Film Review

The Japanese Wife—old world romance with a heart of gold

     

         An Aparna Sen film for both art movie connoisseurs and lovers of poignant love stories, that is what The Japanese Wife is. A story about two people who live in two different countries & weave their lives and take it forward only through the medium of letters and chaste love. A Bengali film with English sub-titles, it manages to hold the audience’s attention through every moment of it.

      This epistolary romance is based on a novel by Kunal Basu and happens to be Aparna Sen’s first screenplay adaptation. It is about Snehamoy Chatterjee, a lonesome Maths teacher living in an interior village of the Sunderbans in Bengal and his Japanese pen wife Miyagi who lives in Yokohama. It was Miyagi who proposed marriage in this unique relationship and simple Snehamoy agrees and sends her “vermilion for the parting of the hair” to officially marry her. The endearing conversations through letters take the story forward with perfect performances by the leads played by Rahul Bose and Chigusa Tikaku. Other note worthy performances are those by Moushumi Chatterjee who was an absolute revelation  as Snehamoy’s crackling, pan chewing aunt and Raima Sen as a young widowed girl who warms up to Snehamoy for the little concern that he shows towards her.

       There is a gripping kite-flying competition scene in the film where Snehamoy flies Japanese kites sent to him by his wife and competes against the local kite-maker’s team and manages to defeat him. With chants of “Indian kites, zindabad; Japanese kites, murdabad” it makes for a truly splendid watch. Sunderbans and its every  aspect is shown very well, starting from the ebb and flow of the river which cuts it off from the rest of the world, to the cruel thunderstorms and slippery river banks which often don’t allow Miyagi’s precious letters to reach Snehamoy.

       The movie begins to grow on its viewers after a while and from then on it simply stays with them. With an intense sense of sadness in it at a point, the futility of life is felt. But it is also difficult to miss the strong sense of hope lodged securely in it. Some might have a problem with the pace of the movie as it tends to be slow in places but it fits in very well with all the characters of the movie and its basic theme. If you want to watch a film which has its heart at the right place and is not pretentious even for a second, watch The Japanese Wife and feel it tug at your heart-strings.

Flat owners find outstation students easy prey

        Bangalore: When it comes to higher education, Bangalore is often the favourite of many students. The city has a lot to offer ranging from good colleges and universities to job opportunities and pleasant weather. Under all these positives, there is one particular negative which does not get oft reported.

         Outstation students staying in flats often get cheated and harassed by flat owners due to matters relating to the monthly rent. Suparna Saha, a Masters student from Christ University, staying in a flat on Tavarekere Road has faced a similar experience. She says, “According to the rent agreement, the owner can increase the rent by five per cent after a year, but he increased it by 15 per cent. I used to pay 7, 000 per month before. Now, he wants me to pay 8, 500 per month.”

         Suparna complained against this saying it was illegal as it flouted the rent agreement rules. “The owner simply asked me to vacate the flat if I did not want to pay the increased rent. Apparently there were a lot of other customers waiting to pay a much higher price for that flat.”

          This is not all. When Suparna tried to discuss this problem with her neighbours living in the same flat, she found out she and another female resident were the only ones being targeted this way. “I then went to a lawyer I happened to know to ask for legal assistance who told me this was too petty a matter to be taken to court and nothing could be done. I should just adjust”, says Suparna.

         This happens to be just one case among several others. Owners often refuse to return the full amount of advance payment made at the time of joining the flat.Another Masters student from Christ University staying in S. G. Palya says, “My flat owner wanted to increase the monthly rent suddenly, without any prior notice. I refused and told him I would leave the flat next month. So he argued and said he would bring people to show the house and I must allow them inside and should even leave the key with him whenever I go out. This is a complete breach of privacy.”

                                                                                Shanika Bhowmick

An overdose of fashion weeks

The fashion industry in India has evolved exponentially, coming a long way from the one major Lakme Fashion Week organised by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) to now hosting more than a dozen fashion weeks every year. Indian fashion and brands have surely gone global and business has never been better but these very frequent, multiple fashion weeks do make us question the integrity and quality of the art itself. Ramesh Dembla, noted fashion designer who recently showcased his collection in the just concluded Bangalore Fashion Week says, “Apart from the Lakme Fashion Week, Wills India Lifestyle Fashion Week and the Bangalore Fashion Week, I don’t see much credibility happening elsewhere. Fashion Weeks have become so commercialised today giving way only to big brands and show. Production wise no doubt it’s a good thing but quality should not suffer.”

             A rift was created in the Indian fashion world in late 2005 when FDCI tripled their sponsorship fee and found a new production partner in IMG. Lakme then split up with them and started organising the Lakme Fashion Week in India, bringing in much glitz, glamour and media attention, which set it apart from its Delhi counterpart. Another new thing for which the Lakme Fashion Week was much applauded was that it allowed a lot of new and young fashion designers to showcase their works. It almost worked as a launch pad but with much talent and promise. The Bollywood connection was strongly roped in bringing in the whole new craze for front row tickets for the fashion shows.

           Though now there was a clear divide in the fashion industry, several senior designers chose to appear at the ‘official’ fashion week being held in Delhi. It was the different companies and brands who faced a problem because they had to attend both the fashion weeks in order to be able to tap the complete market and for greater visibility. Designers also felt the need to appear at both the events to cater to the entire audience. This obviously led to a strain. Organisers and designers struggled to be able to meet the dates in both the cities, with work bordering on mediocrity. The standards were either stagnant or falling as collections started being shown without a clear sense of design and focus.

          Veteran fashion designer Suneet Verma had commented that and overdose of these fashion weeks were localizing the market. Earlier there were a lot of international buyers for the garments. But the recent flurry of regional fashion weeks has stopped that. There are fashion weeks being held in Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur and there are even talks of having a Ludhiana Fashion Week. A customer in Jaipur will not come to attend the Fashion Week in the capital or in Mumbai because he has a fashion week in his own city. The city specific shows are largely client-oriented and therefore do not do much for the fashion industry as a whole. Even the launch of a store these has a gala fashion week planned ahead for it. The whole utility of these regional fashion weeks were slightly misjudged. It was great in terms that it made fashion more accessible to the local buyer but now with an unhealthy number of fashion weeks springing up every time the standards are surely falling and in return doing no good to the industry.

             There are certain brands and businesses who have embraced this situation and using it in a commercial savvy way. Introduction of online purchase, sale through social networking site, and direct online streaming of shows have generated a lot of good business. The media frenzy too for these events has created a buzz. This situation is further helped by the strong Bollywood presence felt every time. Ramesh Dembla says, “Having a Bollywood personality for a show stopper every time does guarantee a packed audience and extensive media coverage but it has nothing to do with the collection. The work has to be good irrespective of the glitz surrounding it.” Nowadays most fashion designers have a retail label of their own and they manufacture small volumes of their collection right after their show to cash in on the interest created by the shows.

              There is a brand or a logo everywhere you see in these fashion weeks. It’s a highly competitive market, with everyone vying for the customer’s attention, so this seems all right but sometimes it might border on distraction, laying too much focus on the sponsor rather than the work of the designer himself. At the DHL Future Fashion Show, promising new designers Kallol Dutta and Atsu Sekhose had been instructed by the organizers to draw inspiration from the DHL colours and show it in their creations. The fashion show which ensued was a matter of much talk and critique when the yellow and red garments appeared, bathed in yellow DHL light, under yellow and red DHL lanterns, making the entire event seem like a cheap gimmick. And this was done at the cost of two very talented upcoming designers.

             Keeping the highly politicised fashion hierarchy of India aside if we just concentrate on the design aspect, things will keep working. Indian fashion has a huge market outside the country and there a lot of young designers paving the way for an optimistic future headed by stalwarts like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Manish Malhotra, Rina Dhaka, and several others. The Indian fashion industry would surely benefit from a single and strong fashion week instead of so many, to be able to showcase the talents of Indian fashionistas with much more pizzazz.

Tarun Tejpal. Yes, I met him!

        When my Journalism professor emailed us about the launch of Tarun Tejpal’s new book, The Valley of Masks, I knew it was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. I promptly arranged the camera and went to attend the event praying I would at least get a chance to meet the legend personally.

        Oh what a delight it was to hear him speak. I went a little early and saw him interact with his old friends and relatives in Bangalore who had come to see him at the book launch. Trademark kurta, long hair tied loosely at the back, a hearty laughter and bright, sparkling eyes—Tarun Tejpal was a treat to observe.

       He started off by talking about how his book had originated. He got an idea during the 2007 Gujarat elections, when thousands of supporters were sporting Narendra Modi masks to support him. Just then he knew he wanted to write about why everyone wanted to be like a certain someone. What makes them pursue something to the exclusion of all else. Being a journalist for 28 years, he had noticed this pattern several times and knew it was something worth delving deeper into to get behind the ‘mask’ of humanity.

       He then revealed about an epiphanic moment he underwent when he realised that there would be no free time for him when he could just write and do nothing else. He simply had to learn to weave it into his daily hectic life and complete his long cherished novels.

         He also spoke about the Tehelka experience. He explained why he simply had to push to get Tehelka running again after it had been stalled by the Government. He felt they had been wronged and had to fight for justice. Also if they won, it would set an example for the country that someone who pushes for justice surely gets it.

        “The best education if life. Live. Live. Live.” “Don’t fear. Don’t feed power to the bullies. More the fear, more draconian the power.” These were few of the truly inspiring quotable quotes which had me admiring him even more.

         After the launch I nervously hung around the dais, waiting to get a word with him. Several fans got their books autographed by him. There were other local TV news and newspaper reporters as well who spoke to him. Right at the end, I walked up to him and requested for a short tete-a-tete which I wanted to shoot for my college news bulletin. He readily agreed with a smile. And there I was, interviewing Tarun Tejpal. He was very gracious and answered all my questions, not intimidating even for a second. After that, he signed a copy of Tehelka for me and even agreed for a photograph with my classmate Maitreyee Joshi and me.

           I went back home with a satisfied grin, a strange sense of high, and valuable lessons learnt from a stalwart.

         

Book Review

Love is a Mix Tape

Author: Rob Sheffield

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group

Cost:Rs. 620

    Part memoir, part music history and part tragedy, Rob Sheffield’s first book Love is a Mix Tape is a  piece of art. The first thing to strike you as unique in the book is the way it is structured. With names of chapters like Rumblefish, Love makes me do foolish things and Glossin’ and flossin’, you are already coaxed to sit up and take notice but what really grabs your attention is the entire playlist of mix tapes that precedes every chapter. With a detailed Side A and Side B list, these are actual tapes that Rob Sheffield and his late wife used to make for each other. As he later says, “Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together and they add up to the story of life.”

           A rather simple story of boy meets girl and how their love for music brings them together, despite inherent differences in their personalities, gets a poignant rendering in Rob Sheffield’s hands. He gives interesting and real details of their courtship and marriage when they were vibrant, young souls with little money in their pockets but with lots of love in their hearts, for each other and for music. Renee Crist, Sheffield’s “real cool hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl” wife didn’t have a long life as she died at the age of 31 of pulmonary embolism. All she left for her husband were lots of memories in the form of mix tapes. Sheffield then gives an account of how his life changed after Renee’s sudden death which left him floundering as he says, “I had no voice to talk with because she was my whole language.”

             You would expect a very sappy tone to continue in the book but that’s where Sheffield’s genius lies. Instead of being self-indulgent and depressing even for a moment, he opts for a exalted and refreshing tone. In very simple words, all he wants the readers to know is how awesome his wife Renee was, how much we would have enjoyed her company just as he did and how music is the only thing through which he can relive her time and again. “She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss. Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!” John Keats in his poem Ode on a Grecian Urn explained that immortality can be achieved when captured through works of art. This is exactly what Rob Sheffield does. He pays an excellent tribute to his wife through this book.

               The only let down in this book might arise if you do not share the knowledge of the bands and singers Sheffield talks about in his book. You might miss the excellent nuances he places all across the book like Easter goodies which you’ll delight to find. But the book is so engaging that I can bet you would be tempted to follow up and listen to all the tracks that are there on Sheffield’s mix tapes. And when you put down the book it will also be tough to resist the strong urge to make someone you love a mix tape yourself.

Are we still ethical?

The recent allegations made against eminent journalists of the country tarnish the image of the press as a whole. At least, that seems to be the perception.

         

           The uproar caused by the publication of phone conversations, in particular between NDTV Group Editor Barkha Dutt and lobbyist Niira Radia, is an indication of the strength of feeling on the issue of corruption among journalists. NDTV rubbished the allegations, calling it gathering of information; but the curious silence maintained initially by the press as a whole made the scene murky. Questions arose in the minds of the people as to why and how the Fourth Estate of democracy found its reputation dragged into a political scam.

               

         NDTV later organised a show where several prominent journalists openly questioned Barkha Dutt regarding the issue. The editor of Open magazine, Manu Joseph, who was on the panel, was clearly dissatisfied with her justifications.

            

       Vir Sanghvi and Prabhu Chawla, who also figured in the tapped phone conversations, were interrogated in another show conducted by Headlines Today. CNN-IBN’s Face the Nation programme also conducted similar discussions but chose to steer clear of getting to the core of the matter.

                           

        Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who was on the Press Council’s sub-committee that prepared a report on the paid news phenomenon, says proximity to people in positions of power or wealth “feeds the ego of certain journalists, and they feel as powerful and influential as the people they are with”. This perhaps explains why journalists land in such situations. They tread a fragile line where they have to clearly understand the difference between collection of information from sources and violation of journalistic ethics. Journalists who violate ethics may roll in the riches today but the crime of sullying the image of the press will definitely catch up with them tomorrow.

                  

       What corrective steps can be taken? Perhaps there is need for an impartial panel to investigate and bring to book all those individuals who bring disrepute and shame to the media. Influential companies are now willing to pay huge prices to get coverage, and so temptations are on the rise. Hard-earned reputations are at stake. Just as important, aspiring journalists may get all the wrong ideas. So all those who believe in the tenets of journalism must get together and ensure that such episodes never occur again. 

Who will watch the watchmen?

      Ever wondered what happens when the watchdog itself becomes suspect and needs to be ‘watched’? When the Fourth Estate, which is supposed to serve as a bulwark against corruption, is itself corrupt. This is what is happening in some sections of the Indian media now, thanks to the rampant phenomenon called ‘paid news’.

        Paid news is a major threat to Indian democracy today. Apparently some journalists are reporting stories for money; some newspaper managements are passing off advertisements as news. The line between editorial and advertorial is rapidly blurring

         There have also been reports of some newspapers publishing political advertisements as news reports. In the worst form of corruption, some newspapers  present a rate card to the political candidates, who pay for positive coverage of themselves or negative coverage of their opponents. This can surely lead to unfair election results and declining trust in the media. The paid news phenomenon, we are told, is not just restricted to election packages. Film, sports, and private treaties are also a part of the package.

         The practice of private treaties was pioneered by the publishers of the Times of India which began taking stakes in companies from 2005 in exchange for advertising space in its medium. A ‘paid content’ service called Medianet was started which, for a price, openly offers to send journalists to cover product launches or personality-related events.

       The Press Council of India (PCI) had set up a committee comprising noted journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy to examine the paid news scandal. They came out with a report which, to quote Thakurta, “named and shamed the perpetrators of paid news”. But the report never saw the light of the day as some council members argued that it would destroy the publishers’ credibility and hurt public interest.

         The issue must be used as an opportunity to restore falling credibility. Regulations, with supporting and enforcing laws, should insist on disclosing norms and practices of publications. Powers should be given to the PCI and amendments should be made in the Representation of the People Act to include paid news within the ambit of electoral malpractices.

                  The Press is acclaimed as the fourth important pillar of democracy after the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary.  Journalists are looked upon as moral guides. Sadly, in a U.S. survey conducted by Reader’s Digest this year, journalists were ranked 30 out of 40 on a list of trusted professions, after barbers and bus drivers. Clearly, the media has to win back the people’s trust.