Tidbits of the region’s media
Afghanistan now has the honour of being the first country of the region to have its own remake of The Office, the hit UK TV series that has inspired copycat versions around the world. The serial is titled The Ministry – a prudent naming choice given that Afghanistan has few commercial enterprises. The series mocks the incompetence of Afghan politicians, taking in issues of corruption, nepotism and even suicide bombings. In a trailer clip posted on YouTube, the audience is introduced to the Minister of Garbage, a jolly, balding, vain character with a scruffy beard, in a mythical Hechland ('Nothing land' in Dari). When the first episode aired on 4 August, viewers were reportedly glued to their TV screens. Chhetria Patrakar is delighted with this welcome cheer in a country that has been embroiled in one conflict after another. Now, Tolo TV, could you also upload episodes (not just the first one) on YouTube as soon as they air, please? Oh, and don't forget your region-wide audience: the first episode, uploaded on 17 August, lacked subtitles.
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The channel of inspiration flows both ways – not just into Southasia from the West, as seeing Bollywood's copycat version of Hollywood hits would lead you to believe. Mick Jagger, the front man of both the Rolling Stones and, since May, of the new 'supergroup' SuperHeavy, recently began singing in Sanskrit, alongside Southasia's darling musician A R Rahman. For one SuperHeavy song, Jagger sings, 'Satyameva jayate', translated in English as 'truth alone triumphs' – which also happens to be the national motto of India. Heavy indeed, especially coupled with Jagger's heavy British accent! With all the other members of the (semi-) transnational band – Damian Marley (yes, he is related to Bob), Joss Stone and Dave Stewart – joining in, the band's second single is quite groovy and upbeat. Now, although Sanskrit still has no hope of revival, lovers of the dead language can at least take pride in another major rock star singing in it, after John Lennon of the Beatles for the track 'Across the Universe'. Now it's time to figure out how best to sing in the language: crooning or screaming, as Jagger is wont to do?
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While it's not really the singers who are at fault here, the Indian government still needs to clarify why it does not ensure that those who do sing the Indian national anthem sing it correctly. One Professor Shreekanth Malushte, who filed a petition regarding the matter in the Mumbai High Court, has compiled a list of performers who forget to replace 'Sindh' with 'Sindhu' while singing the anthem. In the original 'Jana Gana Mana', composed by Rabindranath Tagore, 'Sindh' was used to refer to one of the regions that the name 'Bharat' evokes. However, Partition resulted in Sindh becoming one of the provinces of Pakistan, of course, and subsequently, in 1950, the Indian Constituent Assembly replaced 'Sindh' with 'Sindhu', referring to the Indus River. Yet, Prof Malushte alleges that many singers continue to sin in singing 'Sindh', even at government functions! The court is due to hear his complaint in mid-September. Meanwhile, while we're at it, why not also raise the issue that the anthem leaves out the Northeast as one of the regions 'India' brings to mind – or Nepal, as Taslima Nasrin seems to think. What say, Prof?
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Tunes of a different kind – threatening ones – have forced Nepali journalists and editors to appeal to now-Caretaker Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal for media security. The story goes back to late May, when Parshuram Basnet, a member of the Youth Association Nepal (YAN) – the youth wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Khanal's party – together with 18 accomplices attacked a prisoner and policemen in a court in the eastern district of Morang. When this incident was reported by the Morang correspondent of the Nepali-language daily Nagarik, Basnet's gang thrashed the reporter, Khilanath Dhakal.
Needless to say, the attack energised the journalism community near and far. Immediately, journalists nationwide demanded Basnet's arrest – which has yet to materialise – though the police did make appropriate noises. Anyway, as the police finally prepared to file a case against the still-at-large Parshuram Basnet, YAN's chairman, Mahesh Basnet, publicly threatened to 'settle scores' with every journalist who has written against Basnet No 1. (Oops! CP is now one of those journos!) Basnet No 2 also said that he would close down Nagarik and imprison its editor-in-chief, Narayan Wagle, leading the Federation of Nepali Journalists to demand assurances of security from the prime minister. Khanal did finally promise to provide security to the media – before packing a delegation of journalists and then resigning from office, all on the same day! Not a peep out of him thereafter. Take care! says the caretaker.
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After a decidedly flat take on contemporary politics with the movie Rajneeti last year, Prakash Jha has now ventured into the field of education with Aarakshan (Reservation) – and a new set of controversies. Now, any film on reserved quotas for 'backward' groups in education in India is bound to be controversial. The issue had brought upper-caste students out on the streets in 2006, protesting caste-based reservation in education. The new movie has not only angered Dalits by casting a Muslim royal, Saif Ali Khan (with a dashing moustache), as a low-caste Hindu, but also invited bans (yawn!) in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The state governments evidently feared violence due to the film's use of 'objectionable' terms to describe Dalits. However, within a day of the film's 12 August release, the ban was lifted in Punjab and Andhra. In UP, though, where the government is headed by Dalit leader Mayawati, Jha was forced to go through the drama of promising to remove some of the 'offensive' scenes, dragging the Supreme Court into the mess before the movie could even start its run in theatres.
Unfortunately, the movie itself is as tiresome as the ban saga. Although touted as the next big cinematic comment on burning social issues of the day, it has instead stayed true to present a version of politics for dummies – although, given the bans … well, you know what they say about reel versus real life. Add to all this the Big B in the role of – you guessed it – the morally righteous, albeit weather-beaten, hero. (Talk about a pigeonhole! Seriously, enough already, Mr Bachchan!) Now, let's see how many Dalits are in the movie's caste – oops, cast – Amitabh Bachchan: Kayasth; Manoj Bajpai: Brahmin; Deepika Padukone: Brahmin; Prateik Babbar: Kshatriya; Saif Ali Khan: royal Muslim …
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Looks like The Economist is in hot water again in Southasia – and here CP was thinking the earlier brouhaha was a one-off (See Mediafile, July 2011 as well as, probably, regularly before that. Whoever knew economics could be so contentious?). In an article dated 30 July, titled 'Embraceable you', the venerable 'newspaper' ventured to discuss India-Bangladesh relations in view of the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh. Much of what was stated in the article did not go down well with the government in Dhaka. In a response almost as long as the offending article, which was duly published by the magazine, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry accused the magazine of a 'smear campaign' against the country and its current government. Now, CP understands that the media has to ruffle feathers, but wonders whether The Economist ruffled the right ones here. The problem is not with the magazine calling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a 'dynast' bent on building a 'personality cult' around her late father after winning the 2008 elections with 'bags of Indian cash and advice', but with the credibility of the article itself. Why does it name no sources and then try to pass it off the article as a report rather than an opinion? 'Military types' said this, an American university poll said that, so on and so forth. On the other hand, the Dhaka government needs to pipe down its protest and how-dare-you attitude – if the media doesn't dare, who will?
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If you are a teenager between the ages of 16 and 18 in Pokhara, in central Nepal, then you better shape up. Your parents, teachers and the local administration have finally decided to bring you into line once and for all – by banning mobile phones, motorbikes and miniskirts (He bhagwan!). Through this 'three Ms' campaign (has any public policy ever worked without some snappy alliteration?), the authorities hope to bring back 'rectitude' in the touristic city. OK, teenaged bikers do get involved in accidents, but then that's true of any reckless driver. Use of mobile phones inside classrooms does disturb the learning environment, but why not just switch them off rather than banning them? And don't even get CP started on miniskirts and 'moral standards' – anything banned solely on the 'will of the community' is bound to get the blood pressure righteously rising.