MovieNotes - Kissa Kursi Ka

Title: Kissa Kursi Ka (IMDB) 

Released: 1977

*ing: Manohar Singh, Shabana Azmi, Raj Kiran, Surekha Sikri

Director: Amrit Nahata

Language: Hindi

Genre: Politics, Satire

Basic Premise

The story of a politician’s corrupt rise to power and how he turns it into a dictatorship.

MovieNotes

Its election time. And this old political satire becomes a must-watch. How politicians manipulate the common man and then play their own games in their lust for power. All this while professing to work for the Common Man, who is personified as a mute woman in the movie. 

The movie depicts how politicians cling onto power - manipulating elections, horse-trading, corrupt practices in government agencies from top-down, coverting with self-proclaimed godmen and industrialists, indulging in hyper-nationalistic banter with the neighbouring countries, even having a façade of war, manipulating and censoring media and resorting to all sorts of constitutional and under-hand tricks. Meanwhile the janta is exploited while the rich becomes richer. It also shows how people are expendable in this race for power!

The movie maybe four decades old but the message still resonates. No wonder the then government burnt the prints of the movie and banned it! And yes, in this politically charged up times, it is a grim reminder to the common man to make a learned choice and see through the façade of promises and fake news floating all around!

Rating: 8/10. A movie which stands the tests of time.

Previously on MovieNotes: The 15:17 To Paris 

Ten from 2016: the Surreal Year

Surreal – That’s the word of the year 2016 as per Merriam-Webster. And the year 2016 gone by was certainly a surreal experience. As the year draws to a close, here’s a short list of the surreal events which made the year memorable (or forgettable, depending on your point of view).

1. The Demonetization Exercise

On November 8th, the Prime Minister announced that 500 and 1000 rupees notes will cease to be legal tender. And as expected all hell broke loose. Suddenly people had money but were unable to use it. Withdrawing your own money became a big chore (with successful completion becoming a tremendous achievement). Depending on your political affiliations, the exercise was either just a minor inconvenience on the path to greater good or a monumental disaster taking the country on a path to hell. Only time will tell whether the objectives (whatever they may be, given the shifting goal-posts) are achieved. But it has had the unintended consequence of creating too many economists in the country, while queuing up in banks and ATMs became a national hobby.

2. Immunity to Terror Acts

The surreal nature of 2016 can be best explained by the way the world grew to terror attacks and wars all over the planet. Nice, Munich, Kabul, Baghdad, London, Paris, Florida, Aleppo, Brussels, Istanbul, Ankara, the list is endless. The network of terror spread its tentacles across the world with lone wolf attacks becoming a norm. Malls, Festivals, Public transport, Night clubs, airports, markets - every place is now a potential attack site. And instead of taking action, those in charge are milking every attack for their own political agenda. One can only either take action to destroy the terror machine or wait till one's luck runs out.

3. Donald Trump 

Donald Trump is going to be the next President of United States of America! Its been a couple of months since the election results and yet this one has still not sunk in. Wonder what would happen when this maverick force of nature actually assumes office. Probably just added to the overall surrealism.

4. Psephology – the flawed science

One profession which lost credibility the most during 2016. Brexit, Trump’s bandwagon, Colombia’s rejection of a peace deal – just proved that predicting the mood of the masses is a complex task. Beware the silent masses!

5. Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai

Some are born famous, some achieve fame and some have fame thrust upon them. As the Sonam Guptas of this world learnt this year. 

Collateral damage from the notes ban. Social media picked up on a line written on notes (a habit which should be stopped), generating countless memes. 

6. A tale of two pictures 

Like every year, there would be many contenders but this time I will pick up one from the sporting arena. 

Pic 1: Australian Open 2016 Final Presentation Ceremony – just look at Murray’s expression after finishing second best to Djokovic once again. 

Pic 2: But a year is a long time and Murray picked up pace as Djokovic faltered at the end to become the world number one. Another presentation ceremony, but Murray is now the Champion as an appreciative Djokovic looks on. 

7. New exercise of the year

People moving around focused on their smartphones is now a common sight. But it was surreal (yes that word again) to see people staring at their phones in a desperate attempt to catch those pesky little pokemons which they could see only through their phone cameras. Adults falling into the trap of being guided by an app on their phone to capture virtual animals?

8. The Zika Virus 

The Olympics were the biggest event of the year. The build-up to the Olympics was marked by the fears over the Zika virus. Many advisories were issued. Some star atheletes decided to withdraw as well. The Olympics still happened (as they should have). Surprisingly (or maybe not), there was no Zika epidemic during the Games and certainly none afterwards. Was it just a first world media conspiracy?

9. The Mannequin Challenge

Real people staying still and frozen in mid-action a la mannequins while a camera moved around them capturing the moment without movement. Even the White House was not spared. GOK what new challenge will come up next year.

10. And the viral video of the Year 

The Pen Pineapple Apple Pen Song. No Comments !!!

Certainly a surreal year in more ways than one. Lets see what 2017 has in store for us.

Wishing all readers a very Happy New Year!!!

LearnNBlog #8: Gerrymandering

Following the seemingly never-ending American Presidential elections provides a fascinating learning experience, even for a citizen of the world’s largest democracy (India, just in case you are wondering). This long-drawn process of selecting the person for the most powerful post in the world keeps throwing out interesting terms – electoral colleges, primaries, delegates et al. Seemingly a fair and transparent process but open to manipulations through procedures like “gerrymandering”.

What is Gerrymandering?

Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries during the process of defining electoral districts (constituencies).

History

The term was first used by the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812. Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts passed a bill to redraw the senate election district boundaries to benefit his party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. 

The Original Gerry-mander (Source Wikipedia)

Usage 

Gerrymandering has been used (rather, heavily used) by incumbent officials (in US) to ensure their re-election. The incumbent official would re-adjust the district boundaries to ensure that his voters have a larger share in higher number of districts. 

Gerrymandering has been a fairly common practice conducted by both the major parties at times in collusion. And its not just at the ground level. North and South Dakota were created along this line instead of a single Dakota state. It has ensured that the likelihood of change in guard at the Congress is quite low. 

Process

This could be done by ensuring their voters are spread in more areas, or that all the opposing camp voters are packed up in a single area. “Cracking”, “Packing”, “Hijacking” & “Kidnapping” are some of the different methodologies of gerrymandering. 

This has resulted in creation of very odd-shaped electoral districts. 

Stealing an election via gerrymandering (Image Source - Wikipedia)

US townships have historically been divided along racial and ethnic lines with different areas belonging to different communities, which generally tend to vote as a block. Thus easing the work for the incumbent officials who also have the power to re-draw the boundaries. (Unlike say in India, where all election activities are conducted by a fairly independent and neutral election commission).

Learning
Manipulation is the name of the Political Game everywhere in the world.

Other Readings

• Gerrymandering (Wikipedia)
• Electoral District (Wikipedia)
• What America would look like without Gerrymandering (Washington Post)
• Understanding Congressional Gerrymandering (NPR)
• Why are there two Carolinas and two Dakota (MentalFloss)

Previously on LearnNBlog – Tax & Cess

Bihar 2015: What Next?

The Bihar assembly election results are out. The people of Bihar have given the green signal to the “grand alliance” of Nitish, Lalu and Congress to “govern” them for the next five years. And continuing the recent election trends in India, the margin is a decisive one with 178 out of the 243 seats going to the combination. 

The election results came as a bolt from the blue for all analysts on the social media. Since the results have come in, everyone of them is trying to fit their own hypothesis on the results. How the votes added up, how the numbers compared with the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which caste vote bank voted for whom, what was the impact of X's speech in Y's constituency etc. All this while conveniently forgetting that it is only the actual voter who matters. And voters are smart. After all as they say in Bihar, "खाओ पियो नोच के, वोट डालो सोच के". 

While watching all the action from the outside, I built up my own hypothesis on the happenings.

1. The coming together of the "Grand Alliance" was based on sheer survival instinct. Lalu had been in wilderness for long and can't stand in any elections himself. Nitish was licking his wounds from a big ego clash with Modi. And Congress was clutching at straws to stay relevant. To stay relevant in national politics, they had no option but to stick together. The Assembly bye-elections earlier had proved that they could succeed if they stayed together.
2. The Grand Alliance was able to ensure that their votes weren't divided. How they managed to convince their disparate "vote banks" to vote for a single candidate is a major achievement in itself. And also ensuring that their were very few rebel candidates in their midst. An equal seat-share between RJD and JDU while leaving a decent chunk for Congress worked out quite well for them. [I thought Congress's share was more than deserved, but they provided big time returns. Wondering where did Congress find so many winning candidates]
3. On the other hand, BJP's allies were more trouble than their worth. The likes of Manjhi and Paswan had only their own self-interest in mind. Thus the squabbles over seat sharing, and the presence of rebel candidates in places. 
4. Nitish Kumar, had one major factor going for him. There had been actual, visible, all-round development in Bihar under his watch; improved law and order situation, better roads, improved electrification, couple of big industrial projects being set-up, upcoming centers of higher education and an overall improved image of the state. The ego-battle with Modi was the only dent in his otherwise clean image (a factor only for the internet analysts and not with the voter on the ground).[But then when has anyone voted for development in elections]
5. Some of the utterings by the BJP leaders and their associates, duly publicized by a hyper-ventilating media also impacted their own vote-share. Beef, Cow, Pakistan, Caste, Reservations, Bihari DNA etc. - they helped generate some votes, but alienated another chunk. Not sure whether this गाये पे चर्चा experiment should continue any longer.Although the phase -wise voting patterns do indicate that this may have worked in BJP's favour.
6. Lack of a local leader in the BJP. We never knew who would become the CM of Bihar, if BJP had won. While the Grand Alliance had Nitish as the declared CM candidate from the beginning. 

In the end, keeping all theories aside, politics was the only winner. Nitish retains his fiefdom with Lalu's presence keeping him in check. Lalu gains time to build his empire for his sons. Congress gets some breathing space while BJP needs to introspect and rethink its strategies. Also, the Central government needs better engagement with the rejuvenated Opposition, otherwise the Parliament will not function at all.

So, the key question remains. What next for Bihar? The continued शुशाषण of Nitish, as has been the case for the last ten years, OR a return to the Jungle Raj era of Lalu, the previous 15 years? If one goes by the social media, people (read BJP supporters) have already concluded that it will be the latter as Lalu has won, while conveniently ignoring the "development" under Nitish? A case of selective amnesia? 

I was recollecting the results from 5 years back, when Nitish Kumar was the star. It was quite funny at the time to hear people going gaga about him and talking about change, when he had just been re-elected. Now the same people are quite "upset" blaming the "illiterate, casteist" voters of Bihar, because they chose to re-elect Nitish again. Or is it because his shifted allegiance from social media darling BJP to social media pariahs Lalu and Congress? 

Anyways, my best wishes to my home state. I certainly hope that the development continues while the fringe elements (cutting across political lines) are kept in check. And then hopefully, the promised अच्छे दिन will truly arrive.. And as for the people of Bihar, you can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

P.S. My post after the 2010 election, Mostly still relevant. (Link)

Elections - Many Villains & A Few Heroes

The seemingly never-ending elections in India have finally come to an end. Well there is the small matter of counting of the votes, potentially some "horse-trading" and the actual government formation. 

The long drawn campaign and multi-phase voting has taken its own toll. The real issues corruption, price rise, good governance, development slowly took a back seat. Personalities took over almost as if this had become a presidential form of election when in reality the voters were voting for their local Members of Parliament who would then go on to elect the Prime Minister, a message which got lost in the hullabaloo of the elections.

Since the campaign changed into a personality driven one, the level of personal attacks also increased. And here the social media is the one which must take all the blame. Over-zealous & bigoted "bhakts" & "tards" twisted every single statement to suit their own agenda. And trigger-happy "followers" propagated all sorts of lies or rather their "version of truth". Photoshopped images, cartoons, out of context quotes were circulated. And as everyone thinks it is their duty to circulate without a basic fact check, the unthruths and rumors propagated further. Reminds me of the quote - "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" - Winston Churchill.

The list of villains is long - the politicians, bhakts and tards, their muscle & money suppliers, some biased officials, the media. All of them preying on the gullible voters to ensure that they get to power and keep growing their influence and bank balance. After all voters get swayed easily. No one I have interacted with (very limited set of friends, family and colleagues though) thinks about how their own life changed in the past five years (whether for good or bad) and factors that in as a parameter for voting for or against the incumbent government.

There are some real heroes in this story, but as is often the case, they remain unsung. Kudos and thanks to all the people working behind the scenes to ensure elections actually happen on the ground. The booth officials, magistrates, security forces and the vote counting teams, they are the real heroes of the elections. They are pulled out of their regular work to ensure voting happens in every nook and cranny of this vast country. And they are the ones to face the ire of unregistered voters, missing names, party agents, megalomaniac candidates and sometimes physical violence and terror attacks. They are the ones who deserve the true accolades from the public but do we hear anyone ever appreciate them.

So now as the dust settles around the elections, hopefully we will have a government, which will take strong decisions. Because another side-effect of this long-drawn process has been a complete paralysis on the policy front on account of a "model code of conduct" being in place. Well, all I can say about this code is that i have no idea of the model, but the conduct was bad all-around. 

As is said, elections are the Dance of Democracy. The dance has taken place. The show is over. Now lets back to the small business of life. After all it is you, who is responsible for your own life, the government is only a distant enabler.

Elections are Coming

The Elections are Coming.

The biggest celebration of our "democracy" - Elections in 5 states later this year are just the trailer for the grand affair scheduled for first part of 2014.

Already the dirtiest sport of all - political mud-wrestling has started in its full glory. Charges, counter-charges, facts mixed with fiction, on hand some physics defying theories while vegetable prices defy gravity, bomb blasts in a rally of 1 Chief Minister, another injured in stone-pelting, a state getting divided... well its just the beginning of one of the dirtiest battles in Indian political history. Add a trigger-happy social media which knows no restraint. The perfect recipe for disaster. And this is just the beginning. Wonder what else is in store for us.

The following poem (Jungle Gaatha) by Ashok Chakradhar perfectly sums whats happening in the country right now. Certainly worth a listen.  India certainly is no better than any jungle.

पानी से निकलकर मगरमच्छ किनारे पर आया,

इशारे से बंदर को बुलाया.

बंदर गुर्राया- खों खों, क्यों,

तुम्हारी नजर में तो मेरा कलेजा है?

मगरमच्छ बोला-नहीं नहीं, तुम्हारी भाभी ने

खास तुम्हारे लिये सिंघाड़े का अचार भेजा है.

बंदर ने सोचा ये क्या घोटाला है,

लगता है जंगल में चुनाव आने वाला है.

लेकिन प्रकट में बोला- वाह!

अचार, वो भी सिंघाड़े का, यानि तालाब के कबाड़े का!

बड़ी ही दयावान तुम्हारी मादा है,

लगता है शेर के खिलाफ़ चुनाव लड़ने का इरादा है.

कैसे जाना, कैसे जाना? ऐसे जाना, ऐसे जाना

कि आजकल भ्रष्टाचार की नदी में

नहाने के बाद जिसकी भी छवि स्वच्छ है,

वही तो मगरमच्छ है.

एक नन्हा मेमना और उसकी माँ बकरी,

जा रहे थे जंगल में राह थी संकरी।

अचानक सामने से आ गया एक शेर,

लेकिन अब तो हो चुकी थी बहुत देर।

भागने का नहीं था कोई भी रास्ता,

बकरी और मेमने की हालत खस्ता।

उधर शेर के कदम धरती नापें, इधर ये दोनों थर-थर कापें।

अब तो शेर आ गया एकदम सामने,

बकरी लगी जैसे-जैसे बच्चे को थामने।

छिटककर बोला बकरी का बच्चा- शेर अंकल!

क्या तुम हमें खा जाओगे एकदम कच्चा?शेर मुस्कुराया,

उसने अपना भारी पंजा मेमने के सिर पर फिराया।

बोला-हे बकरी - कुल गौरव, आयुष्मान भव! दीर्घायु भव!

चिरायु भव! कर कलरव! हो उत्सव! साबुत रहें तेरे सब अवयव।

आशीष देता ये पशु-पुंगव-शेर, कि अब नहीं होगा कोई अंधेरा

उछलो, कूदो, नाचो और जियो हँसते-हँसते

अच्छा बकरी मैया नमस्ते!

इतना कहकर शेर कर गया प्रस्थान,

बकरी हैरान-बेटा ताज्जुब है, भला ये शेर किसी पर रहम खानेवाला है,

लगता है जंगल में चुनाव आनेवाला है।

Don't think there is any more apt description of our politicians than this.