Bollywood rules
I fully agree with Maithili Rao’s article “Bollywood’s hegemony”. It is definitely true that it has left meaningful regional films out in the cold. Why is it that, year after year, only Bollywood films make it to the Oscars? For instance, “Anbe Sivam”, which beautifully portrayed communist ideals pitted against the modern capitalist ideals, was released the same year as “Devdas”. Alas, Devdas, which had nothing but three “big stars”’ and garish costumes made it to the Oscars. The truth is that most of the Bollywood films are escapist flicks that are not even “near reality”.
Mira.S,
Chennai
The glamour and glitz of Bollywood has indeed adumbrated the likelihood of regional and meaningful cinema burgeoning in India. To add insult to injury, Hindi cinema is so typecast that innovative new themes have become rare. Box office rules Bollywood and any indulgence in creativity would spell doom. With the advent of multiplexes, one hopes to see more good and meaningful cinema in the near future.
K. Chidanand Kumar,
Bangalore
Social evil
With reference to Kalpana Sharma’s “How independent are we?” (August 12), many fail to mention one vital fact. It is the man who is responsible for the xx chromosome of the girl child. Having planted the xx chromosome, how can the husband expect a boy? Even educated men blame their wives and treat them cruelly for giving birth to female children. How can the progeny continue without women? Boy or girl, both are equally important.
Dr. J.D. Arulmani,
Bangalore
The article exposes the continuing social evil in the 60th year of independence. Not that people are not aware of the malaise. Despite a stringent law in force, compulsory abortion of a girl child continues. With clear statistical evidence of sexual imbalance, aborting female foetuses even among the educated class is surprising. There should be an awareness campaign against abortion of female foetuses. While we have many achievements to boast about, we still need to work on abolishing social evils.
E.Sivasankaran,
Coimbatore
Dual nature
Ziya us Salam’s “Assault of the mixed doubles” (August 12) captured the true essence of the dual nature of our daily life. The way we use “’Mummy ji”, movie titles like “Daag: the fire” justifies it. Whether it is media, school, language, culture, dress there has been a metamorphosis with a blend of Hindi and English becoming very common. It points to the emergence of a new generation of Indians, which is adopting western standards, with no thought to what will be the end.
Amna Mirza,
Delhi
True picture
Dr. Kalpana Suresh’s article “More harm than good” (August 12) on traditional eye medicines and functional blindness reflects the true picture in rural India. Poverty, ignorance and exploitation should not be allowed to decide one’s visual status. The health care providers at all levels — primary, secondary and tertiary, including the paramedics — should reach the marginalised and invisible people. This will help impart functional literacy and basic health awareness. Media with its continued commitment can leave a lasting and powerful health impact.
Dr. V. Gurumoorthy,
Chennai
Selfless service
This refers to “Inspiring lessons” by Karthik Madahavan (August 12). When the government is blamed for not providing adequate funds for maintenance, the selfless services of the school teachers in using their earnings to the cleanliness of the school deserves much praise. Ironically tax payers pay an education cess; yet there are schools like Karaipalayam that do not receive any funds for maintenance.
Koothappakkam R.Murali Kumar,
Srirangam
When the functioning of government schools is not generally encouraging, the headmistress and teacher of the Government Elementary School, Karaipalayam, have proved that if there is a will, any school with poor infrastructure can be transformed into a better one. It was really moving to read that the two teachers and the noon-meal staff who are getting a meagre salary have contributed so much for the construction of the compound wall and the much-needed additional toilet. When it is the order of the day to put some extra work to get some kind of recognition or reward, the sustained hard work of the two teachers in a humble way is praiseworthy.
S. Nallasivan,
Tirunelveli
Fort city
With reference to“City of forts” (August 12), Jalaluddin Firoz Khilji was an old and loyal servant of Balban and his grandson Kaiqubad. He was asked to ascend the throne after Kaiqubad was murdered by his nobles. He was a poet and had Amir Khusro as his Chamberlain. Disloyalty to the extent of regicide would be abhorrent to him.
Akhilesh Mithal
New Delhi
