Peeking eyes: to end cricket mischief! New Delhi: Against the backdrop of allegations of spot-fixing during IPL matches, Union Minister Ajay Maken today said the BCCI – the national governing body for cricket in India – should come under the ambit of the RTI Act. “BCCI should agree to come under RTI. Any organisation entrusted with job of selecting a National Team can not call itself a Private Body!,” Maken, who till recently held the Sports portfolio, twitted. His Twitter account clarifies that the Union minister’s tweets are personal. Maken, who holds Housing... 

  Sreesanth: in trouble now! Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandilia, have been arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of spot-fixing in the IPL. Delhi police have arrested seven bookies and are looking out for more. Bookies from Maharashtra have also been arrested on charges of spot-fixing. TV reports further added that the players were even involved in spot fixing in Rajasthan Royals’ match on Wednesday with Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. Evidence has been found by Delhi police from tapping phones of several cricketers and bookies and... 

By Ratnakar Tripathy Talking eyes: cinema sync To start with a warning, please do not expect me to recount the 100 year tale in any detail. All I know is I turned cinema-crazy quite early, had my first black and white crushes on Nutan, Mala Sinha and a few other aunties at the age of eight and found myself among the milling masses of devotees. This was a sure contrast with how it went with my literary-minded friends during adolescence in school. It was a small tight club of boys in a boarding school who shared a mystic bond – the bond of the written word and also the malicious joys generated... 

  Vijay Marur Many years ago, one of my cameramen, who had been trained by some of the black & white legends of the Indian Celluloid Industry told me about a shot that his guru had masterminded. Apparently, the shot required the hero to walk out of a room, walk along the balcony, come to the grand, curving staircase, walk down it and walk through the rather large curtain draped drawing room into the portico area where a car was waiting. All the while delivering a dialog. I was told about the difficulties of lighting the sequence because as we all know, lighting up for B & W films... 

  Bihar Day: what to play? Patna: viewpoints on this may vary. Is Bihar day an occasion to celebrate and underline one’s own culture or the time to celebrate culture as such? Honouring one’s own artists is worthwhile thing in itself but then an occasion like Bihar day is also the time to bring in cultural currents for the enjoyment of the Bihari population in Bihar! Or is the right solution to present a suitable mix of both? Actor-legislator Vinay Bihari recently complained that the state government was spending exorbitant sums on Bollywood stars for Bihar Diwas ignoring regional artistes. It... 

By Ratnakar Tripathy More and more awesome: on the pocket? Every time I hear from a young or old friend they watched a ‘great’ film on their laptops, I react with pity not envy. Like a great part of humanity, I feel that the big screen experience, whether 35 mm or 70 mm is something very special. It enables you to see the world within and without to depths that a small screen ranging between a gigantic TV screen to a mobile phone display will never match. The reasons are just too visceral and related to the way the human senses and the brain work, although it is possible to enumerate... 

मिहिर पंडया ” बड़ी प्रार्थना होती है। जमाखोर अौर मुना़फाखोर साल-भर अनुष्ठान कराते हैं। स्मगलर महाकाल को नरमुण्ड भेंट करता है। इंजीनियर की पत्नी भजन गाती हैं – ‘प्रभु कष्ट हरो सबका’। भगवन्‌, पिछले साल अकाल पड़ा था तब सक्सेना अौर राठौर... 

By Ratnakar Tripathy Ashis Nandy: literally! If familiar with Indian politics and society, here is an IQ test for you. This is what Nandy said during a panel discussion as transcribed from a video clip doing the rounds in the media. Read it as carelessly as you wish and see if you can get the sarcasm. I bet you will, unless you are a towering intellectual or a star media analyst-panelist-commentator. Here it goes: ‘It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from the OBCs and the scheduled castes, and now increasingly the schedule tribes. And as long as this is the case, the Indian republic will... 

By Ratnakar Tripathy ‘The God above’: Bhimsen Joshi seems to suggest My earliest memories of religious music are rather traumatic. Way back when I must have been seven or eight years old! I remember from my summer vacations, my grandfather would shake up and wake up the whole household with his Tulsidas bhajans, sung on top of his lungs, while still lying in the bed. This went on for a whole hour. When I complained to my father, who had a decent singing voice, enhanced by a good control over his soundbox, he said lamely with an insincere look on his face ‘it’s the passion of faith... 

    Welcome Bhojpuri TV! Mumbai:  Media firm Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) today announced the launch of a new channel, ’BIG Magic Bihar and Jharkhand’, to reach out to the Bhojpuri population. While more channels devoted to Bihar languages, Magahi, Maithil and Bhojpuri etc are welcome on their own, there is an additional reason why Cable TV may be the answer to the burning issue of ‘vulgarization’ of cinema and music that the middle classes in Bihar and Jharkhand complain of. The main reason behind it is the middle class will have no part of its own music and cinema...