--> Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November 7, 2006


The Covert Begging Menace in India

It’s just eight in the morning and I hear a door bell. A well-dressed boy gives me a paper and starts to tell his sad tale. “I am good at studies, I have no one to pay for my education….I did not wait for him to complete. I hear different versions of such stories daily. I gave him 10 rupees.” He has a list of donors and wants my name to be added in it. I can see a bundle of Indian currency in several denominations in his hand. These people don’t take one rupee or two rupee. I am sure the boy has already earned around 150 rupees. My day’s earning is -10 rupees. I have to toil for next 9 hours to make 300 rupees. By that time the boy will make around 1000 rupees. Now why I did I give the money? I didn’t want to spoil my day through remorse. And I don’t have the strength to say a harsh and big ‘NO’!!! The boy knows this. Not this boy but a whole lot of people know this. They have glorified begging and have made it a profession. It is also a burgeoning i

Feature film on Mahabharata by BR films

It is from the same BR films that enjoyed unprecedented success with the serial version of Mahabharata in 1988. Any guess about the budget and length? Well the budget is a whopping 1.25 billion Indian Rupees. Length six hours!! It is broken into two parts and they plan it to release on consecutive Fridays. Businessofcinema.com writes: Ravi Chopra said, "Yes, I am making a six hour long feature film on Mahabharat. It will be unjust to tell the most beautiful story of the world in three hours. Hence I have planned to make a six hour film that will be divided into two parts. The first part will end with the Draupadi Cheerharan scene."   He further adds, "The two parts of the film will be released on consecutive Fridays. I want to maintain the continuity so it makes no sense to release the second part after two or three months." Sounds interesting!! But what will the new Mahabharata feature film offer to the audience? New Graphics? Sound e