Raj Thackeray – Get Well Soon.
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Quote: A few months ago Shiney Ahuja was arrested for allegedly raping his maid. Yesterday Karan Johar apologized for being raped. His rapists have emerged triumphant. In our law books there is punishment for physical rape. There is no law for raping our freedom of expression. There is only triumph for the rapists. Bravo, Raj Thackeray. You are a master rapist.
:UnQuote
Nine years ago after the release of Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar, I was subjected to humiliation by moral police from some wing of the Shiv Sena, headed by ‘youth leader’ Raj Thackeray. His touts(a few thousand) vandalized my office. They thrashed me. They colored my face black. They threatened to burn down the home of Kishore Kadam, a wonderful actor and even more wonderful friend. I was summoned to Khar Danda and made to apologize in front of over 20,000 people and 10 MPs, MLAs and local politicians. I was made to touch the feet of a lady in the village to make amends for my mistake. My mistake? An innocuous line of dialogue from my film, misinterpreted, misunderstood and twisted to suit the publicity hungry touts hired by Mr. Thackeray. Touts who had not even seen the film save a couple of them who viewed a pirated VCD and smelt a great opportunity for titillation. Some called me a coward. Some called me spineless.
The truth is that I was a film-maker who was coping with the box-office failure of his film. I was a father who feared for the safety of his young children. I was a son who feared for the well being of his parents. I was a friend who feared for the security of his actor’s home. They threatened to burn down Kishore Kadam’s house if I did not show up at the village. They refused to stop thrashing me and painting me black until I agreed. The police did not want me to visit Danda village and apologize. They feared that they would be unable to grant me protection. But I wanted to move on. I wanted to erase all memories of this dastardly attack, this blatant violation of my human rights. I thought I had moved on.
The latest threat to Karan Johar about similar innocuous references to Mumbai as Bombay reminded me that whatever happens, the scars of that shameful week will never be erased. The wounds will never heal. It was a similar situation then. There was a Congress government in the state and the Shiv Sena needed to make it’s ‘marathi’ presence felt. Today the situation is doubly dangerous. A bigger film-maker. Not one but two cancerous organizations – the Shiv Sena and MNS. The jihadis have Osama. Gujarat has Modi. Maharashtra has the Thackerays.
I spent last night reliving the horror of nine years ago. I spent a sleepless night. I was tormented by visions of my cowardice. I awoke to find my being filled with anger. Once again, the blood suckers have succeeded. One more film-maker bites the dust. The vicious, self proclaimed messiahs of the marathi manoos have triumphed. They persecuted me. I apologized. They harassed the Bachchans. They apologized. They threatened Karan Johar. He apologized.
Today, I apologize. I apologize for being a selfish, cowardly citizen of an impotent country. I apologize for pretending to express through cinema. Who said cinema is a powerful medium of expression? Who said that it reflects society? The only cinema in our country is the political drama that unfolds every day. The only real protagonists are the goondas who portray such convincing politicians. And the antagonists are all of us who retreat into their supposedly secure lives, happy to carry on living as persecuted citizens of Bombay. Sorry Mumbai.
Tags: hansal mehta, Karan Johar, Raj Thackeray, Wake Up Sid
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
They came for the Madrasis,
And i kept quite, because i am not a Madrasi.
They came for the Muslims,
And i kept quite, because i am not a Muslim.
They came for the Bhaiyyas,
And i kept quite, because i am not a Bhaiyya.
And one day they came for me.
There was none around.
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So true sir. Fascism reborn in Bombay er., Mumbai.
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Its not time for “s!d” to wake up, its time for the Indians to wake up and stand on their feet against such politicians who get onto power through our votes and still go on harrassing. Personally, I dont hesitate to call Bombay or Mumbai, whats in the name? None is abusing the state by calling Bombay, does any dictionary say Bombay means a whore-house? or anything that hurts the so called Mumbaikar, comon mates, its high time to become one among the global citizen than bothering for such small issues (or probably creating one). This is RACISM too in its own way to treat people who come to Bombay from outside the state looking for work, make Bombay a country of its own if thats such a BIG issue but yeah… no politician will even put it on the mandate because none will ever vote…and a part of it can be achieved by riding on the emotions of the Mumbaikars.. I dont claim that every one hailing from Mumbai thinks alike, my in-laws are from Mumbai, they are very nice lot… and so is everyone that I “know” and probably many whom I dont even know. When Indians are beaten in Australia, none of the newspapers said it was a Mumbaikar, hyderabadi, madrasi, some bhiya… nah! nothing but everyone wants to revold that… face the demon thats right in between us and eradicate it before they start saying that blogging against Mumbai is a crime (defined in their books)!!!
I’m not in Mumbai so wont be able to join the march, but definitely my spirits stands out for every single person who wants to see a united country and world.
WAKE UP!!
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Ratnakar sir
i can completely understand ur anguish….but this hansal mehta ,i dont know who he is…or wht is his achievement…maybe after calling raj ‘master rapist’,i guess like me many others will come to know abt him…lets not talk about publicity stunt..
in harashal’s blog,he has not given single explanation as for why ” 20,000 people and 10 MPs, MLAs and local politicians” were against him???
and if harshal has GUTS,why dint he not put ‘dialogue’ of his flim in his blog??? let everybody see ,wht made ‘ 20,000 people and 10 MPs, MLAs and local politicians’ angry….dont u think???
railways have done partiality in recruitment,some immigrants hav disrespected marathi culture,they dont speak marathi,sum of them ,amean many of them live in slums nd other illegal settelments, there are 30,000 huts on pipeline providing water to mumbai,acc to wikipedia 60% of ppl live in slums….my freind, fabric of mumbai is about to break…why are u bragging abt 1 small Raj Thackeray????
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@ Abhishek… so the solution to it all is to burn things, beat people up, create a havoc… is it? then why is there a hue and cry about whats happening in Australia…its justice aint it? lets kick all the indians out of US, why should Americans have them? railways did partiality .. yes yes… of course one will be too interested in learning and imbibing any culture by beating and threatening them up … govt should bring this into picture as well, anybody talking hindi in any particular accent needs to be kicked around, cuz thats not the hindi culture, like it or not, its the national language… same thing with english, you dont talk it in right accent, the world should punch you around… thats the way you learn it..
What you have mentioned are problems, that need to resolved… legally… i ve lived in mumbai as well, and ve had my share of problems (physical fights to gaali galeech) with illegal slum dwellers, but thrashing them myself out is no solution… Can you also elaborate what would be a ‘marathi culture’ and how different is it from any other good culture?
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@ PS
okay…u have excessively concentrated on vandalism by MNS-SS ..EXECESSIVELY…….this type of voilent energy is present everywhere…it is volcano about to explode…it exploded in Assam when bihari immigrants were killed..in Gujarat Riots…..in Babri Masjid…when Banglore railway station was ransaked for outsiders issue…and many such places….many Indians today live in poverty,there is frustaion all around,..all political party’s in entire country are jus trying to channelise this saturated violent energy in ppl’s heart towards for there agenda….it wud be good if goverment and ppl like mehta try to do something ‘meaningfull’by concentrating on real issues….going to raj.t house wid all media to do gandhigiri is far more easy than going in slums of mumbai and assesing issues…..and whteve this mehta is saying i doubt it…because he has only concentrated on how he was beaten….if ‘they way he was punished’ has overshadowed ‘his mistake’….then y is he not telling dat in his blog???
one page full of his suffering..atleat 1 line shud be dedicated to the reason Raj.T did this to him…no wonder how small the reason is…put dat…
and abt marathis culture,there were 52% marathis in mumbai in 1950 now they are mere 28-30%…whereas in south indian cities,also Kolkata where they dont entertain Hindi language or outsider dominance…the population of localits is in majority…and plz dont concentrate on marathis vandalism..forget mumbai there are north indians in rural maharashtra….dat is marathis culture …maharashtra has power to attract immigrant…marathis humble attitude should be respected by respecting marathi culture or else SS-MNS will get support…
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Generally I try to avoid these discussions because regional jingoism is like religious jingoism, the more you try to show them reason more they tend to like their fanaticism. But I had to make an exception because Abhishek is trying to justify Thackaray’s opportunism by giving examples of Kolkata and Bangalore – cities that I loved.
Abhishek, when did Calcuttans beat the hell out of Marwaris, Tamils and Marathis living there? Not knowing Marathi is not a disrespect to Marathi culture, just like not knowing Bengali is not a disrespect to the Bengali culture. Mumbai is not a city built by Marathis, It is built by English first and then Sindhis and Gujratis made it their base for business empires. How many Marathis contributed to Mumbai’s wealth/lifestyle? Mumbai belongs to Maharastra because of it’s geographical proximity, nothing else. It is only Mumbai whose continuous GDP contribution makes Maharastra look like a Giant state in terms of productivity.
Raj and his uncle – both are vandals, characters that do not fit Mumbai and I have doubts if that fit the Marathis at all. It is Marathis like you who had to decide whether you would be known as the community that produced Savarkar and Tilak or you are the community that idolised Thackarays. So many things you love about him, do not you? What did Raj do for the Marathis when Mumbai was under siege in 26/11? What did chieftain Thackaray did for Marathis when they were in power? You guys never learn. Modi at least did something for Gujrat. People like you know that you have been had already, yet you would not stop.
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It is always a good idea to unleash your anger in wake of what is right. Bravo!
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Hi Hansal,
Very well said, I completely agree with your point of view and as a maharashtrian i feel ashamed when I see some few wanna be politicians actually using their clout to make a point (what god only knows). Sadly when i saw the chief minister giving his piece to camera, sadly the people in power too don’t want hooligans to go out of the dirty system because they serve their purpose as well. Am sad and sorry and feel like apologizing to all those who have been the victim of this kind of politics. Having changed the name of the city has not changed the economic conditions of the poor whether marathi or non marathi. And let me tell you call it Bombay or Mumbai for sensible thinking people it will nevr matter. Its an open country and we can live whereever we wish too…
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Political Rajniti,my friend, the CM needs Raj, because he splits up the Shiv Sena-BJP votebank, and will keep his Govt in power. And other political parties, be it Congress-NCP, BJP-Shiv Sena speak the same language Raj does, albeit in a more civilized manner.
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You shouldn’t be ashamed as a Maharashtrian, then you’d be implying that you and Maharashtra wholeheartedly accept these goons as your leaders.
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It isn’t about accepting these goons as our leaders its more the fact that the common man doesn’t have a choice. He has a life to lead and sometimes these issues though infuriating do not take precedence over “my” life. So even if i don’t agree with what they are doing I more often than not will not do anything more than abuse them or condemn them within a discussion or a group.
Sad but true.
But not to sound overly pessimistic, things are changing … slowly … but surely.
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Hi Surya,
you said there no matter if its Bombay or Mumbai then there also no problem with Madras or chennai,Calcutta or Kolkatta.
The name “Mumbai” is in use from many years ago then why dont these people protest at the time of the name ceremony.The name BOMBAY was given by the Britishers (gori chamdi) now they r gone.Do u feel ashamed using the word MUMBAI it is the goddess name who is blessing the city.When there is change in law then y r u using it again n again.
u guys r underestimating someone.there hav been many issues in the past on the name but still we are repeating the mistake.
And Mr hansal are doing this for the freedom of Mumbaikar or for the bollywood.If we keep the Raj issue aside there r many crimes taking place in mumbai,why dont you protest against them.you r a Gujju u know the level of moral policing is more in gujrat than Mumbai y dont you visit Modi,s house with a get well soon card.
I think that u r doing this for publicity as you r related to the film industry.Good luck for your protest.Everyone will be happy if u r Gandhigiri can calm down RT.
JAI HIND,
JAI MAHARASHTRA.
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Dude, why do you need somebody to tell you….which films u want to see and which films u don’t want to see…..is not the law enough for u….if there is a problem with the movie, why can’t they just go to court and get a stay order…why is the need to take law in u r hands and vandalise property…..i don’t have any issues calling mumbai or bombay and the point is not about that….
Gujarat may be worse state than mumbai or Bihar might be the worst state …that does not give any solace to me or it should be for u…
it is just the case whether u want some people telling u what to do …. just live by the law and follow the law…
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Fact: Bombay was created by the Portuguese. It’s root lay in the word Bombahia, which means “Good Bay.” The name Mumbai, purportedly derived from the goddess Mumba Devi, was a myth perpetrated by nationalists during the struggle against the British.
Before the Portuguese came along, the indigenous ppl of what is today Bombay/Mumbai were the marginal Koli fishermen. Marathi culture and political power was concentrated in Pune. Nobody cared about the seven islands then.
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As a maharashtrian you feel ashamed because you yourself are as proud as you should be. Why is it so hard to call Bombay as “Mumbai”. Saying Mumbai isn’t gonna do any harm. but when I try to prove this point to my friends, many of them take the stand & prove me worng by saying “I should not be forced to say so”.
If this had happened in Chennai, none of these people would said a word, but when it happens in mumbai, everyone who is Non-maharashtrian has a big mouth.
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Hansal, actually i think more than RT, the people of Mumbai need to wake up soon. Its their passivity, their indifference, the NIMBY attitude, that has resulted in likes of Raj carrying out his antics. After 26/11, there was this huge protest, with placards crying out “Enough is Enough”, why not now? Raj is worse than the terrorists, he is destroying the soul of Mumbai, the very spirit that made it a great city. The buildings damaged can be restored back, but trust me once the spirit is damaged, its very hard to rebuild it.
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Wow! thanks for this article Hansal…somebody needs to teach those jackoffs a lesson..
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Yeah ‘Somebody’ should we ask the US to meddle here as well?
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good reply..”somebody” we are too obsessed with this word?
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Nazism is here in India. I tell ya. We just haven’t dared to say “yes” to reality and turn our heads away! Jai Ho!
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Oz there are many Indians who actually idolize Hitler, you should see his fans on Orkut.
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@ratna: all these guys who idolize hitler have a right-wing inclination. they sympathize with hitler, rss, shiv sena, bajrang dal etc. and they are anti-gandhi too
.i wonder whats wrong with these guys. who can anyone sympathize with hitler or think highly of him 
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I am an Indian and I am anti Gandhi but tha doesn’t mean I idolise hitler and people like him….I am anti gandhi because i know the truth about him….all those who are anti gandhi know actually what he did and what he wanted….the reason you and millions like you don’t know the truth because they have”raped the right to freedom of expression, freedom of speech”. By they I mean our govt., our politicians. The saying “satyamev jayate” on our national emblem is a joke and shows that how hypocritical our country is because here whatever the politicians say is “sach” otherwise everything else is jhooth. This is a country where the govt. called Bhagat Singh a terrorist and printed it in class 6 history textbooks….wow, imagine what our future gen is learning eh? But the same govt writes modified versions of Gandhi’s quotes in textbooks so that he is shown as a hero whereas he actually spoke about letting the afghans invade india if the ali brothers wanted it and let each hindu in the country be raped,converted forcibly and killed. Go and read books like Murder of Gandhi by Gopal Godse and true non biased historic books from true historians. Even the judge in the trial of Nathuram Godse said that anyone in the court room present at that time would have judged him as not-guilty but he was under the pressure of jawaharlal nehru and sardar patel….haha….our country has been corrupt since long time my friend….everytime we say “enough is enough”, it usually means that “come on, we are ready for more now”.
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Good one. The problem with history is, it is written by winners. There are very few who researches on their own. More over our Indian mentality of spoon feeding is the biggest hindrance to having an unbiased view.
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History is a set of lies agreed upon.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
One day whatever is happening to Maharashtra in the wake to gain political mileage will be termed as historical feat.
Much like Gulaal here everybody is using the cause which once was started to find real means to solve the problem, as a path to achieve there personal goals.
Just remembered one dialogue (not completely) from Mumbai Meri Jaan, where the other constable tells to Paresh Rawal that everything here is so messed up in corruption and lies that it is very hard to sort out.
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Please Achal, do not talk when you, yourself, do not know the truth. I am old enough enough to actually have followed the Godse trial. I am old enough to have followed Gandhi from 1942 onwards at what was then Gowalia Tank. I have no doubt that Gandhi did have flaws, but he was human.
I am NOT old enough to have lost my memory – but, Sir, you are not speaking the truth, you are only speaking what has been taught to you. Not your fault, but that does not make you right.
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I am sorry sir if my comment in anyway hurt you….maybe you are right, i haven’t learnt enough but then i did my research myself and have not been taught by anyone, still i would like to know what comment made above by me is false according to you…i agree he is human but there is a false perception in most people that he was the one who gave india freedom but according to me, he played a major role in disintegrating the relationships between hindus and muslims, creating pakistan, supporting jinnah and ali brothers openly etc. etc. which you would know because you are so old and experienced…..the mistakes he made were greater in terms of the impact it had on the nation than what he claimed he was doing for the country….i can have a really long chat with you on this matter….i would love to but to but my aim of that chat won’t be to “impose my ideas” as the gentleman below me says but to just have an educated talk…..anyways….as i said…let me follow my truth and let others follow their versions…..after all as “B” above rightly said….history is a set of lies just agreed upon.
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it seems that this guy or girl achal seems to live in the world of controversies..
dont forget that gandhi was dishonoured by mayawati too.so dont get too hyper over those history books etc..
dont give this shit about “judge in the court” dont impose your views on others..
if you want to do gandhi bashing, go join some pakistani forum…you can be of a great help to them….
and these people call themselves indian..shame on them!
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I am sorry but you make no sense. How do I live in the world of controversies? “dont forget that Gandhi was dishonoured by mayawati too”…..why do i need to remember that? what has that even got to do with what i said above? And the “judge in court” story is no shit and it’s not my view…it’s his own public statement….i m not trying to impose any views on anyone….u want to follow gandhi..please by all means, i am no one to stop you…and for your information pakis have no problem against gandhi coz gandhi didn’t free india, he freed pakistan from india……maybe you would call this gandhi bashing but this is the truth…..he went on hunger strike just so that pakistan can be formed, several thousand hindus were raped and killed…but the biggest follower of truth said only one such incident happened…haha….his own now paki muslim friends as well as other close friends said he was wrong and he was lying….. he gave the pakis Rs. 55 crore just after partition….at that time you can imagine how much 55 crore was…..and look what the pakis did after getting the money….imediately invested in warfare and attacked kashmir!! yippeee!!! ah….hypocrites…all of them….nehru, gandhi, iron man…..but you have the full right to follow whom you want…..for others over here anti gndhis are hitler followers…for me gandhi was a bigger hitler for india.
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I Don’t understand, why we need to like or dislike someone. why can’t we simply form our opinions on his/her qualities and beliefs. Was Gandhi a hypcrite? Maybe, I don’t know and I don’t care. He said “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind’ & I agree with that. Even if a peddler on the street tells me this I would appreciate him for teaching me something that I did not know. Gandhi said that Honesty is the only way to live happily and I completely agree. Did Gandhi say this? Did he steal it from some movie, play, comic book, poster on the wall, britishers or whoever, or maybe some historian made up a story and the govt liked it and put it in the school books. Maybe there was no Gandhi ever. It is just a figment of someone’s imagination. Why in the world should I care about people. I like whatever has been attributed to him and I will try and learn those things and follow my life on those principles. This is the attitude that is important. Unfortunately, what I see today is mere hero worship/banishing. The qualities are being forgotten. Please don’t be so shallow. Please grow up and see beyond people, you’ll find a whole new & a better world, a world of ideas only.
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bang on target!!!!!
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cool….really cool
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Achal, I don’t blame you. Its the latest fashion to be against Gandhi to be called a thinker who thinks “outside the box”. You are just either ignorant or stupid. You do not know the power Gandhi taught the world. Research what Martin Luther King, Mandela. Lech Walesa, Dalai Lama and Aang Sang Sui Ki learnt from Gandhi.
I respect what Bhagat Singh has done for the country but I know that Gandhi’s method is practically viable. After all, do you support Kashmiri terrorists whose activities are closer to that of Bhagat Singh, although Bhagat SIngh never targeted innocents, I am sure there were some collateral damages. These terrorists are also fighting for Independence. I would fully understand their demands if they resort to Gandhian principles.
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Dude I am tired of explaining stuff to everyone over here……but I will just say one thing to you….DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE TO COMPARE FUCKING TERRORISTS TO GREAT MARTYRS LIKE BHAGAT SINGH YOU SON OF A SWINE….YOU SO NEED A MENTAL ASYLUM IF YOU THINK YOU ARE AN INDIAN…..I feel ashamed now that I live in a country where people don’t even know their own history and can call people like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Sardar Udham Singh, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and other great martyrs who are my idols as terrorists. I never said Gandhian principles were wrong…the thing is he never followed his own principles. Even he knew he made mistakes but the thing is he never learnt from them and committed them again and again which is called stupidity. And I am not going to go into the full history of what he did because I can write a book on that. All I want to say is talk to me if you know stuff and have knowledge about it and don’t come and post stupid stuff just because your mom and dad told you something was right and something was wrong. And Mr. Pramod- for me a terrorist would remain a terrorist even if he resorts to any principles…if he has harmed innocents he has no right to live and should be hanged or shot in beech chowraha….and go and read some stuff from real historians as I said before in some post…the unbiased ones who explain both the sides equally, read gandhi’s autobiography then read “Murder of Gandhi” by gopal godse which you would have to find it on the net somewhere because our govt. had banned it in 1982 when it was released i think….then talk to people who were there at that time and witnessed all that stuff which happened….know everything and then come and talk to me coz i did exactly all this before I started opening my mouth.
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Most of these stupid fucks don’t understand that Hitler would have sought to exterminate them too.
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Rals, even i am not a big supporter of Gandhi myself, and kinda right wing( more like center of right), but never I would even support Hitler. Having read of the Holocaust( much before Schindlers List and Pianist), i can never support such a monster. I think most of these Hitler fans should be given a free screening of Der Untergang, then they will see what a hero he is.
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no offence and I completely understand and agree with what you have to say ratnakara, but maybe if second world was won by the Nazis, and Hitlers (which they didnt, and I believe more than the armies of the ‘big countries’ its people’s willingness to die fighting against this stupidity which caused it) then maybe the history books would ve been totally different, the one who wins the war finally is always lauded up…. unfortunately in this context, even if RT kind of people ‘WIN’ their rounds, they still are never ever going to make it in as ‘heros’.. then WHY THE FEAK are we all still taking it? where are the bloody human rights people now… and why AM I BLOODY not JOINING IT??? we have to HAVE TO have self introspection … HAVE TO, unless we accept that this is what is life and we agree that we have no rights to live, and just succumb to these leaches! Why cant I celebrate a day with my girlfriend, why can i get an admission in a college (with reservations I am always going to include every kinds, the backward class, or the religious, or different cut offs for different sex)… WHY ? its NOT a question for anybody else, ITS A QUESTION FOR ME… WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I CHALLENGED IT? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I WAS READY TO GO TO COURTS FOR 20 YEARS, WHEN ANYWAYS MY NEXT 20 YEARS ARE GOING TO SUCK? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I DECIDED NOT GET BEATEN UP AMONGST A GROUP, WHEN ONE DAY I AM GOING TO BE SINGLED OUT AND BASHED UP…when am I going to stand for myself,cuz the support i expect or keep looking for is fallen itself!!!
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There’s probably a valid point somewhere in your post here, but you should be aware that Hitler and the Nazis were all about ethnic cleansing, or “eugenics.” They wanted to create the purest genetic breed of superior blond, blue-eyed Germans, which they wrongly labeled “Aryans.”
Before there was a world war, they already had started mass-killings of Jews, Catholics, Poles, disabled people, mentally ill people, Gypsies and political dissidents — in all, about 12 million innocent people starved, tortured and exterminated in the 1930s and ’40s.
If the Nazis had won the war, not only would the history books be different, it seems quite likely that they eventually would have turned their attention to those who had brown skin, dark eyes and different faiths. Again, this is an example of turning a blind eye to others’ suffering when it doesn’t affect you, until eventually it does affect you and no one is left to help.
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Ratnakar,
I can not agree more with you!! I do not understand what has gone wrong with Indians on the internet. Official politically correct thoughts are: Gandhi was close to God if not God, Nehru was a great leader, Gandhi dynasty and Congress are God’s gift to country, socialism and communism are the right thing to do and off course all things that even smells of Hindu should be criticized severely. Any deviation from this thought would be considered heretical. If you do your own research and had the audacity to go against the official line, the secular-liberal brigade would like to bury you alive.
On the other side of the spectrum RSS lovers would behave the similar way and that makes independent thinkers a despised minority. The fact that there was nothing wrong with nationalism has been long been buried. Today’s market economy was a compulsion, not the choice of policy makers. Speak to most of our economics professors, they would advocate market economics today but they would not like their jobs subjected to flow of market economics, government must keep supply the heavy salary even if they spend 3 hours a we in the classroom. Sorry, a lot of unrelated thoughts bur brevity is clearly not my strong point.
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and I never knew the basterds made you go through that… Respect to you for that! You are PFC’s hero!
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great post Hansal.
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The biggest danger with Raj is that his dreams, are not limited just to Mumbai, he has far more greater dreams too, one of them is merging Belgaum and the Marathi speaking areas of Karnataka, with Maharashtra.
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That will never happen, hopefully; both the kannada and marathi people of belgaum have realized the futility of leaders from both the states.
Are you from Belgaum btw?
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While reading your post I was having goosebumps. I didnt know all this happened with your film. This is atrocious. There should be a moral police that protects from pseudo moral police like the MNS. Does the censor board have anything to do this? When they can be so aggressive on excluding “defamatory” words and visuals in films, cant they protect the inclusion of words, protect a filmmaker’s freedom of expression. What good a censor board that doesnt protect but only behaves as a moral police
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Sirrr…let’s say censor board comes up with some verdict that this words can be used and nobody can raise red flag about it. Who will stop goondas to threaten/attack Karan’s house, family, friends or who so ever supports him. People has to awaken, system can not help in all matters, society has to do something, and that means me and you have to do something.
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Thanks, Hansal. What we need is a Wake up, Bollywood. During the Emergency, the press was asked to bend. And they crawled. Today, all of us are still crawling.
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People like Raj are bigger danger then Pakistan because these are the cowards who are sniping up the roots of India and spreading hatred. Most of Indians and even most of Maharashtrian are sick of dirty politics of Raj but the question is who will take initiative…and the crude fact is nobody….
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What you had to go through is just terrible and unacceptable!
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There is no sense saying Wake up Mumbai. Everything is being done with an agenda. So if the police arent able to protect, no one will protest. No body wants to be harassed by the goons with no one to protect.
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great post hansal!
i appreciate you writing this and i totally agree that these goondas are ruling the roost because we are taking it lying down.
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if bachchans have apologized, then how can we expect kJo to stand-up to these goons! these are “gutter ka keeda” as bachchan had said in “hum”. there is “no flit, no market, nothin”
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wonder how we can go along like this?
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whats worse is that police and govt cant do anything about it. instead of approaching govt and civic bodies/police, cine world finds it easier to apologize and move on
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if the censor board has given a certificate then who are these goondas to stop screening of movies and vandalise theatres
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finally, talking about “marathi asmita” … its a fuckin double standard. why is raj thackrey’s daughter studying in an english medium school. she should be studying in a marathi medium school. and secondly, why is she in a school called “bombay scottish”, she should be educated in some “mumbai” school
the guys in MNS should question raj thackrey before they go on rampages like this. cowardly and dastdardly act, without provocation or justification.
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Raj’s Marathi Asmita is limited to bullying bhaiyyas,movie makers and artistes.
Wonder where his Asmita goes when farmers in Vidarbha commit suicide, or tribals in Melghat die of malnourishment? But then he can’t blame that on “outsiders”.
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I think they will find a way for that too….
Some of the future news clippings might read as…
“outsiders responsible for malnourishment in tribal areas coz they don’t let the tribals feed their children” -RT
“tv serial “bairi piya” banned, coz it inspires farmers to commit suicide.
“stock market crashed due to the increasing population of outsiders in mumbai”
I wonder how ppl support such kinda propaganda defying every single bit of logic.
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dont forget how these thackerays spell their surnames after a british writer named “thackeray”…. and i thought these were marathis..actually they are isi agents sent to destru india…
believe me, i am dead sure..
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Hi Hansal,
Read the whole article with my eyes open…….
I completely understand what you are saying but i have a query for you…..
Your case is complete different from what karan johars is.
When we all know that years back the name of the city has changed from bombay to mumbai why do it conciously.
Look at the example of Love aaj KAl…………. Some Punjab Assosiation went against Saif ali khan right?
Rang De Basanti: Maneka Gandhi poked……
Your Film also as you mentioned……!
I just want to say to each, its own………!
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This is contradictory. ‘To each his own’ but no we cannot represent the real Mumbai in which many use and love the word Bombay. ‘To each his own’ means one accepts this diversity and those that are shown on film should show this diversity. This is Fascism. Let’s fight it and one does not do that by taking the suggested line of pandering to the fascists.
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Sir
Can you please mention what was the dialogue that created the stirr, why it was misinterpreted?
It will be very unfair to blame someone without listening to complete story, you mentioned all ur agony but didnt mention the detailed reason..
if 10MP,MLA’s and 20000 people were hurt then you must have pressed some wrong button….
Regards
Abhishek
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WTF!!! Did that give them the right to manhandle the filmmaker, blacken his face, threaten to burn the actor’s house down…
WTF! i can’t believe this comment!
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@abhishekp, who are you? are you MNS activist?
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Get the fuck out of here! If 10 MPs, MLAs, and 20,000 people were hurt by something they heard in a film, let them express their reaction to it in writing, through the media, whatever. What gives them the right to physically abuse anyone?
I and a lot of people on PFC are offended by you saying it is unfair to blame someone. Would it be right for us to drag you out of your home, blacken your face, and trash you in public and make you touch our feet?
Or would you rather I express my reaction through words?
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apologies to all the people at PFC who are offended..
What happened yesterday had benefited to both politician and the producer so we dont need to react too much for it.
I will give you three instances of Censorship by community/political parties..
1. Akshay kumar/Saif ali khan had to get clearance for their sikh roles in Singh is King/Love Aaj Kal
2. Fanaa was banned in Gujrat
3. RDB needed clearance from security forces
So we have to consider these censorship and this cases are handled mutually…
If thackeray’s are against freedom of expression then Sarkar would never have been released in Mumbai
We all have freedom of expression to use, but not to misuse….
God Bless
Abhishek
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“What happened yesterday had benefited to both politician and the producer so we dont need to react too much for it.”
Well right now its between RT and KJo, sooner or later it would boil down to the ordinary person.
“3. RDB needed clearance from security forces”
WTF!!!! Since RDB had a defence background, the security forces had to look at it, to ensure no misrepresentation takes place, and it happens with most of the War Movies. U comparing that with the ravings of an Idiot, who has an issue just because the name of the city was mentioned differently.
“If thackeray’s are against freedom of expression then Sarkar would never have been released in Mumbai.”
Please ask Maniratnam, who was harassed during the making of Bombay, and how he had to give into to Bal Thackeray’s demands. And why would the Thackerays have an issue with Sarkar, considering it depicts them in a positive light.
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RDB was a war movie?? Apologies, i never knew that…
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Ok let me phrase it better for ur understanding “RDB was a movie that had a background of defence forces, and generally when movies are shot against a defence background, they generally get it verified with Defence people, in order to ensure no misrepresentation takes place”. You can’t compare that with RT’s antics here.
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“3. RDB needed clearance from security forces”
Since when did the Armed Forces become a “Community” or a “Political Party”.
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abhishek, before any more reaction happen to your post, let me tell you, I think i can see the point that you are trying to make… however kindly understand it completely depends upon how you put things across… intentionally or unintentionally totally upto you, however you are doing exactly what these political parties are doing… IN NO WAYS CAN BEATING A PERSON BLACK AND BLUE, gain him any publicity.. even if it does, no profits or money can take that scar away … KJ for sure is not going to benefit out of such a publicity, he doesnt even need it…why have such a self defeatist attitude and try to seek a hidden motive behind everything? why why why I beg you to tell me are you trying to find logic in something that everybody including a 5 yr old will tell you is wrong… and accept it??? are cine folks such a public commodity, that everyhting that happens to them has to be laughed away or smirked upon??? with all due respect to APJ, and I am not indicating but questioning you… everybody made a hue n cry about SRK being frisked is a part of ihs publicity campaign, where were the claims of APJ getting frisked a BJP manifested idea to gain on the ‘indian being discriminated in congress rule’ ??? Abhishek I sincerely beg to ask you, do you think this man did anything that was called for burning somebody’s house? did talking about BOMBAY make any difference to anybody in life? why WHY WHY are you trying to see any sense in something so fking illogical and accepting that intolerance? are we such low lives that we have to find logic in everything that happens around us, and deny the fact that we have lump in our throat when we read such things??? cheat everybody man.. question everything, try to make sense out of things, but dont do that to yourself… you cannot deny it to yourself that there is a lump in your throat and you do feel insecure as to what happens if this happened to you … at least try not to cheat yourself and your immediate feeling man… forget hansal KJ SRK are stars, just think of you in their boots… yourself.. and see if you are going to enjoy even a single minute of this…
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@PS i agree almost all of your points..
First of all what happened yesterday does happen before almost all major movies in todays world, A little bit of controversy, So why need a huge cry about it…
I have still not posted my view about whether we should call it a Mumbai or Bombay so i wonder how u did all the analysis?
I think what happened yesterday has sorted out very well among those who matter…we should not fight amongst each other and make things more complicated…
Enjoy wake up sid!!!!
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“I have still not posted my view about whether we should call it a Mumbai or Bombay so i wonder how u did all the analysis?”
my question Hansal Mehta gets beaten around KJ is asked to come and apologise like its a kings court… I WONDER, and (I guess everybody else here as well)how you made up the analysis for
“What happened yesterday had benefited to both politician and the producer so we dont need to react too much for it.”
About politicians I can understand … what did KJ gain, out of a movie he didnt even direct, just produced, and now taking 700 prints back to be re dubbed
very small example right here na… when I you put up an assumption or an analysis against a whole fraternity or a body its fine, if i put up one assumption (agreeing that it was a mistake, shouldnt have and apologies for the same) … quite immediately thats what you could see and react to… after all its a little bit of controversy, why all the hue and cry
as an audience which of these movies did you see BECAUSE of the controversy
1. Akshay kumar/Saif ali khan had to get clearance for their sikh roles in Singh is King/Love Aaj Kal
2. Fanaa was banned in Gujrat
3. RDB needed clearance from security forces
Its not about movie’s hit or flop man… its about your mine basic living that in case we mistakenly say, arre try ‘teli ka tel’ and get roughed up for no reason, its about you and me being pals, and you talking to somebody that PS is a mad man, to get unnecessarily roughed up by some other PS… its come down to such small and petty issues… if you seriously thinking that about a movie, then seriously do wake up man… once again, I understand what you are saying… what you are not understanding is the context and the sense of urge that folks are having over here…
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Totally agree with Vijay. It is stretching it to actually even try and find a semblance of reason with what MNS has been doing recently.
I am trying to find words to express my disgust at what these stupid extremists are doing.
Do they even realise that they are hacking away at the core of what is Bombay? Go on and alienate all the people who are not originally from Bombay and you will be left with tatters of a glorious city.
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No comment is can cause THAT MUCH harm. That act is never never justified. Heck we don’t even do this to the terrorists in our prisons!
Where the hell were the human rights activists at this time? Do they only protect the high profile artists and terrorists from the across the borders?
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Hansal is right when he says that Jihadis/America has Osama, and Mah has RT. These people arent rubbed in the wrong way. They are the ones who keep looking for ways to stay in the news, to show to their votebank that look we are here to protect your interests. Its an agenda! As Hansal said, these people hadnt even seen the film. They were there because their leader exhorted them to. Most of them knew they were there with a political agenda, and many of them thot they were doing their community a great help by taking to the streets and protesting
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wow!!!!!!!! no wonder they get 20000 people behind them……………….
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… this leaves me speechless.
Does our constitution work? The Govt fails to work… we fail to function…
Imagine Karan Johar had to go through all this on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday anniversary… What a country!
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Constitution is just a document, it is the govt. that’s has to enforce it and the judiciary which has to prevent/remedy its violation.
So we know why things the way they are.
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Bravo Hansal,never knew the anguish that you’ve gone through.The story is being repeated again and again and we are just having to feel sorry that we arent able to much about it.Time to Wake Up indeed and if this post and this latest incident brings out some positive development, that would be certainly a major achievement indeed.
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very powerful. i wish you could publish this in the newspaper
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That must have been such a nightmare Hansal, and we supposedly live in a free country. The fears that made you apologize are not something that are easy to ignore. I’d have felt as scared. I am glad you wrote this blog now. The anger is what we all feel.
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Hansal, the following is from a Hindustan Times article:
“Raj warned filmmakers against repeating the ‘mistake’. In the three meetings he addressed on Friday, Raj referred repeatedly to how he had forced a Bollywood major to submit to his demand.”
I am curious how you and other filmmakers feel this will (or will not) effect future productions…
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Raj-roars-Karan-Johar-whimpers/H1-Article1-460449.aspx
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i guess its time to wake up & smell the koffee!
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“Court mein agar jaayenga tho bees saal tha thamba
law and order se tho Pandu bhai ka haath hai lamba
Neta, abhineta.. ya ho koi builder
Bhau ko dekar supari karwata hai murder.
Haath mein uska power hai, sab uska aage jhukta
Bhau ka khopdi samajh gaya tho pura mumbai rukta.”
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by apologizing directly to RT, KJo has shown the immense faith (sarcasm) he has in the law & order situation of our beloved country. If someone of the stature of KJo has to stoop n say sawry to Bhaugiri, bacha kya saala?
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and the kreative fraternity can make pungi outta the freaking ’so-called’ creative license… damn this is so fuckin’ not done.
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Some kickass film maker should actually shoot his film in the city and then cheekily call it Bompur.
They will not know what to do.
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Hansal,
I am sorry you had to go through so much huniliation. But , dont fret that you were wrong to give in at that time. The situation was such then.
But now , you have made common people like me come to know what happened then. This is the message that should be sent across the country. They demanded by force, and you gave in.
That did not mean theyw ere right and you were wrong!.
Today you can spread the message . You can voice your concerns and all of us can understand . Now we can see how the country is allowed to be run by mobs who dont really care much.
Please continue to spread the story. Let people be awakened and understand the slow stripping away of human rights in our country.
Let us not be part of this and accept the mob mentality. Let us understand and help in our own way to stop these goony acts. It can be done and will be done in the course of time.
Please have courage and march ahead, All of us have our place in the sun.
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Hansal, the only time that we met was on Dec 10 last, in the wake of the 26/11 attack last year. Till the time people like you and me do not come on the streets – create our own mob – things will NOT change. Then, we saw the power of Suparn-initiated street action – it took town union home minister, a chief minister and a deputy chief minister. Such action needs to be sustainable.
Or, we encourage naxals to expand their base in Mumbai, Kol, Chennai, Bangalore… start killing policemen, politicians, blow up railways stations and mass massacre supporters in hutment colonies of the wrong people. Imagine all this happening in Mumbai, fairly frequently. Or, let’s make a film on that.
Or, I (each one of us) go back to Gujarat (wherever our parents/forefathers came from), with a hope that God will bring down Modi-trocities (or Amma-trocities).
Or, go back to the village of my forefathers, ask the local peace-loving Nawab family to take control, declare independence.
We were never a one country in our history and perhaps we are better off as thousands of independent kingdoms.
We are impotent, not just as a nation, but as a race and as an individual.
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@Oz
I know Abhishek asked the question in wrong way,but even we all would like to know what was that dialogue(Or Scene) which created such a big controversy.
I mean if Hansal is ashamed of not standing to his point at that time.Then why is he afraid even now to mention that dialogue which caused such controversy,after writing such a detailed post?
I am in no way supporting what happened to him that time.But doesn’t censorship exist everywhere(It exists on PFC site too!I mean authors of PFC can use abusive language but people who comment cannot!What kind of rights are you talking abot here then?If tomorrow I write a comment(Nd i hav done dat before)which would criticize PFC,it will either be deleted by the moderator or I will be asked to make amendments!
So I think though Abhishek has a wrong approach,his question is right.And if Hansal thinks that he wants to stand up to his point,then he should have guts to say what dialogue it was!
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PFC is a moderated public forum that is privately owned. Anyone gets to set their own rules in their own private property, as they deem right.
Comparing PFC with Bombay and the situation there is quite ridiculous. Bombay is not privately owned. Raj Thackeray, the MNS, or the Shiv Sena are not the owners of the city, and do not have any rights to command what people can or cannot say or do there.
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nope no question. the moment you ask “what was said in the movie” – you are on the wrong side of anyone’s democratic right. If the censor board (again I don’t agree to them) passed it, who are you karun and abhishek to question 9 years later “we want to know what was said” – why – would you be able to make the wrong into right? would you be able to heal the scars – that is if in the first place you agreed blackening anyone’s face beating him up and threating the family and friends – was wrong…
I’ll tell you what you will do.. you will listen agree and simple whimper away…. WOW… so someone will spend time reliving the wounds to YOU and you just go away… if you are going to go ahead and blacken the perpetrators faces, say so or make your peace.
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I’m also very stunned and sorry to hear what Hansal went through.
When you ask Hansal what was said in the movie, it validates the idea that there are times when it is okay to terrorize someone for their artistic speech. That is why there is such a strong response against this question.
Frankly, NO ONE deserves intimidation and a vigilante beating for anything they say or happen to be. Not filmmakers, not artistes, not men on the street.
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The MNS needs a dose of its own medicine. They should be branded a terrorist organization and subsequently eradicated.
The bottom line is, there is NO leader in the country with the balls to protect our freedom and take on pricks like Raj Thackeray. P. Chidambaram makes much hyped trips to the US to learn and improve our Homeland Security status, but is impotent when it comes to dealing with resident terrorists like the MNS.
We allow organizations like the Shiv Sena and MNS, people like Narendra Modi and Raj Thackeray to exist and operate in our country. And yet, we expect Pakistan to act against Lashkar, to put an end to Hafiz Saeed’s anti-Indian activities.
The Congress government should be ashamed that when a citizen is threatened by the MNS, they would rather suck it up and sacrifice their constitutional freedoms than attempt to seek the support of the impotent government or the law and order establishment.
The situation is not likely to get any better in the near future. If Hindi cinema is to survive this parallel censor board, if Hindi cinema is to progress, then I see no way out than for the Hindi film industry to expand out of Bombay. (Yes motherfucker, I still call it Bombay!)
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No less than the CM announced that Karan Johar would be given protection and that he shouldnt go to Uddhav or Raj. Karan knew absolutely well that its of no use. All theatres in the city would be vandalised and at most the perpetrators would be arrested and sent to jail. The perpetrators are ready for that. The theatre owners and Karan Johar are not.
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Wow! Isn’t India a Democracy? And isn’t India still the second most populated country in the world (after China)? And isn’t India once again second only to China in the world youth illiteracy rate? and doesn’t Bombay, sorry Mumbai, have the sixth largest city population in the world? And isn’t Dharavi the world’s largest slums, right on the outskirts of this much maligned city of Bombay or rather this much beloved city of Mumbai? Now which one’s which. I am confused. As an Indian one mustn’t concern themselves with such minor matters, right? Let us instead do battle over of the rights of movie makers in an effort to establish who has more influence – the politician or the entertainer. Wow!
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dharavi is not on the outskirts, it’s right at the center of the city.
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It’s very easy to sit in Los Angeles and spew sarcasm on this issue that denies a basic freedom of expression to people who live in the world’s largest democracy.
Yes the issues that you mention are perhaps true. I don’t deny it. So does that mean we ignore other matters like our right to freedom of speech? There is hunger and poverty in India. So why should we be filmmakers right? Going by that logic, we should all give up our jobs as filmmakers or actors and join NGOs and try to solve these issues. Come on!
Artists who display their art in a gallery get beaten, their works set on fire, the art gallery broken down. Why? because MNS guys didn’t think the painting was conducive to Indian culture. Someone writes a poem that the MNS cannot understand, lets beat the shit out of the poet. Someone makes a film and calls the city a different name, lets give them trouble.
Surprising that Americans who claim “protection of freedom” to be the decisive factor in their foreign policy seem to have issues with the very discussion of it.
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Tori, I would not agree with you that it is a minor problem..’one guy tries to curtail another guy’s freedom and succeeds in that’, its not minor because if that is a working axiom, the implications are immensely dark and stark.
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Agree, however, that overpopulation, illiteracy, corruption, crime, poverty are much more important issues, and understand that once India gets free from all these issues, only then this tyranny of the RTs will stop.
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i am sorry for what u went through…i wish i could help rectify the deplorable state of our politics today in any way…
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Our weakness is our family. I wish i could …. There lies my impotency.
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http://idlebrain.com/mumbai/news/index.html
Check out the last Para to Know why the Shiv Sena were upset.
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If only these people can take the good things shown in cinema that seriously…
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Hansal Bhai, you need Balls to share such a horrible experience in a Public forum. and that too solely for the freedom of cinema and for its fraternity. You are not coward hansal bhai, you are more BALLSY then those cowards who indulge in such acts and they do this cos they outnumber US, during such situtaion.
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I am really sorry to read all this. This is a shame. Congress has given the MNS a free hand to cut Shiv Sena votes. The same policy used by Indira years ago which gave way to Shiv Sena.
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Am sorry you had to go through such a thing. Its nothing but tragic of how we call ourselves a democracy and preach its biggest symbol of “freedom of speech and expression”. Think its just subjective or reserved for a selected few. I just wish the common people could one day lost it and retort to give something back to these people.
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Why doesnt the film industry form a Cinema Suraksha Sena or sumthin to stave off underworld goons and pre-poll publicity hogging poli-fuckin-ticians….
Its a stupid idea, but its frustrating to see how films are manipulated by those who know shit about it.
Hey,RT instead of PMS-ing about pointless crap,why don’t find something useful to do for once.
Navnirman my ass.
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Hansal, My friend, I love you for your honesty. You hit the nail on the head when you said that this is an impotent country. We are a land full of armchair patriots who roar like tigers in the safety of our living rooms and we tremble like custard on jelly when confronted with paper tigers like Thakeray and their stray cubs (read Raj). If the government and powers that be cannot assure us protection from these goonda’s while they publicly threaten to destroy our city & its infrastructure then this NOT a DEMOCRACY! If India is NOT a democracy then why should we meekly follow the rules while these vandals dont??? Lets HIT BACK! As we speak, I am told that the seeds of a people’s revolution are being sown. Youth from all across the country are preparing to hit back in self defense. ‘Eet ka jawaab patthar se’. Aplogies MK Gandhi, ‘Rang De Basanti’ was a bigger success than ‘Gandhi, my father’!
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Hey Bhupesh, Let me stat by saying this…..Animals are more daring than Indians…..However I do believe there is hope. Inidans by nature are slow to act and they require some one to lead them in a pack….whether it is Raj or any other leader, they act only when they are in a pack.
When British ruled it took 200 years for people to realise they need to act and they did act….so soon when push comes to shove Mumbaikars and Indians will act….till then I look for a pack.
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@Karun, Abhishek
The ‘offending’ dialogue was totally irrelevant and it still is. The censor board passed it. It was interpreted out of context and with malicious intent. It was something that Saurabh Shukla tells a channel owner about Danda being a dangerous area where murder, prostitution, theft take place and how he could capture it all on camera for his news channel. I am not ashamed of a single line of dialogue in my film. I am only ashamed of not raising my voice then.
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this is a bigger problem … a much bigger problem.. as Ratnakara’s first post suggests… this is the way our lives are… my family woman is not troubled, so why bother to stop eve teasers from fking around with other woman, my garbage falls down due to gravity, hopefully nobody saw it, my illegal parking might be spoken about if speak for somebody else’s legal parking space be occupied, the auto taxi walas will come behind my life, why should I bother if a bunch of them have surrounded some car fellow, he crossed the signal, if I dont the guy behind me is going to be pissed, let me also cross the signal… FUCK YOUR MINE EVERYBODY’S CONCERNS ARE THE SAME!!!! WHY ARE WE RUNNING AWAY FROM IT?!!!! FUCKIN FRUSTRATING, DO WE NEED A BLOODY COUP OVER THE GOVERNMENT TO SET THINGS RIGHT AND GIVE A POSSIBLE RISE TO ANOTHER PAKISTAN? ARE THE MINISTERS BLIND? AND WHY THE FUCK DO THEY NEED THOSE ‘POWERFUL’ POSITIONS SITTING ON WHICH JUST MAKES THEM INSECURE, WHILE THAKERAY KIND OF PEOPLE NEVER OCCUPY THE SEAT TO AVOID THE CHANCES OF LOSING IT, AND THEN CONTROL OUR LIVES AS ‘KINGMAKERS’?
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Hansal Bhai
You are not coward. neither is Karan Johar or Amitabh Bachchan or scores of others in the fraternity who have been humiliated. Just weak. That is only a condition. I am sure you have sway over many people, people you can get at without any danger of being paid back in the same token. I don’t think you d do that even if it guaranteed you a super hit.
The filth attacks, only because they are secure in the knowledge that nothing ever has happened to it yet. And they will continue to do so unless something is not done. It is only the industry that will have to fend for it self. Now or later.
I think a critical mass has been created now. Now the people who matter in the industry should begin some over and covert counter measures.
A mass movement is needed withing the industry to discredit the filth. I think there is a way to get at them.
GET OUT OF MUMBAI!
The film industry should seriously consider shifting base. Film industry does not need Mumbai. Mumbai needs the Industry.
There are lot of states that would welcome it with open arms.
If the industry got together to think along the same lines to this non co operation movement, the modelities of which are not yet concrete. But I am sure there will be enough political backing.
It is not even a bad idea commercially.
Any way, It is a certainty that Mumbai is going to back the industry once it knew that we are serious.
Want to go ahead with this..any one?
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Hansal, thank you for writing this. I think you can rightfully say you have exorcised that particular demon now. You are not a coward. That honour should go to people who are quiet when crap like this happens day after day around us. Or people who try and find reasons why these bastards may have a point in vandalising the city and its people. The scariest thing is not that MNS and SS exist (and walk their retarded talk) but that they have quiet support in all kinds of strange quarters. Some of those people may include our own, friendly neighbours. Ask them sometime, when you’re feeling like a dose of disillusionment or unrest.
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more than anything else Hansal, more than passing on kudos to you, I owe you an apology… my sincere apologies for not being able to provide you a good society that you could live securely and do what you wish to and an even bigger one, cause I expect you to provide me this dream society, so I can live well… I am sorry I have been a toothless person, who’s lack of teeth might have make some people with the guts question themselves and back out, I am so sorry, cause it was not my indifference but for my succembing to my fear that someday this torch will burn my house, without realising that the heat is already making sure that I will not be able to live there longer! more than anybody else, I NEED TO WAKE UP, BEFORE I CAN EVEN ASK SOMEBODY ELSE TO!
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All
I got an article which tells what had happened 8 years with Hansal…
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2000/11/07/5013/index.html
Whatever it is, Violence is not the way…
Regards
Abhishek
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God knows how these devils get such huge support. I’m a maharashtrian myself and I can tell you that though most of us don’t like this goonda-gardi but we don’t hate it. That is the sad part. If anything this does it only tarnishes the image of marathi culture. I for one feel very ashamed.
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I actually don’t think they get common people’s support and if they do I wouldn’t be shocked if the support isn’t “bought”. Of the Maharashtrians I know, they despise violence in any form and preach freedom of speech and expression. Problem is, we all like it when we’re given favoritism of any sort. We feel vulnerable to anything that might be taken away from us so we want reservation for that. MNS and Shiv Sena are both doing the same.
I would love to see how Maharashtra fares without people from outside the state. It would be utterly chaotic.
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rasik yaar, you think the folks who support these guys are concerned that they are marathis? nah… these are just opportunist people… marathis non marathis they dont care, neither are they ones… these are local people who want to have ‘power’ … and what better to do it in a group, be unidentified, and have the ‘big hand’ above them… if it was all about Marathis only, then what was sanjay nirupam doing in SS for so long?…. marathis dont like gundagardi, but they dont hate it… so are all those others who all the non marathis, and of so many other different variences, who are also in the same position… the non marathi population in mumbai is big enuf if they want to fight this crap out… they dont cuz they are in the same mindset as well.. quite a lot of non marathi would also be somewhere hoping that the ‘bhaiyyas’ go away …. without understanding that post ‘bhaiyyas’ it will be their turns! its pathetic… and thats what it is!
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The basic problem is we associate “manhood” and “heroism” with beating up innocent folks or making snide remarks about people of “X” community. Even if you do protest against it, you are dubbed as a traitor to ur community, a coward. Try arguing more, and you get “Where were you when X was happening?”,”What about Y?”, though those guys would have done precious little about X and Y.
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BOMBAY.. is becoming Taliban..If u don’t have rights to express ur views in one of the so called greatest democracy in the world!!..then i feel sorry…sorry for mumbai..sorry for karan johar..and extremely very very sorry for Hansal mehta..Who is Raj thakery.?…is he trying to become “Adolf Hitler”?..what he wants to prove?.Mr thakery,remember.. ur not bigger than this country!!…ur here coz of India..and why should we listen to him?.and why other politicians are kept quite?..Then why should we call our country biggest democracy?..where people live with fear..We celebrate Mahatam Gandhi’s birth day every year..we talk about how we got freedom from british and we teach our children about the importance of freedom..I think we haven’t got our freedom yet!!..Still, we are fighting with people like Raj thakery…and they will continue to dominate us…GET WELL SOON MUMBAI
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I was a recently arrived outsider , residing in Bombay at that time.. and i remember saying What the F? after reading the news … I till today remember Khar danda area ..by this incident only.
I was excited to see what is there in the movie that offended these guys. i think .. it was saurabh shukla’s dialouge when he goes to some news channel’s office mentioning .. ‘hamere area me ye sab kaam bahut hota hai, main aapko news laa k dunga’..
This was my first taste of . .mumbaiy’s gunda log. the Thakreys
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Such Goondaism gets away becaosue of the Spineless Congress govt in the state. CM Chavan syas KJO should not have apologised….would Chavan have givern protection to KJO or the cinema halls where the movie is running. Yes, KJO has apologised for ‘rape’ of expression, but if he hadn’t this Goonda Raj would have cashed on and created violence as elections are on….Shame on the Bombay Film Fraternity too….for not standing up in unison..they have only done it once —- when revenue sharing was threatened!!! SHAME
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The Congress is repeating the same mistake it did in Punjab, when it propped up Bhindranwale to get even with the Akalis. And right now they are using RT to get even with Shiv Sena. What’s that thing about “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it”?
PS: I have no sympathies for the Akalis and Shiv Sena either.
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wierd that they want to get to the top and also are insecure about it! freaks!!!
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Hansal If I was in your place I would have done the same thing. For we are a middle class family people, we are always the scared lot. We are a lonely lot. We are never protected by any laws. No politician represents us. All the talk of freedom of speech and freedom of expression is all bullshit..
I can understand the humiliation you went through and I also know how angry and hurt you are..
I am with you..
What can we do about this, nothing… ek baal bhi nahi ukadasakthe in kaminonke… these so called politicians who have the law in their back pockets. These people, whom we elect to protect us, always live in an orbit of their own, even if they are from different parties. They are always playing their own games, using the jantha once in five years to put them back in their orbit to play their games again and again. They never care for us…
I for one believe that India is still not a democratic country in the true sense.
The only thing we can do is protest, and I protest…
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@Abhishek / Karun,
The dialogue from my film is truly irrelevant. As irrelevant today as it was then. What is this thing you say about the ‘parties’ having resolved matter amicably? Is bullying amicable? Is the threat of violence amicable? Is bowing down to unconstitutional fascists who attack your freedom amicable? You need help my friend. Get well soon.
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Sometime back, had posted my own take on Tagore’s poem, “Where the Mind is Without Fear”. Nothing has really changed since then.
http://scorpiusmaximusindicus.blogspot.com/2008/04/where-mind-is-without-fear.html
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Satish yaar, its not about middle class… KJO specially is not middle class, the onus actually lies on us… its the “we” who believe “I am not getting into this crap, its not what I started for” who have led to this day …. its us who have done it… we, the ones who dont make any noise when a mentally challenged girl is raped inside a train, cause its not my problem, when a poor lady delivers a baby on the roads, not my problem, when people are bashed up on the roads cuz an actor is kidnapped by a bandit, not my problem, a man drives his car over people and is going to get away with it, not my problem, bomb blasts happened, am i safe, is my family safe.. okay now not my problem… that THAT has led to this day…. the “apun ko kya” life… and some audacity we have to even celebrate it saying .. this is our ‘bindaas’ attitude, “sab chalta hai” … “xxx dil walon ki, shehar hai kabhi kabhi dil ke mamle mei aisa ho jaata hai” “the spirit of xxx is alive” to cover our cowardice… unless we look at things in their eye, come what may, we will always have a Hansal Mehta and a KJ happening… cuz even if we dont look at things in the eye, we are still crushed any which ways…
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Fuck the “Spirit of XXX”, its become a byword for indifference thats it.
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PS
what would you have done if you were in KJ shoes.. or Hansal shoes, can you imagine why they did, what they did..
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absolutely satish, and as I told you, its not a problem with them or the guys who tormented them.. problem lies with us… when have we as a society provided hansal and KJ a position that they could give a damn about what SS or MNS has to say …. how many times could they look back and feel strong about things… how many times have they seen a rally of people, demanding people like SS and MNS a justification for what was done… even if not them directly then raise a PIL or keep chasing the cops till justice is done… its we the people who ve decided to stay silent, me, you, each one of us… instead of questioning the wrong… we are all together in this man … when we say we are lonely, we have drifted away apart from others… each one of us… the tigers are taking advantage of the fact that elephants are not together… its us man .. its us… we owe hansal an apology more than cheering him up… fot never being the society, that we expect others to be for us…
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“the tigers are taking advantage of the fact that elephants are not together”.
Actually lets not insult any species of the animal kingdom by comparing them with these bastards.
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true! very true! lets also not insult other species, by comparing them to the other as well… rarely heard of an animal that does try to protect its flock, unless one of them is a mad one…
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you still haven’t answered my question, what would you have done, if you were in their shoes.
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and you still havent gotten the point! i would ve done exactly the same cuz I know you will be there to sympathise with me later, when everything is over but not there to support me when I needed it the most
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ok now i ask you, what would you have done if you had known that KJ was going to RT, nothing.. you will do nothing I will do nothing and no one will do anything… because you have your life to live i have my life to to live.
By the way who said we are not together in this, there are a million people who will agree with what we are talking about, but it is not for us to police them, there are systems to take care of such people. That is the purpose of the systems.
There is a constant struggle between the systems and the people, but when the systems starts dictating us, then it is time we got rid of them.. and that is what precisely I was talking about, these people who make these systems, the Politicians. Who live in a different orbit of their own, who are never bothered about us.
So PS hum kuch nahi karskthe.. But talk, condemn, feel angry, protest and that is what we are all doing..
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ok satish in the entire post of yours there are 2 very contradictory statements.. one of which is very true.. which will take time and constant effort (it took us 63 years to land in this mess, and one day cannot clear it, so one day protests are bakwaas) .. when you say “but when the systems starts dictating us, then it is time we got rid of them..
” absolutely true! 55% of mumbai did not VOTE! … if 55%, the majority, believed that there is nobody right, then there has to be a voice to air it… when the systems do not work, then question it… push the legal systems, question the media, keep asking questions… it IS OUR LIVES… and this starts at grassroot levels even to start off with following red signals, not assuming that police cant help and dial 100 when you see a mishap…
I have never stated this anywhere that I am the model man who s done this all… (though I do, but there is so much more that I can), but a we has to start, somewhere, to wake up the legal systems..
the absolutely the wrong approach “So PS hum kuch nahi karskthe” …. living in this mentality can not help anyways so might as well stop “talk, condemn, feel angry, protest” I agree with when you say but it stops right when you say “you will do nothing I will do nothing and no one will do anything… because you have your life to live i have my life to to live.” thats the approach that dwells in us, which is arising such issues!
this is the way you can spread negativity at the most, which CANNOT help boss… its like gandhari sympathising with draupadi after her robes are played around with.. what good came out of it?
you cannot change things right at the top or rightaway but dude small changes everyday makes a difference… and spreading it around strengthens it… and to just kick start this, to stop living in “hum kuch nahi karskthe” approach.. even if it takes mamoth full year to keep beliving against that quote … it will help!
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I shall only mention here that if we do think that we are the majority who think ‘creativity’ and ‘democracy’ is being raped by political goons, we are mistaken.
The support RT gets for such utterings is unimaginable. His popularity due to such nonsense has skyrocketed. People actually believe that he can do good by beating the shit out of non-maharashtrians.
My friend, a school Principal, represented her school during the swine flu emergency in the Navi Mumbai Corporation meeting. They decided to talk in hindi as there were many non-marathis in the meeting. They were shouted down by the manoos and the meeting got hijacked. These were post graduate principals and bureaucrats.
Now, would you begin to imagine what would have happened to others over the years in Mumbai.
Suketu Mahta’s Maximum City relates about a guy from Shiv Sena and how he is comfortable with his history as a murderer. I too know of such people in Pune. I also do know how comfortable they are with the fact.
Let’s accept that we are a minority and here in Mumbai because of the solace it offers in terms of a livelihood. Nothing else…
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Forget about Mumbai, Raj Thackeray is a big hero in the Orkut Bangalore Community, in fact have seen some folks there wishing there was some one like him in Bangalore, who can do the same. Those guys are blissfully ignorant, of the fact that one the items on Raj’s agenda, is to get Belgaum and some of the Marathi speaking areas in N.Karnataka into Maharashtra.
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Being bangalorean..sometimes,i also felt the same thing.Even,i told my friends that we need people like Raj thakery in Bangalore coz there are so many outsiders coming to bangalore and taking our jobs.Majority of them being tamilians,Andhraites and keralites.But,when i came to know about Raj thakeray’s agenda about belgaum..I started thinking,whichever state we belong to,We are INDIANS first!!…
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No one is taking your job dude. If you like to see it that way, let me remind you that the foundation of Bangalore or Bengaluru rests on jobs snatched by fellow bangaloreans from the Americans.
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its a lil sad, that to understand a ‘loss’ you had to supported it, till you realised it can be a personal one… fair enough, you at least see the light now… hopefully it wouldn’t swagger back to the old way again…
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I feel bad , devastated , helpless & furious to hear such incidents!!. Hansal I salute you for coming up with such a courageous post and hope MNS or RT doesn’t react against this post ! May I recommend you to be a bit careful , coz, if MNS people find this post , they might get another reason/chance to glorify themselves by resorting to any cheap act against you.
Will we ever be able to get rid of RT’s ?
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It is sad, that a state which has given us giants like Tilak, Gokhale, Shivaji Maharaj, Ambedkar, Tukaram,Jyotiba Phule, Anna Hazare should now be represented by rogues and pygmies.
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its sadder that our president being from Maharashtra can give at least one statement which might be a voice some minimum attention at least is paid to, but she prefers to stay mum
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Right now she is occupied with her son’s campaign. Another sickening aspect of our politics, the incumbent MLA who had a good reputation was denied ticket, just to accomodate Madame Patil’s son.
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PS
achha lagtha hai, bhashan achha lagtha hai..
who said I don’t fight, I am all the time fighting the system, I must be one of the few guys who calls ‘100’ at least 3 to four times a week, complaining to take action or report something. I am fighting for justice on the roads.. was fighting in college, am fighting every day..
But when people like Hansal and KJ are in such trouble, the only thing they will do is what they have done. Because they care for their families, their friends, if not for their lives, They have to do it because they have invested huge amounts..
I do get angry for being in such a situation.. you said 55% of people in Bombay did not vote in protest. I always thought our average voter turnout has always been 45 to 50%. Make it hundred then see the effect.
When I get angry I do something…
When I was angry at children committing suicides because of the present education system, i reacted; i made a film, asking for a change in the system. They gave a National award and asked me to shut up.
What happened after that some people empathized with me and recognised my efforts (PFC was the first people to do that).
Then what.. kya badlaa mere dost , kuch nahi badla.. aaj bhi mar rahe hai bachhe..
The least the people could have done is see the film and realise the need to change and start discussion. That Was the purpose of that film..
ab mujhe batao aap, aap ne kya kiya. ess Hansal and Kj case me, kuch kar sakhe which others could not do or did not do.. They are talking you are talking.. aur kyaa kar rehe hai aap.
I am not saying haath band kar biat jao, tell me what is it that can be done, but condemn the act and protest which I am doing, if you have a better idea please tell me, I am with you, come let’s do it.
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NOW SATISH… NOW it can matter… you did something in past which might not have made any difference doesnt mean it wont make it now as well…”55% of mumbai, did not vote in protest?” wish that was true…. this is where is the difference Satish, almost 52% of that 55% would ve said the same thing u said, “Hum Kuch Nahi Kar Sakte” …. thats NOT a PROTEST MY FRIEND…. EVEN THAT ONE LINE, CAN MAKE SURE THAT THE BEST OF PROTESTS FAIL…. hum kuch nahi kar sakte… karne ko we shouldnt ve gotten our independence as well… each of us CAN DO SOMETHING, even if that means educating somebody and trying to get used to the fact that being spineless DOES NOT help ….
Once again its fking slow proces but IT HAS TO START… we cannot avenge Hansal Mehta or KJ, but at least try to ensure that this doesnt happen to their children, or mine or yours! They are talking, I am talking and then you are talking…. THEY ARE TALKING CUZ THEY ARE VALIDLY DISTURBED AND WANT ACTION, I am talking cuz I want to make some action as well, both the parties are talking cuz even if awareness spreads, or we can give at least small rise to things we would be happy, You are talking, somewhere unknowingly I guess, to convince even the ones who believe they can try making adifference that nothing can be done…. talks are all where it starts mate.. TALKS….it depends on what kinds would you like to make… taking an example from the oppresors’ cue… RT or BT, neither of them might have ever personally alone met any non MNS SS non supporter and picked up a brawl… they just TALK!!! and see what difference it makes!!!
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phir gussa, with all your talk what have you done, nothing.
Mr Hansal came up with an idea, and i am the first person to join him.
if you have anything, please tell me i will join you too..
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its not about gussa yaar… and specially not against you who would like to see things go good, we have the same concern and while discussing with you, I have nothing directing towards you, but a general level of putting up thoughts… the point I am trying to make here is satish there has to be a self beleief first… we cannot wait for Hansal or you or me to do something and somebody else joining us…. it has to start somewhere, however small but collectively.. and the very beginning again is to refrain from talks like we cannot do much we are so helples… even if you dont mean it, it demoralises anybody from even thinking a little higher than what they currently are doing…
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If we can file a PIL in court against Shilpa Shetty, Aishwarya Rai or Hrithik Roshan for “polluting our morals”, why not on Raj Thackeray for surpressing the “freedom of expression” one of our basic rights?
if we can attack our cricketers homes, gherao them, stone and burn their homes for letting us down after “2007 World Cup”, what prevents us from showing our anger against political leaders who regularly let us down?
Or is it that we believe in showing our anger, and proactives only on some people.
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Leave alone PIL, they could have filed a civil suit apart from a criminal complaint seeking damages. But PILs do get disposed faster, but offer no effective remedy in these matters.
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Ratnakar Sadasyula
that is a good idea, but when court cases don’t work on these politicians, can a PIL work..
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Satish, it might, after all Laloo’s fodder scam antics came to the fore, due to a PIL filed. RT gets away with his antics, because he feels none can do anything, and maybe even a PIL won’t do, but at least he knows there r people who don’t necessarily fear him. Because RT honestly does not care for the poll results, win or lose, he knows he can get along with his bullying. Other option is for Mumbai people to get together, tell the MNS workers to buzz off, i mean in apartments you put in all efforts to ensure “scum” like hawkers, peddlers don’t get in,so why not ensure the real scum like the MNS folks don’t get in.
Or maybe Satish, we are just a nation of bullies, taking it out on weaker people, grovelling before the bigger ones. Sorry, am in a real Bickleish mood today.
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Anyway forget it, first of all we need to condemn Shashi Tharoor( poor guy must be wondering why he ever became an MP) for saying “Oct 2 must not be a holiday”.
Then our MP’s must pass a resolution criticizing the Indian cricket team for getting knocked out of the Champions Trophy, and another resolution asking for Gary Kirsten’s head.
after that we need to decide which other cities we must rename to erase our “colonial past”.
With such important matters on hand, Raj Thackeray can wait.
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Ratnakar
you are right, at lest that will be a first step taken. i feel the media plays a great role in these kind of things. Remember Jessika lal case.
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now you are talking… Jessica Lal murder case… I think I have already spent quite some time convincing people on other posts that I am a half mad man.. however, OUR SOCIETY IS ULTIMATELY RUN BY THE MEDIA…. its what they show, that we see, they make the sound we hear… the basic level of scare and oppression has increased today only cuz news channel continuously feed air time with “shocking news” of “riots” and things, which has scared us so much further… its their constant playing of cards which is creating these images for a common man, and people like RT and BT are taking the advantage to spread their scare word around ….
I was living in Blore for close to 10 years, even before the IT boom started… and yes when the veerappan incident happened, yes there were some violence in some parts of blore… I believe that was the first time ever such a news was broken about this peaceful city… almost 8 years later one more edition of Cavery water, Mandya protests happened… and the same city was in news… this time it was reported as the “WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE” … and I was scared to see the news, I was expecting some violence against my Delhi registered car… I had questions over the same city people I have known for 10 long years and whom I knew were peaceful and accepting… I had a tense feeling of walking around the city that had me for such a long time now… I also reached out to other folks over SMS to let know if somebody might need some help anytime during the day (and my localite friends were completely open to take people into their places if needed) and then I did go out..we all did … localite, outsider to see a calm city, a peaceful city … a few places there was reported violence… nothing more… the city was right there they way it was 3 days back! but guess what the news and media did… it had seeped in the scare… it had seeped in the fear, and the thought of Local vs Outsider… it had seeped in the possible vision of you vs me…. and till date I cannot believe how a lot of simple folks like us, fell into sensationalism…
and its the SAME MEDIA because of which Jessica lal case moved ahead, the Nanda hit and run case moved forward… the awareness has to show up in media, thats when the word can get spread… and there be the passing on of strength and confidence that we might be together… there has to be a move from Yellow Journalism, to a constructive Journalism….
Talks my friend .. TALKS in the rightway is where the actions begin …
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Why are we discussing politicians here at passionforcinema.. It started with Raj Thackeray moved to Pratibha Patil,Laloo and now Shashi Tharoor
Isnt PFC a place where we all come to discuss movies,movie making irrespective of language,genre?
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Well here its a politican who has fingered a movie maker. Now since we are passionate for cinema are passion for cinema, we don’t like some political leader, comming and fingering with our passion.
Let RT take up the issues of Mumbai/Maharashtra which are plenty, none of his fucking business to dictate what should be in a movie.
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Some questions in my mind now
Will Mani Ratnam’s Bombay be renamed as Mumbai now?
What happens to the songs “Eee Hai Bambai Nagariya( Don)”,” Yeh Hai Bombay meri Jaan(CID)”,” Bombay se aaya mera Dost”?
Will Dev Anand also rename Bambai ka Babu as Mumbai ka Babu?
Now will all those dialogues referring to Mumbai as Bombay be looked into? Mind u its not just Hindi movies, there are good number of Telugu, Tamil movies too with Mumbai backdrop.
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@ratnakar,
ye tune theek nahi kiya…
Why are u trying to veer the discussion away and diluting the whole thing…
yahi problem hai… we discuss something to death
and throw up our hands and forget about the issue…
gandhiji ne bhi yahi kiya hota ….to desh ka kya hota..
we
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i will call the city of my birth by whatever name i feel like. like i call my mother ma, mom, mummy, mrs. dasgupta and by so many more names. who is anyone to tell me what to call her by.
and rt? he is a coward. he corners single individuals with many. he corners the unarmed with the armed. he corners the scared by the fear of physical harm. he does that because he knows that he cannot corner anyone with logic or reason or intellect or by his good deeds.
what marathi shit does he talk about? doesn’t he sound like the LeT talking about safeguarding muslims in india?
im really sorry hansal that such a thing happened to you. i didn’t know it.
am with all those who believe in freedom. i am hopeful that the people of maharashtra will ‘wake up’ in time.
in my small way of caring for my own freedom, i have called the city ‘BOMBAY’ in my film, ‘The Great Indian Butterfly’. that’s what i sometimes call the city by. And why should i care who want’s me to call the city by what name?
Fuck. i don’t believe this! what times are we living in?!
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What i appreciate really is getting down to writing an article like you have, specially after the incident. I reckon it is easy to sit back and make comments, but after going through after what you have, its commendable you even wrote a piece like this.
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Depressing thing to read on a Saturday morning! I wonder what kind of signal these acts by Thackerey sends out to the artists of tomorrow, based in Bombay, the film capital of India. Hansal, really sorry to hear that you had to go through those baseless apologies, just for expressing yourself.
I think this Mumbai-Bombay fuckup was beautifully shown in Kaminey, when Guddu refers to the city as Bombay and the extremist leader corrects him. I know this may not mean much to anyone, or in the larger scheme of things, but I just completed my first feature script, and yes, Bombay is referred to as Bombay, because ‘Bombay’ refers to a metropolis that is a free amalgamation of cultures, while ‘Mumbai’ refers to a closed little village still in the Dark Ages.
Maybe I’m being an idealist, but we, artists should stop apologizing to bigoted assholes for simply expressing ourselves, and when in fact, no one is being truly hurt.
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Very well written. Simply speechless – specially reading the last para. It takes guts to recount an earlier horror. Bravo !
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Vijay, I admire how you tend to dismiss everything you are not familiar with, as “easy”. No, living in Los Angeles is not easy. Saying what I have, did not come easily to me. I have not chosen to do what I do, live where I live because it was “easy”.
Hansal Mehta -ji, I admire your attitude. We’ve never met but anytime you want to make another movie like that, I’ll work for you for free. I am not kidding.
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Tori, I myself went to college at USC and lived and worked in Los Angeles for 8 years before I moved back to India. I have seen it all, from life as a student living in the ghettos south of downtown, to the studio apartments of Koreatown, and a swanky beach house in Venice Beach. I know what living in Los Angeles is like, as a student, as a budding filmmaker, and as a professional. I sure as hell don’t need to hear it from you about how tough life can or cannot be there or to tell me what I am familiar or unfamiliar with as I have my own experiences to fall back on to judge that.
That said, perhaps you should read my comment again for a little more clarity. Please point out where in my comment I even spoke about life in Los Angeles as “easy”. The point was that it is easy, or convenient, or both to sit in one particular place, and pass judgement on what is happening in, or what is important to the people in another place without actually being there and experiencing this issues on a daily basis.
Therefore, your point about the dismissal of what one is not familiar with as “easy” doesn’t quite apply to me, as I speak with far more familiarity than you can imagine.
Certain freedoms that I took for granted in Los Angeles are denied to me on a daily basis in Chennai and Bombay, despite India being a supposedly larger democracy than the USA. The freedoms that we are debating here are equally important as addressing issues of poverty, illiteracy and so on. So don’t undermine the sentiments behind the struggle to claim those freedoms by dismissing them as mere sympathy for a filmmaker.
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Though this is a tangential question, was wondering if anyone knew the answer to this.
Is Free Speech in India guarded by the First Amendment of the Indian Constitution?
And is freedom of speech our basic right in India?
I’ve read the lines are very blurry with respect to what constitutes freedom of speech. So clear answers are appreciated.
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all talk talk talk… any action? anybody keen? wanna take to the streets?
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Yes. I agree. Something needs to be done. Maybe the UPDF can take to the streets. Maybe we can flood RT’s home with flowers and ‘get well soon’ cards? Eeth ka jawaab phoolon se? Munnabhai style? Keep doing it, keep embarassing the guy, make him and his stupidity a public spectacle. By doing anything agressive we will give him the publicity he does not deserve. Any takers for the munnabhai campaign? Write in… Lets set a start date and then do it! October 10?
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I’m up for it. Let me know what I’ve to do. There is lil issue that I’m not in India, shall figure something out.
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Good idea. i can gather a few people from this city do it.
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I never knew you had to go through all this. RT is a retard, people of Maharashtra have to understand it ASAP.
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All interested please email me on hansal.mehta@gmail.com. Volunteers to set up groups on FB, Orkut etc… Lets bombard RT with gandhigiri!
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Do that, more importantly subtly play on this incident and issue in many movies, in a way that it should not be blatantly offensive/controversial but should hit out at all moral policing outfits. Whatever is done should be made in such a way that no defamation charge can be levied.
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hansal sir,
i am with u
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Guys, I have created a Facebook group ‘Gandhigiri to combat Raj Thackeray and MNS’. Join and spread the word.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=167540803553
A related event (protest march) has also been posted on this group.
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Hansal, Sorry to hear of your humiliating episode that you suffered at the hands of that goon!
I don’t think you were a coward; you just did what any father/husband/sensible person would do when faced with such adversity….
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Hansal sir, and all the people who have joined this forum! I have been giving it a day long thought… somehow the thought has never perished in my mind… what good is going to come out of creating a ‘group’ to start gandhigiri against RT? do we think he doesnt know what he is doing is not want people want? are we going to believe that RT and other such people are going to see our gandhigiri and change? is it going to be one group seeing which such folks will change their attitude? N-ah… its not going to change anything sir… rather will be one of those things that will give them another opportunity to either mock, push it aside, give no importance or make it a plaform to create more ruckus by talks or whatever… and this is going to end up creating a further situation of hopelessnes…
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All the tyrannys of the world rely on the fact that the people will never do anything. If history has told us anything, it is that people make all the difference. When they rob you of your freedom, you lose everything. Its almost irrelavent if this will work, its about getting people who feel this way together. Please join, we need you…
And just cause we love movies, heres a quote from Batman Begins
“It’s not what I feel inside, but what I do that defines me”
Peace
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Sorry hansal…I was trying to leave some very innovative comments here but it keeps getting deleted. May be even PFC fears the almighty(Raj Thackrey). But the gist is that what u felt is not right. It is a slap on democracy. I really think the solution to all of this is to make Mumbai a Union Territory. I feel no rascism in NY and look at what they have turned mumbai into. Slowly they will kill the spirit of the city and it will end up like Calcutta once the super hub for Indian economy and nothing now.
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Respect to you Hansal. I’m surely not as brave as you. You’ve certainly made a difference.
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By asking ‘will it make a difference?’ we will defeat the purpose. I want to react with gandhigiri. Want to make my small effort count rather than sitting back and watching more such injustice unfold. Collective action will make a difference, I am sure.
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Sir.. sending ‘get well soon’ messages to RT and Pramod M kind of people is nothing but a ridicule on us… it is shouting in the air to get nothing… it is only a self depriciating effort…
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Hansal,
Though I have never liked your movies and I had made a percepion about you as a person (which generally all of us do), but reading this article makes me change my opinion. You have made such a valid point and that too with a huge impact. I really wish the press / media of this country publishes such articles on the front page to generate some awareness. I can really understand the pain and frustration you go through when such questions / concerns come up. B**T***S like Thackerays have their agendas pretty clear and are taking the society for a ride. But there’s no major forum even discussing these things. I just wish these discussions get some mileage and are considered as bigger issues than doing “physical harm”.
Pankaj
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Dear Hansal,
All these years, I had always grudged the fact that you went and apologized to those villagers, I thought you had needlessly caved in under unnecessary pressure. I am so sorry to hear your ordeal at the hands of these terrorists, it just send shudders down my spine reading it, and I cannot even imagine what you must have gone through. Where is the spineless police who we pay to protect us?
You did not give in to any pressure, you only caved in for the safety of your loved ones and there is no bigger test of character than that. I am so sorry for having thought otherwise. I wish by some miracle of sorts your horrific experience is avenged.
we can only pray.
All the best.
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@Hansal
I think you should have apologized to khardanda people.The reason they might have resorted to threatening you,could also be a fact that if they had filed a case against you in court,then it would have taken years for the verdict and by that time your film would have got released and forgotten.
If they had a point and if they had no faith in our judiciary system(which to an extent we don’t have),then I think from their point of view they did the right thing.
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@anisha
get well soon!
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this is a very disturbing sign Hansal. Does this tell us of the utter disaster we may be heading to?
From a few of the people in here in the comments – I see that they truly believe it is ok to threaten people who one does not agree to or who one believes spoke negative about them or anything related to them. Further it maybe ok to physically and verbally abuse the person because of the same.
Having to an extent experienced this earlier this year personally, I now see this “ok-ness” and acceptability to resort to physical and/or verbal abuse, hate campaign and even violence on grounds of differences in opinion leading to an eventual anarchy. Will we see India survive as a democracy for the next 50 years if this is what our belief systems are being moulded as? What non tolerant violent society are we shaping for the morrow… or is tomorrow almost here…
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yes oz… this is indeed a scary picture…. there is a desperate need to do something about this!
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It is only an indication of where the next generation is heading.
For a child who grows up seeing and living such vehemence all around at issues like these there’s bound to be a subconscious indoctrination at a certain level.
I sincerely hope we aren’t shaping the morrow.
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@hansal
Wat a brilliant explanation…
“Get well soon”.
I love it.I hope one day all lawyers and intellectuals will use this argument when they do not have an answer.
@OZ
Verbally abuse?OZ,dear,I am sure it is ok for you when people say Motherfucker,Fuck you etc. against RT or other people(Surprisingly,Gandhwadi Hansal has also not uttered a word against people who support him by using abusive language.How sweeT!)
Back to you OZ,the reason why you do not resort to threatening or violence is because you do not have courage or power to do same.You run a propaganda against RGV or YRF over here(Read Dil Bole Haddipa review),RT runs a propaganda against Bhayyas etc.
You here promote intellectual dadagiri,RT promotes fanatical dadagiri.
In Michael Corleone’s words ,”You both are part of the same hypocrisy”
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wah anisha…. 2 posts against you, and ur shrieking out…. 20000 people gheraoed HM and there was a public mockery, and you have a justification…. nice…
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dat’s true dear.When 20,000 people have something against you,(logically speaking) they have a justification(right or wrong)
And rather than answering to the points I raised,if you are going to pass your time by psychoanalyzing me…then buddy,I wil use Hansal’s mindblowing,all-answering phrase for you
“Get well soon”
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hehehe sweetie… whenever u get out of ur school, and moral science classes, and papa ka pyar mummy ka dulaar, logics of my right sleeve bag, reason of my left… and start seeing the world… then let know… we can take time out to talk … whenever you grow up and are ready … hey BTW.. there is a movie playing for your convineince… wake up sid… thoda light hearted.. but maybe ll help you …
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“When 20,000 people have something against you,(logically speaking) they have a justification(right or wrong)”
This looks on par with Rajiv Gandhi’s “When a big tree falls, the earth is bound to shake” statement, and the “Gujarat riots are a natural reaction to Godhra” stuff.
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Anisha – you are one moronic sample I tell you!
I don’t like what you are saying. I am offended. So if I can gather all the people on PFC who share my sentiments, come to your house and blacken your face and make you touch our feet and ask for an apology, as the judicial system wont really help me…would it be ok?
Would you considering my POV justifiable?
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You _are_ kidding right?
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so you think if we have power I should go and threaten and bash people whose views I dont like? Actually many of us do have the courage and power to do it. But we still don’t do it because our conscious tells us that its not right.
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@PS
woah!What reasoning!I am stunned.Hail PS for making the most sensible comments!I am speechless Sir.
@bikerbanjara
It is not about bashing up people whose view we don’t like.But suppose if I come to your place,and call your mother characterless woman(And assume that she is indeed one,like how khardanda was assumed to be a notorious place)…what would you do biker?Abuse me and leave it? What if I go around telling the world (compare it with Film Release) that she is one.What would you do?Go to police?Courts?Do I need to talk about how fast our law and order functional approach here?
Now understand that those people might have felt the same way and they wanted quick justice.Shiv Sena gave them power to do so and they did it(just like if you had some tapori friends then you would have come to my house and beaten the shit out of me)
For quite a few people motherland is no less than a mother.
And I completely disbelieve Hansal when he implies that Shiv Sena,out of sudden,just did all this torture to him.There must have been some kind of warning,to which Mr.Mehata must have lent a deaf ear.
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funny anisha… read your won reasoning, and maybe u’d feel like bowing in front of the mirror yourself… yes yes, agreeing to your reasoning, let me try pushing the way you sound, your reasoning… Shiney Ahuja (if proven guilty!) raped his maid cause he wasnt happy with this part of his married life… he wasnt sure if the indian judiciary (as we all know) would ever pass this case, so instead of doing something like that, he decided to rape his maid, to get back on his wife… and of course his maid would ve also been paid a deaf ear to all those cases that keep happening, and was readily there in his house! for a few people the opposite sexes if dont attract each other this way, then there is something abnormal in them!
if there is a “maybe” factor here.. then play it your words as well …
Once again I repeat, do let know the day you can stop thinking of yourself standing at the center of universe, and the use ur logics and reasonings as the fulcrum of analyzing and step into a world where you can not understand and feel insecurities, see how your logics can change…. and THAT day we will talk … and its my word, we will… till then take care… hopefully your logics and reasonings do not get crushed by reasons beyond logic some time…
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typo… “step into a world where you can not understand but feel insecurities”
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@Anisha
May I ask for a solution ? if you hv any !!
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you guys should go on a date..
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@ratnakar
For that matter amigo,even when Gandhi was killed by Godse,even Brahmins were slaughtered.
Whatever happened to Sikhs,Muslims,Hindus and (if you want to compare)Hansal was wrong.But still there is a reasoning behind it.
I can see that you have conveniently forgotten “…right or wrong” part of my statement.
I admire secularism and democracy but I also have a sense of that I should not be too idealistic about it.
Though,whatever happened was wrong,explanations given by N.Modi or R.Gandhi are right.
Another problem with idealists like you is that you think,”It is just few fanatics and politicians,common man does not want this!”
Now,if that was the case.Congress would not have come with stumping majority in parliament after Gandhi died and Sikh Masssacre happened.Modi would not have come to power with thumping majority after media bashed him up and muslims were massacred.People voted for them man.
I know that “Humanity” and “Freedom” works,but like every other philosophy and theory ,it is too relative.
I am not supporting this,but just trying to make you see the other side of the coin.
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Oh sorry i am not at all idealistic, not even remotely. Have seen enough of life at Ground Zero, to be too Utopian.
Sure there are many people who support RT. By that matter, there are many who sympathize with the Jihadi’s, the Ram Sene. Why even Gangsters are considered as heroes too? But we can’t take that as an excuse for allowing these people to get away with murder. I mean by that account, we should not be taking any action against Jihadists or Maoists, as they too have support. Why even Veerapan is considered some kind of folk hero among tribals?
Let people do the reasoning behind them and get their PHd’s, but we can’t allow people to violate the law as their wish. Or else lets just throw all laws out of the window, and let it be “to each his own”, some what like the Wild West.
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BTW i am dead set against all kind of extremists.
For me Raj Thackeray, the fatwa issuing Mullahs, the “If u don’t believe in Jesus, u suffer damnation in Hell” spouting priests, the Ram Sene are all people of the same flock, people who have shut their minds off, and can’t look beyond their own noses.
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@Ratnakar
If you take any ‘Action’ against extremists,they are gonna get further support from their followers(remember how RT got more publicity when he was imprisoned).
Their are reasons why people became Jihadis(read:USA),Naxalites(read.Indian Government),Ramsevaks(Read:Common Civil Code).Do people or media ever talk about their issues?No!What are they left with then?
Hansal still doesn’t know that Gnadhigiri failed way back in 1947-48 when despite of Gandhi’s efforts Indians killed Indians.Wake up Hansal or join Medha Patkar who still believes that this fuckedup govt. will rehabilitate dam-victims if she does Andolans and Unashan:)
Start addressing the real problems.
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@Vijay
As i have said before in this thread,”If you had power to do the same,you would have done it”.Forget about blackening my face,even if you are able to gather enough PFC people to answer back RT in a “Gandhigiri” non-violent way,it would be a great start:)
Would your POV be justifiable?Yes it would be.If you feel the urge to blacken my face,then I am guessing that I made comments which offended you.But Hey!Again,as I have said(I hate to use this phrase but if you rnt gonna read up,den i hav to) I completely disbelive that One fine day Hansal was dragged to khardanda being tortured etc…he must have been given warnings by Shiv Sena and asked for an apology to which he must have lent a deaf ear.
Now have you asked me for an apology?no!
@yaatri
and there exactly lies my solution yaatri,apologize.Say and film what you wanna,get past the censor board or whatever respective authority first(Oh ya ask Anurag how tough is that too!).and then if any commnuity thinks that this is crap or gets offended.Go to them,talk to them,apologize(no shame in touching feet)…(they will not blacken your face.Their egoes are too easy to be buttered up.) and go ahead with your film.
I bet you Karan Johar must have known that this could have been a problem but still he went ahead with it.Now wake up Sid is not some revolutionary film.But still Karan took the risk.Why?Publicity stunt like “My Name is khan”?…may be…but he is a smartass,and by apologizing he got publicity and smooth release.So what if one stupid warning comes at the beginning of the film,are you all “Bombayites” and “Creative freedomites” gonna leave the screening?No!
So Karan gave you a solution!
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Mr Mehta, I appreciate your beliefs in artistic freedom. But they appear selective to me. You feel anguished because the latest incident happened in Mumbai and brought back memories of your own experience. But we never saw you abusing those who protested against Jo Bole So Nihal, Minaxi, Singh Is King or those who have shut down movie halls in Srinagar for 20 years or those who hounded Taslima and Rushdie. Do you want to initiate a signature campaign for lifting ban on Satanic Verses, even though your wife is a Muslim?
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Second thing is, this business of sending flowers is ridiculous. Do you think convent-educated RT does not understand your arguments? He does. But the fact is any politician who commits such deliberately provocative acts is only addressing hs political constituency, freedom be damned! So sending flowers to RT will make news but no other effect. Mr Mehta needs to think of a plan to take your case to this political constituency of RT namely the Maharashtrians who plan to vote for him.
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My dear friend Sanjeev…. its always good to find people who try to defeat any purpose by saying, you didnt do it then, you didnt do it before that why now…. addressing your second thing.. if Maharashtrians 100% supported RT, then why is MNS not in power yet… chill man… RT is gaining on some mobs which are jobless… there is no need for a nudging on the arm with “namely the Maharashtrians who plan to vote for him.”
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All this Gandhigiri is not gonna have any effect on them.They’ve already made their point.The point is If MNS did not do it then the SHIVSENA would’ve.There is no political will to persecute any of them.Had Karan stood up to them, by putting his crores at risk then i’d've respected him.But when it comes 2 self sacrifice nobody wants 2 get their hands dirty.
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@Santino
1. I also don’t believe that RT will get affected by GandhiGiri, but then its our safest bet to atleast show our protest. It might work. Do we have any other solution? obviously you can’t fight with them
2. KJ did the right thing by apologizing , for as a buisnessman to put y our hardwork and money at risk for some-one illogical and insane doesnt make sense.
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@Yaatri – “2. KJ did the right thing by apologizing , for as a buisnessman to put y our hardwork and money at risk for some-one illogical and insane doesnt make sense”.
And you expect the common man to put his family and life at risk to stand up against such goons?
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‘aadmi to sabhi achche hotein hai, bas haare hue hai..’
A line from your first film Hansal Sir.
Raj Thackeray might actually be a nice guy, just that he is a loser too.
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If i may add another or the same(corrected) line ..
“Bhaiyya Aadmi bura thode hi hota hai, bura to sasura halaat hota hai”
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One funny question PCF netizens; just happened to watch ROCK ON yesterday, and realized that everyone in the movie says BOMBAY, and not MUMBAI. Did Goonda Raj miss this movie? What is this selective insults? Why didn’t he make make Farhan or Abhishek or Ritesh Sidhwani rub their noses in front of GATEWAY OF INDIA?
I am getting more and more pessimistic about freedom of abuse and threat promised to me by the constitution. They promised that everyone would be thrashed and pelted with the same force and without any discrimination if they were to go against the mob mentality. Where is the promise being kept?
Goonda Raj should wake up and on Monday immediately head with his MM (not marathi mansa; marathi monkeys) to EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT and shatter all the glasses and computers and molest the women there. He should prove that he is an equal opportunity rapist of the society.
– Aneesh Joshi
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It’s the elections, Assembly polls are round the corner, I don’t think MNS would care much even if you made a film with the name Bombay once the polls are over.
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Hansal,
This movement will gain momentum if you can get Big B, SRK and Munnabhai’s…
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any movement .. if it involves these folks from the beginning then it is going to be shortlived… cause having just them is going to defeat the view of the purpose and take it away on these folks’ public persona…
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Don’t think Gandhigiri will work in India, the basic premise of Gandhigiri is that the opposition must believe in the rule of Law, the opposition can be repressive but must believe in the rule of law and civilization (As was the case with the British).
Gandhigiri attempts to change the heart of a person by making him see the wrong, but if the opposition is uncivilized and doesn’t have a heart, and to top it all is hell bent on killing you Gandhigiri doesn’t work at all.
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gandhigiri is goin to be the only thing that will work… nything else is goin to lead into vultures jumping up and down for personal benefits….
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In a recent interview, Uddhav Thackeray ( His cousin ) had this to say “why is Raj Thackeray not reserving 80% of flats for Marathi people in the buildings built by him? Why is he investing in Dubai, why not only here? He bought Kohinoor Mills in Dadar, from which many Marathi workers were thrown out. He’s building a mall there. Why doesn’t he reserve 80% of shops for Marathi people? We built Sena Bhavan across from the mill to bring justice to Marathi people. We’ve provided jobs for lakhs of them. ” The interview is here :http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/War-of-words-Thackeray-cousins-lash-out-at-each-other/articleshow/5085143.cms
RT is probably doing this to spike his seat value for the oncoming elections. What if we bring out that he is not fit to be the next minister. What if we campaign about his inadequacies and he loses. That should be a way to show him the power of democracy over his abuse of democracy.
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Mumbai(business/lifestyle/living) is not created by Mr Raj. The value of the city has long been created by Marathi Manoos,Guj,Marwadis.Sindhis,Parsis…to generalize, the core of mumbai is created from North,South,East and west……
Basically i am doing the same again, sitting in my AC bedroom like all of you and rewriting same old stuff like all of you have done.
Well, we all know that Mr Raj understands that what he is doing completely wrong. Infact, if the great Shivaji Maharaj would be live today, he would have defntely slaughtered people like Raj in the first place. Shvaji Maharaj would have been upset by seeing things that these people have done today.
Just one simple question…I will vote for MNS provided Mr Raj announces that what is the constructive task he has done since incepton of MNS. Arey yaar the start,birth,inception of this party itself was via disection of an existing politcal party (Shiv Sena). The party that was born by these circumstances, can never be constructive.
Why did he have to leave Shiv Sena, when it was fighting for the marthi manoos since the last 3 decades?
Lets ask Mr Raj one simple question..There would be no elections held for the next 50 years in Maharashtra..and he is promised the post CM of Maharashtra for the next 50 years, with just one simple condition..just dont repeat all your dirty politics again….would he accept? I say hell ya, he would accept!!
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@hansal u were then alone n will be alone in future too
sorry state of people of india continues…..here on pfc also we have same junta….give them something to comment..they will comment….give them something to emphathize with u …they will..but u ask them for action…they wont..then what’s the purpose of reitrating the same point that RT is evil…each comment here says the same thing but when hansal ask sthing no ones there…
but hansal take my word …anonymously i would do wht u asked..bcoz i have also experienced the humiliation during bhayia incident in thane.
we still r people with mouth rather than hands.i firmly believe creating a 200 post protest on virtual world will do no good to anyone. sorry but we all r disgusting people trying to prove our sanity only by writing a load of crap.
There are at least two kinds of cowards. One kind always lives with himself, afraid to face the world. The other kind lives with the world, afraid to face himself
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People like RT are the product of the times we are living in. He is not someone from outer space, he exists because a majority of mumbaikars want him to.
Online world main jung chedne se kuch nahi hoga, aur real world main jung cheddne ki kissi ki aukat nahi hai. When I had first read Naipaul years ago, I disagreed with him strongly. But of late, I do agree with him to an extent, at least in his conclusion regarding Indian Civilization. If people like RT and his sympathizers not only exist but flourish too, then India can be indeed termed as a civilization of decay.
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Can we get Raj Thackeray get well soon card like Munna Bhai seriously, he is a sick specimen
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Hansal,
It is shocking, what they did to you. My heart goes out to you. This is probably happening to someone or the other everyday and everyone just sucks it up.
Impotent – is the right word. I am even afraid to write what I would like to do. Waiting for that day when I can feel like the common man in “A Wednesday”.
“…mujhe faqr hai ki main aise logon ko….”
Yes you are a PFC Hero. Would love to see film – like mirch masala on this.
-n
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Hansal,
Sorry about what happened to you.
The question that begs to be asked is, did your writing team do enough research to pen those damning lines? Is Khar Danda notorious for prostitution, loot maar and such. I mean if such thing were said about a place like say Kamathipura, I guess nobody would have raised an eyebrow.
Having said that, the best weapon you have in your hands is the medium of movies. Make a documentary, trace all the Bihaari’s / UP’ietes who have been driven away by RT’s goons, trace the roots of all the filmmakers (or even ordinary man on the street) who had to suffer at the hands of such opportunistic politicians. Dig up RT’s business interest in realty sector. Show the real face of RT to people.
It’s time another Anand Patwardhan came to the forefront.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anand_Patwardhan
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Carry on with ggiri folks. However I have noticed that mercury on these topics rises only when RT and some others are on the receiving end. Hope all you folks use the same yardstick and condemn a)Sikh organizations burning MTV office for SIK promo b) Saif’s capitulation to Sikh orgns for his move LAK c) Banning of the play “Me Nathuram Godse” d) delayed permission for the Mountbatten-Nehru story e) AP govts order against screening of the Da Vinci code f) banning of satanic verses g) Taslima Nasreen book ban h) return of MF hussain to India. i) over turning ban on nine hours to Rama
Problem is that liberals come to protest only on certain issues; a strong principled stand on rejecting censorship of any kind should be the basis for citizen’s movement.
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Well said, Saurabh. Mr Mehta was understandably scared when his film was objected to. But then he should talk in terms of law, not principles of artistic freedom. He should say, “My rights as a citizen were violated so give me justice” and not “This is an assault on artistic freedom by fascist forces”. The latter statement will always invite accusitions of selectiveness. Even if he builds up some kind of movement, I am sure we will never see him writing a blog on the unjust ban on Satanic Verses.
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Saurabh and Sanjeev … it always begins somewhere … we talk of RT here, and see how Saurabh picks up a few other issues… this is where it starts … somewhere it should man .. somewhere it should….“This is an assault on artistic freedom by fascist forces” will be followed by “This is an assault on artistic freedom by fascist forces”. … but it has to start somewhere..
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sorry that has to be “This is an assault on artistic freedom by fascist forces” followed by “My rights as a citizen were violated so give me justice”
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PS – i didnt pick up these issues; these were already there. The same folks who do candle light vigils when a “FIRE” or “WATER” is attacked are strangely silent when a “Mee Nathuram is banned”
Thats the reason; I will never support these jokers. They havent yet proven to me that they stand firm on a principle; all ther agitiations vigils, facebook campaigns are against folks of a political dispensation. If they use half the passion they show here in overturning the ban on say Satanic Verses I will be the 1`st one to join them.
Look at ACLU – they fight and fight against KKK ; yet in many cases there argue on behalf of KKK when KKK’s freedom of speech is curtailed.
Apologies Mr Mehta while I sympathise with your plight and wish nothing but abuse on illogical behavior of those who acted badly with you; unless I see you start a facebook campaign against say banning of the movie “Mumbai Konachi” (the movies message might be regressive and anti north Indian; but we are talking about the principle here) or Satanic Verses etc; count me in as a fervent supporter. Not now.
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a slightly dated but related post related to the maratha vs bhaiyya divide. (http://saurshaz.blogspot.com/2008/10/mumbai-meri-jaan-really.html)
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“What if we bring out that he is not fit to be the next minister. What if we campaign about his inadequacies and he loses.”
Problem is RT does not care, he is least bothered about being an MP, MLA or even a ward councillor. He knows he can wield power, even without being in office.
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“Bombay” n they got a problem, but Reservation is okay. Almati dam is a problem but mandir/masjid is ok. Brain drain is ok but biharis working in bombay sorry Mumbai is a problem…
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@Anisha,
i liked ur thoughts. u have showed the other side of the fact.
but still what happened to Hansal was not justice. RT should not be glorified.
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Don’t bother about Anisha. She is a misguided a soul like Raj Thackeray. She needs help and not condemnation. She thrives on the attention given by all of us. She enjoys provoking anger in all of us. Let us all pray that she GETS WELL SOON!
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Well said. My sympathies and prayers.
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@Hansal
so as your films tanked,should i say that this is an act by you to seek media attention?Is that your counter argument?I would say Get well soon was much better!
And try to be some original yaar,for how many times you are gonna use Rajkumar Hirani’s overhyped dialogue?
@Aj
I am not trying to glorify RT.I know he is a hypocrite.I just explained his side.But unfortunately,if tomorrow you analyze a rapist’s psychology,then you will be blamed for ‘Justifying’ their acts.That is the problem with perception of people.
@Vijay
…
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@Anisha
We all value your opinion but please take it lightly and give your imagination a rest !!
Thanks
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I’m just amazed at majority of the reactions here. MNS creates a ruckus over Karan Johar referring to Mumbai as Bombay resulting in the filmmaker caving in and apologizing. So why are we all up in arms now?
Time and again, helpless college kids are rounded up, slapped, beaten by MNS supporters for celebrating V-Day or holding hands or kissing or any such mindless random crap. Shops are vandalized for selling V-Day goods. Rickshaw drivers were beaten because they were “bhaiyyas”. And what is our reaction then??
Forget the common man, where were the oh-so-powerful filmmakers then?
Hansal, who was a struggling filmmaker is beaten and put through hell. At that point of time, he was like any other common man and did just what a common man would do and that was to comply with the goonda-gardi of the MNS or SS or whatever for his own safety and the safety of his crew. What was the reaction from the film community?
What we get from the film community is the powerhouses like the Bachchans and Karan Johar openly apologizing to the goondas. BRILLIANT!! What an example they have set for everyone else.
K-Jo, out of fear of the shows being disrupted, instead of taking a stand and setting an example, goes ahead and apologizes! Do you really expect the common man to rise up in a revolt after that? All K-Jo did was reaffirm the common man’s mistrust in the govt and law enforcement agencies.
How about the filmmakers take it to the streets in protest when college kids are beaten up rather than the other way around?
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Mr. Mehta
Can I expect amongst other things to take your gandhigiri to go to the leader of Jamaat e Hind to request for removal of ban on Satanic Verses; to Charanjit Sapra for protesting against the changes forced on LAK; to NaGpur RSS or HP to facilitate the return of Hussain; to CPIM HQ in Mumbai (ideally Calcutta but I am sparing you the trouble) to protest the Left banning the book of Taslima because it was deemed to be anti Muslim.
While I sympathize with what happened to you; I cant help but feel that you are “striking” when the iron is hot. Anything to do with RT will give max publicity while a march to Jamaeet e Hind in favor of Satanic verses may no. Arent above incidences against freedom of expression as well or are we just opposing draconian measures of only one person only. If later is the case, count me out of it (BTW I am a a native of Shivaji Park :-)
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There is some confusion here. Firstly, our timidity as a society is to be blamed, not MNS. (Where were we when elements of a community threatened violence over Satanic Verses? What do we do when nameless Dalits are killed in remote villages over caste issues?) Secondly whoever feels that KJo ought to lay down examples for society to follow, needs to get his head examined. He is a businessman who invests crores and expects to get many more crores back. If an apology can help it, why not !
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I am deviating from the article but as this discussion has turned into something else, I thought I will put in my 0.02$.
I agree with most of the points raised here against RT and these neo fascist parties.I recently saw Raj Thackeray’s interview on some news channel and I finally realized from where his ideas stem. He compared India to the Europe saying that they both are similar as in people in different parts speak different language and have diverse cultures. I think he and his bunch of thugs are the biggest danger to our country’s integrity.I think he and his bunch of thugs can not digest the fact that Maharashtra is a part of India and they don’t have the freedom to do whatever they want(Although they do almost anything they want courtesy our inept government).
Raj Thackeray claims to be the messaih of the masses, the poor Marathi Manoos.In my view he can not be a bigger hypocrite.I remember the time he was arrested, he gave comments like “Mumbai will burn if I am arrested”.What happened next was absolute mayhem on Mumbai’s street caused by his thugs resulting in the death of a few people and huge loss to property. If he really wanted to do some good for those people, he should have gone in quitely rather than trying to act like some stupid character from movie showing false bravado and desperately trying to project himself as a martyr. He came out on bail in 2 days but what about those families who lost their loved ones.
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But India is like Europe – with one critical difference; we are much closed culturally and socially.
I think in all this hullaboo one point is missed -we are linguistically diverse people. Sooner we accept and embrace this easier will be the path forward. I have heard a lot of arguments being the criticality of usage of Hindi in national integration; why??
The mistaken assumption of many a north indians is that because Hindi is the national language it should enjoy primacy in all government matters etc. Ironically many North Indians use the same line of argument that RT is using :”Hindi is the national language – so everyone should know it” (replace hindi with marathi and national with state and presto you have RTs argument). At best Hindi is first amongst equals.
I look at it this way – If 60% of the popln is expected to learn an additional language just because the Central Govt wants it; want prevents those with Hindi as mother tongue in learning one additional language amongst the 16 scheduled languages of India.
Personally I feel time has come to embrace English as the “national integration” language of india – Everyone in the country including those with Hindi as the mother tongue will have a level playing field and anyway Eng is becoming the lingua franca of global business.
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Hansal-
There was nothing cowardly about what you were made to do. We live in a country where rights do not mean a thing. You are not spineless, the law and its keepers are for letting this happen, and this, and to think of it he’s being touted as one of the leaders of tomorrow. Our country is already at the bottom of this long slippery slide and these guys are adding to the momemtum. Where are the jihadis when you really need them.
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the largest democracy in the world!!! still waiting for the day when we can take our country back from these corrupted politicians like we took it back from the British!!
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Mr Hansal,
your article portrays the shame and difficulty you went thru the hands of this so called moral police and I am glad that you at last have stood up and standing up for the right of all those whose right is supressed. The marathi manoos agenda, the mumbai and bombay difference, the bihari this and that What Raj Thakrey, Shivsena, MNS have you forgotton that we all are Indian. Have we forgotton that at the end of the day the Bihari also are hindus. Have you forgotton that this bhihari or the bhaiya you people address them as are the life line of our transport line. Comeone most of the Marathi family and friends of mine are not interested Hello calling Mr RAj Thackrey, MNS Shiv Sena, Please you heard us,I myself know atleast 100 Marathi family friends who are not interested in your politics. just to come in limelight you come up with all this stunt. What you did for the farmers in Vidharba other then blaming the government what you as a rich individual did dont tell me that some of you went some work there without calling the press none that we know. Comeone you nearly stopped an ssc board exams if it was not for your kid appearing for the SSC exams the exams would have been postponed. Come on you send your kids to Bombay Scotish ( Is it right?) and then you talk about others this marathi and that marathi. Mr Raj Thackrey by saying that I am marathi nothing changes. Maharaja Shivaji was Marathibut if you see he didnt distinguish anyone. Not being marathi doesnt mean that we are not Maharashtran. I am a not a marathi but a born Maharastran and I am proud of it but ashamed to call you one. It took you nearly 40 years after freedom to change Bombay to Mumbai who asked you all to do it we did not. We are supposed to be a democratic country supposed highlight it we are not technically thanks to you people like you. Yaar change tactics you need not do all this media has spread, people have awaken, They can see your soul. Be a good politician not a bad maharastran. Change your tactics work for the poor and uplift the country and see the out look toward you change and you will go and sleep peacefully. You are adapting the same strategy which you previous party used to do. It time to change, Distrupting Valentine day, Getting active juse before election and the Marathi Topic just for the election cause is not right. Raj Please watch Mi Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy I guess that explains everything. Mr RAj please live in peace and let others live their own life not on your term but on their own term.
Mr Hansal if I was In India I would surely would have walk with all of you to Mr Raj, But then can you please give an extra rose to him on my behalf.
Thank you Jai Maharashtra, Jai Hind.
Remember Me Pan Mumbaikar Mr RAj
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Dear Mr. Mehta,
Please also ask Mr. Raj Thakray that has he been to school in his lifetime. & if he says yes ask him did he ever read an India’s pledge in his school which say India is my country & 2nd line says all Indians are my brothers & sisters. Accordding to Mr. Thakary the second line shud be all Indians who belongs to my state & spk my mother tongue are my brothers & sisters. I would like to ask to all Indian Politicians & Educated illiterate Indian Citizens That if we cannot consider all Indian as our brothers or sisters why the hell children are made to read this pledge daily in the school. Please get it modified as Mr. Thakary wants it.
Mr. Mehta if u read my reply please make a point to ask the same to
Mr. Thakary
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^^@Ramakant:
You talk of democracy and belonging and being Indian and other such romantic things. Let me tell you that you are a disillusioned man. There is no India; it may exist in official documents and in the minds of blind patriots, but otherwise it never existed and never will. We’ve been screwed over for generations by people who wanted nothing but money and power for their own selves, and we’re the ones who let them, in our foolishness.
You are a prime example of that foolishness.
Don’t be a fool anymore, Ramakant. Grow up and do your duty – which is nothing but to be a good human being to all other human beings. Be blind to their background, and appreciate what they’re trying to be. When idiots like Raj Thackeray beat up directors and actors, you don’t go online and defend it. Because that makes you an idiot yourself.
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Trying to get some cheap publicity by taking a morcha to Raj Thackeray’s house and getting your 5 mins of fame Mr Mehta. I am sure u will get ur 300 supporters who dont have much to do. The issue you are trying to rake up is dead and buried, but since we stay in a democracy, everyone has the freedom to stand up and speak his mind. Since the name of this city has been changed to “Mumbai” and everyone acknowledges this, why not use the same in movies. I am not sure, how karan Johar could have missed this during the making of the film. And I am happy that he discussed this with the concerned people and put a disclaimer to sort out the issue, but its people like you who keep such issues alive..
Let the issue rest.
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Indian as a country itself is big burden on the world with population of 1 billion and eating up jobs and food of the world.As far as I am concerned What Marathi what UP/Bhiharies all are in the same boat .floods has displaced millions in South India This bugger Raj Thakre is against Mumbai being called Bombay.Why because he hates English he hates valentines day .Why does he stop there .He should hate Bulb, TV, Fridge ,Train ,Car, Bus, Computer to safety pin on the floor to airplane everything was invented and contributed by western guys what heck a Marathi or in that way Indian has give to world other than population .He should Travel on a bullock cart and tell Maratha stories he travels in an Audi and giving swadeshi dialogs see the irony .Ours politicians say India will become super power 2025 previously it was 2020…Super power in population??? .Junk Ahs In Bombay we cant travel 10 Km in two hours and expecting to be superpower I can guarantee in that another 1000 years India is going to be the same unless some War happens and entire country is destroyed without any boundaries of states and start afresh!
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Guys dont waste time in gandigiri..Do you want to loose your life .. if Mr Bachan or Mr Johar didnt have the guts to face up to Mr. Raj where will street bihari’s or tamils or kannadigas or soo called mumbaiaites stand in front of him.. sont loose your time..
sorrry Mr Hansal.. u dont belong to mumbai like i am..as i am.. its for maharastians and marathi manos.. i am really worried for your safety now.. u take care and good luck.. be safe.
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Bravo Mr. Mehta. Someone had to stand up and call Thackerays what they are – thugs, goondas and cowards for hiding behind their lawless followers. Thackerays live lavish lives with their bungalows, cars, servants without every working for money and at the same time dividing the country.
I was very surprised and ashamed (as a big fan of his) that Amitabh Bachchan gave in. I guess Amitabh could act tough only in real (cinema) life but not in real file.
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Just curious to know.. How many of the people around here think that it is duty of a resident of Maharashtra to know and be able to speak in Marathi?
Secondly, does KJo who was born and brought up in the capital of Maharashtra even know five words of Marathi? Again, just curious…
Not sure about Mr Mehta either…
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sanjeev, tula kai mhanaychay teh kal-la nahi mala. spashta bol. raj thackeray-la mat-a pahijay aanni kahi nahi. he tula nahi ka kallat. me mumbai-la bombay mhatla tar tyacha kai jaat-a. marathi mansansathi tyaani kay kelay he sanghshil mala? shivaji maharazanchya naava-aad hyanchi aani shiv senechi goondagiri chalu aahe. chhatrapati aata jeevant-a aste tar tyaani adhi raj-cha vadh kela asta. marathi maansa, aata tari jaaga ho. marathi aslyachi laaz vaat-te mala. jai maharashtra.
“shoor amhi sardar aamhala kai kunhachi bheeti”
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From now on lets call Mumbai as Bombay and lets see what these hooligans can do.
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I realise OZ is going to throw me out pretty soon, off this website… totally drifted away from cinema… but Sumita.. I have the same point risen again… why, do we have to do things to question the hooigans… whoever it is… RT, or Lalu, or Mutalik? there is a system in place to keep them in check…the need of the hour is to QUESTION THE SYSTEM, ASK THEM IF THEY ARE IMPOTENT… if they are, then its better they accept it and leave things.. THEN my friend, should we think of other alternatives…
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Mr Mehta,
With of good points, your blog truly shows the angst that you feel. I applaud it. However, I have my reservations too.
First, like everyone in this debate, you too are polarized and refuse to look at the root cause of the whole debate. Looking beyond Raj’s political rhetoric is required.
Secondly, film industry has always had connections with politics and underworld. So, please don’t put the blanket of vulnerability over the film industry. Bacchans themselves have close ties with Bal Thackeray and BSP. Jaya Bacchan being a BSP MP herself, tussle between Raj and Bacchans is political.
-PJ
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Bachchans and SP have ties not BSP.
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Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray,
Lalu Yadav, Mayawati… the list goes on and on.
I’m sorry to have people like Thackerays to be born in Maharashtra- they’re hooligans and have no other cause apart from Shivaji Maharaj. They don’t realize Shivaji himself would hang his head in shame upon learning the deeds of his so called followers.
As for people like Mayawati and Lalu, there should be a constitutional provision banning such kind of menace to the society. Can’t they be extradited somehow?
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I agree! Get well soon Mr Raj Thackeray
!
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raj thakray his children going in bombay scotish school why he dont chnge the name. why dont change the name bse bombay stock exchnage.
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This is another incident which reflects the way our society is going. But people who this forgets one thing, that the power of India lies in its youth, an educated awake and a very strong hearted youth. We have competed with the best of the world, accomplished not to see and hear such things in our country, But to see these people out of any government function.
They just threatened the film fraternity but if they were a common people, they would have killed them, distroyed their homes.
Note to our HOME MINISTER: Please take these people and put them against Naxals and Terrorists. Let them vent their frustuation and anger at those people.
Long Live Youth Movement
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As always too much gas little substance in various posts; Get beyond RT’s tactics or heck..get beyond RT & try to understand why there is so much disconnect b/w marathi speaking popln and non marathi speaking popln of the city. Mumbai, Bambai, Bombay are nothing but semantics and election stunts…but folks believe me the disconnect is real.
I know this is far fetched -but last time there was such a disconnect a Bhindranwale arose..
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well yes as always there were too much gas was indeed found in places which termed conditional supports, asked for an english national language alternative and kinds… for all given reasons arguably quite a few north indians might use the line for personal gains, however it remains a link language, which is why it plays an important role… and there are quite a lot of other attributes to it… someday if needed in details… all in positive… with positiveness to mother language as well… however I urge you to start thinking of Hindi beyond the mother language of UP and Bihar…
I agree there is a disconnect bw Marathi and non marathi speaking folks, and so is it present between in all the other states… it needs to be addressed for sure, but here the issue here is much bigger… its about taking law in personal hands… not only by RT but a lot of others… to me if folks like KJ and AB start acting to diktams or a high ranked police official is asked to take his uniform out and then would be shown mumbai belongs to whom, then its a warning that unless I take law in my hands I may never get an easy way to live, and that is scary … when you say Bhindranwale, its true… but that again proves complacency of the system more than anything else.. all your posted examples above, that was not responded to.. are genuine, but unless addressed together will be a.hopeless b. its no use pointing those out if there is no way of addressing a solution to them…
even if thats a session of ideas so be it… and yessir.. its easy to call somebody “joker” maybe cause they appear on televiosn or media news everyday and the excessive visibility makes them look very affordable … and everything seems entertainment for some… of course picking up pointers and saying that these issues need to be addressed and then maybe its a complete solution and staying behind such reasons may make sure nobody moves, but does it bring about any change? nopes…
and since you speak of a marathi non marathi divide… (and I’d term it as something in every state) it is result of a complacent system… and RTs and left wings the people who issue fatwas they are all by products of it! if the system did ensure there was adequate importance to things at every sector (mainly competent education to make it into a competent job market sector) then we would nt be having such a despairing situation…
maybe we should take some other site to discuss this… however before you feel the posts are rubbish, do realise these concerns are as genuine as you can see a bhindranwale… unless the system is continuously questioned at every failure, a disciplened life can never be expected.
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I think I got the gist of what you posted and let me attempt to answer the same
a) Hindi as a national language – There is absolutely no case to be made for a language that is mother tongue of less than 40% of India’s population to be the national language. I respect the language and can speak it as well; but why should 60% of popln be burdened to learn an additional language. Do folks in North India whose mother tongue is Hindi (am not counting Punjabi etc here) make an attempt to learn any one of the other 15 scheduled (and countless other dialects) languages. How does this disadvantage non hindi speakers. Heres one example –
Till now Railway exams were conducted only in Eng and Hindi and these for jobs at the low / entry level. Mamta did a great job by making the railway ministry conduct these exams in all scheduled languages; this automatically levels the playing field. When the rail exam issue came up – media focussed on RT and his hooligans; no one focussed on why only candidates from Bihar nearly monopolize the railway jobs; this is what i call seperating hot air from substance.
b) RT – i do not approve his actions and his agenda; his agenda is based on negativity and goes against the ethos of cosmopolitanism. So do not assume that just because i do not agree with a lot of views on this thread I agree with RT. I am a proud Maharashtrian who genuinely believes that a) Not only marathis but others as well are entitled to fair share of resources in Mumbai…however I also believe that culturally marathis were getting sidelined; however with the proliferation of marathi channels that grouse also has limited legs to stand on. But yes the disconnect is hard and it is real. It gets aggravated by two sets of opposing thoughts – “Mumbai” lovers who dont want anything to with the word Bombay / jam down marathiness everyones throat forcibly and “Bombay” lovers who use Bombay just to spite “mumbai” lovers and some of them deep down hate everything Marathi
c) Re other issues – i have a feeling that Me Mehta is using this for his own catharsis or at worst for publicity. I have seen that any freedom of expression protests always starts and ends with Thackerays in Mumbai and against Sangh affiliates in other parst of India; for me it is a matter of principle; all attempts to muzzle freedom of expression should be opposed; Be it Taslima, MF HUSSAIN, Satanic Verses, Love Aaj Kal, Singh is Sing, The song Ae Mustafa Mustafa. All I am asking is why Mr Mehta (an issue he has conveniently not answered) waking up now; does he promise to take a gandhigiri morcha next time say Muslim organizations force a film to cut somthing or ban Taslima’s next book. Learn something from ACLU; thats the credibility lacking in these “JOKERS”
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thank you saurabh … from your first post one thing i noticed is that you dont have a blind eye to issues.. and the other thing i also observed was never did you have any pseudo thoughts, so the q of me thinking of you in any sense of favoratism was not there… however similar to Satish I definately wish that people who can see things, also try to do something about it… even if that means being vocal… till we start believing that the change happens… I know m not some leader or a visionary, it wasnt until not too recently i d preferred to keep my eye on things but maybe not spread any kind of evokes … however that is the need of the hour… not in any sense of bragging, over a point, i ve been re iterating the idea of questioning the system… (i maybe totally wrong, and of course i expect people to directly tell me that I am, rather what i find is more comments on RT and kinds) … its not RT.. its not these muslim orgs who got a fatwa ready for every common muslim citizen, specially an ‘achiever’ but somehow none for dawood Ib and kinds… same thing with sikh organisations… and so many others… its the system which has failed in keeping a check on these activities, which is leading into a flimsy society… and the polarisation… we got brain drains and then a set of folks who see no chance anywhere, castes/lanugages being disciminated against and for at the same time, qualified folks NOT getting their dues… influences, jingoism .. somewhere nobody is realising that sanity today seems like sitting at home and watching TV… and which it shouldn’t be…
in 60 years our country has been able to provide top notch workers, but any career which is possibly off beat (including making cinema) is still considered to be a mini rebel and folks have toil thru tons (true everywhere, but how many historians, cryptographers… do we know or know about their careers), why is possibly a democracy where there is a right to choose, keeps getting dragged into
your last post.. was a beautiful one… something that was expected and due… for all the half pointers you had given before it… my expectations (shouldn’t be, I apologize, but is) that people who know these issues and can throw up dimensions, should and SHOULD be little more positive, even if not encouraging, then positive… it brings a difference.. it does..
do we think the ministry cannot see these things, they of course can.. then why is there no action, can think of only 3 things… either they are too insecure that even if they do something more organised for the society, people who can see it will never vote, so they lose their seats, OR, they ve taken people for granted and are complacent OR they are scared that the society maybe hampered on backlashes (violence can lead to personal gains so easy to gain on numbers, others will always be dispersed)… in either case either we (any small tad bit to begin) do give the feelers to the SYSTEM, that we are standing upto it.. either to tell them that we are not ready to be taken for granted or to support them and tell them we are up for initial backlashes, but we need a good society …
even to give it filmy example.. YRF living in their world will find it very difficult to make off beat movies, for the same 3 reasons above.. unless otherwise assured or pushed there is never going to be a difference…
I understand I have been rantling about this for way too long, and this is not the right place to do it… however once again, nothing bonds us for than a cinema related site… we should be having a different place to talk about things, n yep thanks oz for not throwing me off… however Saurabh, my piece of thought to you again.. when you have such issues with complete coverage of thoughts on you, present them up, when somebody is trying to do something, every bit can help … but to end it with a line like “count me out” takes a lot of life towards things away, giving it I ve never been Hansal Mehta fan, i even did not like a few posts he has made in PFC, however when he is trying to do something right.. try pitching in to any cause that can help in moving towards something better, if its a trial (of course I am not expecting anybody to agree…)
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May be I am a born cynic
Count me out” is a position I took as I was and am not convinced that this is not a personal publicity seeking initiative. That’s the reason I posed pointers on why there was no anguish on similar instances not involving RT. I do not wish to take part in initiatives that are focussed only on an individual and not on the principle. Next time Mr Mehta organizes the ggiri march at the office of the local ulema protesting the ban on Satanic Verses; I will apologize for doubting his intentions and join him (in support if not personally) in future initiatives.
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You can’t call Raj a rapist and then try gandhigiri.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Raj-Thackeray-is-a-master-rapist-Hansal-Mehta/articleshow/5096770.cms
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PUBLICITY PUBLICITY – Ironically RT will notch couple of thousand votes due to this selective gandhi giri.
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The name of the city ORIGINALLY has always been MUMBAI.
People crying foul like you have no right to point fingers at Raj Thackay because it is YOU who are NOT FOLLOWING LAW which states that the name of the city be formerly restored to its original status.
Honor the law AND cultural sentiments of 10.5 crore population of Maharashtra.
Ignore it and be ready to get you a** whacked DESERVEDLY so ( “filmy istyle” injust justice, eh?
JAI HIND !
JAI MAHARASHTRA !
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one fine day the kolis, original inhabitants of bombay, are going to tell all us non kolis to pack up and leave because the city rightfully belongs to them. what are you going to do then, proud marathi. would you like it if they then whupp your sorry azz. or maybe you too will then become a koli. would you like that. you should, after all you should respect the wishes of the original inhabitants of this city. am i right?
(read up the history of this great city or any great city in the world and see how various communities and races have shaped em. this city is a melting pot and thats what makes it a metropolis. narrow minded people like you would never understand that)
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This is bullshit….making mountain out of molehill..I remember when I was laid off and had nothing todo…i would come up with shit like this…
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@Proud Marathi, Why do you have a white woman represent you as the Avatar? Not that it matters or is an issue of any kind with me, but since you were so fanatical about the subject in your comment above, I thought your ideology was burning alive in all spheres of your life.
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@Proud Marathi, I am not surprised by your comment because people like you and RT and other cowards are living in this country from ages and it was because of narrow minded and selfish peolpe like you who are always looking for their personal benefits, that India became a British colony long ago… There was a dialouge in film of Dharmender…angrezon ki pilai hui sharab ki boo abhi bhi kuch logon mein baaki hai…
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Dude, please don’t bring a bad name to other Marathis with such retarded thoughts.
Or maybe u deserve a whacking just for posting such retarded stuff.
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dude why bother answering stuff. well actually this is the “mumbai” side i was talking about in the earlier post
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@Saurabh
Yes. It disturbs me when Satanic Verses is banned. It disturbs me when Taslima is treated so badly. It always did but the truth was I never took a stand. A sad reflection of our selfish, motive-driven lives. This time I decided that enough was enough. I needed to take a stand. You are right when you say it is personal. It is personal for many others like me. But to say that it is for free publicity is pure cynicism. I have no film due for release nor is this publicity going to find me a producer! I have nothing to gain from publicity except unwanted attention and a lot of stress for my close ones. I have requested like-minded people to join me and they will be justified in staying away – just like I did 9 years ago. I regret that to this day. And I do not want to live with that regret anymore.
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Good for you Hansal – I have no issues with you deciding to do what you deem fit (after all this is freedom of expression); but my cynicism will only be doused if I see you taking a similar stance next time a non Thackeray does something similar. Going by the track record there will be plenty of opportunities to turn my cynicism into admiration.
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Shiv Sena has a page on Facebook—which I think is just wrong…they cannot go onto such forums to propagate blind and baseless idealogies…
I have reported it, so can you!
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Re – Kavita : Kind of goes against the grain of freedom of expression doesn’t it?
Or is that freedome of expression is only guranteed for those who you agree with.
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re Kavita: Sorry cant resist.
Find it slightly ironic that on a thread where we are discussing a film makers attempt (I say misguided and one sided) to protest against freedome of expression. And we have here a supposed supporter of the initiative talking of not allowing SS a forum on the internet just because she thinks the idealogy is blind and baseless.
Couldnt have found a better example to underline the “JOKER” reference made earlier.
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@ Kavita, Ideologies need to be countered with Ideologies… banning them or reporting them makes no difference… and thats what has been the tone of the entire discussion here… reporting the forum is the same as them coming back and suggesting KJ to shut up …. there is no difference… equally unethical…
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Mr repenting-rebel Mehta, I have a suggestion for you. Why don’t you put up a huge banner condemning everybody together? Condemn them all at once- anti-KJo Marathi protestors, anti-Rushdie Muslim protestors, anti-Saif, anti-Akshay and anti-Sunny Sikh protestors, exhibitors who refused to screen Fanaa, terrorists who forced Srinagar theatres to shut down, BSP MP who called for killing of Danish cartoonist, Taslima’s attackers, Maharashtra govt who banned Deshdrohi… That will wash your guilt and silence your critics too.
I am not sure if you can find a cloth that big, though…!
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Dear Mr. Mehta,
[Here is my reply to your first Article Raj Get Well Soon.]
I appreciate your right of freedom and expression. I also appreciate for the stand you made, but let me help you understand, that your stand has no valid reason. Let’s not talk about your past. As I didn’t like ‘Ye kya ho raha hain’ so I stopped watching your films and am unaware about the saga created after ‘dil pe mat le yaar’. Nonetheless, what I would like to understand from you is, why do we call Bombay [the name which was formed by British] when legally; officially and traditionally it’s called MUMBAI? After the independence each state has been formed on the basis of language state policy [bhashawar prant rachna] so applying the regional language [state language] is mandatory. Isn’t it? If the government considers it, what is the point of pronouncing it wrongly in such a large media? Saying BOMABY instead MUMBAI is an effort of misguiding people.
Mr. Mehta, is your anger against Thackeray brothers? Please clarify.
Jihad has destroyed the world. If talking about Shivsena, how do you forget that, they are the one who built Mumabi – Pune express highway within 2 years and 55 other flyovers in just 5 years when they were in power. MNS is doing enough things for Maharashtra. Jihad has done nothing for anybody, neither for Islam nor for the world. It’s truth. How can you compare Thackeray brothers with Jihad? Jihad will not even allow you to express yourself. Do you think living in Taliban and Afghanistan would be as good as living in Mumbai? Karan Johar apologized because he made and mistake of misguiding people, Amitabh Bachhan apologized because he hurt Maharashrians. That’s fact, which cannot be ignored.
Also, I dislike the people those who talk vaguely. Most of those who have published comments here are blaming politicians. My question is why don’t you name them? Name the each shitty whom you feel is inglorious and corrupted. To start with I blame R.R.Patil for doing shitty job. I blame Vilasrao Deshmukh for being neutral just to balance the chair. I blame the Education Minister Mr.Vasant Purke who didn’t take any initiative to improve the level of education. I hate Narayan Rane for owning the property of hundred cores and did nothing. I hate Sharad Pawar who witnessed 29,000 suicides of the farmers in Maharashtra… I feel like breaking the mouth of Mr.Dilip Walse Patil and Sushilkumar Shinde [former CM] who promised to provide electricity free of cost, and now relaxing in their respected AC flats and cars without changing a situation for an inch. I want to strangle entire water and food supply ministry, who didn’t do much to control the famine of Maharashtra.
Mr. Mehta, name the filmmakers who have touched the above topics? Don’t you think presenting facts, portraying real world is part of Cinema? And what the hell you are talking about the right of expression of director. How many of your films talk reality? Reality is what you pay to your maid. Reality is what the water you waste in your toilet and don’t even bother to talk about it even when you call yourself director. Real artist or creator is who; he stays sleepless unless he reacts on the reality. Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, Mario Puzo, Picasso, Van Gogh, Kurosava, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Francis Cappolla, Terry George, Ron Howard has proved it. Indian filmmakers are below the average level in the world because of the same Mr. Mehta. Once Karan Johar said, he goes to London to write his scripts. He even doesn’t know what India is? Forget about MUMBAI.
Amol Kumar
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Fortunately do not know who this gentleman Mehata is . By the narration it looks like he had faces a very unfortunate and ugly instance which should be condemned by all. But it’s unfortunate that people use instance like this of few instance in Mumbai to use it to their advantage. Basic question remains as to why people are ignoring basic issue and using such instances to talk.
Maharashtra state was formed with Mumbai after Morarji Desai Murdered more than 100 peaceful protestors and is not less than a second freedom struggle for Marathi people.
In last 10-20years people coming to state increased tremendously . Even though there is freedom to move to any part of state no one can justify 60-70 L people from two northern states. When India Accepeted federal structure it was done to keep intact the linguistic , cultutral diversity of the country and here we are breaking the very basic of our constitution that to for constitution. Most of 60+ constituencies in Mumabi/Thane area are now determined not by Marathis. If this would have happened in TN /Keral/ K’ka what would have been the reactions ? I feel people of Maharashtra are still not aware that they can see their Dy. CM, CM, Mayors being decided not in Maharashtra. Can any of our national leaders /intellectuals go to Chennai and speak in Hindi. In short over tolerance is becoming a threat of Maharashtra’s existence. If same number of people move to sall states like Goa, Mizoram , Nagaland what will happen to them. It is very easy to term anything anti constitutional /national without knowing ground realities.
Recently people moved to high court against demand by MNS to have signboards in Marathi along with English. It is law since 1960s but people are deliberately not following it on top of that they have became so arrogant that they move to court against that , openly deny to follow rules. The impotent state govt fails to take any action against to law breakers.
Looking at the response of Media , North Indian political parties , self proclaimed intellectuals everyone in Maharashtra should stop speaking in Marathi , stop asking for due share of resources , sell their land to Mafias , get ready to be ruled by our loved fellow countrymen from other states , get wiped out from country map to prove their love to Nation , constitutation.
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absolutely agrre with you, ranjit. how about this: only marathi speaking people can stay in maharashtra. marathi schools only. all signs, signboards in marathi only. no non-goans allowed in goa. no non tamils in tamilnadu and so on. to keep marathi pride intact maharashtrians should converse only in marathi. which means while speaking to a non-marathi you will need an interpreter. all marathi speaking people settled abroad should be sent back to maharashtra, forcibly. ambanis should move bag and baggage to gujarat. kirloskars will operate only from and in maharashtra….and so on and so forth. you get the gist, don’t you? is this what you want. do you realise how dangerous your ideas are? where will you stop and who will decide that?
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Dear Ranjit. Good going. Why don’t you join Taliban camp to help you develop even sharper point of view?
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I wonder if any of our friends will take morcha against this shameful incident -
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INS slams arrest of journalist
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
Oct. 8: The Indian Newspaper Society on Thursday strongly condemned the arrest of the news editor of Dinamalar after the publication of a report which has caused anger in the Tamil film industry. INS president T. Venkattram Reddy, in a statement issued on Thursday, termed the action of the police as a serious threat to the freedom of the press. “Policemen in plain clothes entering a newspaper office and dragging the news editor into custody is unheard of, and the governments of the day should desist from such acts,” the statement said. Mr Reddy also criticised the police action saying it was all the more reprehensible since the newspaper had expressed unqualified regret suo motu for publishing the article.
B. Lenin, news editor of Tamil daily Dinamalar, was arrested for publishing a report with details of a statement purportedly given by a TV artiste arrested in connection with a prostitution case.
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So the film fraternity gets a journo arrested; Hilarious. Any takers for gandhigiri against Rajnikanth.
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Tamil Scribe Arrest: Film Association Ready for Talks
After getting a journalist arrested, The South Indian Film Artistes’ Association today said it was ready for talks with a prominent Tamil daily, whose News Editor was detained for publishing a report with details of a statement purportedly given by a TV artiste arrested in connection with a prostitution case.
“We complement each other. Press is also a pillar in our own society. They can come with whatever feeling they have …,” Association President R Sarathkumar told reporters after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to thank him for the police action against the daily ‘Dinamalar’.
Police yesterday arrested B Lenin, a News Editor of ‘Dinamalar’ after protests from the association for carrying names of the artistes in the newspaper along with their photographs.
The TV actress had reportedly told police that she was not the only artiste indulging in prostitution and there were others, some belonging to yesteryear, who ran brothel houses.
“But our stand is very clear. We need the press and the press needs us. But, it should not exceed certain limits of expression in print or visual media,” Sarathkumar said.
He said the newspaper despite carrying the report which had worldwide reach, had published regret over it, but it was not prominently displayed.
At an association meeting last night, attended by Tamil superstar Rajnikant among others, it was decided that the affected actors, whose name appeared in the report, should file defamation cases against the daily.
Madras Union of Journalists has condemned the arrest of Lenin, saying it was highly “prejudiced and undemocratic” and the police action was aimed at intimidating the media of Chennai and a threat to working journalists.
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I am not a Marathi, nor have I ever been to Mumbai. I am from Delhi and lived in Bangalore for 4 years. I was bashed up once by the police and once by the public in the city, all because I could not speak Kannadda. Bangalore is one of the most modern cosmopolitan cities of the country.
Before moving to Bangalore, I was in Calcutta for about a year, and one day while travelling on the local train, I was apparently standing in the way of some ladies and they said to me to move aside in bengali, which I did not understand at all. Since they were behind me, I did not even notice anything, nor did ever think that anyone was trying to talk to me. Then suddenly I heard a lot of people started talking loudly in Bengali, and a couple of people started staring at me, and I turned around and saw some women getting furious. I still did not know that the conversation was about me, but sensing that they were probably trying to talk to me, I said,” aami Bangal Bolte Jaani na” ( I don’t speak Bengali), the only words I knew in Bengali. Hearing this it seemed as if the whole coach started shouting at me and I jumped off the train on the next station.
From Bangalore I moved to Canada- Toronto. I could speak English well and I became a part of the society very easily. everybody was more accepting, and life became smooth.
After the first year I started speaking Kannadda & life became smooth in Bangalore. After about 3 months in Calcutta, I learnt Bengali and life became smooth.
Tell me of one Indian, who does not try to learn English when he goes to North America of England. We always try to fit in wherever we go. Why can’t it be the same for anywhere we go in India.
I completely agree that since Hindi has been declared as the national language, speaking Hindi should be more that acceptable anywhere in the world,but, by learning the language and culture of the place you are living in, you are only showing respect towards the people from that place, which in turns helps you gain acceptance and respect from them. That is the real joy of living in a country like India. Lets celebrate that before we fight over petty issues. I condemn the thought process of Raj Thackeray, but if he truly believes in his heart that he is doing the right thing, nobody will be able to stop, but if he has doubts himself, no gimmicks can help him. Hansal Mehta- I agree with Saurabh, I will appreciate your efforts more the 2nd time you do it. For now you are just a small kid shout until dad comes home in the evening or he gets a candy.
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so what you are basically saying is you deserved all the thrashing you got. you had to jump out of a train because you didnt understand bengali and you are cool with it? wow. gandhiji got chucked out of a train and look what he did. i am not brave like hansal, i am a coward, i admit it. but dude i am not like you, thats for sure. have a great life in toronto bro, till they pick on you for not being like them in ’some’ way or the other. and then you can start all over trying to fit in. best wishes.
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ha ha ha ha…….thats really funny man. What I am trying to say is learning a different language/culture does not make you smaller in anyway, it only makes you richer. I don’t think I deserved the thrashing, but instead of the thrashing making me weaker, it only made me stronger. I learnt that to be able to make others understand my point, I should first try and understand them. The idea is to communicate to them, not just express myself. With my learning of their language/culture achieved now the ball was in their court and in the cases of both Bangalore and Calcutta, the reactions were very positive. Now it was my turn to teach them Hindi, and my culture, slang & pet peeves, ultimately we all became richer. You should always be able to find a way to raise your concern without having to raise your voice. Thats the mark of a civilized man. Hansal is following the right path, I just hope he is consistent.
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Please understand that Raj Thakrey is in desperation to prove himself bigger than Uddhav Thakrey. The real issue is a fight for a political existence for Raj Thakrey not the great Marathi culture.. Politicians who try to take a short cut to make it BIG always follow the path of extremism. Like LK Advani did with Babari Masjid issue or Modi in Gujrat. But not tor forget that LK Advani never got a stature like Bajpai though they followed the same ideology. Even , projecting Modi as future PM did cost BJP a lot in the last election. So, come on, let’s realize that Raj is not savior of Marathi culture like LK Advani and Kalyan Singh did not became the sole owner of ” Ram Lala” for long.
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But yes, I also feel that Mumbai is crown of India and has a culture of acceptance and tolerance that is why this place became centre of India’s economy and entertainment. Whoever comes here, must learn these qualities and should work hard to make this city clean, cultured and proud. After all a city is all about the citizens who live there.
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Today Raj Thackray issue is very hot. All people from north and south, all T.V. Channels, Newspapers have taken stand opposite Raj. Everybody is blaming Raj for violance in Maharashtra and neglecting the issues raised by him. If you all see the history you will find that a Maharashtrian has always helped other people and other states in their problems. maharashtrian was always against violence. Maharashtrian has to start violence because he was neglected by south indians and north indians on all levels whether it is job or business or respect. Many people say that Marathi person dosen’t work hard and have no knowledge. But is is not true. In early 70’s only south indians were rulling on the seats of all public and private company’s management and executive level. These people were giving jobs only to people from their state neglecting local maharashtrian candidate who have equal or more calibre. So Balasaheb Thackeray started campaign against south indians. The mentality of a south indian manager is not yet changed. After 1980 north indians from UP Bihar started shifting to mumbai. Every year the numbers were increasing. Since the people from these states are not well qualified they started all type of low profile work which local marathi people don’t like to do because of good education level and mental block against small business.The people from UP, Bihar started building slums illegally and inviting their relatives to settle down in mumbai. Ignorance by all local municipal officers, political leaders of all parties, corporators, M.L.A’s, M.P.’s towards these increasing slums is responsible for todays situation. A person from UP Bihar works at low rate, does business at low margin and a maharashtrian works at higher rate and sells products at higher margin. But every one has to understand that a u.p., bihari lives illegally, dosent pays any taxes whereas a maharashtrian lives legally and pays all taxes like income tax, house tax, education cess, service tax, vat etc. U P, bihari’s earn more money than marathi persons but spends money on prostitutes in kamathipura, juhu, bhiwandi, ladies bars, eating paan, gutkha, bidi etc. So they are not bichchara or poor. All north indians have made mumbai like a dustbin. Now supreme court should order that all slums after 1990 should be removed irrespective of religion, caste, language. We all maharashtrians will take care of marathi slumwala’s and all others should be returned to either their state or purchase property in mumbai or live in abu asim azmi’s, sanjay nirupam’s, kripashankar’s, gurudas kamat’s home, no problem. In today’s kaliyug marathi persons quality points i.e. helping to others, loyalty, honesty has become hurdles in his self development. Raj has raised the issue. Now it is the duty of all marathi people, political leaders and workers to come together and fight against all. If opposite leaders like laluprasad, nitishkumar, mayawati, amarsingh, paswan come together for up, bihari public why not we for our marathi people.If govt. sends marathis to jail I would like to request all unemployed marathi’s to go to jail so that at least they will get food and place to sleep there. jai Hind !! Jai Maharashtra !!
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@ FRUSTRATED MAHARASHTRIAN:
My friend any type of violence done my a maharastrian is spoiling the name of Maharashtra as well as India. Political party like MNS what are they doing about poverty, crime, corruption. Evertytime Hindutava, then it was south Indian, the North Indian, when people stopped giving importance to these topic now they have started only marathi language. State has the right to its local language. But Who are this political party to judge us. No one. Me marathi hai, manun garv hai, But what are this parties like MNS doing, divide and rule thats it. when they say all this why are their children going to English medium school?????????????.
Dont be like this sick people. The best explanation is given in the Marathi movie, Me shivaji rao bhosale. Watch the movie and understand it my friend………..
The movie says it all. Instead of doing all this cheap things do something for the poor or help someone, MNS and all are just political related people should cue from the freedom fighters who fought without divding the country. And here the current politicans want to again implement the rule of Divide and rule…..
Think about it. Its never the country or state is bad but its people are those who are bad….
Think over it
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You sound exactly same as the BJP when they were calling the Hindus to save Hinduism by constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya. We all know that the issue burst like a balloon. Where are Heroes of Babari demolition? What did Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati and VP Singhal achieve career wise? Nothing!!!
These virtual enemies are created in the mind of target voters. Slums and unemployment are problems not tackled by our leaders and they definitely need to find a solution for the same. This is an era of outsourcing and we are working for anyone in the world. We can not run away from truth and need to be well prepared to exist in this world. Please see the problem in a broad perspective.
And , if you talk about Maharashtrian culture, yeah, it is blessed by great saints like Akkalkot Niwasi Swami Samarth, Samarth Ram das, Sant Tukaram, Sant Eknath any many others who taught us to be tolerant and proud of our origin. I have read about the life of these great Maharashtrian teachers and would love to work on theirs lives in near future.
We all know that Maharashtrian is a great culture can never be threatened by these petty issues.
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Thank you Hansal for voicing the angst of millions ….even me. How these people like Raj Thackeray hold the entire state to ransom and we are mute spectators…..this is democracy!
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What Gandigiri would do is feed the good dog hiding in Shri Raj Thackray so that it can take on the bad dog barking inside of of him.
All one needs is to have only a fraction of the faith Gandhi has in the good dogs. And may someone lend me that required fraction, over and above the fraction that someone herself/himself needs.
I d prefer Mumbai any day over Bombay but would not vote for the bad dog in Mr Raj in a seven life times..
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Vijay, I stand duly informed about your life and its course. Fascinated! However, can’t do much else to draw your attention once more to the fact to which I alluded to in the beginning. The fact is – it is in a politician like Raj Thackeray’s job description to address poverty, illiteracy, joblessness in a democracy starved of one or all of these social elements. The job of controlling the creative content of a filmmakers project, whether it be Hansal’s or Karan Johar’s must and should fall to other individuals and organizations which should be definitively apolitical. Both fronts can and do need to be addressed simultaneously – NOT by the same people or person.
Try not make this personal, but that was your choice wasn’t it?
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Hi, much of the future of Raj Thackeray and his MNS goons will, in my opinion, depend on Congress. Prior to elections, nobody wanted to touch them for their respective gains. First, nobody wanted to meddle with Marathi sensitivities that MNS and Raj were encashing. Others didn’t want to get alienated either. So, their silence worked as a consent to Raj and MNS. Then, the other bigger issue was, Congress and NCP both allowed it to continue as MNS was believed to have the potential to blow ShivSena bastion. Poof, they were right. Post elections, if they allow MNS to thrive with the same objectives in the long run or, to constrain as the elections are over, that is to be seen. We can only wish. I wish, your wish comes true.
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@ FRUSTRATED MAHARASHTRIAN:
Your comments and your writing very well explain and justify the name you have chosen for yourself – Frustrated Maharashtrian.
Man, you should re-look at the world and the wonderful country we are born in. India is so vast and versatile that nobody can really eat into others’ opportunities forever. If you think that some “alien” fellows from other states come and swallow your opportunities, mind it, it is high time you got your thinking positive. Otherwise, it is not too long before some goons of MNS itself one day comes and throws you out of your home. I am sorry if I am sounding rude. But, it is just a reality-check exercise for you. Centuries ago, miniscule states were also thinking similarly and, entire Indian humanity had to pay price for another centuries to Britishers. This time, this Britisher is not coming from somewhere outside. It is a snake in your own shirt. And, will bite you at the very first opportunity.
See, what has happened in West Bengal. The same Left-supported Maosists have started biting the Left and all ruling elite. MNS is also just another form of Maoism, Naxalism, Extremism, Talibanism and so on. In simple words – goondaism in the name of politics. Beware you must, for your own safety from the same guys you are advocating today.
And, hey, you are sounding so similar to Taliban guys that I wonder why are you still wasting yourself here!!!
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