by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Apu, the owner of Kwik-E-Mart in the hit series, ‘The Simpsons’.
By Sugandha Rawal,
New Delhi : At a time when the diversity debate in Hollywood is getting bigger with every passing moment, the Apu controversy — that emerged from the world of “The Simpsons” — is not only alive but making headlines as well. But all is not lost.
Indian-American actor Vandit Bhatt says there were many misrepresentations about people of colour, but they are being wiped out due to increasing conversations around inclusion.
The actor, who traces his roots to Hyderabad, is glad that he never had to play a stereotypical character.
Asked about the impact of the diversity debate with reference to the ongoing stir around a South Asian character called Apu from “The Simpsons”, Vandit told IANS over the phone from New York: “I will be honest with you. I feel like things are changing for the better and this is from my personal experience.
“When I started acting, there were far more misrepresentations.”
Apu had to grapple with the troubling stereotype of a convenience store clerk with an exaggerated, fake Indian accent since the show’s inception.
So, has anything changed?
“I have been acting professionally in the States for the last 10-15 years. In this time span, I feel like it has changed so much. I have had so many more opportunities. I am grateful that I never had to kind of play someone stereotypical like that (Apu). I have always had an opportunity to play human being versus stereotype. I feel very lucky about that.”
Vandit moved to the US after his mother got a job in the country. He is known for his work on “The Michael J. Fox Show”, “Mercy”, “42 Seconds of Happiness” and “Ripped”.
He will soon be seen with Indian actress Priyanka Chopra in the third season of “Quantico”, which airs in India on Star World.
The actor, the nucleus of whose family still remains in Hyderabad, is confident that change is seeping into the entertainment industry.
“I notice that ever since we started talking so much about diversity and representation, started having these conversations out loud… For the first time… I think real change is happening slowly but gradually.”
Vandit pointed out an example.
“I have noticed a difference between casting from last year to this year. This is the time of the year when (actors) for all the new seasons of the show are cast… I am seeing so much diversity.”
He says “someone” is paying attention to the whole diversity dialogue.
“We are having all these conversations and I think someone out there is listening to or at least paying attention to it.”
Lauding his “Quantico” co-star Priyanka for setting an example for many, he said: “What Priyanka is doing is so fantastic. She carries her show so well. I think it matters that people see someone like that in the main role on a main TV show.
“They see that it is not impossible or it is not out of character, and, in fact, it can work out successfully and it can have an impact. It is so great as far as representation of Indians go.”
Priyanka plays FBI agent Alex Parrish in the show, achieving global acclaim and also winning two People’s Choice Awards for her role. Vandit will join the show as Jagdeep Patel, a new member of the elite Black Ops team.
(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Praveen Morchhale
By Radhika Bhirani,
New Delhi : Born in Madhya Pradesh, stationed in Mumbai, and winner of a National Award for a Ladakhi film, filmmaker Praveen Morchhale believes in the power of cinema that is realistic, is culturally rooted and told universally. He says mainstream cinema is escapism, while regional cinema is all about realism.
“Hindi cinema has become a commodity. Stories are manipulated to suit the market as mere entertainment; when films are treated as a commodities, there has to be a trade to recover investment and make profit. I treat my cinema as a tool for communication because I want to say something,” Morchhale told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
“I am an unhappy person because the events and happenings… what I see everyday around us, makes me unhappy. The observations of day-to-day life are the source of my stories. Somehow, I treat cinema as more than just mere entertainment.
“For the international audience, culturally rooted and universally told stories always work, and language is not a restriction. Look at Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’… It can be seen and enjoyed anywhere,” he added.
Rima Das’ “Village Rockstars”, about the fun in the lives of a bunch of deprived children, won the Best Feature Film at the 65th National Awards, where Morchhale’s “Walking With The Wind”, won three honours — Best Ladakhi Film, Best Sound Designer and Best Re-recording.
Regional cinema was on a roll in the winners’ list, totally eclipsing Bollywood. Jury chairperson and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur minced no words about how Bollywood can’t compete with the gems emerging from the nooks and corners of the country.
“Our mainstream cinema is escapism. It’s all about taking the audience to a dream world away from reality. Whereas our regional cinema is more about realism. So, there are people who don’t want to go to the big screen and see the life they are living every day. Having said that, there’s scope for both,” said Morchhale.
A story of awakening, “Walking With The Wind” is set in a small Ladakhi village and is about a 10-year-old boy, who lives in the difficult terrain of the Himalayas. One day, he accidentally breaks his friend’s school chair. When he decides to bring the chair back to his village, the 7 km journey back home though the mountains on a donkey becomes even more arduous than usual.
The chair is the metaphor for the journey of awakening; the child’s pursuit shows determination to do the right thing come what may, and the barren but mesmerising landscape is likened to life’s hurdles which one needs to face and defeat.
The film speaks with its visuals without being verbose — just how Morchhale likes his cinema to be.
“Visuals speak louder than dialogues sometimes,” said the director, who shot with a crew of 12 people in a village around 80 km from Leh.
The film’s language was a consequence of its location. But communication was not a problem, said Morchhale, who gathered a cast of non co-actors and captured their real-life roles on reel.
“I cast a real blind person, carpenter, poet, driver… My life became easier,” he said, adding that the “golden hearted” people of Ladakh went out of their way to ease his shooting experience.
“Walking With The Wind” has been selected for prestigious film festivals around the world, but Morchhale says he sent it to four big galas in India and none of them responded. It has so far only been screened at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
“We hope this kind of a film gets a release some day. But for now, we are trying to put it online and we are trying to ensure it reaches people as the audience is curious with how the jury announced the awards this year by describing movies and urging them to watch the films,” said Morchhale, who had last made “Barefoot To Goa”.
Not resting on his laurels, he is working on a new project on women’s status in the society, especially in Kashmir. This time, he is exploring Urdu.
(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Iranian director Majid Majidi
By Sugandha Rawal,
New Delhi : Islam is about friendship, kindness and peace, and far from roughness and terrorism that it has been lately associated it, avers Majid Majidi, the globally acclaimed Iranian director who once attempted to change the “false” perception of the religion with the film “Muhammad: The Messenger of God”. But he realised that the path is full of thorns.
For Majidi, cinema has the power to bring people together.
“Cinema for me is a bridge between cultures. Cinema has great potential to bring different cultures together because cinema doesn’t have any borders. It can travel around the world and have a great effect on human beings around the world. Cinema can show different rituals, different cultures to different countries visually in the best way,” Majidi told IANS through a translator on phone from Mumbai.
“I made ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ with this vision…. Because in these years some people have created a false face of Islam, a wrong interpretation of this religion. I wanted to show the truth of that,” Majidi said.
“Muhammad: The Messenger of God”, which traces the life of Prophet Muhammed, and was also Iran’s nomination for best foreign language Oscar in 2015, had music by Indian composer A.R. Rahman.
Some radicals issued a “fatwa” against Majidi and Rahman in 2015 for the film, which was planned as a trilogy but there’s no update on it.
Majidi recalled that it was a project close to his heart and he gave seven years of his life to make it.
“ISIS and Taliban are wrong and completely lying about Islam… Western countries and Saudi Arabia are showing the wrong face of Islam. I gave seven years for research in filmmaking to show just a small part of real Islam.
“Islam is a religion of friendship, kindness and peace, which is completely far from this concept such as roughness and terrorism. I tried to open a small window to show what is real Islam.
“But radical Muslim groups, mostly from Saudi Arabia… were scared to show this real part of Islam; so they banned this film, calling it not to be shown in different countries.”
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker says he wanted to put focus on both parts of Islam — Shia and Sunni.
“After long research around both parts of Islam — Shia and Sunni — talking with the religious people of both… I tried to make a film to get unity between these two.”
But he was disappointed when his film was labelled as “haram” (forbidden).
“In different times and occasions, I asked all those religious leaders to come and watch the film because they called it “haram” and gave it a fatwa without watching the film.”
Majidi, known for masterpieces like “Children of Heaven”, “The Colour of Paradise” and “Baran”, is confident that “Muhammad: The Messenger of God” will find its “own way”.
But will he continue on his mission to change the perception about Islam?
“Working and filmmaking in this path is very difficult. I gave seven years of my life to this film. And what I did was open a path. The path is now open and I hope others will continue on it,” added the director, who says he is influenced by Indian legends like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal.
As a director, Majidi says he wants to become the voice of the “lower class of society”.
“I always tried to show the issues of the lower class of society. I always want to be the voice of all those who have no power to voice their concerns.”
And he has done so in his own way via his maiden India-set project “Beyond The Clouds”, which explores the underbelly of Mumbai and introduces Ishaan Khatter and Malavika Mohanan.
The film is about how a brother and sister find happiness in separation and turbulent times. Produced by Zee Studios and Namah Pictures, it is set for release on Friday.
(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh
By Brajendra Nath Singh,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh says “frustrated Maoists” are losing their footholds due to the joint actions of the state and central governments which have put the state on the path of development by building roads, schools and hospitals in remote, inaccessible areas that were earlier the hotbeds of left-wing extremist militias.
The longest-serving Chief Minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also said that Naxalism can only be countered through development and that there would be “no dearth of money” in this regard as long as Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister.
“My dream for the state is a peaceful and progressive Chhattisgarh. We are on that path. We will soon end the menace of Naxalism from its roots. We are progressing in that direction,” Singh told IANS in an interview here.
Asserting that development is the “mool mantra” (basic principle) of the BJP government, he said, “By carrying out development works, we have been successful in awakening society. It will definitely benefit us.
“Naxalism can only be countered by development. Wherever we are constructing roads and working on development, the Maoists are losing their foothold. Now, we have reached very close and are moving ahead in an important direction to root out the menace.”
The Chief Minister said that his government was getting better cooperation from the Centre on the Maoist front, especially after the BJP came to power in 2014, and has been working in close coordination with it.
“We are getting all sorts of support from Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Prime Minister’s priority has always been the development of the Maoist-affected areas. He recently provided a special fund of Rs 600 crore for the aspirational districts of the country among which seven districts are from Chhattisgarh. He provided the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) to us and we got Rs 300 crore additional funds for the state. There is no dearth of money for development as long as BJP is there at the Centre,” he said.
Singh said there are still many backward districts in Chhattisgarh, including Dantewada, Bijapur and Sukma.
“They all are areas with heavy Maoist presence. We brought these areas into the mainstream on a priority basis. We developed these areas as educational hubs where over 4,000 students are studying. We have built many hospitals, providing them modern equipment, and deputed well-educated and qualified doctors to bring development to the doorsteps of the people of these areas,” he said.
Singh, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in office, said that his government has constructed roads into those areas where it was impossible to reach.
“We are connecting the whole state with four-five lane roads. Many such projects have been completed while some are on the verge of completion. We have done our best to provide high-quality infrastructure. During my visits to such areas, I find people’s level of satisfaction has improved. Earlier, Chhattisgarh was rated among the most backward states; now we are counted among the fast-developing states,” Singh said.
Dubbing Maoists as anti-development, the Chief Minister said that the Sukma district of the state has become international headquarters of Maoists as it is surrounded by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
“A major group of Maoists from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are active in Chhattisgarh. They are using their entire power in Chhattisgarh as they are fighting for their their survival,” he said.
(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
By Mohit Dubey,
Lucknow : Notwithstanding the speculation on the durability of the new-found alliance with one-time rival BSP, Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav says the 23-year-old acrimony with Mayawati and her party “is a thing of past”.
“All that is irrelevant now is that both parties are walking ahead, hand in hand, to achieve a larger national objective of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is detrimental to both the state and the nation,” Yadav said in an interview to IANS.
In a detailed interview after the stunning defeat the Samajwadi Party dealt to the BJP by trouncing it in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha byelections, seats held earlier by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, Yadav said that the BSP-SP combine was like a “glue which will knock the daylights off the arrogant and useless BJP government”.
The BJP, the 44-year-old leader added, would often ridicule how the opposition had no narrative to take on the saffron camp. He pointed out that with the coming together of the BSP and SP, the narrative had finally arrived.
What about the bitterness that enveloped the relations between Mayawati and his own father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, particularly after the attack on her?
“The past is past. I look ahead. Mayawatiji has set the record straight that when this incident happened I was nowhere in politics and hence I cannot be drawn into the slugfest.”
Dropping enough hints that the BSP-SP bonhomie would continue till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek another term for his government, the former Chief Minister said his party already had the development plank and now what it was doing was to emulate the BJP in micro-booth and caste management.
Asked about the mercurial nature of the Dalit diva Mayawati, he said that time changes people.
“Seat sharing are small things and they will be sorted out at the time it is needed. We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
Akhilesh Yadav said he was now doing what the BJP had taught them.
“They talk of panna pramukhs, understanding and adjusting the caste matrix and focussing on booth management. Now when we do it, we are accused of being casteist… How can it be win-win for the BJP?”
After the Lok Sabha byelection victories, Akhilesh Yadav drove to Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati’s residence for a 30-minute meeting.
He said Mayawati was warm and bore no signs of rivalry or bitterness. “She was welcoming. She took me on a pictorial tour of her journey from a commoner to being Chief Minister four times of the country’s most populous state.”
Akhilesh Yadav accused the Yogi Adityanath government of doing nothing in Uttar Pradesh in the past one year as compared to the “exemplary development” under his watch.
“The only thing the BJP government has done in the past one year is to cut ribbons of projects that were initiated by the SP government.”
Getting philosophical, he recounted how having studied in a military school at Dhaulpur in Rajasthan and later in Bengaluru, he had forgotten he was a backward-caste person.
“I almost forgot it until the BJP reminded me of my backward caste DNA. I am thankful to them for doing so. I would like to say that I may be born in a backward family, but I am a forward looking person who is progressive, has a vision and is growth-oriented.”
He listed many failures of the state government while calling the BJP confused and jittery.
He pointed out how they were trying desperately to find an answer to the coming together of the BSP and SP.
Asked if he planned for more parties to join them in a grand alliance, he said: “As of now it is just UP and the BSP-SP together.” His relationships with the Congress, he said, were normal and cordial.
(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
—IANS
