But Pappu Cant Dance Saala

IT’S a Friday night. It’s been a long, stress-filled week. You head to your fave nightclub that plays your kinda music. You’re seated comfortably, have ordered a drink and are slowly getting into the groove, when the DJ announces — "There’s a ban on dancing, ladies and gentlemen. We could get into trouble if we flout the rules. So please be seated at your tables. The dance floor is closed tonight". This is the scene for party animals, pub owners, BPO crowd, IT fraternity, students, and tourists in Namma Bangalooru. All we want is a nightlife- a nightlife that actually lives up at night, not one that goes to sleep well before the Cinderella hour. All those who venture out with the owls, not just for a drink, but also for a late dinner, some music and some dance agree the 11.30 pm closure deadline is unreasonable, considering the city’s cosmopolitan character. Metros like Pune are open till 12.30 am, though the moral brigade often talks of shutting down joints much earlier. Mumbai’s 1.30 am deadline leaves the city’s party crowd of Celebs and jet setters fretting and fuming. Delhi, reputed to have the best nightlife in the country, has places open till 2 am. Kolkata’s laws prohibit serving liquor after 10.30 pm but that doesn’t stop several bars and restaurants from being open till even 2 am. “We are still one country, so how come the discrimination?” Where's the party tonight? Certainly, not on the dance floors of Bangalore’s discotheques and hotels, thanks to the administration which has cracked the whip on them. Overworked and entertainment-starved Bangaloreans are vociferous in their criticism against the government for infringing upon their right to shake a leg if they chose to. Dancing in discotheques cannot be equated to something abominable; on the contrary, it’s spirited amusement for the young at heart. A city with a bustling nightlife could mean acceptable social practices like shopping, eating, drinking and dancing. The rationale behind the curbs on dancing at discotheques is beyond comprehension. The fundamental rights are defined as basic human freedoms that every Indian citizen has the right to enjoy for a proper and harmonious development of personality. But every time a new government comes to power, it imposes rules that only take us back in time rather than help us move forward. One could argue that smoking and drinking are injurious to health and the only way to stop youth from getting addicted to them is by passing legislations. Agreed. Then, what justifies the ban on dancing ? And these rules are coupled with more laws being proposed by various lobbies in view of their own ideological slant or self-interest. It’s human tendency to rebel when bound by unexplained restrictions. The reason offered out for such rule is to control crime rate and safeguard the citizens from the mishaps at belated hours. Many big cities of the world allow an active nightlife but are by no means unsafe. The authorities ought to realize that Bangalore has a sizeable section of youth, business travelers, tourists and even local citizens who work late into the evening and need some time for relaxation and recreation. Dancing, for that matter, is healthy entertainment and viewed as a stress buster. Such indifference to nightlife would only frustrate citizens who want to have a good night out — be it for shopping, dining or drinking.

Bangalore’s the only city in the country (and probably the world, barring a Taliban-ruled regime) to have dancing banned in nightclubs. Whatever be the ambiguity about the Government Order, the rationale behind the curbs on dancing at discotheques is beyond comprehension. It’s high time the police and the excise department extends the closing time for shopping malls, restaurants and bars/pubs and allow Bangaloreans to shake a leg. Regardless of being vocal about the issue and protests still, pappu can’t dance saala.

Kahaani Hamaaray Mahabharat Ki

Saas-bahus on TV are now having some tough competition from Ram, Krishna and Durga! Yes, the Gods in different avatars have descended and some are on their way. Of course through mythological shows on TV! Clearly mythologies are back with a bang. They were big at one point when I was in my chaddis. Remember the frenzy when Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana started in the late 80’s or sometime later when B R Chopra’s Mahabharata had viewers glued to their Idiot Boxes on Sundays.

Realizing the omnipresence of GOD, recently Kween of soaps "Ekta Kapoor" too has jumped on to the bandwagon and is busy with her mega project Mahabharata err its "Kahaani Hamaaray Mahabharat Ki" (opportunity to insert her lucky "K" in the title). I saw kouple of episodes and realized that my diktionary falls short of rekounting the new series. BR Chopras Mahabharata was much superior than what Ekta is offering us these days with modern technology and the moolah to spend. No doubt that Ekta has spent a good deal on the cast and crew and thanks to Manish Malhotra’s designer attire that everyone is sporting in the series. With Ekta's Mahabharat, once upon a time sari-clad Draupadi, Ganga, Kunti and Gandhari got image makover and are going the glam-way. They seem to be in stiff competition with our drama queen Ms. Rakhi Sawant by wearing the least possible piece of garments (p.s. I am not complaining). As a stand-up comedian points out- "Draupadi ne to aisi-aisi jagah tattoo banaya hai jahan purushon ka dekhna varjit hai". With bhartiya naaris stealing all the raves how can guys take a back seat? Complementing to the divas, our so-called emperors are dressed in long elegant cloaks fastened by brooches and fancy circlets. It feels as if the cast from some B-grade Roman mythology has been transported to the sets of Ekta's Saga. Like in the movie 300, everyone from the infants to oldies are sporting six packs and bulging biceps to suit their macho roles in the period drama. And hey aren’t they supposed to be Emperors, with loads of treasures to suffice for some decent jewellery (I guess adorning with too much of jewellery is middle class). All characters seems like they are clad in rags.

Apart from bizarre dressing there are many other things that would go un-noticed and make one wonder why are we watching this nonsense? If you see lord ganesha in the series, you will go Lot-Pot on the floor. His trunk looks like a hosepipe got on a sale in Big-Bazar. They should have actullay taken the cartoon ganesha from the movie "MY FRIEND GANESHA". It’s an irony that she copy pasted scenes from a commercial Hollywood movie 300. Remember the scene where young “King Leonidas” fights with a wolf in a snowstorm, the same scene has been copy pasted into the series. I wonder if Ekta was into coding earlier or was “inspired” like our dear Anu Malik. She also tried very hard to make the epic hilarious by putting some unwanted ridiculous comic scenes where you would not laugh even if you are paid for unless it’s our Sidhu Paaji. This blog is not just to criticize the efforts of Ekta but also to draw some similarities that we have with Saas-bahu Sagas. Ever thought why Ekta Kapoor chose to recreate Mahabharata of all? If we carefully examine Mahabharata have all the elements of an archetypal saas bahu sagas. It has drama, politics, back-stabbing, reincarnations, rivallary and most importantly tons of extra marital affairs and polygamy. To complement Baa in saas-bahu serials who has seen over 6-7 generations, we have Bheeshma in Mahabharata with “Ichcha Mrityu Vardaan”. Unfortunately with all the elements to get high TRP ratings and women across the country to get glued to the TV on primetime, the entire endeavor so-called Ekta's Mahabharata still remains HAHABHARAT!!