Heralding 2017

Hi Friends,

"Dil hai ki Manta Nahi" that 2016 has elapsed into history to be replaced by "Zabardast" 2017. Wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2017 - free from the "Dangal" of demonetization & serpentine queues.

"PK" you feel like a "Rangeela" that reveals your "Andaz Apna Apna" ; hope, therefore, that prohibition is not launched across the country like it was done in Bihar last year. 'Dil Chahata Hai" that "Lagaan" (Read Personal Income tax) be reduced this year during the budget presentation by the Finance Minister rather then by the PM who constantly steals the former's thunder; he did it again last night. "Akele hum akele tum" we have become today; hope we become more tolerant to an "Argumentative Indian" this year. AAP has respected the "Parampara" of all political parties & removed the list of donors from their website; hope they find their "Pehla Nasha". It is time for the Congress to move away from "Yaadon Ki Baraat"; else it will turn to "Raakh".

Trump may dump climate change initiatives but you should fall in "Ishq" with the "Earth" & protect it. There is "Aatank Hi aatank" across the world" & people akin to "3 idiots" are getting elected. Hope the trend gets reversed. 

"Dil Chahata Hai" that your "Talash" to clear your "Mann" & find the real "you" is revealed this year. Finally, this is annual appraisal time - accept the dictum: "Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander"; hope you get the "Awwal number" not "Luck by Chance" & win your "Baazi". Praying for a "Mela" of great increments this year. 

'Isi Ka Naam Zindagi" 

"Satyamev Jayate"

"Love, Love, Love"
Ram

Movie review: Dangal

Aamir Khan emerges from his 2 year hibernation post “PK” in “Dangal” a movie of the sports genre, magnificently mixed up with a cocktail of patriotism & gender sensitivity. The “intolerance” remark cost him dearly vide a right wing backlash some time back & he appears to have taken care this time to make all the right comments that include “goose bumps” he experienced while the national anthem was played in the movie.   Not sure if it is the right wing push or the Supreme Court ruling that made people stand up twice for the national anthem: once before the movie began & later during the movie when the protagonist Geeta  wins gold at the commonwealth games. Children insisting that their reluctant parents stand up for the anthem were needless to say, a positive change.

Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) a wrestler retires from the mat forced by circumstances: a family to feed & a truant father who admonishes him. Going about his chores along with his wife Daya Kaur (Sakshi Tanwar), he dreams of a son who shall bring laurels for the country - a gold medal for the nation – a hark back to the sentiment amongst all Indian parents who drive their children, perhaps recklessly, to fulfil the aspirations that they themselves failed to achieve.  Destiny, however, wills otherwise & Mahavir is blessed with 4 daughters. His dejection transforms to hope when his 2 elder daughters – Geeta (Fatima Sana Sheikh) & Babita (Sanya Malhotra) beat up the village boys for passing snide remarks at them.  “The blood of a wrestler flows in them” he concludes & starts training the girls in wrestling widely seen as a male sport in this country including parochial Haryana where the plot is based.

The Haryanvi lilt of the movie is enchanting & has been used extensively in movies like Matru Ki Bijli ka Mandola & Tanu Weds Manu returns in the last 5 years. Bhojpuri was used extensively in Ganga Jumna more than 5 decades back. People paid for tickets as they do so now alluding to the fact that as long as our political class stays away from dividing India on linguistic lines, Indians by nature are tolerant & language agnostic.

Coming back to the movie, despite opposition from the society that include  refusing to allow the girls to use  their akhadas, meagre financial means & his wife refusing to serve non- vegetarian fare - a prime protein requirement  for a wannabe wrestler, Mahavir fights all odds & emerges triumphant. The daughters themselves resent his strict regimen & hilariously invent excuses to avoid the pain of rigorous training which he circumvents through creative solutions; difficulty in running in pyjamas is addressed by offering them half pants & complaint of greasy hair as a consequence of fighting on the sand pits addressed by cutting their hair short.  Only when one of their friends reveals her pain at getting married off in her teens by her father while Mahavir was at least thinking about his daughters future do Geeta & Babita soften up & seriously take to training. Geeta confesses that the real “Hanikarak” Bapu was tougher than what was portrayed in the movie.

With his wards now trained in his farm backyard, Mahavir takes them to wrestling competitions - ‘Dangals” in rural parlance - to take on male counterparts, initially, only to be ridiculed by the organizers; views change when they see the economic potential of attracting larger crowds & hence greater ticket proceeds by showcasing the glamorous girls & not because of any altruistic aim of transforming society or out of genuine gender sensitivity. Incidentally, Haryana has an abysmal gender ratio & is also plagued by a high percentage of female infanticide.

The girls initially win laurels in the “Dangals’ & later in the nationals which takes Geeta to the NIS (National Institute of Sports) Patiala, Punjab.  Initially, Geeta responds positively to her coach’s attempts to force her to “Unlearn” & even takes on her father in the bargain in what is an intensely poignant scene.  However, when “aggression” - her forte - is replaced with tactical patience she starts losing international bouts. Her rapprochement with her father & how his guidance to change tactics after going through the match videos puts her on a victory path forms the remaining part of the movie. However this puts Mahavir in conflict with her coach Pramod Kadam (Girish Kulkarni). Yet, Geeta, finally, wins the Commonwealth gold, in 2010.

The movie seems to have taken some cinematic liberties deviating from reality. Mahavir in reality is a stoic man whom Aamir tries to play sensibly until the script forces him to regress into mild histrionics to tug at the heart strings of the audience. Sakshi Tanwar, caught in a rut between the demands of her husband & the pleas of her daughters plays a helpless mother to perfection. India, unfortunately, has many such mothers caught in this grind of a patriarchal world.  While Geeta won her final bout in the finals quite easily in 2010 as the score read 1-0, 7-0 unlike the score of 5-1, 4-6, 6-5 claimed in the movie & shown as a cliff-hanger of a contest – a nail biting  finish - that was only settled in the final seconds of the third round. Off course she had longer hair in the actual bout too unlike what was claimed in the movie.   It is also untrue that Geeta did not win any contests before 2010; infact, she had earlier won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in 2009, where she competed in the same 55kg freestyle wrestling category. The actual coach PR Sondhi has protested that he was unnecessarily shown in an unflattering light & that Mahavir was not locked up during the finals but was in fact in the crowd cheering his daughter.  In Mahavir Singh Phogat’s biography, ‘Akhada: The Authorized Biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat’, Saurabh Duggal confirms the coach’s assertion.

Aamir has confessed that the movie mixes fact with fiction while retaining the essence of the original story. Despite the deviations the movie is a dish to be savored for 2 reasons: Aamirs’s body transformations as part of “method acting” to fit the different age profiles of Mahavir , perhaps an ode to Robert De Niro in the 1980 Martin Scorsese film "Raging bull"; & a reminder to society to shun gender bias for a girl child can bring, perhaps, more laurels too. Hope the audience is listening.

Year 2017: The Predictions

The assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, on Dec 19^th, by an off-duty Turkish police officer, Altintas, in Ankara, after proclaiming “Allahu Akbar” & “Don’t forget Aleppo” - a reference to the Syrian cataclysm - is perhaps an indicator of more violent things to come.  Paradoxically, on the same day, Russian President, Putin, had to cancel his schedule to see the play Woe from Wit - written by the poet and diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, murdered by a mob when he was ambassador to Tehran, in 1829 - to attend to the event. One only fervently hopes that this event would not do to Europe today what the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand did in 1914. World War I happened then, leading to about 17 million dead. The other predictions for 2017

Russo-US Entente

Strategic experts aver that covert support to the ISIS by the US to unseat the Bashar- Al Assad regime, in Syria, is the genesis of the Syrian crisis. Eliminating both the ISIS & the Syrian regime is an unrealistic aim for one can’t run with the hare & hunt with the hounds simultaneously. With accusations flying thick & fast regarding Russian hackers help in a Trump win, in the elections, it would be reasonable to expect the Trump regime to work on a Russo-US entente to refashion the West Asian conflict. The nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson - a known friend of President Putin - as the next US Secretary of State alludes to such a possibility.  However complexities abound.

Shia-Sunni/ Abrahamic Religion Conflict

While the Russians are friendly with the Shia regimes of Iran & Syria, Trump intends to back-off from the Iran deal struck by Obama; this could placate Israel & the traditional US supporters – the Sunni Arab regimes including Saudi Arabia - who are annoyed with the Obama regime for opening up to Iran. Obama’s parting shot was to surreptitiously support by abstaining on a non-binding UN resolution that chastised Israel on pushing settlements in West Bank & East Jerusalem, thereby keeping the two nation – Israel & Palestine – theory alive, in West Asia, Trump has promised to reverse the same & is insistent that the US ambassador should be based in Jerusalem & not Tel Aviv, which would reopen the old wounds of “holy wars”. He has taken a position on the West Bank that is more right to the one peddled by the Israeli PM, Benjamin Natanyahu which has the potential of annoying the Gulf Co-operation Council(GCC) & the Islamic Umma & that could serve as the powder keg, the conflation of which could rekindle the Arab-Israel wars of 1967 or 1973. Expect the Middle East to be a heightened battle ground between religions & sects accentuating the chaos.

Caliphate would try to regain relevance

ISIS & Al-Qaeda are fighting for supremacy & the former is the current darling of the Jihadis. ISIS will initiate & if unable to execute will at least take credit for lone wolf attacks across the world particularly Europe & North America - the forces which it sees as arraigned against it.  A petulant Putin & an impetuous Trump are likely to plan muscular reactions which have the potential of reigniting the crusades which will have religious, social & economic consequences. Therefore expect a violent 2017. A world war 3 is not unlikely.

Weakening of the International Order

The rise of right wing nationalists with the promise of making their countries “Great Again” is unlikely to stop with Trump. Expect more to join the ranks of Abe in Japan, Putin in Russia & Xi in China. Prodded by masochism, they are likely to overturn the world trade, economic & social order based the narrow pursuit of nationalistic objectives. Expect a further weakening of the UN & WTO. More no. of regional trading blocs would emerge while some like the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) would disappear. Consensus on issues like climate change would weaken further.

Unravelling of the EU

Brexit is a consequence of voluble debaters playing on xenophobia & instilling in citizens fears regarding loss of jobs & terror threats. Right wing parties have gained in the European Parliament & are likely to storm to power in certain countries. The perceived German high handedness is dealing with the issues plaguing Europe could implode the European Union. Angela Merkel could lose the elections & not make it to a 4^th term in office.

South China Sea: The new area of conflict

Trump accepting, ostensibly, a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wen, predicts a fraught start to the US- China relationship since it challenges the “One China” policy which successive US regimes have respected since President Nixon’s historic rapprochement in 1972; the immediate consequence of that action is a US drone being captured by the Chinese in the high seas.  It is conceivable that Trump would attempt to fulfil his electoral promise of extracting trade concessions from the Chinese & the latter being patient & prolonged negotiators would wear him down. Attempts to arm-twist the Chinese would be responded through dumping of US debt that could effect the stability of the dollar plunging the world into an economic crisis. Alternatively, trying to hem them in the militarily would see tensions mounting especially in the South & East China Seas.

While Trump has already expressed his intentions of moving ahead with tightening the H1B visa regime which has the potential of impacting Indo-US relations, its ill effect could be softened through a closer Security & Defence partnership.  A closer US – India - Japan- Australia- South Korea- Vietnam axis to counter China is likely. Expect the South China Sea to be the focus of much duelling in 2017.

Conclusion

The world in 2017 will never be the same again. The fissures that have developed during the last few decades are waiting to be exploited & there is no shortage of interested parties.  In short expect social, economic & political upheavals across the world in 2017 & that is definitely not music to any ones ears.