Mumbai Pictures : Progressive" Masala..?

The "Progressive " Invasion of social cultural identity that swarmed into India in the late 90s and 2000s did not spare the forum of cinema from its grip.

The previously fiercly guarded film format made many concessions to the progressive wave of culture to such a great extent that it is legitimate claim that films today are completely different from those just 15 years ago.

The first major change that came is the obvious.... SLEEZE material that began with the western clothing of late 90s fashion that exposed more of the body , espcicially the bust and the legs, and then to girls making physcial gestures of lewd suggestions and obvious promiscuis nature.

These points were predictable since the indian audience of the 70, 80s and early 90s...got as much as they wanted of sleeze from western cinema through video rentals...Now there was an opening to put these elements in hindi movies via the domestic supplier.. the bollywood film producers.

As the Progressive or " times have changed" motto entered the mumbai film industry and audience.. this was the first and most predictable allowance from western cinema...

In Early 2ks... the sleeze quota for bollywood was represented through the " Item Number" component of any standard film. Girls who could not achieve as a leading girl... through the persona of the virgin could abandon ship and enter the item girl market. The new level of sleeze required by producers for the item number was justified with the title of "modern"... THe modern item girl would immediately be recognized by the title, image and qualities of the Item number upon being recognized in a film.

Maybe the most well know example is the "khallas girl" from company. She could not achieve as leading lady .... At age 25.. she made the sudden decision to become an item girl. She must have considered , that there probably would be no going back to leading roles after such exposure.

Company proved to be one of the landmark movies of the year, 2002, and decade to this point.
Though the rest of the film was stictly sleeze free... the khallas girl item number must be attached to it to judge the whole work in its entirity.

The khallas number had no other function in the film... but to entertain those in the audience who had a default demand for sleeze.. The prominent khallas number had no relevance to the nature or story of the film.. Boney Kapoor , the producer of the film, saw the box office rewards from its prospect and put it in the film.. Here it is an evidence that even as early as 2002, the sleeze item number had become a standard in the new format of films. Ram Gopal Varmas trend setting nature in films had the effect of popularizing the plot independent modern item number as it appeared in greater frequency in the films of the years ahead.


Beyond the sleeze item number , which is never the core of the film but a sideshow, the more important changes occured the main characters of the film.

LIFE, THE SALVATION......by Aninda Rahman

This article is repost of Aninda's note on facebook....




LIFE, THE SALVATION


---------------------------------------
(to richie, thambi & me who find religion interesting)


Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do -Luke 23:34
Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise -Luke 23:43


is it funny
that all of your life
you’ve waited for a sudden

death,
on roopnarayana
if someone asks
who the hell

are you;
do you,
make it clear
you are in fact
in process
a what-the-hell

what a what you all are
that waited all the way
for a sudden death
a sudden fall
that a hanging note slips
from the staff
(a graph of pitch
with respect to time)
or from the figures
of the eternal pianist
what a what !

yet with each morning
that comes with a news of death
you start afresh
with a squeeze of toothpaste

you care for what
so
ever
you are;

and with breads
all perforated
and both side toasted
like your sample souls
you start afresh
and with a denial

a better saturday comes
after a good friday
when you have a life to live

yes you do;
that’s a brave one
awkwardly brave
as you know
what you are doing.

as you know
what you are doing
is what you are.

Future Articles I will write...

1) Darren Starr.... the mind behind the landmark Tv shows of the last two decades...

90201, Melrose Place, and ofcourse Sex and the City

2 ) Full House... the TV show from 80s , 90s... what happened to wholesome America...



3. A Review of the Movie / book ...The Namesake..



American Television


4. The Decline of Westerns or Cowboy movies in the 1980s and 1990s... and rise the of the Epic..or History movies in the 90s and 2000s...




5. The " Ball Game in New York "

6. The Death of Decency in America... what happened to frank sinatra...

7. Bill O Reily .... and the need for the " angry white man" to be seen in the clear..

8. Rajani and the rise of the Black Heroes...

9. Simran ... the banner girl for the Hindi Bombay Vamp in Tamil Movies..

Sports Talking ....

A big part of the cultural phenemena of sports... is the relationship between the vieweres and the game. The media serves as an occasional buffer between the viewers and the game as they have more access to the game ... since they directly view it and some people dont know they game well enough to take it all in by themselves..

The media is in the form of the color sports commentators..

Here I will describe those commentators that have encouraged my interest and understanding of American sports... esp... NBA and to a lesser extent NFL , tennis



1. Bob Costas .... the best of best... he covered MJ and Bulls in later 90s..
His coverage is some of the best english I think i have ever heard from a an american

2. John Madden... NFL... We all know the name from his brand of video games.. .the highest paid broadcasted for NFL... His natural impulse comments and attention to other wise un noticeable things keep me coming back... He is the only reliable entertainment for Monday Night Football..

3.. Tony Kornheiser... A DC local...Has his daily PTI tv show... , the Washington Post.. and now Monday night football...


4. Steve Young...
NFL... The most charming white man in America... His natural personality is the like that of leading man hero character of 1960s film of a more chaste America... You forget how lewed and nasty the defining qualities of America have become becuase of how serene his persona is ..


5. Hubie Brown

6. Skip Bayless

Bill Walton

7. Stephen A Smith

8. Peter Vescey

9. Mark Jackson..

10. Kenny Smith

TWINS:.... ITALIAN -- PUNJABI

Welcome to my TWINS section....
Here i will post pictures of famous people.. generally from different racial types... that have striking resemblance in facial features...

Let me know what u think about them....:



1.

I always find it interesting when I see people from different " race" .. or countries that have a striking resemblance... It gives me a sudden epiphany about geography, the idea of race, and varieties of the world... ..

Here I am showing some pictures of two of my favorite people...that I see regularly on TV
Manu Ginobilli... An Italian from Argentina... playing in the NBA....
and Vivek Oberoi.... A Punjabi Indian Film Actor.. Ginobilli Ginobilli

The more I look at them.. the more they look alike to me...:
Vivek Oberoi
fsdfsdf

Vivek

This is Viveks father.... Suresh Oberoi.. ..He looks even more like Ginobilli than his Vivek...
Ginobilli

I always find it interesting when I see people from different " race" .. or countries that have a striking resemblance... It gives me a sudden epiphany on the whole concept of race and geographic and entire creation of human being...

Here I am showing some pictures of two of my favorite people...that I see regularly on TV

Manu Ginobilli... An Italian from Argentina... playing in the NBA....

and Vivek Oberoi.... A Punjabi Indian Film Actor..
Ginobilli Ginobilli

The more I look at them.. the more they look alike to me...:

Vivek Oberoi

fsdfsdf

..

Gaura Kaala......Black or White...?

The concept of " Race" is an article that has had tremendous significance over the last 100 years in the progressive social culture of America, the West and all its extentions in the International forum

In America it is the single biggest divisor in the defacto class system. All legitimate Americans have to be classified as White or Black .

If you dont associate either of these labels to yourself , you are an asterisk or foreign or ethinic looking person..

White and Black... although words that indicate color.... are cultural ( or man made ) classifications of biological features of stocks of peoples.

So white and black , despite how normalized they have become in the American hegemony of culture ....... are still cultural perspectives about " Race"..

This means that I dont accept Black and White as scientific or True categories for people to belong but a simplification to assign people to cultural groups...

The ancestors of American White people... are Europe..
and that of Black Americans is Africa.....

In Europe and Africa... the various countries.. do not identify themselves immediately by color but by other cultural features... such as .. Language and Tribal Lineage and other abstract cultural features...

So a German would identify himself first as German... and to lesser extent as White..
Likewise in Africa.. .an Gambian would identify himself as Gambian before Black...
There would be significant culture gap between two African races such as between Gambian and and a Kenyan.... and likewise between a German and an Italian...
Since there are major culture gaps between races of the same " color"... the " color" itself such as White or Black is not enough to be a binding force ...

There is more cultural animosity in Europe between Eurpean countries than between any such European country and any isloated African country..

In American the only cultural label for americans.... is White and Black... since all other cultural features of America are subject to " progressive" character of American establishment.. which means that they will likely change every 10 years... or sooner.... to an ireconciliable point.

Islam-iya Aaj Tak...! --- Discussions of Islam in the International Forum ....

Since the 9/11 and the subsequent military devastations of Afghanistan and Iraq... the Muslim scholars have had more importance and significance as they are responsible for the provision of intellectual discussion about Islam .. in all arenas :

theology, history , current society, and political revelance.... to both the Muslim community , and the International community .

In my observations of the world ... I have found some scholars much more competent in representing the elements of Islam than others...

Here I will discuss those who have appealed to me most


1) Dr. Zakir Naik - Indian Muslim Scholar :

Zakir is by far the person who has informed me the most about the finite definate points of islam that I did not know before hand.
His background as medical doctor and his highly structured and scientific method of representing Islam was very appealing. He has been doing " dawah" for more than 10 years all over the world while holding discussion forums aimed at informing people just like me... curious , speculative non muslims.

Like most Muslim scholars he has studied the Christian and Jewish religion texts and history meticulously.. but unlike most most muslim scholars, he has thoroughly studied Hindu Indian tradition in both history and religion texts..

The Hindu relgion texts, the longest amount of texts of any established religion, are the source of the most amount of debate within any religion. None of the the alleged Hindu scholars of the recent age have clearly transalted the meanings and significance of these texts to the objective scholastic academy of religion in either india or abroad..
Meaning, that those academians who challenge the background or credibility of the Hindu texts were not given concrete or even remotely viable answers about its content. All that was offered by the Hindu voice was an answer in the form an abstract poem..... whihc although rich in virue did not answer the questions that initiated the reply..>?

With this said, Zakir Naik.. who is first qualied in the Islam Qoran.... memorizing every line and attempting to know the signicance of each line... has gone to extreme extent of doing so with the Hindu scriptures and challenging those who represent it.. the Hindu Priest.. to represent and explain its core meaning...

Zakir Naik is the only public figure.. who I have found even remotely competent in honestly and directly explain the convoluted meanings of the Hindu scriptures.

I feel inclined to give him more acclaim for his understanding of Hindu scriptures... then his over the Islamic Qoran... since the Hindu Scriptures have less public attention to translation for the masses.


2) Israr Ahmed - Indian Muslim Scholar

3) Muaammar Gaddafi - president of Libya

4) Ahmed Deedat- Indian Muslim scholar from Africa

5) Brother Imran- Indian - founder of IREC