aksstar
16-07-2005, 12:34 AM
Salman Khan
The Tip of The Iceberg
I sometime wonder. As a nation, have we lost it completely?
I mean our conscience.
Our capacity as a conscientious objector?
Our capacity to differentiate between right and wrong, evil and noble and good from bad?
Our capacity to stand up to something- anything?
When Salman Khan beats Somy Ali or Sangeeta Bijlani, we dismiss it as an internal matter between lovers. When he beats photographers doing their duties, or sometimes, even more than that, we take vicarious pleasure- serves them ba$tards right!
When he makes dirty and threatening calls to Vivek about Ash, we dismiss that as a publicity stunt. When he threatens her parents and create a scene in her building, we say- jaane bhi do, yaaro. When he kills innocent footpath sleepers, we ignore it; when he kills blackbuck in Rajasthan with impunity in the illustrious company of af and Tabu, we say- yeh toh hota hi hai, bhai!
When his lurid details about his connection with the underworld are shown on TV, we enjoy the show. Dekhen ab kya hota hai?
When Sanjay Dutt’s gun running activities and his role in Mumbai Bomb blasts are exposed (BTW, he has not been acquitted and he is still on bail), when Lalloo comes on the TV as a buffoon, when Shahabuddins, Raja Bhaiyyas, and the lot are acclaimed on TV and lauded for being elected as the demi-gods of have-nots, when Pataudi doesn’t’ make himself available to the Police, when underworld’s relationship with Mahesh Manjrekar, Suneel Shetty, and underworld's threats to Rakesh Roshan is exposed, when our Provogue role-model star is caught buying cocaine, when Firoze Khan comes drunk on the stage, when Gulshan Kumar’s killer Nadeem openly defies Indian legal system and keeps on churning music for Bollywood with is partner Shravan- the list is very long.
What do we do?
We just look at the situation as casual bystanders.
Look the other way.
When butcher of Kargil comes to India, we are just waiting to give him Bharata Ratna in the name of Confidence Building Measures and enhancing the peace process and what not and he is cheered as a great leader. Our media is dying to get his sound-byte and derides those who are not enamoured of him.They write and eulogise him and undermine our own leaders.
I know you will say- Hum Aam-Aadmi kar bhi kya sakte hain?
Right and wrong!
When our police is so corrupt that a 4-yrar old tape is now exposed, when they take money from the rich to not lodge any case, when our legal system is so rotten that it not only delays justice but denies it to the poor, when there are two sets of rules- one for the poor and other for the rich- is there anything we can do?
Mind you, we are busy people and we have to look after our families also.
Yes, we can take lessons from Gandhiji.
Gandhiji in this age of 'I, me and myself'? You are nuts, you may say.
No, I have not lost it.
When as a nation, I start to boycott Salman, Sanjay Dutt, Nadeem-Shravan, Mahesh Manjrekar’s films, when I stop taking colas that are more expensive than petrol and more potent than pesticides, when I stop laughing at the antics of Lalloos on the TV, when I stop encouraging Mush and Hurriyat by ignoring them and if possible, lodging our protest with the media- that would be a small step in putting them in their rightful places. The world is a market place today and its a supply-demand situation all over- if we do not 'buy' them, the suppliers will stop 'producing' them.
Simple!!!!
Salman is just the tip of the vast iceburg of what ails our society.
I know we all are waiting for someone to come and cleanse our rotten system while we are not inconvenienced a bit; but then, not watching ‘Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya’ is not one hell of a sacrifice, is it?
How about that? Will that send not a loud signal to people like David Dhawan not to take him in his future movies?
Or, we stop complaining about the termite of underworld eating the innards of our great country.
The choice is yours.
And mine.
Time to exercise it.
Great Article at Times Of India
The Tip of The Iceberg
I sometime wonder. As a nation, have we lost it completely?
I mean our conscience.
Our capacity as a conscientious objector?
Our capacity to differentiate between right and wrong, evil and noble and good from bad?
Our capacity to stand up to something- anything?
When Salman Khan beats Somy Ali or Sangeeta Bijlani, we dismiss it as an internal matter between lovers. When he beats photographers doing their duties, or sometimes, even more than that, we take vicarious pleasure- serves them ba$tards right!
When he makes dirty and threatening calls to Vivek about Ash, we dismiss that as a publicity stunt. When he threatens her parents and create a scene in her building, we say- jaane bhi do, yaaro. When he kills innocent footpath sleepers, we ignore it; when he kills blackbuck in Rajasthan with impunity in the illustrious company of af and Tabu, we say- yeh toh hota hi hai, bhai!
When his lurid details about his connection with the underworld are shown on TV, we enjoy the show. Dekhen ab kya hota hai?
When Sanjay Dutt’s gun running activities and his role in Mumbai Bomb blasts are exposed (BTW, he has not been acquitted and he is still on bail), when Lalloo comes on the TV as a buffoon, when Shahabuddins, Raja Bhaiyyas, and the lot are acclaimed on TV and lauded for being elected as the demi-gods of have-nots, when Pataudi doesn’t’ make himself available to the Police, when underworld’s relationship with Mahesh Manjrekar, Suneel Shetty, and underworld's threats to Rakesh Roshan is exposed, when our Provogue role-model star is caught buying cocaine, when Firoze Khan comes drunk on the stage, when Gulshan Kumar’s killer Nadeem openly defies Indian legal system and keeps on churning music for Bollywood with is partner Shravan- the list is very long.
What do we do?
We just look at the situation as casual bystanders.
Look the other way.
When butcher of Kargil comes to India, we are just waiting to give him Bharata Ratna in the name of Confidence Building Measures and enhancing the peace process and what not and he is cheered as a great leader. Our media is dying to get his sound-byte and derides those who are not enamoured of him.They write and eulogise him and undermine our own leaders.
I know you will say- Hum Aam-Aadmi kar bhi kya sakte hain?
Right and wrong!
When our police is so corrupt that a 4-yrar old tape is now exposed, when they take money from the rich to not lodge any case, when our legal system is so rotten that it not only delays justice but denies it to the poor, when there are two sets of rules- one for the poor and other for the rich- is there anything we can do?
Mind you, we are busy people and we have to look after our families also.
Yes, we can take lessons from Gandhiji.
Gandhiji in this age of 'I, me and myself'? You are nuts, you may say.
No, I have not lost it.
When as a nation, I start to boycott Salman, Sanjay Dutt, Nadeem-Shravan, Mahesh Manjrekar’s films, when I stop taking colas that are more expensive than petrol and more potent than pesticides, when I stop laughing at the antics of Lalloos on the TV, when I stop encouraging Mush and Hurriyat by ignoring them and if possible, lodging our protest with the media- that would be a small step in putting them in their rightful places. The world is a market place today and its a supply-demand situation all over- if we do not 'buy' them, the suppliers will stop 'producing' them.
Simple!!!!
Salman is just the tip of the vast iceburg of what ails our society.
I know we all are waiting for someone to come and cleanse our rotten system while we are not inconvenienced a bit; but then, not watching ‘Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya’ is not one hell of a sacrifice, is it?
How about that? Will that send not a loud signal to people like David Dhawan not to take him in his future movies?
Or, we stop complaining about the termite of underworld eating the innards of our great country.
The choice is yours.
And mine.
Time to exercise it.
Great Article at Times Of India