Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, February 27, 2023 i India Today

Somewhere in its opening scenes, as he’s thrashing a tied-up captive, a villainous henchman realises with a shock who the object of his exertions is and breaks into an incredulous whisper, “Pathaan!!….” And Shah Rukh Khan, bleeding like a boxer in the last rounds, fills in the blanks with “…Zinda hai”. The spy he’s playing had been presumed dead and is simply affirming: “No, I’m still alive.” But no one could miss how that applies to SRK himself. From that point on, Pathaan runs along two tracks. One is intrinsic to the film, and the other reaches outside and becomes an extended ode to the star actor himself. Pathaan zinda hai. Those words turned out to have quite a prophetic ring. The film has been an astounding comeback vehicle for…

The Kolkata International Book Fair recently saw a new icon—Justice Abhijit Ganguly, who played a crucial role in unearthing the teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal. There was a scramble for selfies and autographs with him as young men and women jostled with each other just to get a glimpse of their messiah. The ruling Trinamool Congress is naturally tense. Leaders are curious to know if he harbours any political ambitions. The judge, for now, has revealed his next course of action—writing a book. Will it reveal more than is known in the public domain about the recruitment scam?…

There were few surprises when Kerala finance minister K.N. Balagopal tabled the 2023-24 state budget in the assembly on February 3. Prices of liquor were up, again, as were land registration charges, and there was a new social security cess of Rs 2 per litre on petroleum products, which makes even going to the gas station an onerous task of nation-building for citizens. As expected, the opposition was soon out on the streets against the “anti-people budget”. But the abstract economics is perhaps scarier. Kerala has been wrestling with budget deficits and mounting public debt for over two decades now. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of the CPI(M) has defended the new taxes on the grounds that hard decisions were needed after the Centre limited the state’s borrowing limit “without considering…

One of the highlights of the Samadhan Yatra was the interactions with the Jeevika didis wherever Nitish went. Jeevika is an 11.7 million-strong women community active in the state, empowering poor rural households by providing women easy and hassle-free access to credit through banks. This has made them financially self-reliant, a massive change in unabashedly patriarchal Bihar. Nitish has made women a key constituency, reserving 50 per cent seats in panchayats and 35 per cent in government jobs, and providing free clothes, books and cycles for schoolgoing girls (which created a huge jump in school enrolment and reaped political dividends). Again, in 2016 when Nitish agreed to prohibition, it was in accordance with their demands. The impact of all this is reflected at the hustings. The 2020 assembly poll was…

April 2022 ↘ Special Operations Group arrested two men from Rajasthan in Ahmedabad with MD worth over Rs 23 lakh July 2022 ↘ A 32-year-old woman is caught selling MD in Ahmedabad worth Rs 1.55 lakh August 2022 ↘ The Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Mumbai Police raids a manufacturing unit in Ankleshwar, seizing 513 kg of MD worth Rs 1,026 cr. The bust is linked to Mumbai’s Nalasopara raid earlier in the month ↘ The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) raids a manufacturing unit in Moksi village near Vadodara. As much as 225 kg of MD worth Rs 1,125 crore is recovered from the under-construction factory ↘ Four arrested with MD worth Rs 29 lakh by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch October 2022 ↘ The Narcotics Control Bureau conducts a raid in Jamnagar…

Tsering Yangzom Lama’s debut novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies begins with a dedication to her parents and relations and “to every soul who has known, lost, and sought home”. While that applies to most people in some measure, it is particularly, and poignantly, true of Tibetans, whose nation survives in exile, removed from a territory now controlled by the Chinese. The novel opens in the early 1960s. An oracle leads half her village to Nepal across the mountains as the People’s Liberation Army consolidates its grip over Tibet. It’s a long, icy march with few possessions. Many die along the way, including the oracle and her husband, leaving their daughters, Lhamo and Tenkyi, to be raised by relatives. Their journey and their subsequent lives in refugee camps…

Q. Is working on a podcast series akin to dubbing for a film or voicing an animated film? It’s a bit of both. Dubbing is about recreating the same emotion. Sometimes people find it undesirable because you have to go back and relive it. I like it because I feel I can improve on things. In fact, after doing Marvel’s Wastelanders, I went in to dub Adipurush, and the makers were quite impressed, saying my dubbing was fast and expressive. Wastelanders became a kind of audio workout. Q. Of the umpteen characters in the Marvelverse, would you have picked Star-Lord to play? Never. I’d like to play Wolverine or the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four. But I liked the idea of playing an intergalactic smuggler with a great sense…

How one of India’s mightiest industrialists has fallen in Mamata Banerjee’s esteem! Till the other day, the West Bengal chief minister was boasting about Gautam Adani’s declared intent of investing Rs 10,000 crore in the state—a promise that had come at the Bengal Global Business Summit in April 2022. The impending development of the Rs 25,000-crore deep sea port at Tajpur by the Adani Group too was being touted as a milestone achievement of her government. But with the group caught in the furore over the Hindenburg report, Mamata has attacked him as an adaar byapari (‘ginger trader’, or a small-time trader). The political storm around Adani has made the state government go quiet on its own deals with the billionaire. It now claims total ignorance about the purchase of…

In the recently concluded Global Investors Summit in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government says it signed MoUs worth over Rs 33.5 lakh crore. State ministers have hailed it as a big success. Most BJP MLAs, however, are not promoting it with the same zeal on social media. The reason? They were not even invited to this grand event. While government sources claim this was due to limited passes for entry, what was galling for these MLAs was that some of their supporters got passes. Seems like only those with entrepreneurial backgrounds were invited.…

Haryana’s health minister Anil Vij has cracked the whip on healthcare professionals working in the state’s facilities. They have been asked not to wear heavy jewellery, make-up or nail art. The men are required to have their hair, including on the face, trimmed. The most confounding is the ban on wearing jeans, skirts or T-shirts. Vij wants his doctors, nurses and other support staff to be dressed in uniform, the way their counterparts in private hospitals do. Dressing the part may be an honourable intent, but Vij could perhaps also focus on improving the health facilities in the state.…

In the summer of 2004, a 22-year-old Amitabh Shah had just got off a New York flight at Ahmedabad after a personal visit to the US. The future looked bright for him: he had already secured admission to Yale. On the nearly 18-hour flight, he caught the Shahrukh Khan starrer Swades to kill some time. The film ended up bringing back memories of his childhood nanny Kamalaben, who used to lovingly indulge his tantrums and take care of him. He wanted to meet her, Shah told her mother when she came to receive him at the airport. When Shah went to Gota, the village where Kamalaben now lived, he found her sitting under a tree, old, distressed—and emaciated; she weighed just 28 kg. Her son had abandoned her, and her…

Mephedrone, or MD, is a stimulant psychotropic substance, which was banned in India in 2015 under the NDPS Act. It is mostly available in white powdered form, sometimes as tablets or capsules, and is usually ingested orally or snorted. A designer drug, or a New Psychoactive Substance (NPS)—products designed to recreate the effects of banned natural drugs as substitutes—its effects are similar to cocaine and ecstasy. Investigators also call it the ‘poor man’s cocaine’ ↘ EFFECTS Mephedrone is a classic ‘upper’ drug. It increases blood pressure and makes the consumer feel euphoric, more sociable, empathetic, alert and aroused. As the effects wear off, the consumer may experience depression, anxiety, irritability and insomnia. MD also leads to gastrointestinal complications and loss of appetite ↘ THE ORIGIN The chemical formula of MD…

SYMPOSIUM BEACH FESTIVAL, GOA (Feb. 17-20) This eagerly anticipated psytrance festival held through the night on Vagator’s Dream Beach in Goa features artists like The Dog of Tears, Daash, Elowins, Flipknot, Gismo, Psykovsky and Life Enjoyers Club. The foot-tapping fest will also see Kindzazda and Will O Wisp debut their Ota Okuma. ODDBALL FESTIVAL, MULTI-CITY Feb. 17 (Mumbai), Feb. 18 (Bengaluru), Feb. 19 (New Delhi) Rock/ funk trailblazers The Aristocrats are the headline act in the inaugural edition of this multi-city travelling event put together by BlueTree and ODDC. The virtuoso trio of guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann are returning to India for the first time since the pandemic. They will be joined by folk-metal frontrunners Bloodywood, YouTube-famous rock act KOIAI feat. Li-Sa-X and instrumental…

ON February 14, Air India announced it had signed letters of intent to acquire 470 new aircraft: 220 from US-based Boeing and another 250 from Europe-based Airbus. These are a mix of wide-body and single-aisle aircraft to serve on its long-haul and short-journey trips, respectively PRICE TAG Sources peg the total cost at about $70 billion. While reports say the Boeing purchases will cost Air India about $34 billion, Airbus has so far declined to comment on the price tag DELIVERY Air India says the first of the new aircraft are expected to enter service toward the end of this year, with the bulk of deliveries scheduled for mid-2025 onward. For the moment, it has begun taking delivery of 11 leased B777s and 25 A320s POWER PROPOSITION According to Air…

Recognising the fact that responsible tourism is the need of the hour, Tamil Nadu is employing a multi-pronged strategy to promote it in the state. Initiatives include developing new destinations to decongest mass tourism locations, promoting a variety of eco-tourism friendly types of tourism, installation of solar panels in government-run hotels, sensitising travellers to be responsible, and much more. Tamil Nadu's Draft Tourism Policy envisages tourism development at destinations that facilitate economic, social and environmental sustainability. One of the key strategic objectives of the policy is to increase the economic value of the existing tourism ecosystem with balance and sustainability. The Department of Tourism is also working towards decongesting mass tourism locations through the development and promotion of lesser-known destinations like Kalli Hills, Jawadhu Hills, Muthupettai Mangrove Forest, and so…

Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy recently took aim at Union minister Pralhad Joshi saying that there had been an RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) move to make the latter the chief minister of Karnataka if the BJP won the upcoming state election. In doing so, he also brought up Joshi’s “Peshwa Brahmin” roots. Kumaraswamy’s angry comment came in response to Joshi’s jibe at the “family politics” in the JD-S (Janata Dal-Secular), but political observers believe the shrewd ex-CM was also looking to stir things up, especially given the BJP’s reliance on the Lingayat community in the state.…

DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAAYENGE (1995) Playing Raj, a London-settled desi boy who falls for Punjabi girl Simran on a Europe trip, the Aditya Chopra-directed romance marked the beginning of Khan’s fandom KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI (1998) Sporting a “cool” chain as a collegian and later suits as a single parent, SRK wins more hearts both in India and abroad in this Karan Johar-directed love triangle about friends-turned-lovers CHAK DE! INDIA (2007) In what’s hailed as one of Khan’s finest acts, alongside Swades (2004), the actor plays a hockey player whose loyalty towards his nation is questioned until he coaches the women’s team to glory OM SHANTI OM (2007) Farah Khan puts together the most enjoyable tropes of ’70s cinema—reincarnation, revenge, et al.—to weave an engaging romantic tale produced by Khan’s…

Nitish’s challenges ↘ After an UNDERWHELMING 2020 ASSEMBLY ELECTION, Nitish needs to bounce back in the 2024 Lok Sabha election to stay relevant ↘ He may be the only CM whose political fortunes seem inextricably linked to the LS POLL RESULTS. He has announced that deputy and RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav will lead the Mahagathbandhan in the 2025 assembly polls ↘ The Bihar CM’s biggest challenge will be STRIKING A BALANCE between his JD(U) partymen—who may be unwilling to go with Tejashwi’s leadership in 2025—and the RJD men for whom his CM candidature is non-negotiable ↘ The BJP and party rebel Upendra Kushwaha are trying to sow SEEDS OF CONFUSION in the JD(U) on the above point., Nitish has privately spoken to partymen to clear the air ↘ The BJP…

That Gujarat was becoming a transit point for drugs has been an open secret for a while now. As is the fact that synthetic drugs form a significant part of that trade. What is becoming increasingly alarming for the security agencies in the state, however, is the realisation that such drugs are now being produced locally—in rundown godowns and abandoned pharmaceutical factories in Gujarat’s hinterland. Among them is the party drug Mephedrone, variously known as ‘meow meow’, ‘white magic’, ‘M-CAT’, ‘bubble’, or MD. Between August and December 2022, the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS) busted two manufacturing units and seized 314 kg of ready-to-consume MD, worth Rs 1,733 crore, along with several tonnes of raw material and machinery from unused pharma factories in Ankleshwar and Vadodara. The Mumbai Police, too, seized…

Salman Rushdie’s new novel, Victory City opens with a set piece of barely conceivable horror, as the preternaturally composed widows of a defeated army stride into the hissing flames of a giant bonfire. “Gravely, without making any complaint, they said farewell to one another and walked forward without flinching,” recounts the narrator. “Nor were there any screams when their flesh caught fire and the stink of death filled the air.” It is—rendered in Rushdie’s famously technicolour prose—the literary equivalent of a scene from a blockbuster like Padmaavat. For all the accolades bestowed on Rushdie, for all that he is one of the literary titans of our age, he remains at heart a mass entertainer, a writer with a distinctively filmi sensibility. Rushdie, to borrow from the unnamed narrator of Victory…

Hindi films were an integral part of Smriti Mundhra’s childhood growing up in Los Angeles. Her father, Jagmohan Mundhra, was a filmmaker; her parents briefly ran a single-screen cinema in LA, one of the few to screen Hindi films, and it’s through these films she taught herself how to speak Hindi. But the “tipping point” was watching Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (1995). “I remember it felt different from other Hindi films I’d seen,” says Mundhra. “It didn’t feel like a separate part of my culture that I engaged with.” Mundhra, who is best known for introducing the world to the adventures of ‘Sima aunty’ in Indian Matchmaking, is back to directing another Netflix documentary series, The Romantics. The four-part series looks at the seminal influence that filmmaker Yash Chopra and…