AIADMK Uses 'Lizard' Logic in Bid to Corner Rajinikanth on 'Sarkar' Scenes

Agencies
November 10, 2018

Chennai, Nov 10: The AIADMK hit out at Tamil superstar Rajinikanth Saturday for slamming its protests against certain scenes in the Vijay-starrer "Sarkar", saying a mere censor certification would not justify contentious scenes.

As the controversy was around the government's freebies schemes, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu equated those to providing reservation benefits to the deprived classes.

Rajinikanth had lashed out at the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Friday for its protests against certain scenes in actor Vijay's Diwali release, "Sarkar", questioning the rationale behind protesting against a film certified by the censor board.

He had "strongly condemned" the demands for deletion of scenes in the film.

A write-up in AIADMK mouthpiece "Namathu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma" questioned Rajinikanth's statement on how demands for removal of scenes from a film certified by the censor board could be made.

"Top star, give a frank response. If you find a lizard inside a packed food product that has all certifications, will you throw it away or consume it saying it has the required certifications," it said.

It asked the veteran star to "advise" the film's director, AR Murugadoss, and not defend "a mistake" by showing the censor certificate.

Even if a "misinformation" in a film passed the censor test, it "has to be stopped", it said in an apparent defence of the protests against the scenes and the demand for their removal.

The makers of "Sarkar" had Friday removed certain "objectionable" scenes and "muted" an apparent reference to late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa as the Sun Pictures venture faced a backlash from the AIADMK over the depiction of its welfare schemes and its leader.

The AIADMK was up in arms against "Sarkar" with senior ministers demanding deletion of the scenes reportedly showing mixer-grinders being burnt, seen as an obvious reference to a freebie scheme involving the object.

The ruling party also took exception to a purported negative character played by a woman carrying a name deemed to be that of Jayalalithaa.

Strongly defending the freebies, the party mouthpiece equated it to the quota system.

"The freebies are like the reservation system that was brought to bridge the poor-rich divide," it said.

Further, taking on actor Vijay, Murugadoss and Sun Pictures' Maran Brothers, it said these "affluent" people might "look down upon freebies" but the Amma canteens served thousands of aspiring filmmakers in the tinsel town.

Another brand Amma scheme named after Jayalalithaa, these canteens serve delicacies like idli and chapati, besides rice varieties, at heavily subsidised rates and are popular among the masses.

"Aren't the (free) mixers and grinders godsent for the havenots?" the AIADMK mouthpiece asked.

It alleged that despite being aware of all these, the intent of the makers of "Sarkar" was to "incite" people against the government and added that most of the welfare schemes launched during the AIADMK regime were now being followed by some other states.

It lashed out at the film crew for naming a character apparently referring to Jayalalithaa.

Taking a swipe at actor Vijay's reported political ambitions, the party said he was "dreaming that he can become the chief minister just by mouthing emotional dialogues against the government".

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News Network
March 11,2020

Washington, Mar 11: Pop star Selena Gomez made some revelations about her personal life in a recent interview.

While explaining the lyrics of her song "Rare" on the 'Genius' YouTube channel, the 27-year-old said that there are times when she feels that she will ever be able to find a suitable partner for herself, reported Fox News.

"Some days when I wake up and I am annoyed and I am like, 'I am going to be alone forever.' But after that 15 minutes go away, I say to myself, 'I know that there is someone for everybody," the singer told in the seven-and-a-half minute long video.

However, she remains optimistic as she is still young and "this isn't the end all be all".

Elaborating upon the chorus of her song, Gomez opened up and said, "self-esteem and confidence is a constant struggle".

"It's getting better with time and age, but it will always be something that I'm working on," she added while explaining the lyrics further.

"So what I think is so important about this chorus is that it's acknowledging, 'Hey, I don't have it all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do know that I'm special,' and I think that is a humble approach of saying, 'Why don't you see that I am different?'" the singer added as reported by Fox News.

Touching upon her experiences from past relationships, she commented: "In certain relationships, I've heard and I've experienced and whatnot, I think men and women do it -- especially teenagers and young people in love -- is there's this satisfaction out of hurting someone because you know that they care. Purposefully putting someone down because they want to keep them at a level. I've had someone actually say that to me before".

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News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 9: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani got emotional while watching the movie "Shikara: The Untold Story Of Kashmiri Pandits". It is a Hindi-language period film produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir.

In a video clip, the political veteran is seen trying to hold back his tears at the end of the film while Mr Chopra rushes to console him. Other people around them were also seen getting emotional and congratulating the filmmaker for the movie.

"Shikara" is about how Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee from their houses in the Kashmir Valley in early 1990, in the wake of insurgency. The filmmaker said the film showcases how Kashmiri Pandits rebuilt their lives in the aftermath of the tragic event.

Featuring Aadil Khan and Sadia, Shikara released on February 7. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is from Kashmir, dedicates his movie to his mother, who died in 2007.

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Abdul Gaffar Bolar
 - 
Monday, 10 Feb 2020

Does this man know the trouble and pain of humans???

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Calling himself an optimist who believes in the goodness of people, director Kabir Khan says everything these days is being looked at through the prism of religion but India is about more than that.

The director of blockbusters such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ek Tha Tiger said he is happy he has a platform as a filmmaker to present a counterpoint to the prevailing narrative based on religious fault lines.

"I’m an optimist who believes in the goodness of the people. But yes, there is a certain level of bigotry that has crept in. Everything is being looked at through the prism of religion but India is not about that.

"It sounds like a cliché but when I was growing up, I was not aware of my religion. That was the greatness of this country,” Kabir told news agency.

He said he is a product of a mixed marriage and is pained to see the social fabric being tattered.

“I have celebrated the best that Indian secularism has to offer. But to see the greatness of this country being simplified and broken down into religious fault lines is a painful experience,” he added.

According to Kabir, it is dangerous to see history through the prism of religion, whether in cinema or society. But it is important to revisit history to know what happened and one can always find something that is relevant for the present, he said.

The director, who started as a documentary filmmaker, returns to his roots for a five-episode series on Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye, on Amazon Prime, his most expensive project yet.

Asked whether this is a difficult time for filmmakers, Kabir said he believes art thrives in the time of strife and, as a storyteller, his politics will always reflect in his work.

“Every film has its politics and every filmmaker has to reflect his or her politics. Every film of mine will reflect my politics and it will never change according to the popular mood of the audience. But a film should not be just about that. Politics should be in the layers beneath," he said.

He terms his 2015 Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan an "extremely political" film. At face value, it can also be enjoyed as the story of a mute Pakistani girl who drifts into India and is taken back to her homeland by a Hanuman devotee. But there is so much more. The "chicken song", for instance, was a sly reference to the beef ban controversy at the time, he said.

"I won’t say it is a difficult time for me as a filmmaker. It is good that I have a platform where I can talk and present a counterpoint and I refuse to believe that the entire country believes the narrative that is being sent out. There are millions and millions of people, and perhaps the majority, that does not believe. And if I present the counterpoint, they will think about it.”

Discussing his new series, the director said it has always fascinated him that the sacrifice of the men and women who comprised the INA is just a forgotten footnote in history.

“I wanted to make something that stands the test of time. It goes down in posterity,” Khan, who first explored the subject in a Doordarshan documentary 20 years ago, said.

For the documentary, he traveled with former INA officers Captain Lakshmi Sahgal and Captain Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon from Singapore to India via erstwhile Burma, retracing the route that the INA followed.

“The documentary got me a lot of attention and acclaim but the story just never left me. It's actually the first script I ever wrote and I landed up with that script in Bombay from Delhi. I realised very soon that nobody's going to give me a budget of this size to make my first film.

"And then after every film, I would pick up the script and say, ‘Okay, this is the one I want to make’, because this is the story that made me want to become a filmmaker. On the way, I ended up making eight other films but this is really the story that I wanted to make,” he said.

Kabir is happy that the story has come out as a series, not a film, as it would have required to compromise with the budget and other elements.

"Without giving any numbers, this is the most expensive project I have ever worked on… It required that kind of budget."

Kabir believes the INA was responsible for bringing down the morale of the British establishment, which realised it would be impossible to keep the country colonised without the support of the local army.

"There are a lot of debates and discussions about what happened with the INA and the controversies around it. The whole point is that, if you want to judge what the Army did, sure that's your prerogative, but at least get to know what they did. Nobody knows what happened with the Army from 1942 to 1945."

He added that 55,000 men and women of the INA fought for independence and 47,000 of them died.

"Not a single person from that Army was ever taken back into the independent Army, which is such an amazing fact... the fact that the British called them traitors became the narrative and we also started assuming that they were traitors."

"They were the only women's regiment in the whole world 70 years ago. That's what they thought about women's importance in society. I don't know whether they will be happy with what the current situation is," he said.

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