Innholdsfortegnelse for August 31, 2020 i India Today

When the makers of a biopic on Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni wanted a Bollywood star to play the titular role, they didn’t have to look beyond Sushant Singh Rajput. Not only were the actor and the cricketer born and raised in the same state, but their careers were also mirror images of each other. Both were rank outsiders who had broken into their fiercely competitive professions by dint of sheer talent. Inspirational stories of self-made stars are the stuff of cinematic dreams. Yet, not even the finest scriptwriter could have imagined the drama around Sushant Singh Rajput’s tragic death on June 14. The actor’s demise, given his age, success and potential, has evoked collective shock across the nation. The disbelief and curiosity have been on an unprecedented level.…

Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI or the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services), stood at 6.9 per cent in July, breaching the upper band of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) inflation target for the fourth consecutive month. Inflation has been above the RBI’s prescribed target of 4 per cent (plus or minus 2 per cent, so the upper band is 6 per cent) for 10 consecutive months now. CPI inflation was expected to fall with the easing of the lockdown but the July numbers show it is rising again. This will have serious repercussions on the economy. The central bank’s rate cut spree is surely over. The RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC), in its announcement on August 6, left…

Attending a concert by Jasraj was always an experience to savour. Convention dictated that the doyen of Hindustani vocalists command the prime slot, which was usually late in the evening after other musicians had concluded. As the buzz grew, the audience profile changed with a rush of younger people filling the auditorium. Jasraj appeared on stage in flamboyant silks—lately in bright and orange hues. Hugging a swarmandal, he always began with a trademark prayer, Mangalam Bhagwan Vishnu, invoking a devotional hush among the audience before transiting effortlessly to exploring a raga. One never stopped marvelling at Jasraj’s melodic range and the mesmeric quality of his voice—which became more resonant as he grew older. Hindustani ragas usually span one and a half octaves; Jasraj traversed three, holding notes in the difficult…

›› Dhoni is the only captain to win a T20 World Cup (2007), an ODI World Cup (2011) and an ICC Champions Trophy (2013); his captaincy in 332 matches across formats is the highest by anyone ›› Only player to lead his team in 50+ matches in all formats 60 Tests 200 ODIs 72 T20Is ›› Only captain to average Over 30 in T20Is (min. 500 runs) 40 in Tests (min, 1,000 runs) and 50 in ODIs (min. 1,000 runs) As captain, he averaged... 37.1 in T20Is 40.6 in Tests 53.9 in ODIs ODIS ›› Dhoni averages 50.6 in ODIs and is one of only two batsmen to average 50+ and score 10,000 runs; Kohli is the other; Tendulkar comes closest at 44.8 ›› Dhoni has hit 229 sixes in…

Bengaluru-based radio jockey, humourist, actor and host Danish Sait has been at it for a decade but it took a lockdown for people beyond the South to recognise his funny bone. His short videos essaying a whole cast of characters he has created—Rammurthy Avare, Nagarajan the humble politician, Bevarsi Kudka (noble soul with a good heart), Asgar or Chacko Cheta, Didi Madam, Jaya, Razia—get instant likes on Twitter and Instagram. Some were already popular locally, courtesy Sait’s eight-year stint as RJ and prank caller with Fever 104 FM, a gig he only recently quit. What’s taken Sait by surprise is “the sudden acceptance of content from the south” in the western and northern belts. “I feel the format change from audio to video has helped,” he says. Capitalising on Sait’s…

The top hit (22 million views) is his 2012 Dakhani-style rendition in Dubai of ‘Bulaati hai magar jaane ka nai’. Some poets comment in between their recitation; Rahat interspersed lyrics in his commentary. He is a poet of 2010, he says, not the ’60s-’70s. What does that mean? It means he will not go home empty-handed; he will snatch the stars and take them along. The second (21 million views) is his 2017 appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show. He leaves the redoubtable Navjot Singh Sidhu speechless. His couplets are maudlin. The host Sharma eggs him on to provide “something romantic” for the young people in the audience. Rahat responds with advice in a couplet: when you shake a hand, press it too (yes, like that!). Keep scrolling and you…

She is from the badlands of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Her family allegedly controls not only lucrative businesses but also official transfers and postings in the state. Government privileges are a given for her irrespective of the party in power. Meet Patharia MLA Ram Bai, whose unfettered clout in the previous Kamal Nath-led Congress government continues under the new BJP dispensation. What makes this Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader so crucial to any ruling formation in the state and why does every government give her the long rope? One of the reasons for Ram Bai’s influence is the way numbers are stacked up in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. In the 2018 assembly election, the Congress, with 114 MLAs, emerged as the single-largest party and formed the government with the…

1 NOT FILING AN FIR The Supreme Court, in 2013, had ruled that an FIR is mandatory in a cognisable case. The Mumbai police remained under the misapprehension that their filing an Accidental Death Report (ADR), under section 174 of CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), which is the first thing to do, would not be challenged. This section is limited to an inquiry into the cause of an apparent unnatural death. As this is not a full-fledged probe, the Mumbai police could not defend themselves against the allegation that they were not serious about investigating the case. 2 LOSING THE PERCEPTION BATTLE The Mumbai police hounded the Bihar police officers who had landed in the city to investigate Sushant’s death. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation sent Patna city SP Vi-nay…

This was the T20 World Cup final, 2007. When Misbah-ul-Haq hit a towering straight six off Joginder Sharma in the second ball of the last over, Pakistan looked nearly home. Six needed of fours balls. On air, Ravi Shastri said: ‘Pakistan are just a hit away from becoming world champions.’ Co-commentator Ramiz Raja was gushing about Misbah and could barely restrain his excitement. Shastri had already asked if Dhoni should have gone for Harbhajan (Singh) instead to bowl that last over, for casting the inexperienced Joginder in that role seemed to fly in the face of cricketing logic. Joginder’s first ball, a 10 feet wide, only added to the alarm. Dhoni ran up to his charge, for a third time in the over, whispered into his ears and returned behind…

This is a meticulously researched biography—detailed, judicious, engaging and illuminating. Not since Marie Seton’s Portrait of a Director: Satyajit Ray (1971), has anything comparable been attempted for a major contemporary Indian cultural figure. Oliver Craske has worked hard for many years and trawled the public records of Ravi Shankar, who died in 2012, across many continents and in India. His project had the unqualified support of Shankar’s second wife Sukanya and his daughter Anoushka who opened the family archives and encouraged a no-holds-barred account. Shankar’s trailblazing public career and his tumultuous private life fit into a pattern. As biographical accounts of Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein—comparable figures from Euro-American cultures—show, creative freedom and sexual drive often stood in for each other, generating the restless persona that was the modern artist.…

Jose Covaco Covaco has a knack for finding humour in the average Mumbaikar’s woes—be it finding an auto or the inflated electricity bills during lockdown—and the theatrics of India’s loudest news anchor Saloni Gaur From the socially conscious Nazma Aapi to the outspoken Kangana Runout, in which Gaur does a pitch-perfect rendition of the actress, Gaur provides commentary on the absurdities of news, politics and Bollywood Sarah Cooper The Brooklyn-based comedian’s exaggerated lip syncs to some of President Donald Trump’s bizarre statements and theories have earned her two million followers on Twitter. Luckily for Cooper, she’s never short on material.…

Q. You recently narrated the National Geographicseries India from Above on Disney+ Hotstar. What impression of India did it leave you with? What constantly struck me was the ingenuity of Indians no matter how intense the conditions are, whether you are a salt farmer in the Rann of Kutch or building an entire ecosystem on the Loktak Lake [Manipur]. The concept of adaptability is why India has excelled so quickly. It makes you proud and inspired, and that’s the core of the show. Q. Any places you want to visit after it? I need to do a couple more movies to afford all the air travel to the places I want to see around India. Q. How is your directorial debut, set in Mumbai, coming along? Mumbai is like this…

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his Independence Day speech at the Red Fort, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee held her annual celebration at Kolkata’s Red Road later in the day. She played a bunch of new songs she had penned to mark 74 years of a free India. With lyrics like ‘Amra Bharatmatar santan/ Amader modhye nei bibhajan (we the children of Mother India are indivisible)’, the songs extolled the virtues of secularism and unity in diversity. There was also tableaux at the event, promoting government programmes on safe driving, judicious use of water and the fight against coronavirus, playing another one of Mamata’s creations, ‘Corona thamay jabe’. She truly has a song for all reasons and seasons. Best Foot Forward Being a former CM (of Uttarakhand) and…

IN her introduction to Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India, journalist Seema Mustafa, the editor of this anthology, notes that “unlikely revolutionaries—lower-middle-class Muslim women easily lost in a crowd—took the lead, laying claim to our democracy and its enduring symbols, and the rest of India followed”. If only such an optimistic interpretation were true. Sadly, it appears as if the so-called silent majority—which has elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi twice by emphatic margins—has internalised the BJP narrative that the grandmothers of Shaheen Bagh are, in the words of Seemi Pasha, author of several pieces in the anthology, at the vanguard of a “treasonous revolt by a belligerent and politically dispensable community”. Led by home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP ran a viscerally…

The twists and turns in the Sushant Singh Rajput case would outfox even the most skilled of Bollywood’s storytellers. The death of the 34-year-old actor at the height of his popularity stunned the country. His fans thought it was a suicide brought on by immense inner mental torment—an affliction he hid from the world. Then, as the drama unfolded amid a pandemic and a lockdown, an army of warriors started playing detective on social as well as conventional media. These self-appointed sleuths first billed his death as an outcome of the “movie mafia” in Mumbai filmdom, denying talented outsiders such as Sushant their due. Then, after an unexplained hiatus of 40 days, Sushant’s family alleged foul play. The spotlight then shifted to Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family, whom…

When he burst onto the scene, Dhoni was a complete unknown, in more ways than one. He was different from anything one might have expected. The long, straightened hair was not a cultivated look but the meaty hitting of a cricket ball with violent power was cultivated. The halting, idiosyncratic English was not aspirational but making a life in cricket was a clearly articulated ambition, to be followed through, come what may. From unknown in 2004 to unknowable in 2020, Dhoni’s international career has played out under intense scrutiny for more than a decade and a half, and when he walked away from the game, whistling a tune to himself, the greybeard left everyone scratching their heads, trying to make sense of what they had witnessed. Back in 2006 after…

Ishaan Khatter is not your typical Bollywood star-kid. Son of actress Neelima Azim and half-brother of Shahid Kapoor, Khatter had a rather unglamorous, muted debut with Beyond the Clouds, Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s first Hindi feature. His next Dhadak, a Hindi remake of Marathi blockbuster Sairat, was a safer bet, but he would take another 18 months to figure out what he would do next. First of those projects is the Mira Nair-directed adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, all six episodes of which will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival. Khatter plays Maan, “a good-looking young wastrel forever”, whose lyrical romance with an older courtesan Saeeda (Tabu) stirs plenty of controversy and conflict. “He’s an eternal wanderer,” says Khatter of his character. “He almost feels like he…