Women In India

Women in India share many of the problems that face their counterparts in the U.S., such as sexual harassment,
lower wages, political exclusion, and physical violence which, at its worst, culminates in rape and even brideburning. In addition, however, most Indian women, and in fact many women all over the Third World, carry the double burden of humiliating poverty and debilitating illiteracy.

Bangalore: A metropolis Slowly Crumbles

A few years ago. Bangalore was the boom city o f the South. Now the boom has gone bust.

Last summer, just about a year ago, Bangaloreans were basking in the warmth of yet another addition to the string of monikers the city has acquired. Bangalore — the boom city — then seemed an awesome juggernaut, zesty and thriving, one of the fastest growing cities, not just in India, but in the world.

The Fractured Image

A few signs are showing that women are coming into their own in Indian cinema…. not very radically so, but at least differently from men. Hopefully, in a larger context, film festivals and discussions like the one presented by Vimochana, have their own role to play in fostering a climate for this social transformation.

Who’s a Nuclear Threat

Recent assurances by Secretary of State George Shultz to the Indian government regarding U.S. supplying spare parts to the Tarapur nuclear plant have generated misdirected reaction in this country.

Stripped of their politicization the facts are these: By virtue of a 1963 Indo-U.S. agreement, the U.S. has
a contractual obligation to supply the Tarapur plant for the stipulated 30-year period.

The Come-To-Tea Committees

Ea r l ie r this year, those who followed the activities of Rajiv Gandhi when he came to the city, noticed that while for most of the time he remained in the shadow of his mother, he made one deviation. He agreed to attend a tea-party hosted in his honour by an organisation—hitherto unheard of—called the Economic Forum. The inquisitive, who ventured to find out who was present, speculated on the nature of this forum, which included people as disparate as the ageing politician S.K. Patil, textile magnate Nusli Wadia and film producer B.R. Chopra.
The more uncharitable concluded that the forum was an instant concoction put up so that a bunch of influential
people could meet the potential politician.

The Economic Forum, convened by Y.P. Trivedi which has since been engaged in diverse activity, arranged a discussion with S.S. Mahopatra, and belongs to a class of committees numerous in the city that specialise in
such ‘meetings’.

Kalyug – An Art Film For The Masses

LIKE every other Shyam Benegal film, Kalyug, slated for release next month, has already received more than its fair share of media attention. The focus, however, seems to have been on the fact that the director has cast commercially established stars such as Rekha, Shashi Kapoor and Raj Babbar in its major roles. The criticism
that greeted Junoon, his last film, is now being repeated.

Benegal, it is being said, has sold out, gone commercial, dumped his art film credentials, and switched to a more paying kind of cinema.