Category: Lookit!

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Film

The actor and the Godfather

Our system is lenient towards film stars, not others. What else explains how a star got off easy despite DUI?
by M | M@themetrognome.in

Guess who decided to visit a Bollywood superstar on a recent morning? The law. This superstar was summoned by the court in a hit-and-run case dating back to 2002, in which one man was killed and four other injured when the star’s car ran over the employees of a Bandra-based bakery. The star was arrested, but in the mind of the layman, despite the severity of his crime, the star was not compelled to serve jail time or appear in the court unless absolutely necessary. The star goes to court on December 27 next.

The star was arrested in 2002 and denied bail four times until his release later that year. His family went door-to-door in this period of catastrophe, because (as per their bail petition) the ‘sole bread earner’ of the family was behind bars. They even conducted a religious ceremony at their residence where young kids living in and around Bandra were invited to participate in a mass prayer service for their son/brother’s release. Such prayer ceremonies are seldom conducted for those running over people asleep on footpaths at midnight and killing them – Alistair Pereira’s family didn’t have one, for instance. Finally, the actor was released on bail.

But what had changed in his fifth bail plea? Why was he released this time and not before?

Enter the Godfather.

The Godfather is a very powerful leader of Maharashtra State politics. 10 years ago, he was next-in-command in the ruling party, with a very firm grip over the administrative affairs of the state. In the case of our star, at first, the Godfather was hell-bent on punishing the guilty for the crime; but this changed rather quickly after the star’s family started visiting him at his office and residence.

The family is said to have played every trick in the book to emotionally hook the Godfather, including the one that probably tipped the scales: the star’s mother belongs to a Maratha Hindu family that has always supported the Godfather and his politics. The actor even agreed to pay a heavy compensation to the victims’ families and personally apologised to the deceased’s mother. However, latest news reports reveal that only four families received the compensation amount, whereas the family of the man who died in the accident was denied compensation because they could not provide proof of identity.

With a little arm-twisting, our star was out sooner than he should have been. Ever since, he has travelled across the world without any restrictions, hosted TV shows and acted in several Hindi blockbusters. The police force has been accused of showing leniency towards him, falsifying evidence and delaying the investigation. In return, the star has showed his gratitude by attending police functions with regularity.

Prayers or politics? Maybe both worked in his favour, while others arrested for DUI have not been so fortunate. Nooriya Haveliwala was recently sentenced to five years in prison for killing two people with her SUV. We all know what happened with Alistair Perreira. We will probably have to wait for the courts to decide on what we like to believe is the ‘parity of justice’. Till then, we will see a man responsible for killing another human being under the influence of alcohol, week on week on national television, hosting a show and becoming a bigger star than he already is.

Sharp as a tack and sitting on more hot scoops than she knows what to do with, M is a media professional with an eye on entertainment.

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Read

Mumbai Police website to be disabled-friendly

First police force in India to adopt disabled-friendly approach via its website; screen readers and videos will make access easier.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

How often have we accused our Government and even our society of not being sensitive enough to the needs of disabled persons in the country? Where physical infrastructure like buildings and transport are designed for people with ‘normal’ abilities, even the technology available in the market today does not take into account the needs of Persons with Disabilities (Pwd). But the Mumbai Police are set to do something about this.

Yesterday, on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Mumbai Police announced that its website www.mumbaipolice.org would soon be made accessible and user-friendly for PwD. Mumbai Police Commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh made the announcement in Mumbai yesterday. NASSCOM and BarrierBreak Technologies would work on the project. “The Mumbai Police website would soon be accessible to persons with all disabilities, including the deaf and blind. The website will allow visually-impaired to access information using screen readers, while the hearing impaired will be provided access to videos.”

Contending that PwD must also avail of the services offered by the Mumbai Police, Rajiv Vaishnav, Vice President of NASSCOM, said, “Working with Mumbai Police on this project is a part of bringing technology closer to PwD and making information relevant and useful to them.” He added that the website would conform to international standards like Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.0.

(Pictures courtesy in.com and guardian.co.uk)

Categories
Event

Run for a greener city

Mini marathon will promote the theme of recycling waste for healthier Mumbai, on Sunday; BMC and celebs support the cause.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

While the city continues to be deluged with trash and waste of all description, there are a few ways to spread awareness of the problem. Take this Sunday’s event, for instance. Hanjer Biotech Energies, a global waste recycling and resource recovery company, is hosting a mini marathon in association with Mithibai College’s Kshitij, to create awareness of proper disposal and recycling of waste in the city. The event is supported by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and a few celebrities like Vivek Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao and Ahmed Khan.

The Hanjer Green Run will start at 8 am from Jamnabai Narsee Grounds and go up to Sea Princess Hotel, before retracing its steps. Sunil Prabhu, Mumbai Mayor, will be the guest of honour for the event.

Dr Irfan Furniturewala, Promoter, Hanjer Biotech Energies, said, “This is a mini marathon to create awareness in Mumbai about the urgent need for proper disposal and recycling of municipal waste in the city to reduce the increasing risk of various life threatening diseases such as malaria and dengue. The recent death of revered film maker, Yash Chopra, who passed away after suffering from dengue, is a case in point. These diseases are caused due to non efficient measures to dispose garbage and waste products.”

He added, “This is a wake up initiative to spread message through this marathon to join us in saving the environment and improving public health by handling waste responsibly.” The first prize is Rs 10,000 cash and the runner-up prizes are cash amounts between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000. The categories for participation are 14-16 years, 16-25 years, 25-45 years, and 45 years and above.

Log on to ‘www.facebook.com/hanjerhere’ on Facebook or www.mithibaikshitij.com to register.  

 (Picture courtesy globalgujaratnews.com. Picture used for representational purpose only)

 

 

Categories
Event

200 participate in Transplant Games

Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney Foundation
Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney Foundation
Organ donors and recipients participate in the sporting event held in Mumbai on Sunday. A pitch report from the organisers.

The nation has seen the best of performances by Indian sportsmen in recent times. Mumbai was witness to another national sporting event, which was very different from other sporting events – this was the ‘National Transplant Games’, organised by the Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Narmada Kidney Foundation, for the fifth consecutive year. The Games were held at Goregaon.

Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney FoundationAs per estimates, about 200 patients from across the length and breadth of the country participated in the Transplant Games held on Sunday. Dr Bharat Shah, founder of the Foundation said, “This is one of the most emotionally overwhelming events for us. It is such a pride and pleasure to watch the enthusiasts coming from different parts of the country to participate in the Games. This event has been inspiring not only many potential recipients and donors, but also the Foundation to keep working in this direction relentlessly.”

The Transplant Games 2012 encapsulated outdoor and indoor games, especially organised for the transplant recipients and the organ donors. The objective of these Games is to demonstrate the success of organ transplantation and paint a big, positive and hopeful picture for the future donors and transplant patients. The Games underscore the significance of care, compassion and contribution.

Dr Shah further added, “Every year, approximately four lakh people are diagnosed with the last stage of acute kidney failures, of which only 4,000 patients are fortunate to get a kidney transplant. Approximately 10,000 patients are put at the helm of dialysis, which is an expensive modality with poor quality of life and poor long term survival. The approximate cost of dialysis is Rs 25,000 per month and the cost keeps increasing with the passing time for the patient.”

Approximately 2,000 patients on dialysis are waiting to receive kidney transplant in Mumbai alone. At the current rate, it would take 10 to 15 years for a dialysis patient on the cadaver wait list to receive a transplant. The present situation is alarming, as many patients would exhaust their resources on dialysis when they have their turn for a transplant. There are patients to tell their own stories of struggle, suffering and fighting for the life merely waiting for the day when they would be able to receive a transplant of the critical organ, like kidneys.

(Pictures courtesy Narmada Kidney Foundation)

 

Categories
Event

Go for COFFI

Short Film festival invites entries from new filmmakers and film institutes; six prizes are up for grabs in three categories.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

If you’ve made a short film and are looking for a good competition to enter it in, you just got lucky. Or, putting it in another way, if you’ve made a short film and are still readying it for competition, you’re cutting it extremely fine.

The Conference on Film Finance (COFFI) and Awards is giving you the chance to show your film to those who matter the most – filmmakers, producers, film investors and lenders – by bringing the Short Films Contest 2012. The finalists’ films will be screened at COFFI and the winning films will be screened at Shamiana Club. The Awards night is scheduled for December 18, 2012.

The competition has three categories – Short Films, Animated Films and Documentaries, all with a running duration of not more than 15 minutes. Last submission date is December 3, 2012, and if you’re a student submitting a film, your entry fee would be Rs 1,000. For others, the fee is Rs 1,500.

For more details on the competition, list of conference attendees and prizes for winners, log on to coffi@sixsigmafilms.com.

(Picture courtesy astro.temple.edu. Picture used for representational purpose only) 

 

Categories
Do

How Crude!

These women debunk the idea of art being elitist, unreachable and beyond the realm of ordinary understanding through Crude Area.

It’s a small firm as of now – having started operations a month ago in Bandra – but Crude Area has already signed up 20 artists, some of them international names. So probably there is some truth in what they say: all it takes for a great idea to take off is some talent and a whole lot of sincerity.

Bindu Nair Maitra (in the featured image on the left), of the duo that started Crude Area – the other is Shweta Bhandari – as a platform for graphic art, artists and buyers from all over the world, spoke to The Metrognome about the whys and hows of starting the business. “The bingo moment for me (about starting Crude Area) came after I had placed a big order of lovely T-shirts on a famous American website, and over a month later, the order just never reached me. There was a problem at Customs, and though the site refunded my money, I was frustrated to know that merely being willing to pay for things was not enough – those things had to reach consumers, too.”

Bindu has worked in advertising,  and has always loved graphic art – this helps her curate work for the site, while Shweta handles business development. “We target urban professionals in the 25 to 40 age bracket, who are people wanting to do up their homes in ways that express who they were. It was such a simple idea – to bring contemporary graphic art to people at a reasonable price, to customise it as per their needs – and it slowly took shape. We started with art prints, but our future plans include designing iPhone cases, decals, and helping people ‘do up’ walls in their homes,” she says.

However, the focus is on showcasing contemporary Indian graphic art that has moved beyond the “Horn Ok Please category,” as Bindu puts it, and on work that is not kitschy or ‘exotic Indian art’. “Our work is representative of India today, and we provide art that people want for their homes. In a city like Mumbai, where so many people live in rented apartments and are not allowed to drill holes into their walls, we have art that can be stuck on walls.” The pricing is more than competitive, too – the smallest works cost Rs 1,750 and the largest prints are priced at Rs 9,000.

“We’re not offering fine art at all, just lovely contemporary graphic art that nobody else is offering in the country at the moment,” Bindu says. “Also, we’re looking for artists wanting to display their work. The artist has to sign up with us, send us high resolution images of their work, and we do the printing and shipping as per customers’ demand.” The company promises that the product will be delivered to your doorstep within seven days of placing the order; its operations currently include Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

A major learning thus far for the duo has been that more Indian men than women are interested in purchasing quality art for their homes. “Also, we’re constantly reinventing – art is a very subjective thing for everybody, so we’re catering to different tastes all the time. There is so much talent waiting to be showcased, and so many people looking to purchase quality art at a great price. We fulfil the need for both,” Bindu says.

Browse, shop or simply check out graphic art at www.crudearea.com.

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