilessly assaulted them........
While the young man who was clubbed to death; succumbed to the numerous injuries inflicted on his face; neck; head; chest and private parts that seemed to have been sliced off with a sharp edged weapon; the second youth was let off after being roughed up and repeatedly warned about dire consequences if such an instance were to be repeated any time soon..........
Two hostel staff members have thus far been detained for questioning; though no arrests have been made till now in this case; a heap of sticks; clubs and other such blood stained materials have been recovered from the carrom room and sent to the forensics lab for testing; further investigations into this macabre incident of mob justice are on and the local police authorities are more than optimistic about their chances of laying their hands on the "real" culprits sooner than later.........