Indo US nuclear deal

The Manmohan singh government is under pressure to go ahead and approach IAEA to ratify the India specific safeguards. Time is running out for the Union government . The leftist allies of UPA are stalling this move, primarily because it is a deal with US. They don't seem to have a valid reason other than this. They are using the 'support pull out' so effectively, since majority of the congressmen are also not in favour of a snap poll. Governments failure to control inflation, and the recent gains by BJP in the just concluded assembly polls have made the congress, and its other allies minus leftists in UPA wary of early polls.

Nuclear power generation is the only answer to our increased energy demands. These energy demands will only grow further in the years to come.Further growth and development in nuclear power generation is possible only with external technological assistance.Most importantly for our nuclear fuel requirements, we have to depend on others. Continous hike in crude oil prices will be a regular affair in the coming years.There are no signs of crude oil prices coming down.under these circumstances, nuclear energy is the only viable alternative. After the pokhran test,other nuclear countries are not giving technological assistance.We are not a signatory to the NPT also. Getting fuel from NSG countries is a must for our nuclear plants.

Besides,as PM feels, it is a question of credibility for the country.India will cut a sorry figure in front of the international community. It will surely be a step backward for India. BJP is opposing the deal, for political compulsions. The scientific community, however has both supporters for the deal and those who oppose the deal.

By and large, majority of the public are in favour of the deal, as long as the deal does not jeopardise India's sovereignty.If SJP comes to the rescue and supports the government on the nuclear deal issue, the Manmohan singh government must muster courage to go ahead with the deal, at the risk of severing the ties with the leftists in the interest of the nation.

But the SJP could strike a bargain with congress.Support could be extended for the deal by the SJP in return for a consideration.Obviously the consideration would be dumping the 33 % women reservation Bill in cold storage again. It is a pity political parties have a self centered agenda also,apart from their ideologies. Most of the time compromises are made on ideologies, but not on the hidden agenda. Well, that is politics!

A right cue for government -implement this for cops

The Delhi high court has recently upheld Indian Airlines decision,to ground five overweight air hostesses.HC saw nothing wrong with the rules.HC also opined grace and concessions are not matters of legal right.Most important thing is, HC said there can be no illegality in policy matters.

HC also observed "air hostess job is strenuous and physical fitness is a must.Air crew has to be athletic to deal with any emergency and for that he or she has to be in good shape.One cannot shy away from the reality that by the very nature of their jobs, their overall physical personality is one of the primary consideration,"

Extend this philosophy to our cops.They need to be agile and physically fit and their job is more strenuous than the air hostess's. The demands made on our cops are much more. Most of our cops are pot bellied and are not athletic. Even during ceremonial parades where only selected few participate, one can see the pathetic sight of overweight pot bellied cops among the ranks.

Taking a cue from the HC judgment, all state governments can frame a policy to prescribe age limits, height and weight norms for cops. Those who do not conform to the norms may be given some sort of negative points during performance appraisals by their superiors.This would atleast motivate them to maintain good physique.I feel it is worth trying.

Ten avatars and tons of talent

Yes, it is about Kamal Hassan’s magnum opus Dasavadaram. The movie is just a showcase of talents of one of our best actors. No doubt, Kamal has given a stupendous performance to distinctly differentiate all the ten characters played by him. The make up,the dialogue delivery, modulation of different dialects are all done to perfection.

Still something is amiss in this great effort. It appears a conscious effort was made by Kamal to work for an international recognition. Apart from the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi audience World over, it is very evident he had targeted International viewers also.Seems he is yearning for an international acclaim, rightly so. With this in mind,all the 10 characters were selected by the script writer kamal. That could be one of the reasons that, four out of the 10 characters are foreign nationals, thus giving an international flavour. That has given him the scope to target the international audience and showcase his histrionic talents. As a result he has tailor made the story to suit his 10 characters. That has ended in a run of the mill story with usual stunts, car chasing and all other ingredients of a masala movie, unlike a Kamal film.

Kamal is an actor with great passion for innovation and doing something different in all his movies. On that score he has succeeded. Secondly, an actor playing 10 different characters in a movie is first of its kind in world cinema and is unique. We can be proud that something close to this feat was done by another great Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan decades ago in, Navaratri, donning nine roles. But that catered Tamil audiences only. Obviously Kamal wanted to better Sivaji’s record of nine roles. For commercial reasons he might have made it a trilingual film.

Kamal is a professed atheist. He does not want to antagonize millions of devout and piousViewers amidst his fans and the general public. So he has done a tight rope walk by making the characters talk, for and against religious beliefs and faiths. He has taken care to mouth the atheist dialogues himself, thus maintaining his atheist personal profile in tact. He has also made sure all three major religions of India, namely Hindus, Muslims and Christian characters are portrayed and their religious sentiments are not hurt by any of the dialogues.

The theme is about biological weapons, and might not be comprehensible to every viewer. Care was taken to start the story with a local 12^th century anecdote, rather than the Hollywood style alien scenes at US. To make the story travel to the present times from 12^th century and in many other places in the film, the script writer has to resort to voice over to explain the audience. It is a pity, Kamal has also succumbed to cheap gimmicks and has shown the ex Chief Minister and the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the movie. It is obvious many compromises have been made and care is taken not to antagonize any section.

The Rerecording by Devi Sree Prasad is good in patches, especially in the initial scenes and car chases shot in US. Otherwise there is nothing special to mention. Couple of songs by Reshmiah are good. Since Kamal is omnipresent in the movie, he has taken care to give lot of small roles to many others of note. Stars galore can also be witnessed in this film in a host of small roles. All of them have done justice to their roles.

On the whole it is a milestone movie in Kamal’s career and will find a place in record books of world cinema. Kamal has proved once again, he is an international cinema material. Given the hype created by the media , much more was expected .

Ilayaraaja the invincible mastero

The other day I was listening to the old hits of Ilayaraaja from the late 70s to mid eighties. I was just trying to figure out ,what makes him different from many of his compatriots and stand out, as one of the greatest composers of our time. Why even the present day composers are no where near him? .They shine in patches,but whereas the mastero was a class apart and a great number of his songs were a runaway hit.

I feel most of his compositions conveyed the mood of the situation in the movie so aptly .That could be one of the reasons for his composition to become an instant hit . Whatever be the genre of the composition, it aptly conveyed the mood of the song and the film in general. Besides in Raaja's composition the interludes were so different and catchy in almost all his composition.The interludes were in perfect sync and harmony with the main song .Ilayaraaja is a master in interlude orchestrations. You will never find a noticeable jump anywhere in the song after the interlude. I think only geniuses of Ilayaraaja's calibre can do this.

Some of the compositions of the mastero which I like most

Paadariyen (sindhu bhairavi) is a master peice
Thuliyele ada vantha(chinna thambi) is simply marvelous.
Aracha chandanam (chinnathambi)
Raasathi unna kaanatha (vaidehi kaathirunthaal)
Indraikku en intha (vaidehi kaathirunthaal)
Mathura marukozhunthu ( Enga uuru paattukaaran)
Chinna mani kuyile (amman koil kizhakkaley)
Aayiram thamarai mottukkaley (Alaigal oyvathillai)
Kaana karunkuyile (poonthottakavalkaaaran)
Kalaivaaniye (Sindhu bhairavi)
Poomalai vaanki vantheen (sindhu bhairavi)
Chinna thaayaval (Dalapathy) ..... and the list is not exhaustive .

It is very difficult to list out all the hits of the great mastero.

Tobacco menace - After all Anbumani Ramdoss is right

A recent study by WHO says more than 55 % of 13 to 15 year olds worldwide,take to smoking lured by advertisements on billboards and 20 % of them owned an item with the logo of a cigarette brand.This clearly shows Ads have a great influence on youngsters. The Ad companies target 80 % of the youth of the developing countries.

The May issue of 'American journal of Health Behaviour' says there is a clear connection between exposure to tobacco Ads and consumption.The tobacco companies are falsely associating use of tobacco products ,with qualities such as glamour,energy and sex appeal.No wonder that Ramdoss says the celebrity movie stars portraying cigarette smoking scene,will have a bad influence on the country's youth.

Some appalling statistics on the dreaded puff

• smoking is expected to kill 10 lakh people annually in india from 2010.

• smoking will be the primary cause behind one in five of all male deaths and one in twenty of all female deaths in India

• nearly 70% of these one million deaths,will die young.

• over 50% of tobacco deaths will occur in illiterate men or women. 80% of them residing in rural India.
  

• There are nearly 12 crore smokers in India .Smoking kills 1 lakh females and 6lakh males in India every year, between the ages 30 to 69.
  

Who else other than Anbumani Ramdoss, the union Health Minister,could be concerned over this?. Traditionally, movies,film stars and celebrities have a great influence on the country's youth.They tend to imitate their hairstyle,gait,dress,six pack physique,smoking etc,etc.What does it show?.They don't think it is just a film.They imitate them in real life.The argument that it is just a portrayal of a character is lost,when some one imitates them in real life . It is something beyond that.Film stars would do an yoeman service by avoiding such scenes in their movies.This appeal is made by an Union Health Minister of a country where the tobacco menace has reached a dangerous level.Anbumani Ramdoss is not making this appeal in his personal capacity .He is making this appeal as the Union Health Minister .I feel it is perfectly appropriate .

Ramdoss's adversaries say, there are other pressing issues to be addressed by the union Health Minister on priority.Amitabh Bachan has asked Ramdoss, to try to sell his ideas to government staff first. This is absurd .Agree ,there are other important issues before the Health Ministry.But that doesn't mean the Health Minister should not talk about,the ill effects of smoking and the influence of film stars on the country's youth on smoking . Besides, so far, Ramdoss has aired his views on this,only in appropriate forums.

Central government and many state governments have made documentaries in regional languages using many popular film stars, throughout India, for family planning campaigns ,to eradicate polio , to promote literacy ,to fight AIDS ,to create awarenes on many social problems/evils.Why was it done ?.Only because the film stars have a great influence on the public . On the same ground, Anbumani Ramdoss is making this appeal to the Actors to refrain from acting in scenes depicting cigarette smoking.Remember he is making only an appeal.An appeal for a good cause.Why should the actors get offended ?.Their defence is that creativity of a film maker, should not be curbed.I don't think,refraining from depicting a smoking scene would curb the creativity of a film maker .

Pandit Nehru and Kamaraj were believed to be smokers.But they have never smoked in public gaze. Why did they refrain from public smoking ? They did not want to set a bad example to others. Because they were role models,to many youngsters of their time.Obviously many film stars are role models to many of our youngsters.I feel Anbumani Ramdoss,in his capacity as Union Health Minister is perfectly right,in making this appeal to the film personalities.Despite taunts,jeers and criticism ,he is steadfast in his views. Great! Ramdoss ,carry on your crusade against smoking .