A director who made films out of passion
Ramadas had to sell off some of his property to pay the cinema theatre owners after ‘Newspaper Boy’ failed at the box office.
Pachalam ROB: A bridge to controversy
Kerala government had recently launched the construction works of the bridge with a width of 7.5 metres shelving the earlier proposals for wider bridge in the region
A political controversy that may have a bearing on electoral fortunes is raging at Pachalam over the proposed rail overbridge.
The State government had recently launched the construction works of the bridge with a width of 7.5 metres shelving the earlier proposals for wider bridge in the region. The authorities cited the increased public pressure and financial constraints of the governments for going in for the smaller version of the bridge.
Delina Pinheiro, the councillor representing the region in the Kochi Corporation, said the residents of the region were not much worried about the width of the bridge. “We, the residents of the region, had been demanding a bridge over the Pachalam railway cross for the past 40 years. We are fed up waiting on either sides of the railway cross for reaching our destinations,” said Ms. Pinheiro.
Considering the popular sentiments, Chief Minister Ommen Chandy took the initiative for beginning the work. Spadework for the project was done by Union Minister K.V. Thomas, Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany and Hibi Eden, MLA. People would respond in a positive way to the government initiative for addressing one of the long-standing demands, she said.
It is estimated that nearly 75,000 residents located in five Corporation divisions would be benefitted by the bridge.
But the LDF camp, which had been highlighting the issue, refuses to buy the theory.
E.M. Sunilkumar, the former councillor from the region and chairman of the Town Planning Standing Committee, felt it was an “election bridge” that the government had attempted to construct in the region.
The bridge, if constructed as planned earlier, would have served as a parallel thoroughfare for the Banerji Road. There are no plans to widen the roads in the region for handling the increased vehicular traffic when the bridge would be completed. The government has served eviction notice to 76 small-time traders in the region. These traders have been denied of their livelihood options. The government cheated the public by reducing the width of the bridge, he said.
Mr. Sunilkumar felt that there was widespread public sentiment against the government, which would be reflected in the election.
M. Anilkumar, the Corporation Councillor who spearheaded a campaign in the council for building the bridge in its original plan, felt that the UDF would have to pay a heavy price for its decision in the ensuing elections.
The preliminary works of the bridge would come to a halt after the elections as the State government is neck deep in financial crisis. The cash crunch will ground the work. No significant progress has been made regarding the land acquisition and mandatory clearances from the authorities, including the Railways. With the permanent closure of the level cross and delayed construction, people would be put to misery, he said.
Cochin airport welcomes hundreds of ‘turnaround’ tourists
The international terminal of the Cochin International Airport Limited here on Tuesday witnessed a huge movement of international ‘turnaround’ tourists, thanks to the German cruise liner Aida Aura that docked in Kochi on March 30.
As many as 949 international tourists in three aircraft landed here from Germany during the day to board the luxury cruiser while about 827 passengers who had disembarked from the ship, returned by the same aircraft.
The turnaround operations got off to a formal start as the first chartered flight from Frankfurt landed here by 2.25 a.m., followed by three other flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Senior officials of CIAL were present at the airport to coordinate the simultaneous arrival and departure of tourists, which continued till 9 a.m.
Large coaches and luggage vans were pressed into service to assist the guests.
Though a lean hour, arrangements were made at the immigration counters to expedite the clearance procedure apart from setting up a help desk outside the arrival lounge to carry out the paper works. All the arriving guests were taken straight to the Kochi port to complete the immigration and check-in formalities for boarding the ship.
With Kochi fast emerging as the prime cruise destination in the country, CIAL is taking more proactive steps in developing a ‘cruise exchange’ by connecting the airport with the Kochi port. With the initiative, it proposes to improve the number of chartered aircraft landings at the airport here and seeks to expand revenue from its core service of aircraft landings apart from earning directly for its role as the facilitator.
Online sale of IPL tickets begins on Thursday
The online sale of tickets for the seventh edition of the IPL, the first half of which has been shifted here due to the general elections in India, will start on Thursday.
The tickets will be available on www.iplt20.com and www.ticketmaster.ae.
They will also be available at select Lulu Hypermarkets in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, from April 6 while stadium box-office sales will start on April 10. The first leg of the IPL has been shifted out due to a clash of dates with the general elections scheduled from April 7 to May 12
The tickets will be available in different denominations.
The minimum price for the Abu Dhabi matches is AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham) 20 for a single match, and AED 30 for double-headers.
In Dubai, a ticket for one match will start at AED 30, and AED 50 for double-headers. In Sharjah, tickets will start at AED 30 for a single match, and AED 40 for the double-headers.
Eight teams will strive to win the coveted trophy between April 16 and April 30 at three different venues in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
The first of 20 matches of the UAE leg will be played on April 16 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, with reigning champions Mumbai Indians taking on Kolkata Knight Riders, the 2012 winners.
“I have spent a lot of time over the years in this wonderful country and it is great to see the excitement and buzz being generated prior to a tournament of this magnitude, here in the UAE,” said Sunil Gavaskar, Interim President BCCI-IPL, said.
Chairman of the IPL Governing Council Ranjib Biswal said the event would be exciting for the cricketing fraternity and people of the UAE.
“I want to thank the UAE government, the Emirates Cricket Board, the administrations of Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, as well as the three sports councils, for their support and commitment to host the IPL. The 20 matches to be played in the UAE will feature top cricketers from all over the world. I am sure that the opportunity to witness their heroes in action will prompt them to flock to the stadiums,” he said.
The Emirates Cricket Board has a proven track record in terms of hosting significant cricket series and tournaments.
The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2014, was held here recently.
Trailer: Rajinikanth's Kochadaiiyaan(HIndi)
The Hindi trailer for Kochadaiiyaan was officially unveiled by Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai on March 30. The film stars superstar Rajnikanth in double roles as the ancient warrior Kochadaiiyaan and his descendant Rana. Deepika Padukone is his leading lady in the film directed by his daughter Soundarya.
Madhuri Dixit named most inspirational female Bollywood icon
Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit has been named the most inspirational female Bollywood icon, becoming the first to receive the honour instituted last year.
The 46-year-old actress was bestowed the honour at the third annual Bradford Inspirational Women Awards (BIWA) in Bradford in the UK.
Last year, as the world celebrated 100 years of Bollywood cinema, a special category was announced at BIWA 2013 for the public to nominate their most Inspirational Female Bollywood Icon.
"Greetings everyone. I wanted to reach out and thank the Inspirational Women's Foundation for choosing me as the most inspirational Female Bollywood Icon of all times. It's indeed a great honour," Dixit said in a special video message played at the event.
"I've been a staunch advocate of women's empowerment and I've worked hard throughout my career to advance the cause. It is heartening to see that gender equality is really becoming more of a reality. There is still much more to be done and I'm confident that, by working together, we can empower women worldwide. I would personally like to thank Fatima Patel, Jane Vincent and the Inspirational Women's Foundation for making this possible. Thank you," she added.
The unsung female heroes of Bradford were also once again honoured for their contributions and achievements across public and home life at the coveted award ceremony, which continues to go from strength to strength, with a new category added each year.
This year's new category was Inspirational Woman in Public Services. In addition, two Special Awards were presented on the night by the founders of the Inspirational Woman Foundation - a not for profit organisation established to work with and to support women, be it at home, in the workplace, in the community or in business, of which the Inspirational Women Awards are now a part.
An independent panel of judges comprising Adeeba MalikMBE; Deputy Chief Executive of Bradford-based charity, QED; David Ward MP, Bradford East; and Susan Jones, HR Director, Freeman Grattan Holdings selected the category winners, which were announced on the night.
Women's group wants Shashi Tharoor to apologise for lines on Nair women in his 1989 novel
Women's wing of the Communist Party of India in Kerala has sought an apology from Union minister Shashi Tharoor over some lines he wrote on women of the Nair community in his 1989 book, The Great Indian Novel.
Kerala Mahila Sangham said the Congress MP, seeking a reelection from Thiruvananthapuram, "defamed Nair women by depicting them as immoral.
Tharoor himself is from the Nair community which has dominance in his constituency.
These are the controversial lines from the novel: "In Kerala, the men of Nair community realise that their wives are free to receive them by seeing if another man's slippers aren't outside her door."
The lines appear on page 71 of the book. Tharoor attributes these lines to King Pandu, a character in the Mahabharata, who is speaking to his wife Kunthi.
Indira Raveendran, working president of Kerala Mahila Sangam, claimed Tharoor deliberately tried to defame Nair women by putting the statement into Pandu's mouth.
The Great Indian Novel is a satirical work of fiction written that makes fun of the political class in India. Tharoor mingles politics, mythology, culture and tradition in the novel.
Tharoor's major opponent in Thiruvananthapuram is CPI's Bennet P. Abraham, who is from the Nadar community, another prominent caste in the constituency.
The women's group's attack on Tharoor comes after the minister complained to the election commissioner against CPI leader V.S. Sunil Kumar, accusing him of defamation.
"V.S. Sunil Kumar directly accused me of murdering my wife (in a channel show). Such outrageous falsehood is both defamatory and a violation of section 1(2) of the model code of conduct. In this case, the individual and the channel are both culpable since the remark was made as a part of organised discussion that the channel made no effort to stop, criticise or edit out," Tharoor said in his complaint.
Afghan girl Shakila meets her heart Salman Khan
It was Afghan girl Shakila Zareen’s dream to meet Bollywood superstar Salman Khan someday. After all, she loves him!
In India to reconstruct a once-beautiful face left badly-disfigured by a gun-toting, cruel husband, Shakila met her heartthrob today in Mumbai.
And imagine her joy when Salman Khan confided that his ancestors too fled Afghanistan six generations ago for the very same reason she is in India — lawlessness. “And it’s still the same. They follow Islam, they say. But they don’t follow any religion. All they believe is in dominating women, unlike Islam which talks so much about woman power and their rights,” Salman Khan gently told Shakila, after hearing her desperate story of abuse that hopefully will find answers here.
And, in this case, Deccan Chronicle was only too happy to be the dream merchant! With loads of help, of course, from actor Salman Khan’s father, the very dear Salim Khan.
We flew her down to Mumbai from Delhi where she is being treated by doctors at the Apollo Hospital.
Do You Know India's Prostitute Village???
For generations, one Indian village has seen widespread prostitution, with women passing on the trade to their children.
Nat Purwa, a small village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is about a two-hour drive from the provincial capital, Lucknow. In the mornings dozens of young children wearing tattered clothes trot along its dusty streets. It is hard not to notice their big, round, undernourished bellies. The children disappear into the fields, chasing away stray cattle.
Like most other villages around here, Nat Purwa suffers from abject poverty. But one element makes the village stand out from others in the area: Here, prostitution is a hereditary occupation, passed on from one generation of women to the next.
When Chandralekha turned 15, she joined the trade like the rest of the village girls. "My grandma said: 'The whole village is involved in prostitution. What difference does it make if you become one?' My grandmother is the one who got me involved," she told Al Jazeera.
Wrinkles criss-cross the 50-year-old's face as she recounts her past. "I always felt bad. With the first man, then the second, fourth, fifth, sixth. Thousands of men come to one woman. I'd say a woman starts feeling bad since the beginning, but there's a weakness. There's a hungry stomach to feed and there is resignation."
Chandralekha gave up prostitution owing to intolerable abuse. "I realised there's no respect," she said. "A whore is a whore."
Chandralekha and thousands of other women from Nat Purwa belong to the Nat community. The Nats have led a marginalised existence for decades. Before prostitution became the norm, Nats were historically performers, and some still carry on this tradition.
In 1871, the Criminal Tribes Act was passed under British rule, which classified certain tribes as engaging in "criminal activities". The Nats were one of the tribes targeted by this law.
Madhu Kishwar, the editor of Manushi , a journal and forum for women's rights, explained. "They [Nats and other 'criminal tribes'] used to be dancers, acrobats, jugglers and magicians," she said.
"During the colonial period, the British outlawed their activities. They got beaten up, arrested, locked up and brutalisation continued. This dried up their traditional source of livelihood, and women had no choice. They ended up in prostitution - what [else] will they do?"
Kishwar said that, more than six decades after independence, the legal framework in India still views the marginalised community through a colonial prism.
"I am taking their case to the Supreme Court," she told Al Jazeera. "It's a long process but I am not giving up." She added that there needed to be a major shift in "the colonial mindset" among all people in India in order to bring about real change on the ground.
A pan-India phenomenon?
Nat Purwa is not unique: academic Dr Anuja Agrawal , who has conducted research on the subject, said it's difficult to estimate the exact number of such "prostitute villages" in India.
"They are spread across [the Indian states of] Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan," she said. "And like Nats, for other communities such as Bedias, Faasi and Banjar. Prostitution has emerged as a strategy of survival among several such communities."
Agrawal says all these communities are inter-linked: "They share a distinct past. They were all nomadic tribes who settled with their communities in small villages."
| "At least 30 percent of the women in the village are still sex workers. If you want to see progress, you should be able to offer them an alternative way of earning their livelihood." - Ramu Babu, ASHA Trust |
In her book Migrant Women and Work, Agrawal wrote about the women of the Bedia community and their "proclivity" towards prostitution. There is a "family dimension" to the trade, she said. The men are also involved, making sex work an important aspect of the family economy.
This phenomenon isn't restricted to the northern and central plains of India. In south of the country, the Devadasi tradition has ensured that sex work remains the primary occupation among women from certain communities.
In the pre-colonial era, Devadasis were often temple dancers who were "married" to temple deities. Under British rule, temple dancing came to be classified as a criminal act, and the women were forced instead to sell their bodies for an income. Sex work then became a "tradition" among these communities, and today it has attained a certain level of social and cultural sanction.
Over the years, women from these communities have migrated to urban centres within India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and even, reportedly, internationally to cities such as Dubai. "Even if you go to the brothels and red-light areas in these big cities, you'll find women from these communities," said Agrawal.
One study has estimated that as many as one percent of the entire adult female population in India may be involved in the sex trade. The Indian government has taken various measures to rehabilitate these women and protect their children. Last October, the Delhi government laid out a proposal to converge several such measures under an umbrella scheme for sex workers.
"We have in fact just begun work with sex workers from marginalised communities," said Ratna Prabha, of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
"In states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, we have begun doing a base-line survey. We are trying to find out what their needs are in terms of health, education, housing, and other economic factors. We are also trying to find out what their children need or what they will need in their old age. In all these states, we are working with the state government and reputed NGOs."
De-stigmatising
Back in Nat Purwa, the children have returned from playing in the fields. When asked what their names are, they only give their first names; many don't have surnames. Nat Purwa is known elsewhere as "a village of bastards".
For instance, Ram Babu, field researcher with a local NGO called ASHA Trust, said he faced stigma when he left to pursue higher studies. "They would ask us: 'Whose son are you? A prostitute's son? You must be a bastard then. Nobody knows who your father is. Nobody knows whose son you are.' These are the questions all of us face. I am sure everybody feels hurt by it."
Ram Babu, who, incidentally, was born "out of wedlock", said the only way to make villagers' past bearable is to work towards a better future. "At least 30 percent of the women in the village are still sex workers," he told Al Jazeera. "If you want to see progress, you should be able to offer them an alternative way of earning their livelihood. If they are given a concrete option, then they will give it a serious thought.".
The NGO worker pointed out that lack of education is slowing the pace of progress. "It's a big problem here. When there's no education, it's easy to be misled," he said.
Nat Purwa's school doesn't look particularly impressive. In desolate surroundings, the building has one hall with a few benches and a blackboard. Rukmini [name changed], a 12-year-old student, said shyly: "I don't know what I'll become. I'll become whatever I have to become. I could work in an office or something."
She did not seem fiercely ambitious. But given Nat Purwa's bleak surroundings, dreaming was never going to be easy.
OLD IS GOLD- Sindooracheppu 1971 (Movies in Memmories)
Madhu, Sankaradi, JAR Anand, Bahadur, Jayabharathi, Prema, T.P. Radhamani, Philomina , Baby Shobha , Master Vijayakumar
Sindooracheppu, released on November 26, 1971, was the first Malayalam film that featured an elephant and a mahout as its main characters. And not surprisingly, the film was a huge hit.
The Tamil film Yaanaippaakan (1960) had a mahout as its central character. This film, as well as its Hindi dubbed version Mahout (1961), also succeeded at the box office. But these films did not portray the true life of a mahout. Sindooracheppu was a realistic presentation of a mahout’s life and his emotional bond with the animal.
Directed by actor Madhu, the film was produced by noted lyricist-poet Yusuf Ali Kecheri, who also wrote the story, script, and dialogues. Produced under the banner of Anjana, the film was shot at AVM, Prakash and Venus Studios.
The rich Kerala landscape and folklore formed its backdrop. The outdoor scenes were canned at Deshamangalam Mana (a traditional mansion of Namboodiri Brahmins) and Cheruthuruthy village, located on the banks of the Bharathapuzha River.
Cinematography, which was by Martin Aloysius, Vasanth B.N. and Benjamin, supervised and controlled by noted cameraman U. Rajagopal, was outstanding. Editing by G.Venkitaraman, art direction by Konnanat, and music by G. Devarajan were the other highpoints of the film.
Madhu, Sankaradi, Muthiah, Premji, Jayabharathi, Prema etc. essayed important roles.
But the star of this somewhat violent film was the elephant Gopi. The elephant behaves and even thinks like a human, like his mahout, rebelling against ill-treatment and injustice. Some of the ‘star elephants’ of the time, such as Vishwakumar of Periyanampatta Devaswom, Lucky, owned by Bharat Circus and Ramachandran of Guruvayoor Devaswom, have been featured in this film.
The story revolves around an elephant and its mahout. Sankaran Nair (Sankaradi) is a mahout who lives in a remote village with his daughter Ammalu ( Jayabharathi) and wife (Prema). Sankaran is appointed as mahout of Gopi by its owner Namboodiri (Premji), a rich landlord. The village soothsayer, Kaniyan (JAR Anand) foretells that Gopi will kill three people. This prophecy instils fear in Ammalu’s mind. As a child she even attempts to kill Gopi by putting ants into his trunk.
Once, Sankaran in a drunken state annoys Gopi. He changes Gopi’s position in a temple procession allowing another mahout to place the thidambu (idol of the deity) on the top of his elephant. Humiliated, Gopi goes wild and kills two mahouts. The police team that arrives on the scene decides to shoot down Gopi. Kesavan, a wandering mahout, reaches the place and saves Gopi’s life by calming him down. Kesavan is appointed as Gopi’s mahout, and Sankaran as his assistant.
Ammalu falls in love with Kesavan and they decide to marry. Sankaran is dismissed from service by the landlord when he finds out he had been ill-treating Gopi. Sankaran turns against Kesavan. He decides to marry Ammalu to another person. Ammalu believes that Gopi was the cause for all her sorrow and bad luck. She attempts to kill Gopi once again. This time Gopi reacts and tramples Ammalu to death. Kesavan leaves the village throwing the mahout’s hook into the river, symbolic of giving up his profession in protest against cruelty to elephants.
Some of the scenes and the minor characters closely resembled those in Thomas Hardy’s novels. The village barber (Thodupuzha Radhakrishnan), tea shop owner (Bahadur) and the mad woman (Philomina) are examples.
The songs, written by Yusuf Ali Kecheri and composed by Devarajan, were well received. Some of them like Omalaale kandoo njaan (K.J. Yesudas), Ponnil kulicha raathri (Yesudas), and Thambraan thoduthathu (P.Madhuri) turned huge hits. The other popular songs included Thanneeril viriyum thamarappoo (Yesudas) and Mandachaare mottathalaya (Madhuri-Susheela Devi).
Will be remembered: As the first Malayalam film with an elephant and its mahout as main characters and for its excellent music.
