Identify the two locations and the man there. And what’s the connect?

Ans: The connect is…James Bond.

Pics:

1. The building is the United States Bullion Depository, commonly called as Fort Knox, where large portions of US gold reserves are kept… it was featured in James Bond’s movie “Goldfinger”.

2. The fort on top of the hill is the Monsoon Palace in Udaipur, India which appears in James Bond’s “Octopussy”

3. Ian Fleming, the guy who created “James Bond” series.

Note: The “007” code in Agent007  is not the ISD code of Russia, as some of us believe. James Bond belongs to a special secret cell of MI6, which also has 11 other secret agents…Agent001, Agent 002….Agent 012. And James Bond is Agent 007 in that list. All secret agents in this group have the license to kill.

Ans: The connect is..”Marge Simpson” from “The Simpsons”…The lady in the pic here is…Julie Kavner…who gave the voice over for Marge Simpson. The guy to the right is Matt Groening, the creator and designer behind the Simpsons…and the third guy is Hugh Hefner-“Playboy”.

Marge Simpson will be the first ever cartoon character to be featured on the Cover page of “Playboy Magazine”.

Here is not one but a set of questions, 6 in all, which all build up to something. All the 6 answers stacked up together should lead to what we call a connect. The questions are easy but will you get the point is to connect. So here they are:

Q.1) Convinced that it would fail, the Hollywood film industry labeled the film “Disney’s Folly”.
The British Board of Film Censors gave the film an A-certificate upon its original release. This resulted in a nationwide controversy as to whether the enchanted forest and the witch were too frightening for younger audiences. Nevertheless, most local authorities simply overrode the censor’s decision and gave the film a U-certificate.
This was the first film to ever have a soundtrack recording album released for it.
Which movie am I talking about?

Q.2) We all know the movie but do you remember the name of the character who says these lines

“Fiddle-dee-dee.”
“My life is over. Nothing will ever happen to me again. “
“As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!”
“After all, tomorrow is another day.“

Q.3) Identify the movie from lyrics of this song

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things

Q.4)Identify the movie from the image

Q.5) These are the last lines of the movie touted as the “father of the summer blockbuster movie “

Brody: What day is this?
Hooper: It’s Wednesday… eh, it’s Tuesday, I think.
Brody: Think the tide’s with us?
Hooper: Keep kicking.
Brody: I used to hate the water…
Hooper: I can’t imagine why.

Q.6) Academy award for the Best Director

Herbert Ross – The Turning Point
Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fred Zinnemann – Julia
Woody Allen – Annie Hall

Find the missing Nomination in this category.

Now these six movies all point to what I call a ‘Double Indemnity’. So go ahead. Give me the six answers and What is so special about these movies which are in a particular order?
The first one to get all 6 answers along with the connect wins!

Thanks for participating. Let me know if you like the Quiz and do come over to my movie blog called Too Much Cinema sometime. For reviews in a 100 characters or less, follow @toomuchcinema on twitter

by Vemana
http://vemana.in

Ans: Mr.Akbar Asif, the grandson of Asif, director of Mughal-e-azam. He is presenting a reel of the re-coloured print of the film for its re-release in Pakistan. Mughal-E-Azam was the first Indian film to be released in Pakistan after more than 40 years. A complete ban on Indian films was enforced after the war in 1965.

Trivia: 1. Shoaib Mansoor’s  “Khuda ke Liye” ,a  Pakistani film was released in India soon after “Mughal-E-Azam” was  released in Pakistan. Good Politics? Maybe…:)

2. “Taare Zameen Par” was also to be released in Pakistan. But, they dropped the idea when the Censor board in Pakistan raised a red flag saying that “There are no Pakistani actors in the film and the film was not even shot in Pakistan”!! Bad Politics? Maybe..:D

(Anantha Krishna and Swagath cracked this one…)

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Who are these three gorgeous actresses? And the connect..:)

Ans: (starting clockwise from top left)

Annie Parillaud – of La Femme Nikita fame
Milla JovoVich – The Fifth Element
Natalie Portman – Leon

The connect is Luc Besson…he was the director of all those movies.

P.S: Leon was the debut film of Natalie Portman!

(Sidharth, Revanth cracked this one…)

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Identify these three actresses and what’s the connect…(a slightly toughie..but easy to figure out if you know one of them…)

Ans:

The connect is…Dev Benegal. All these actresses have acted in three of Dev’s movies…starting clockwise from top left

1. Laila Rouass (Split Wide Open)

2. Mita Vashisht (English, August)

3.  Tannishtha Chatterjee (Road, Movie)

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Ans: The director in the pic is Paresh Mokashi. His low-budget Marathi film “Harishchandrachi Factory” has been selected as India’s entry to the Oscars. It will be competing with hundreds of movies from across the world for the “Best Foreign Feature Film”.

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Identify the people in these two pics and find the connect….! (Damn..easy if you follow movies..)

Ans: Karunanidhi and Prakash Raj…connect is Mani Ratnam’s “Iruvar”. (Check out Swagath’s comment for the complete answer)

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Identify the two film makers and find the connect.

Hint: They did something which they shouldn’t have!

Ans: The director on the left is “Jean Jacques Annaud”. He made a film on Dalai Lama-Heinrich Harrer,  titled “Seven Years in Tibet” starring Brad Pitt in 1997.  The guy on the right is “Martin Scorsese” (a pic back from 60’s). Incidentally he too made a film on Dalai Lama in 1997, titled “Kundun”.

Connect: Dalai Lama (or Tibet).

China had banned filming in Tibet for a very long time. However, after 2 years of its release, Jean Jacques Annaud confirmed that parts of the film were shot in Tibet. On the other hand Chinese authorities had their own doubts about the kind of propaganda Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun” has since it’s essentially sympathises with Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Freedom Movement. Scorsese didn’t relent to the appeal of Chinese authorities to stop the film’s release and consequently, Martin Scorsese and several members of the film were banned from entering China.

Trivia: Major part of  “Seven Years in Tibet” was shot in the outskirts of  Mendoza, Argentina. A special set was constructed for the film, including the chambers inside the “Potala Palace”.

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The person on the left had a nightmare at the box office. A film which he had directed was a complete washout, it couldn’t even recover 2% of the total production cost. However, things seem a little different now! Identify these two…and how are they connected?

Ans: The guy on the left is Jason F.Maurer, he had co-directed an animated film called “Delgo” in 2008. Made with a budget of $40 million dollars, it grossed just under $700,000 when it released thereby making it the worst grossing for an animated film.

The other one is, James Cameroon (of course!). His latest visual extravaganza is “Avatar“.

Connection between them is “Avatar“. When the initial promos and designs of Avatar were released, Fathom Studios which had produced “Delgo” realised that there were striking similarities between the two. Now, they are planning to file a case against James Cameroon for Plagiarism!

(Anantha Krishna, cracks this one!!)….

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Identify these two film makers and their films…and what connects them?

Ans: First person name is Arun Vaidyanathan who directed the Tamil movie titled ‘Achamundhu Achamundhu’. That was first film in Indian Cinema which was shot on Red One Camera. The second person name is Chakri Toleti who directed ‘Unnai Pol Oruvan’ in Tamil and ‘Eenadu’ in Telugu which used the same Red One camera..

(Swagath J cracked this one!..:)…)

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(Rephrasing the question..)

Identify these three and their husbands. The connect has to do with what their husbands do!..

Ans:1. Amala (Nagarjuna’s wife)

2. Anjali Tendulkar

3. Mehr Jesia (Arjun Rampal’s wife)

And the connect is…all their husbands are into restaurant business.

Nagarjuna owns a restaurant named “N” in Hyderabad, India

Tendulkar has Tendulkar’s in Mumbai, India

Arjun Rampal recently started one called “Lap” in New Delhi, India

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1. Name the actress and the movie?

2. The film is also the first one to do something which had never been done before in the history of Cinema. What am I talking about?

Ans:

1. Paz Vega. Movie is, 10 Items or Less.

2. This was the first film in the history to allow legal downloads from the Internet. The film had released just 14 days before it could be downloaded!

(AK Goyal cracked this one!)

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Pic Courtesy: movies.yahoo.com

Ans: The connect is….Sujatha Rangarajan. He’s the writer of the movie-Sivaji. Also, he was the chief of the team in BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) which made the EVMs…:D

(Gucha cracked this one!)

The Year: 1989. Nara Rohit stars as Bhagath who’s leading a normal life in the quaint town of  Ranasthali. When his father returns after 20 years of exile, Bhagath has all the more reason to rejoice. One day he comes across a girl, Subbalaxmi (Vedika) who’s neck deep in trouble and after some contemplation, he suggests that she should stay with him. Meanwhile a local gangster, Shakthi (Ranadheer) is spreading his tentacles and building an empire eliminating everything which obstructs his growth. One fine day the lives of Bhagath and Shakthi criss cross each other and it leads to a….

Telugu films often tend to be conscious about how interesting the scenes are for the audience. No wonder, when someone runs out of conversations they include fights, songs, comedy…etc. “Baanam” is however different in a lot of ways. It doesn’t get sucked into the quagmire of a notion that Cinema is meant to entertain the audience. We as the audience are expected to slowly understand the environs and personality which shapes Bhagath. The house where he stays is away from a lot of things. Hustle bustle of civilization, bunch of moronic friends are completely missing in Bhagath’s life. He doesn’t talk much, doesn’t express his emotion in a flamboyant manner, doesn’t even flap his eyelashes. The only time he smiles is when he’s about to propose to Subbalaxmi. On the other hand, his father Chandrasekhar (Shayaji Shinde) is hot headed but understands his son without trying to reason with him for everything.  Subbalaxmi (Vedika) enters Bhagath’s life when her own life is in shambles. She’s often too shy to express her gratitude and although she has fallen in love with Bhagath, she doesn’t express it openly. Maybe her own life doesn’t let her to move closely with Bhagath so easily. On the other hand, Shakthi (Ranadheer) is every bit of villainy personified. He spews threats with terrific simplicity, the very mention of which can slither the opponents. I think, Shakthi is one of the best written characters for a villain in recent years.

Anil Bhandari’s cinematography was probably the main reason why I saw this film. The scarlet sky, lush green mountains and sun burnt brownish earth compliment each other so much “Ranasthali” does indeed look like Utopia. Mani Sharma’s music and background score are undoubtedly his best in years! The lyrics have the distinction of being just too pleasant for your ears and you will end up gasping for more. Marthand K Venkatesh’s editing is wonderful and never lets any unnecessary scenes creep into this film. Well, what can I say about Chaitanya Dantuluri? It’s a terrific debut…I wonder why nobody came forward to produce this wonderful film in the past couple of years. He deserves all the respect and admiration possible for his debut film as a director. Some of the scenes depicting the “machoism” of Bhagath without any violence are brilliantly shot. Tollywood has found someone who’s sensible enough to make good films.

“Baanam” is the kind of film which doesn’t try too hard to attract your attention. If you are a movie buff who has some patience and penchant to watch sensible stuff, this is your best bet. Couple of days ago, when I wrote a review on www.123telugu.com, I saw that people posted quite a few comments about the film. Someone asked me how much money did I take to give a good rating for this film? Well, what can I say?!! I live in a world, were people have stopped thinking. I live in a world where boundaries of good and bad are not so distinct anymore. I am no genius but atleast I am sensible enough to understand what makes a cinema “watchable” and “Sensible”. Go watch Baanam…it’s one of the best film of the year which has a simple story, stunning cinematography, outstanding music and brilliant direction….

Bottomline: Let this “Arrow” pierce through you…you won’t regret it!

P.S: Ohh…by the way, Chaitanya Dantuluri, the director of the movie blogs too…@http://chaitanya-dantuluri.blogspot.com

-Hemanth

(The author can be reached at hemanth.cr@gmail.com)

Yes. I am certain that I swallowed the red pill. No wonder, I end up being perplexed at the movies. Recently, when I went to see a Telugu film called, “Shankam”, I spent more time reading people’s reactions and tried to arrive at a conclusion. Either I have lost all sense of humour or maybe it’s just that I have swallowed the red pill. Although, it wasn’t Morpheus who offered me the “Red Pill”. I can’t point out to one person who was responsible for it, maybe it was Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson, K Vishwanath, K Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, Mani Ratnam…the list is endless.

Over the past few months, I have been following Telugu cinema with great amount of interest. A careful observation about the content and quality of films made is enough to know why Telugu films rarely win National Awards. Here’s a list of possible things why Tollywood makes movies like it does:

1. The “Hahaha” effect:

More than 70% of the films made every year fall into this category. This kind of film is aimed to tickle your funny bone. The reason is simple, people work hard and they need something funny to entertain them. Hence, we make films like Kick, Shankam, Ride, Current, Anjaneyulu etc to name a few.

2. The “Boom Boom” effect:

These kind of films place a heavy focus on loud action. By loud, I mean, things like Cars, Bikes, Trucks, Tractors, SUVs…you name it…will fly 100 feet into the air whenever necessary. Of course, the scenes are moulded in a way to project the Hero as superhero or to throw him into great danger, only to come back later and end all evil.

3. The “All Happies” effect:

Films often to create situations which depict an ideal situation. The best example could be films made by Krishna Vamsi…like Murari, Chandamama. Atleast 50 people belonging to a big-joint family, are thrown into the frame to show how happy families live. Despite all odds, stories like these have “happy endings”.

4. The “mushy-mushy” effect:

Cheesy and lousy rom-coms. The very name which can make a connoisseur of Parallel Cinema cringe! The target audience is usually the college kid and youth whose harmonal levels are at full throttle.

The films made generally fall under any one or a combination of two or more among these categories. But then, once in a while, a film maker does try to jump out of this frame and makes a film. We have had couple of directors who have made some wonderful films like Gamyam and Baanam in the past couple of years. However, this post isn’t about them, it’s about why our film makers usually recycle the same old stories, concepts and paint them with a new “manufactured” date. I think from the nadir of my conscience that there is a fundamental flaw which is often ignored, when reasoning about why some films don’t work.

1. The story is “new”!

How do you define “new”? If it’s something which has never been done before, then yes, that’s new! If not, you are just….! I see directors, producers, actors and actresses reiterating that the story or the characterization is new. A supposedly “new” story would most probably have been enacted by another actor/film/film industry. A simple change in cast, hardly changes the fact that we have shamelessly ripped off or plagiarised the content. It’s okay to make “remakes” because majority of regional audiences might not have seen the original, but recycling our own films is what baffles me the most!

2. People need “Entertainment”…

Does “Entertainment” originate when a story is written with the perspective that people are in general, escapists? If yes, then…what can I say? The definition of Cinema has been narrowed down to “entertainment” and people like me look for new film industries which doesn’t ignore the possibility that Cinema can be much more than mere entertainment. It can be “art” which at times is too difficult to explain what exactly it means.

3. “Art” doesn’t sell…

Maybe. But the industry where big bucks are thrown in to produce senseless entertainment can be atleast sympathetic to the minority segment. I thought “Grahanam” was a wonderful movie…L.B.Sriram’s “Rallu” didn’t have a proper theatrical release and Rajnesh Domalapalli’s “Vanaja” is yet to find a buyer in AP despite it being ranked  in Roger Ebert’s list of top 10 best foreign films in 2007!

Damn! I am still wondering why I swallowed the “Red Pill”. I could have had a great time at the movies, instead of trying to judge why the characters act so dumb all the time. I could have laughed, cried, whistled, howled….but I cannot. It’s probably true that people would hesitate to see their own day to day life stories on screen but it can’t be an excuse to create an hypothetical act which hardly makes an impact. During an interview, Kamal Hassan had mentioned a term – “Perishable Cinema” which caught my attention. If that term indeed exists, then we have imbibed it to a great extent. What’s more sad is the fact that we thrive on it and even sad is the fact that we are proud about it.

Ahh….still wondering why did I swallow the red pill? It was because I wanted to lose myself in a dream called “Cinema” and to live long enough to tell the future generation how that beautiful dream has changed my life.

-Hemanth

P.S: I have nothing against Telugu film industry…I am too addicted to Cinema, I will watch anything and everything you churn out!

(The author can be reached at hemanth.cr@gmail.com)

Ah…I deeply apologize for the long break I took from the blog. I am back and back for good and with me I have some great news. I wish I could have shared this with all of you much earlier, but I had to be absolutely sure that it was all happening. There have been several things happening over the past few days and the best part is all of them seem to happening together at the same time. Let me start from the beginning:

29th August: I received a mail from the boss of a popular movie website which covers Tollywood asking me if I would like to freelance for them. And I said, “Yes…why not?”! That mail was from…www.123telugu.com

Ahh..now you know, why I haven’t been writing so consistently these days. Today (14th Sepetember) was my first day at work and I think it will take me some time to get used to “work”! And I had to wait for couple of weeks to know for sure that I will be an official movie critic! And yes, do follow my reviews on www.123telugu.com, will probably get something to write this week. Oh, by the way, I didn’t apply directly to this firm! They found me via twitter and this blog! How cool is that?

Apart from all this, I have been pondering to write a story for quite sometime now. I think I have few ideas and right now, I have to make sure that I make it a point to write all that and see how it evolves. The subject will be a good script for a documentary…shall reveal more details on this one as I make some progress. Over the past few days, I have been reading a lot too! Finally I managed to wrap up, David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” and currently am reading “Fast Food Nation”…a very interesting book which often reveals horrific details.

Well, that’s about it for now…I am still in the Hills, sipping my coffee, flipping through my books, smiling at people, thinking of new things to write about and wondering whom am I going to meet next. It finally dawns to me that after many days, I am excited about the way things are going on. I feel alive!

Josh

“Josh” is the story about a student, Satya (Naga Chaitanya) who comes to Hyderabad from Vizag. He’s incensed by the reckless behaviour of some students in the city but somehow controls his anger. One day he witnesses a riot and files a complaint in the police station. This brings him face to face with a student leader JD (JD Chakravarthy) who’s nurturing his own ambition of entry into mainstream politics. The rest of the story is about how this confrontation between JD and Satya spawns a web of students, campus politics, youth and joshhh….

It’s preposterous to compare Nagarjuna and NagaChaitanya, even in terms of their debuts. Nagarjuna made his debut in 1986 in an era where the number of films made in an year were less and hence less competition. 23 years later, as NagaChaitanya makes his debut he already has a horde of contemporaries to compete against apart from the huge expectations from people in general. “Josh” is an extremely promising debut for Naga Chaitanya. Contrary to what some of us think about the film, I believe the film isn’t designed to showcase his dancing/fighting skills. The story penned by Vasu Verma expects its hero, Satya to be an angry young man, someone who’s equally sophisticated, smart and full of energy. Naga Chaitanya fits into his role with elan. Of course, there’s no denying the fact that we have no idea how his expressions would be if he tries to be not so serious all the time. There’s all the time in the world to experiment and “Josh” is an interesting way to what I believe would be a marathon for Naga Chaitanya. There’s nothing over the top about the film, Naga Chaitanya keeps his feet on the ground, he fights with only one person at a time, some of the veteran actors underplay their roles…just what you expect from a sensible movie.

On the other hand, not everything is not rosy about the film. The crux lies in Vasu Verma’s script which never lets some of the supporting roles to evolve completely. J D Chakravarthy’s role as a student leader should have been more menacing. We hardly see his “true colours” except in couple of scenes where he proves what he’s capable of. Karthika as Vidya, the love interest of Satya is affable in her role as a childish and utterly dumb girl next door. Despite all the signs of a neat friendship developing between the couple, their romance is hardly given any footage. Brahmanandam is completely wasted in the movie. If all these factors are kept aside, something else catches your attention. It’s the theme of the movie. You are expected to understand that “Youth Rockzzz…” on the poster means…”the hero alone rockzzz…”. Except for him, everyone else of his age are either dumb or have got their life completely messed up! The two guys who play the roles of student leaders in college are good but the whole premise of the immediate change in them looks inadequate. And most importantly, although the movie skims the surface of larger themes like role of youth, suicides, education system the entire story funnels down to hero redeeming himself from a dark past by showing the path of righteousness to others. Phew…not everyone can be a God!

Sameer Reddy’s cinematography is wonderful throughout the movie and he captures some of the best moments in the film like the skirmishes between the hero and his rivals with brilliance. Music by Sandeep Chowta is peppy but the lyrics hardly make an impact. Dil Raju, who has had an impeccable track record of producing some good films till date doesn’t disappoint this time too. His resolve to present a good film sans the “macho” element is commendable. The director of the movie, Vasu Varma also handles the script, dialogues and screenplay departments. The direction is pretty good in parts, like some of the scenes involving the gang wars but the screenplay suffers a major jolt when the script gets entangled in multiple themes.

“Josh” is definitely a brave attempt for a debutant, who’s also a star kid! Naga Chaitanya has an alarming screen presence like his father and I think he has had one of the most sensible debuts in the recent few years…you certainly can’t expect a masterpiece from the first film!

P.S: I found traces of these movies/ads in “Josh”

1. 10 Things I hate about you (Principal asking another word for “Friend” to write her novel)

2. Amelie (pure coincidence) (The scene where hero disconnects the cable connection)

3. Limca Ad featuring Sushma Reddy (Hero-Heroine in a song…running everywhere trying to escape from water being splashed all over them)

-Hemanth

(The author can be reached at…hemanth.cr@gmail.com)

Photo Courtesy: www.123telugu.com

This is one question which every seems to be asking today! A political turmoil is brewing in the state of Andhra Pradesh, due to the tragic death of the erstwhile Chief Minister, YS Rajasekhar Reddy, popularly known as YSR. He passed away in a helicopter crash on 2nd September, 2009 but the news could only be confirmed on 3rd September when the Indian Air Force personnel could trace the debris of the Chief Minister’s helicopter. Thousands of people all over the state, paid homage to their beloved Chief Minister. Ministers from New Delhi and other states of India flew down to Hyderabad to share the grief of YSR’s family.

On 3rd September, moments after the tragic news broke out, the political leaders of Congress party started proposing the name of YSR’s son, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy as YSR’s successor. Initially, 74 first time MLAs from Congress informally started a signature campaign to show their support for Jagan and the number rose to 128 by the end of the day. Even the state Cabinet passed a resolution to propose the name of Y S Jagan to the high command. While this issue should have been definitely brought up in the coming few days, sad part is it all happened even before the last rites could be performed for YSR. Quite a few news channels started asking people if they support Jagan’s candidature as the next CM. N TV, TV 5 reported that out of all the votes polled more than 90% are in favour of Jagan (no one knows how many people participated in this poll). Surprisingly in a similar poll conducted by GreatAndhra.com around 60% were in favour of his candidature. (The numbers are changing fast, though).

Another news which shocked the entire country was the sheer number of people who lost their lives due to heart attacks and suicides following reports of YSR’s death. While the national TV channels and newspapers report this number, somewhere close to 160-180, the regional news channels and newspapers have quoted a figure of over 300 deaths. At this moment, it’s not clear whether all of them have died only due to the trauma and depression caused by such tragic news. Whatever maybe the reason, there are some very important and interesting things that are quite evident:

1. Despite all the accusations from various quarters, the people mainly from rural areas believe that YSR has done a great deal of good work for them. This is perhaps the reason why so many people have great respect for him.

2. The “Aam Aadmi” has been the main focus for all the welfare schemes launched by the Congress Government. The question which everyone seems to be asking, will the new chief minister have the same sincerity like YSR to implement these schemes?

3. YSR’s padayatra in 2003 where he walked around the state for more than 1400kms was one of the primary reason why Congress is in such good shape today in Andhra Pradesh. Not only did it bring him closer to the people in smaller villages and towns but also people started believing in his resolve to address their problems. At last, they had found a leader who would listen to their problems and empathize with their condition.

However, YSR’s 5 year tenure as the Chief Minister wasn’t a cake walk. Accusations like Corruption, abuse of power, scams related to mining, construction have erupted from time to time. Even the recent election was a hard fought battle for Congress and TDP. Y S Jagan, who heads the Sakshi Media group and a promoter of some Infrastructure companies, has been in the limelight for quite sometime now. There is no doubt that he was being groomed to become the wild card for the party, a la Rahul Gandhi. But the tragic turn of events over the past few days, will determine how Jagan handles the situation. A huge number of Congress MLAs and MPs want him to be the next CM, with some ministers openly declaring that they will resign if Jagan doesn’t become the next Chief Minister. Even thousands of people have started organising rallies across the state in support of Jagan. It’s definitely not surprising that the Congress activists demanding that Jagan should take over the reins of Congress. A similar thing had happened with Vishnuvardhan, the son of another popular Congress leader, PJR. There have been reports that some senior leaders of Congress are not too excited to propose Jagan’s name as the next CM of AP, but given the present situation these senior leaders would have no choice and they have to eventually relent to the public demand.

Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) and Chiranjeevi (PRP) will definitely be wise enough to adopt a “wait and watch” policy at this juncture. A demand for fresh elections would be a political suicide for both these parties. Leaving aside the question whether Y S Jagan is experienced enough to become the Chief Minister, everyone knows that there’s no other leader who enjoys the support of cabinet, activists and people at this scale. The other leaders of Congress are either too self-obsessed or don’t command the same amount of respect which YSR used to from virtually every corner of the state.

The ball is in Y S Jagan’s court now and only time will tell if he really will be the next CM of AP. He probably is the most logical choice at this point of time to hold all the factions of Congress together and also the apt person to continue YSR’s legacy…atleast that’s what the aam aadmi will think. Till then…..YSR…R.I.P

By,

Hemanth Kumar

(The author can be reached at hemanth.cr@gmail.com)

]]> https://hemanthology.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/will-jagan-be-the-next-cm-of-ap/feed/ 11 1159 Hemanth https://hemanthology.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/the-hidden-treasures-of-north-east/ https://hemanthology.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/the-hidden-treasures-of-north-east/#respond Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:38:37 +0000 http://hemanthology.wordpress.com/?p=1152

Once upon a time, the North Eastern states of India were rife with rumours that Gods themselves had made this land their abode. Legends of Assam have been quoted since the times of Mahabharata (this land was known as Pragjyotisha) and later great kingdoms ruled over Kamarupa (the present day Assam). Ask anyone who has ever been to North East and you can hear stories of nature’s wonders, the hills, the rain and friendly people for days. Off late the North-Eastern states of India have been making news for all the wrong reasons. Often neglected by millions of tourists across the country, travelling through the hills of Meghalaya or the plains of Assam can be an enriching experience.

Here’s something interesting I came across for those of you who are planning to travel to North Eastern India…A nature and culture trip to North East organised by Gypsy Feet – An Alternative Travel Company from 31st Oct 2009 – 8th Nov 2009

Travel enthusiasts will go on an 8 day tour across Kashi Hills in Meghalaya, plains of Kaziranga, Majuli and the largest river island in the middle of Brahmaputra river. One of the Gypsy Feet folks, Kanchuki says, ” We spend a lot of time with the local people in all these places and I believe it’s the best way to explore and understand the culture.”

The trip includes plenty of bird watching and wildlife watching in Kaziranga and Majuli and of course the best part is the Elephant Safari to see the one horned Rhinoceros up-close.

A perfect way to explore the hidden treasures of North East, do hop on this exhilarating ride.

For more details, check out the Facebook Page of Gypsy Feet and to know more about the trip you can check out Gypsy Feet Blog or email them at contactus@gypsyfeettravels.com.

Download the Brochure – Fab 3 Trip (Brochure)

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