Mumbai Events – Shame on the Media + Film Folks!
Hi Folks,
Been a while since I posted. Partly because I happened to be in Mumbai (luckily in Yari Road), when the unfortunate events unfolded in end, Nov, although the director of my project, came dangerously close to the Vile Parle taxi blast, on his way home to Sion, from our meeting. That morning co incidently I happened to be in JW (which thankfully was not damaged) awed at the new security cordon there (thank god for that). The events left me feeling shell shocked and not in a position to comprehend anything. A couple of days later was flying to Delhi and have to admit, the security still felt very lax.
But what got my blood boiling was the “filmi” reaction to the events, PURELY BY THE MEDIA, the common Mumbaikar and Delhiwala, did not give crap to the filmis and media, their concern, rightly so, was about the people inside the hotels and also those who were fighting for the protection of India. But the Media and Film people, WHAT A JOKE, WHAT A BUNCH OF MORONS!!!! Specifically (not in any order of my anger):
(a) Barkha Dutt of NDTV doing a post reaction show. Sitting ON THE PODIUM, Kunal Kohli, Simi Grewal, Ratna Pathak Shah, The Wadia Son (don’t know his name)e tc. WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON AND WHAT PUT’S THEM ON THE PODIUM…..they are film folks or affiliated to them…nothing more!
Here is the irony…SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE….a doctor who survived the attack (he had called his family and told them to make a will), Gurpreet Gill, who was in the Taj and whose businessman British friend/host of the party, succumbed to the shooting…..I MEAN WHAT ARE YOU THINKING BARKHA…SHOULD THE SURVIVORS NOT BE ON THE PODIUM, SHOULD Unnikrishnan’s, Salaskar’s, etc family not be on the podium? Should the NSG, MARCOS, COPS, who took the burnt of the attack not be on the podium? As opposed to limited IQ folks like Kohli and Grewal, who are making big rhetorics (in true filmi style) about “let’s hunt them down in Pakistan..” and “let us not pay taxes any more.”
I mean…sure why don’t you, Mr Kohli and Miss Grewal head that mission to Pakistan? Don’t get me wrong I am all for that mission, just let us hear it from the folks who can and do make such missions. Not some person who spends their life in front or behind the camera and feels that gives them the authority to tell us how we “subjects of the filmis” should lead our lives.
And stop paying taxes?
Are cops are underpaid and given lathis to go after AK 47’s and they do that no questions asked, because we don’t adequately pay our taxes. Sure there is corruption and our taxes go to the wrong hands, but not paying taxes at all, will even make those cops and their lathis go away. And then are you, filmi clowns, going to protect us? You can barely protect yourself.
And it did not end there.
(b) Subsequent days’ newspapers had comments from “our saviours,” Celina Jaitely, Kareena Kapoor, The Khan’s, etc, how they are affected by all this…..honestly WHO GIVES A SHIT!
I DO care to know what we are doing to make sure that the families of all the commandos, cops, ATS personell who fought those 4-5 days, are coping with their loss.
I DO care to know why a politician(s) who made insensitive remarks, barely, had the last bullet been fired, have not been publically flogged.
I DO want ALL the global people to recognize and take pride in the underpaid cops, the NSG and the MARCOS. They are the reason I am in a position to type in PfC here and a lot of you are reading this, cause you are still around, thanks to these brave souls.
I DO want the media to highlight, again and again and again, of how the average Mumbaikar (not the filmis), handed the roses and thanks to the commandoes and the cops, when the operation had ended.
Let’s find out how the Cops/NSG/ Commandoes were affected by all this, not some Kapoor or a Khan.
(c) Then to add insult to injury, some “we are the saviours” film and television folks, organized a rally/meeting in a garden in Juhu, where wearing headbands they made statements like “enough is enough” and “let us not allow any Pakistani artist to perform in Mumbai.”
I agree “enough is indeed enough.” But let me rephrase, “what has the Pakistani artist or the Pakistani common person (who was as affected when the Marriott blew up in Islamabad), got to do with this. What are you trying to prove by going after them. Wear that bandana and go stealthily into Pakistan and blow up the terrorists and their makers. And instead of wearing those bandanas and doing a march in Juhu, where it all seems all about you, why don’t you make time and visit the families of the survivors/injured and spend some time with them…..and don’t inform the media about it…do it cause you care!
It did not stop there and it went on and on…an actor giving his mobile and email id to the press should “they wish for quotes/comments,” on a giant and very well intentioned rally held around the affected places in South Mumbai, almost all the quotes were attributed to “filmis,” to “intelligent” RGV making a “tourism” round to the Taj, with “he is basically nice” Ritiesh Deshmukh…all very sickening and all very disgusting.
I mean can we separate our love for cinema (positive) with our obsession with it’s constituents (negative)? Or have we forgotten to differentiate our real people from our reel people?
AND FINALLY WHERE ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTED THE AK 47, ARMED, SANJAY DUTT? It is the AK 47 which caused us the greatest misery a Mumbaikar has ever faced. The next time our trigger happy AK 47 heroes are caught with them, these “emotional” and “metally challenged individuals” should be “forced” with another AK47, to enter the Taj and Oberoi, to show some real world Masochism.
And know I do not care about what you feel about the above or what the people whom I have written about feel, cause, they are not the reason I am living and breathing anyway!!
Sincerely,
Vivek “for once I feel apologetic about associating with Bollywood and the Media” Kumar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Yes
Its time to send Barkha Dutt to Pakistan TV. She should be banned from TV.
Agree with your post.
Your views are welcomed on PFC Vivek. And thanks for sharing it here. Also I think Sanjay Dutt was charged with having AK-56, but doesn’t matter I get your point.
The Mumbai Cops…..came out looking like heroes after this situation…..sample this…”Tukaram Omble SI ,without proper shield or gun held on to the terrorists AK-47 and took all the bullets on his chest ,so as to allow his comrades to nab the terrorist “we all hear about heroism in mythologies and stories but stuff like this surpasses everything ,these guys are legends and instead of discussing all this we bring buffoons to the stage and discuss with them as to what we should do or what we should not…..
Instead of refusing to pay our taxes let’s help the families of these martyrs……who in due time will be forgotten by the government…..I will contribute a generous amount should anyone with proper organisational skills raise such a fund…..anyone based in Mumbai can volunteer……maybe someone from PFC ?
Very valid writeup & straight from the heart.In the midst of all the circus- I was shocked to hear/read reports that people are bothered as to why SRK is not saying anything on this unlike the others, is he supporting the Paki’s etc.Now do you want SRK to make up some big statement so that would be the news of the day & not focus on the true heroe’s?Its time the media decided to act with a little bit more of maturity in such situations.
But we have to give media some credit as well…the way in which they have pulled up the politicians for not speaking in the right tone ,some of it is indeed self-congratulatory but they did it none the less ,I hope the political class learns it’s lessons and speaks with more restraing in such situations.
Vineet my humble request for the martyrs would be, NOT to give to any fund, cause that will again be misused, BUT TO CREATE A MEANS FOR THE FAMILY to get an income for the rest of their lives (and even for the next generation, they deserve it). Hence even (using a Delhi term since the capital is in the winters), giving a Gatchak Ki Redi (a cart which allows one to sell the dryfruit) is way more important than giving the Gatchak. Perhaps an alt suggestion would be to invest in a UTI Fund naming these family folks as beneficiary, of financ them an autorickshaw, a small shop, a taxi, etc. Their livelihood has been snatched and in an act of supreme bravery, each of these departed souls, deserves a means to support their family for the rest of their lives. There is scant little I can do/say other than do the above, when I relocate to India, hopefully by middle/end of 2009, hopefully I will have the courage of conviction to trace even one of these martyrs family and do the above.
@Vivek
I guess you are right ,I guess common folks like you and us cannot give them jobs ,that should be left to the corporate India ,however we can create a fund to finance the education of their kids and family members ,that would be an awesome gesture on our part.
A few days back I saw a report on times now TV where they showed the family of the slain NSG commando who gave up his life in the Akshardham incident ,the family is in really bad shape at the moment ,the story moved me to tears ,and now I am thinking of doing something about it.
The worst battle the NSG commandoes, soldiers, cops have to face is not with terrorists or criminals or even enemy armies.
It is with the Babus in the Govt dept, who make them run from pillar to post, dilly dallying. The families of people who lay down their lives for nation, die twice. First when their main family member dies, but that pain is nothing compared to the torture they go through at the hands of Govt officials and Babus, just to get what is due to them.
A hopeless, corrupt, slothful bureaucracy has been the biggest stumbling block for India.
See the question here is not just creating a fund, a tie up with any bank can make it possible. But basically we need persons who are hands on the job. What we need are people who can interact with the banks, do the liasion work, the paper work, on behalf of the beneficiaries.
I think best way out is a kind of cooperative for families who have lost their near and dear ones in terror attacks. Basically families for whom the loss of a member hits the hardest, as in cases when that person happens to be the sole bread winner in the family. This kind of cooperatives could assist others in setting up a small business, or gaining employment, something which would enable the affected family to lead a decent life.
Apart from the NSG, Marcos, cops, there were other faceless heroes also.
The staff of both Taj and Oberoi, the waiters, the room boys, the chefs, the reception clerks, who put their lives on the line, just to make sure, that their guests are safe. Some of them even died, saving others lives. These people truly believed in “Athithi Devo Bhava”. Next time some one visits, the Taj or Oberoi, i hope we don’t have people shouting at the waiter for bringing their food a tad too late or because their soup is not as hot as they want. There are more important things in life than that.
Give kudos to the staff of the hotels around Oberoi, who supplied food, water free to the soldiers and commandoes taking part in the operation.
And sadly there were some retards, who posed and snapped pictures of themselves against the Taj, while the operation was going on. They said they wanted to show others that they were there that time. Goddamn it man, that is not Disneyland for you to pose, it was a battle zone, and if you want to boast that you just stood there, and posed for pics, get a life.
I think the author meant “machismo” and not “masochism”. But yes I do take his points. Very valid.
“why don’t you make time and visit the families of the survivors/injured and spend some time with them…..and don’t inform the media about it…do it cause you care!”
One sane voice afterall, hope you have done something like this before giving your opinion here.
Taj and Trident openend today in Mumbai.
All Mumbaikars on PFC (I will again be one this Thu), head to Taj and Trident, if time and inclination permits, it will be slap on the face of those who wanted us to stop living our lives.
And yes, do show that “relevant” finger Westwards towards Karachi,(actually the Arabian sea) from when you enter Taj and Trident.
a very senseble topic mahn….its relly tym fr media to understan their responsiblity…media persons job is nt to rise TRP only….
Good to know now these things are being reported in press. They deserve all our flowers and thanks
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