Pakistan: betrayed by one league* and humiliated by the other; a useless experiment but a useful example, a tragedy of errors, a lesson learned belatedly.
Poor Pakistanis, trapped in Pakistan the inherited curse, the hole dug by their fathers! How they would like to correct the clock, and be a part of what's happening in their neighborhood, even for a brief while! Oh Jinnah, can you hear, and bear - your players want to play in India!
And why just them? Your singers come to sing in India. Your people are cooking "Indian food" in "Indian restaurants" all across Europe and America. India - the sun of your solar system, the land of your opportunities, especially for those who hate it the most. While Allah plays on their lips, it is India that plays on their minds.
India: a sobering reminder of the mistakes committed in passion; a tree that does not stop growing and bearing bitter fruits of envy, a brother whose god-damn seniority doesn't seem to diminish with years passing by.
China is, thankfully, bigger. China - Pakistan's consolation.
What's this fuss for? Pakistanis want to sell themselves but the Indians refuse to buy them. And that is an obvious violation of their national right. Can anyone ever deny Pakistanis their part of the Indian pie? They got it in 1947, they will get it again, peacefully or otherwise. India should not make mistake of dismissing Pakistan just because it is in tatters and walks begging around to anyone-who-cares to spare some change. Despite everything non-respectable, Pakistan should be respected for being a neighbor, and for its nuisance value.
Pakistan - the local eunuch you must be scared of.
Cricket commentators claim that cricket can cure. They believe that the cricketers are the white pigeons of peace. On the other hand the government** of Pakistan has condemned politics in cricket, and warned that this is not only insensitive but also retrogressive on India's part. Such irresponsible behavior is liable to aggravate situation in Kashmir and foment violence in Baluchistan. In that case, the government of Pakistan will not be able to do anything about 26/11.
Meanwhile, to deal with the national crisis, and to heal the emotional wound inflicted by the snobbish neighbor, the government feels obliged to ban the Indian movies and channels. This will, among other things, revive the careers of the actresses who had to resort to Mujra dance in private functions.
After Pokhran, Daddy Bhutto declared that people of Pakistan will eat grass but they will get atomic weapons. He did what he had said. It is hard to find grass in Pakistan anymore. Weapons, however, are everywhere. Time beckons the people of Pakistan to show the fire in their faith again. Let the Pakistani corporate (ahem) come ahead and buy their players at double the rate they would have got here. In case they need grass, others can oblige.
* Muslim League and Indian Premier League.
** whatever.
5 comments:
Heh Heh. Nationalism is a drug far more influential than grass. So, you seem happy by the snubbing a democracy gave to a ... whatever it is that rules in Pakistan?
Incidentally, MJ Akbar has written at length about this problem in Pakistan, that Jinnah has thought of Pakistan as a secular democracy, but after his death the worlds of theocracy and military stole that idea away from the Pakistani people ...with whom, all one can desire to have is solidarity. Perhaps this could be the beginning of a Pakistani league... Yes.
I am not happy with the snub.
But the clamor from media, especially from Pakistan, amuses me a lot. Their on-your-face frustration is ridiculous. If they try to wipe the dust and read what's written on the wall, they will understand that they have more important matters to think about. They are questioning Modi, burning him in effigies, but they forget that it is Zardari, not Modi, who is answerable to them.
Moreover, this can not be a diplomatic matter, though it is argued that the bidding was politically motivated. The bidding is a think internal to India, and BCCI doesn't owe anything to Pakistan. Also, the format of IPL doesn't allow the govt of India to interfere in the process, especially to an extent of issuing directives to the corporate franchises about who to buy and who not to buy.
PPL is the ONLY graceful solution Pakistan has, but they have to think whether they can afford the grace.
Of course, there is no point in burning effigies of scapegoats. To blame Modi for Zardari's doing may not be rational, but then who said burning effigies is a rational protest.
I liked the zist of your blog but language was not uplifting. If you focus on negative its the negative which gets energy.
I liked your blogs overall. Would love to see a blog from you on 3 idiots.
For me, 3 Idiots is an ordinary movie which has made extraordinary profits in market. When a movie fails to do well on box-office, it's easy to forgive the movie. But not when a movie succeeds like this one. And when it begins to compare itself with the likes of Sholay, forgiving becomes impossible.
Perhaps that's the reason I find Rocket Singh better.
3 Idiots do not deserve a review or a critique. Not because it doesn't qualify for criticism, but because it doesn't seem to aspire for critical approval in the first place.
Raju Hirani is not on talking terms with critics like you and me. He doesn't need us. He talks to those who cry in chorus - "aal izz well." In the end, he got what he aspired for - the popular approval.
The role of a critic is to bridge the gap between artistic and popular aspects of Cinema. When a movie ignores any one of the two aspects completely, when it chooses to indulge or pander, it should be left alone.
So, 3 Idiots should be left alone.
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