if you do not feel sorrow you are not human, if you don't deny sorrow and welcome it you have understood what it is to be human, if you let sorrow so completely engulf you, like a monsoon rain, drench you completely, right to your soul then, when the sun comes out, and you dry [...]
Author: shekhar
Ashok Mehta, DoP of Bandit Queen, with respect…
It very rarely that a director can say that his learning and career graph was propelled by his relationship with a DoP. But I could say that openly and honestly about Ashok Mehta. I have only done one film with unfortunately. And that is because Ashok refused to come with me to the West where [...]
Bhopal: A voice of concern from Udipi in Karnataka
This is from a very concerned citizen, Mr Balakrishnan Reddy : Sir, I saw and heard your comments about the Bhopal tragedy. We almost have similar situation happening in the coastal Udupi district of Karnataka. The 1200mw coal based power project is being built by the rich Congress MP Mr. L. Rajagopal's company Lanco in [...]
Bhopal Gas Tragedy : The great sell out by the government of India.
25 years after the greatest industrial accident in the world. 25 years after over 25,000 perished in an agonizing death on the terrible night when the deadly gas leaked out of the Union Carbide chemical factory in Bhopal, India. Or in slow tortureous deaths in the few weeks following that night as people saw their [...]
Heart of Darkness, Guest Column by Sudhir Mishra
The Naxal crisis has blown up in our face because of our vanity. We have failed to see it as a valid militancy because at the heart of it is desperate poverty. Extremism is often the curse of the impecunious. While the insurgency in Kashmir can still be seen as a diplomatic tangle, or terrorism [...]
Paani research pic, under the mumbai flyovers
just am
born without questions about existence accepting that I just am but now i learn every moment who i am not before i know who i am and then, simply that i am not, we die as we are born
Cannes diary : Dining in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
It's very exciting to be on the Jury of the Cannes film festival. Especially when the Jury is headed by the man I affectionately (but also seriously) call 'the Salvador Dali of Cinema'. Tim Burton is a compassionate and gentle person that is so eager to learn about other people and cultures. He is also [...]
Just 5 days into the Water Crisis, and people of Mumbai are living in fear. And in thirst.
Death toll up to 7 in riot over water tanker in Malabar Hill, Mumbai The driver of the water tanker, Suresh Salve succumbed to his injuries in hospital, as the death toll in the 'water tanker riot' rose to 7. Harish Malvade, the guard who fired the first shot killing Pradeep Amre, the 11 year [...]
Did George Mallory ‘conquer’ The Mother Goddess of the World ? Everest.
George Mallory and Sandy Irvine disappeared a few hundred meters from the summit of Mount Everest in June 1924. In doing so they created the most enduring mysteries and myths of mountaineering. Did they get to the summit before the clouds covered them from the view of his comrades following them through binoculars from a [...]