Anti-corruption (Lokpal Bill) - How to go about drafting one?

Corruption without doubt is the greatest threat to our moral and social fabric in India. No other threat is as grave and as real as corruption. Corruption occurs on a daily basis and is so much a part and parcel of our lives that we consider it 'Normal'. Now that is a scary thought.
There has been some awareness and some political movement recently against corruption (like Anna Hazare's protest and Baba Ramdev's fast) though all this helped in highlighting corruption in the media and our dinner table conversations but it is very disheartening to see the members of the civil society and the government fighting and squabbling like kids.
The larger question is:
Is this the right way to go about address this pivotal issue without really including every democratic constituent into the whole process. No single committee of the civil society or a political party can preside over the process of finalizing the draft of the Lokpal bill. We will need every constituent representation and ideas to be involved in the process.
I think we have the political, judiciary and the executive representation but how do you really get in the common man especially the Indian middle class represented. And, I say that the participation of the Indian middle class is necessary because there is no one real representation for this important section of the population. We will need a platform so that people can voice their anti corruption ideas and suggestions. With regards to this one story caught my attention, in Iceland the government is using social networking to ensure participation by its citizens in drafting a new Constitution (more than 2/3rd of Icelanders are in Facebook). But, skeptics may say that this will not work because of the low level of computer and Internet penetration in India. I totally agree with that but the point is, not that one solution fits all, the point is explore and add in new ways of including people's participation along with other democratic means to important pieces of legislation like anti-corruption bill  draft and make sure the best ideas and the most practical are not lost in the jungle of politics.What do you think?

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Manmadhan Ambu Movie Review

Every time you go into a cinema hall for a Kamal movie and if the movie promises to be a comedy roller coaster then expectations are sky high for a rip roaring hilarious comic affair. Beware! Manmadham Ambu does not fit into that genre and hence any preconceived notion is detrimental to the excitement. Nevertheless, it is a good movie and is a breezy entertainer but if you have patience the last 30 minutes are rip roaring.

The movie starts off with a Trisha (Ambu aka Nisha) shooting a song with the real hero Suriya. The first scene sets the tone for the movie as it that scene that where the rift between Madhavan (Madanagopal) and Trisha eruptsdue to the suspecting ways of Madhavan on his lover Trisha.

Madhavan is a class act throughout the movie, his performance is easily the best as a vulnerable lover rich boy. The story takes some twists and turns and Trisha decides to go on a vacation (2 years after her so called rift with Madhavan?) with her friend Sangeetha (Deepa) and her 2 kids (really cute performance by them throughout the movie). Madhanagopal sets up Kamal (an army Major), a private detective who has taken up the assignment to arrange for money for the treatment of his friend Ramesh Arvind (Rajan), to spy on Trisha in Europe.

The meat of the movie follows the trail of Trisha traveling through Europe in a cruise ship and is followed by Kujan (Kurup) and his wife. Kunjan is a producer unsuccessfully trying to convince Trisha to act in his movie but she loathes him. Kamal in his detective avatar is convincing and finds that Trisha is a straightforward girl and lets Madhavan know about the same. The movie gains steam when Madhavan refuses to pay Kamal as Madhavan argues that Kamal did not discover anything wrong with Trisha which ought to have been his real assignment. Kamal needs the money for his friend's treatment and hence twists the tale by making a u-turn on his original assessment to milk money from Madhavan and that is the plot of the movie.

All the actors have performed well but special mention must go to Madhavan and Sangeetha who excel in their roles. The movie also sounds different because all sounds and voices were recorded during the live shooting and Trisha's voice is a refreshing change. Kamal as usual excels in his role effortlessly flipping between a dutiful detective's character to a man with sombre past. Watch out for couple of unexpected twists in the movie one in the middle part just before interval and the second in the climax.

Overall the movie is a definite watch and is techically brilliant. The music and the songs are refreshing and watch out for one exceptional song 'Neela Vanam', the picturisation and the music is really heart rendering. What makes the movie watchable and interesting is the unexpected twists in the story line and a generous sprinkling of practical comedy throughout the movie (not over the top). The supporting cast is the strength of the movie and are integrated well within the main storyline

Rating 3/5

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Soundcheck: Superstar Rajinikanth - WNYC

Soundcheck: Superstar Rajinikanth - WNYC

Interesting discussion about Rajini's superstardom in WNYC radio.

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Akbar and lessons to be learnt from the great emperor

I have seen the movie Jodhaa Akbar  and must say was a brilliant film falling a little short of a masterpiece; I would say that because I love battle scenes and a couple of battle scenes in the movie were not great, but having said that the movie is just like a poetry. The directors vision to make a movie of this scale must be complimented, Hrithik was just brilliant in his potrayal as Jalaluddin Mohamed Akbar and Aishwarya was as beautiful as ever coupled with a restrained performance. The movie has too many things going for it including the music, the performance of the characters, and brilliant costumes and picturisation.

The question here is though about why was Jalaluddin Mohammed called 'Akbar' and the answer lies in the fact that even though Akbar was not literate at a very young age he understood that only inclusive politics and administration will enable him to become the first true emperor of Hindustan. A few examples of inclusive and secular rule are:

• 5 out of the nine ratnas in his court were Hindus
• Jodhaa bai was a Hindu and her son (Salim) became the next Mughal emperor
• Akbar abolished the pilgrim tax levied on non-muslims
• Akbar respected the Rajputs and his commander in chief was a Rajput Raja Man Singh

All this inclusive actions of made Akbar the true emperor of Hindustan. This brings a lingering question to my mind as to why when a Mughal aristocratic ruler 500 years ago could understand in an era where there was no concept of religious tolerance that our leaders of today cannot understand -- the concept of inclusive progress.

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