Category Archives: Generic

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Dhoop Chhaya : Yet Another Godfather Remake

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Like me, if any of you watch ETV Bangla in your homes, you must be watching this new tele-serial “Dhoop Chhaya” or “Sun and Shade” the latest remake of “The Godfather”. Since Francis Ford Coppola made his classic mafia-gangster movie trilogy and created film making history, there has been several attempts to make films inspired by these great classics. Ram Gopal Verma made his Sarkar and Sarkar Raj adapted directly from the Coppola classics with the Bachchan father son duo – Amitabh and Abhishek. And now ETV Bangla is doing their share – “Dhoop Chhaya” a new tele-serial directed by Debangshu Sengupta and produced by Atanu Roy. The story revolves around the mafia family of Raghuram Pathak (Don) whose hot headed son Uday Pathak (Sonny) and the more refined Parashar Pathak (Michael) rule the Kolkata underworld. The opening episode looked so much like that of the opening sequence of Godfather (I) that I expected to see a shot by shot remake. The serial even has the family counsel Tom Hagen’s (Robert Duvall) character is played in this serial by Saswato Chatterjee. However, the serial has now taken its own twists and turns, and like most serials, the believability of these plot twists are questionable. But overall, the serial has the intensity to keep the viewers glued to the screen. The acting overall is at par and in some instances, quite good. Another positive aspect of this serial is the presence of some fresh new faces. It often becomes tiring to see the same faces in all serials. Sometimes it becomes difficult to figure out what serial is on – the same actors acting out similar characters in similar story lines. It seems the actors are not at all concerned about over exposure and how it can damage their career as well as the viewership of these serials. Kolkata never lacked in acting talent and we the viewers would like to see fresh talent on our screens. I hope the producers will take notice of this issue.

Cartoon of the Week 14: Buy and Return

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Buy and ReturnLast week the holiday shopping season kicked off with mad black Friday. With the current economic turmoil and officially declared recession looming on us, many pundits predicted that this shopping season will be less than stellar. However, the black Friday sales reports say something different. Shoppers flocked to the stores in hordes, many camped outside their favorite stores overnight. The tragic stampede death of a security worker at the Long Island Wal-mart clearly indicated the shopper frenzy was not at all dampened by any economic concerns. On the other hand, some may argue, that this shopper frenzy is caused due to the economic conditions since people want to spend the minimum this season. Hence black Friday was possibly their only option to get the best possible deals.
The other day I heard another pundit on the NPR who suggested that whatever disposable (now that’s a loaded word) income one makes this season, they should spend at the stores. This not only helps the economy, but also is the best use of the money at this moment since neither the stock market nor the bank can be relied upon. Hence enjoy while you can.
Another option may be to enjoy short term and return! The long return lines at the stores after the Christmas can be longer this season. After the instant gratification of shopping a fresh product, send it back to where it came from. Returning stuff is a hobby for many folks. They just buy stuff only to return them. The liberal return policy of these stores (who believe that the best way to satisfy a customer is to gladly accept the returned merchandise) have spoiled many a shopper. They love to return stuff, they seem to fall in love with the customer service counter as much as they love the cash counter. The only gripe they have is that they need to retain the price tags and the receipts. If only the tags could have been made invisible and the requirements for receipts waived – this world would have been heaven!

Urhalpool: A New Bengali/English Webzine

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UrhalpoolA new Bengali/English webzine, Urhalpool, has been launched by the local New Jersey group Shrishti. The magazine is edited by Gautam Dutta and the first issue consists of contributions from some great writers like Sunil Ganguly, Taslima Nasreen, Sreejato, Subodh Sarkar, Maillika Sengupta, Alolika Mukherjee, Jyotirmoy Dutta and others. The issue also includes interviews of Bratya Basu, Suman Ghosh, Gautam Ghosh, Noam Chomsky and others. The cover is painted by the celebrated artist Paritosh Sen.
Urhalpool is indeed a commendable effort. But as with most magazine, be it print or online, the challenge is sustaining it for the long term. I hope the publishers of this magazine keep up their good work through perseverance and love for literature and art.

Terror in Mumbai

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It is Thanksgiving eve and this dastardly scene unfolds in front of me on the Indian News networks – Mumbai under attack. Soon CNN picked it up and all news networks focused on the financial capital of India – Mumbai. It was dramatic, to say the least, to witness the Taj, Oberoi and Trident hotels on fire, gun shots and explosions, and the closeups of blood stained people and property. As I write this, the siege is still on with several hostages under the clutches of the terrorists and more than 100 people killed.

I don’t know who is doing this (although some sources are reporting that Deccan Mujaheddin has claimed responsibility) and for what purpose, but it is clear that it is a very well planned and well coordinated effort to not only shake up India, but also the entire world. India is rapidly gaining recognition as a major economic power, it’s opinions carry lot of weight in the global economy. All major economies in the world are eager to do business with India and Mumbai is their main port of call. Possibly the terrorists hope to scare off the world by trying to demonstrate Mumbai (and India) as an unsafe place to do business with. But they are grossly mistaken. They fail to understand that the world is not only watching their cowardly attacks but also the heroic efforts by the police and the army, the selfless efforts of the hotel employees who risked their lives to save their guests. The chief of anti terrorist squad, Hemant Karkare and the additional commissioner of police, Ashok Kamte laid down their lives along with several other of their compatriots to save the lives of the people of Mumbai. The entire world will be with India and thwart the efforts of the terrorists to isolate India.

Let’s all condemn these attacks and show our solidarity behind the people of Mumbai. Our deepest condolences goes to the families of the victims of this incident. We hope that the people of Mumbai and India will stay calm and not do anything rash and violent to hurt their fellow citizens ’cause that will only serve the cause of the terrorists.

Cartoon of the Week 13: Prediction

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Can you please tell me from which platform will the train depart?
Many of us are strong believers in astrology and other similar practices like palmistry, tarot cards etc. etc. that claim to predict one’s future. A huge industry runs on servicing such people and also provides employment to millions. The television and other media advertisements of such sooth sayers and fortune tellers prove that they earn enough money to invest in these marketing campaigns. The precious and semi-precious gem stone market in India depends on the belief that the negative influence of the planets and stars can be countered by wearing a specific kind of gem stone that can cost thousands of rupees. Continue reading →

Cartoon of the week 12: Culture Shock

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Culture ShockThe other day I was at the Union County College (UCC) to participate in a seminar/talk about immigrant issues as portrayed in works of art and literature. The topic emerged from the works of Jhumpa Lahiri, since her two books, “Interpreter of Maladies” and “The Namesake”, are being selected as the college novels for the 2008-2009 term. After my talk, few of us were chatting regarding how we deal with cultural differences in our everyday life in this country. Each of us were narrating some incidents in our life and in connection to “The Namesake” we were talking about the significance of names in different cultures, how we address each other, and how they are being interpreted. Continue reading →

OBAMA WINS

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November 4, 2008 will go down as one of the greatest days in America’s history. Today, the Americans rose up to a new hope, to look forward to the change promised by their President elect Barack Obama. Barriers of prejudice has been shattered and the impossible has been made possible. The entire world, along with the Americans, is looking towards the new leader with the hope that America will once again prove to be the great land of opportunity, a country that lends its helping hand to all in need, and a country that inspires everybody around the globe. The following two pictures illustrate how much hope the World has on this new leader.
An Indian artist (in Ahmedabad) makes a painting of American president elect Barack Obama and Mahatma Gandhi to mark the victory of Obama (photo courtesy AP Photo/Ajit Solanki). It is interesting to see how people are relating Obama to Mahatma Gandhi – through civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.

Congrats ObamaIn Puri (Orrisa, India) a sand sculpture congratulating US president-elect Barack Obama by the Indian sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik on a beach has become a major attraction (Photo courtsey AFP/Sanjib Mukherjee). These photos clearly indicate that the World (and India) is hoping that Obama will be able to bring in lasting peace by keeping his promise of working with the countries of the world.

Let’s all stand behind this charismatic leader and help him build a new future for all of us.

Barack Obama: Son-in-Law

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by AMITAVA SEN

Barack ObamaIt is hard to be in a party these days without entering in to a conversation about the presidential election. My Bengali friends are frenzied and crazed about the prospect of Barack Obama getting elected our president. They are incredulous about the fact that they are living in the same planet and at the same age as The One. It’s like the second comings of Jesus Christ, Gautama Budhha and Lord Krishna, all combined together. Throw in Elvis Presley and a sprinkle of Karl Marx in the mixture. Barack Obama, we are sure is going to set every thing right on January 21, 2009 and in the process make us all millionaires with his tax cut. Talk about world peace? We are going to dinner with Iran, Al Qaeda and Taliban, our buddies and we will all live happily ever after in peace. Dow is going to touch 20,000 in weeks, our 401(K) reverting to its full glory and all those crooks in Wall Street will be sent to gallows. Continue reading →

Chandrayaan-1 Lifts Off

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Last night (Tuesday Oct 21, 9.52pm US Eastern time) I watched with awe when the giant PSLV rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space center in Shriharikota, India, carrying with it India’s pride – the Chadrayaan-1 unmanned lunar mission. Largely ignored by the US media, the Chandrayaan-1 mission may not be of much interest to the US population but it is a giant step for India to prove to the world that India can do whatever it puts its mind to. With the success of this mission, India will join the select group of countries who have made lunar missions. Many are asking for the economic justification of such an expensive adventure. When the majority of Indians are lacking the basic necessities of life, scientific extravaganza like a “Lunar mission” is seen as nothing but sheer luxury. The nuclear exercise at least had some tangible benefits in the defense and energy sector. What benefits are we expecting by sending a box full of instruments to the moon? Are we sending a space craft to the moon only because “it is there”? Or is it because we want to stake a claim on a new frontier by planting the tri-color just as we did in Antartica? Continue reading →