It was nice to read in "between the lines" of your cover story, The K. Jo Effect (Dec 22). The tone of the piece was both fair to Karan Johar’s success and yet irreverent to the candyfloss formula. And it’s true that his films primarily cater to the nris and rnis (resident non-Indians). Just one thing. All this love and nostalgia for the motherland is fine but perhaps Johar’s next film could invert the formula—some unapologetic loyalty to the nris’ adopted country. After all, the dollars do come from there.
Aparajita Krishna, Mumbai
Johar is no doubt a huge success at the b-o but it’s only because he’s commercialised the art of ‘direction’. And this works its way into the storylines too. Where else will you see brothers not recognising each other because one has lost weight (K3G) or a total stranger getting the run of a house while a heart patient keeps on running throughout the movie—even when he’s hospitalised (khnh). I am not looking for any big message in my movies but, hey, show me some reality, someone.
Tanu, New Delhi
Looks like Outlook has really taken the defeat of the Congress very badly. Why else would you resort to covering inane movie fortunes? I implore you: leave it to the glossies.
Rajeev, New Delhi
Kal Ho Naa Ho’s success raises the age-old question: how much is a director responsible for a film’s success? Johar seems to have taken all the kudos whereas it was really Nikhil Advani’s film. The final product was his vision and he should get his due.
Suresh Behera, Ranchi
Hats off to K Jo for daring to go where others have only dreamt of going. Today, with all these low-budget flicks (which are more concerned with recouping the budget) it takes courage to take on mega ventures. All power to him. PS: He does seem to have been bitten by the
K-bug, though.
Rajat Agarwal, New Delhi
Johar’s saccharine family bonanzas happen in some never neverland and definitely not the India we live in. It’s more a Hindoostan of the Classes, not the Masses, catering more to the fan in Brooklyn than in Bihar.
Rajat Ghai, Vadodara
K Jo fails to impress me. His is the most glitzy, overdone, extravagant and superficial image of life. I don’t buy it.
Anusha Singh, New Delhi
Megastars, designer outfits, extravagant sets, meaningless subplots or pop patriotism do not a good movie make. One reason why Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai were the more talked-about movies despite k3g turning out to be the biggest money-spinner among them. He also projects himself as some sort of crusader for women by waxing eloquent on the modesty of women in his films but only after half-a-dozen cleavage-oriented scenes and some suggestively gyrating dances. His postcard-perfect frames for an nri diaspora effect reflect his escapist tendencies and is a clear exploitation of the nri nostalgia for a fantasy India. If he is the maverick director he’s portrayed to be, let him make sensible movies minus the archetypal Farah Khan dances, karva chauths, triangular love(sic) sagas, predictable endings and, of course, the cliches.
S. Namboodiripad, on e-mail
The K Jo Effect seemed more of an article by a director-struck ‘pen’ny bopper. Sorry to say, but the most, it was a JoK. It’s only his third film but you guys are putting him in seventh heaven. And I’m sure you’ll be the first to pull him down if his fourth film is a flop. Stop this sensationalism and let the audience decide...as always.
Ambar Prakash, on e-mail
K Jo, Shahrukh and Rani/Kajol have been a winning combination. The man’s an ace film-maker and knows how to woo his audience.
Sunil Chauhan, Sehore, MP
Your cover story was as amusing as some commercial TV ads in that neither makes any sense whatsoever.
Suresh Tinaikar, Mumbai
I am from Bangalore and wish to disabuse you of the notions you have cooked up in Another Ayodhya? (Dec 22). The Hindu Samajotsav in Bangalore on December 7 saw people from all walks of life. A majority of the crowd control was done by rss swayamsevaks. The entire event was peaceful save for one incident of violence where some Muslims threw stones at a newspaper office and on the local bjp office. Generally the press is incensed at such violations but this time there wasn’t even a murmur. Chikmagalur was as peaceful as it could be on the day of the Datta Jayanti. However, this wasn’t good news for ‘secularists’. Led by Girish Karnad they tried to sit on a dharna. But when this wasn’t allowed, they started spreading rumours of Chikmagalur becoming another Ayodhya. They should know that Karnataka will never give in to the cult of violence. No matter how strong the instigation.
Sanjeev, Bangalore
When the Jogi scam broke out, I wondered how Outlook, with its ostensibly anti-corruption but decidedly pro-Congress tilt, would wriggle out of this one (Eating Sugar, Yes Papa, Dec 22). I wasn’t disappointed. This "very charming" person, "extraordinarily gifted man" and "much-credited ias officer" who brought paradise to Chhattisgarh and even wrote books (imagine that, a politician who writes books! Verily a man of letters! Is the Booker committee listening?) was done in by his own son! Maybe he was the bjp’s secret agent. Kudos, Outlook for standing by Jogi in his darkest hour.
Raghu Reddy, Bangalore
As long as Sonia is at the helm of affairs, chances of a revival of the Congress are bleak (Perestroika!, Dec 22). However, sycophants and Nehru-Indira loyalists will not alow her to step down because their very survival will be in peril. As for bringing Rahul or Priyanka to the top post, Congress stalwarts would feel let down, resulting in more infighting. The only thing left for Sonia is to step down in the interest of the nation and the party. Or else she might be the last president of the Grand Old Party.
D.V. Madhava Rao, chennai
Is it just me or does the timing of Anita Pratap’s column (View from the Glasshouse, Dec 22) have something to do with the Congress ignominy? Ms Pratap, not unlike the Mulayams and Laloos, wants every Indian to live and die by ‘secularism’, to keep anointing the sycophant and corrupt Congress and to enjoy life in the Marxist world of "equality in poverty". She doesn’t understand that people have become sick of the twisted version of secularism. And when the ‘communal’ bjp is fighting elections on developmental issues, why flog a dead horse?
Nihar Panda, Patchogue, US
The post-capture deluge of Saddam on TV shows the idiot box can’t go much lower. There can be no compelling reason to show an ex-head of state, notwithstanding his acts of commission and omission, being subjected to such indignities in public. Even the Geneva convention, which the US swears by, prohibits public exhibition of pows in a demeaning manner. Since their own record on wmds ‘qualifies’ Bush for global terrorist No.1, a bit more sensitivity would have been in order.
J.M. Manchanda, on e-mail
In the article Give Me Red (Dec 22), you say, "Traditionally, red wine goes well with rich food. In other words, it blends well with Indian food, which is rich in oil and spices." No, it doesn’t. "Rich" in the context of western food certainly includes a certain amount of fat, but it doesn’t include spicy food. Most wine drinkers in the West, if they drink wine at all with spicy food, like Indian and Thai food, would choose a slightly sweet white wine, lightly chilled. It would be considered very wasteful of good red wine to drink it with spicy food, which would kill the complexity of a good red wine.
Piraisoli Wooken, Ohio, US
Aniruddha Bahal’s sense of humour seems just about as warped as his idea of what constitutes good erotica (The Good Bit About a Bad Sex Award, Dec 22). While his jokes—or at least those lines that he apparently means to be ‘humorous’—leave me cold, his ‘ponderous’ questions (as "does a used condom float in water?") leave me utterly confused: just how the deuce am I supposed to react to them?
Pradyumna Kumar, Bangalore
Old Aniruddha Bahal does an encore, this time on the pages of Outlook. Vinod Mehta perhaps should go and collect the prize this time.
Raj, on e-mail
My heart is filled with joy as I witness the collective noses of pseudo-secularists like Vinod Mehta, BJP and Sangh parivar-haters, prejudiced and utterly unscientific pre- and exit-poll psephologists and biased and self-righteous electronic and print media being rubbed into the ground by the BJP’s grand victory in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh.
Those who dubbed the BJP’s win in Gujarat as a ‘fluke’ victory of communal forces and are still carrying on a relentless tirade against Modi’s democratically elected government through the ‘saleable’ media and discredited opinion(ated)-pollsters are far removed from Indian reality and should now firmly shut their mouth. Unfortunately, even now, Mehta et al are unwilling to graciously concede the ‘victory to BJP’ and are calling the recent results a ‘defeat of the Congress’. The wise electorate of this country, who are witnessing unprecedented progress in last five years, as compared to the Congress’ five years of (mis)rule, will firmly throw all such ‘illiterate’ ivory-tower intellectuals who cannot read the writing on the wall and see only the negatives about the BJP government.
Ashok Gupta, New Delhi
I’m an nri and a graduate of iit, Bombay, class of 1968. I was finalising plans to contribute significantly to my alma mater until the introduction of the Bharat Shiksha Kosh (No, Mr Minister!, Dec 15). Since most of the things our government does end up as a scam, I am putting my plans in the freezer until Dr M.M. Joshi in New Delhi wakes up and smells the coffee.
Krishna Chivukula, New York, US
Amita Malik’s Aligarh Diary (Dec 15) thankfully showed Aligarh in a positive light. Of course, the law and order situation has deteriorated considerably, but the cultural wealth one sees in this town is admirable...the unique Aligarhian tehzeeb that is a blend of the best of Lucknow and Delhi is still a great national treasure.
Zohra Javed, Allahabad
