Sunday, November 12, 2006

Kailash musings



Allah ka banda is smiling and how! Kailash Kher is back in India after winning the Best Album and the Best Singer of the Year awards at the Bollywood Music Awards held in Atlantic City recently. And from the hands of none other than singer and chief guest Michael Bolton.
"It was a very good experience for me to see the reaction of the Indian expats who flew in not just from different states of America but also from Guyana and other Caribbean islands. They are mad about our music. I was really amazed to see how much they knew about Hindi music," Kher said.
He isn’t sitting on his laurels though. He is working on his second album, due for release early next year. "My new album will be fierier than the previous one. I have put my soul into it and I can say that people will love the music. There's a song that talks about my struggle when I first came to Mumbai. I have even done an invocation to Lord Shiva. Very few people try and include a religious song in an album. To add to the variety, I have given a Rajasthani flavour to a song. I am shooting the video for the song in Rajasthan.”
Kailash also has some filmi aces up his soulful sleeve, "After O Sikander in Corporate and Chak De in Khosla Ka Ghosla watch out for my new song in Salaam E Ishq composed by Shankar-Ehsan Loy. I feel it will be a big hit."
But in the era of downloads and iPod it’s the live shows that bring in the moolah and Kher knows that pretty well. But he claims to be choosy.
"Everyday there is an offer for a show, but one has to be very selective about it. I first see the kind of crowd in front of whom I am going to perform, only
then I choose to sing there," he adds. Carry on Kher, Allah ke bande are listening.

All for money

It's raining cricketers at non-cricket events. Everyone’s got to keep endorsement commitments. Irfan and Dhoni walked the runway for the launch of Reebok's autumn-winter collection a few days back. Sehwag was teeing at the DLF golf course at the TaylorMade Invitational Skins challenge. Cricket? What’s that? Even cricketers need a break from losing one match game after the other.
Ask Sehwag. “Golf is a nice game and one needs a better level of concentration. I am planning to take up the sport as it is very relaxing. The
best part is that nobody disturbs you on the golf course. I will start playing it when I retire from cricket."
Sehwag took some tips from retired cricketer and now golfer Kapil Dev. "Paaji spoke about maintaining balance and gave some tips on putting. There is less pressure while playing golf. In cricket, pressure gets the better of us,” Sehwag told us. “Youngsters should take up golf and make India proud like Jeev did.” Ironically, the day Jeev Milkha Singh won the Volvo Masters in Spain, India was kicked out of the Champions Trophy.
As the Nawab of Najafgarh was going gaga over golf, but his teammates Dhoni and Pathan were talking cricket in Bengal. When in Kolkata, do as Kolkatans do: Chant Dada is Da Biggest Kriketaar India has Ebher sheen. "He is an excellent cricketer," both the boys squealed in delight, saying it’s for the selectors to decide on his comeback. That’s what we call two shweet boys in Salt Lake.
But Pathan was grilled by the unforgiving cricket fans. "I am running well and getting my rhythm back," is his solution for his own bowling problems. He is confident about his batting: "I am ready to bat any position." Including the ramp? "I am not very comfortable with it but when your sponsors ask you to do it, you have to." Why don’t sponsors ask him to perform on the pitch?

Friday, November 10, 2006

Million dollar babes

Indian girls are ready to punch it out at the World Boxing Championship

It’s a season to feast on the fiery punches of the eves, as Delhi is ready to host the fourth World Women’s Boxing Championship at the Talkatora stadium from November 18. Well, after Manipur’s MC Mary Kom’s feat of annexing the title twice, women’s boxing is not an unknown sport in India.

Kid gloves: Mary Kom, one of the two women world champions Manipur has produced (the other is weightlifter N Kunjarani
Devi), recalls her journey: “I started as an athlete and tried boxing in 2000. Within two months I became the state champion and then won the nationals.” But if you look at the well-manicured hands of this sub inspector with the Manipur Police, you would not believe that these are the hands of a world champion.

Unfair deal: However, life for women boxers is not easy, especially when compared to their male counterparts. Says Mary Kom, “People think we are supposed to marry and sit at home. When I got married, everybody in the village suggested I quit boxing. Had it not been for my family, my husband and the in-laws, I wouldn’t have been here. I proved everybody wrong as just after my marriage, I won the world championship.” She informs her peers too face similar problems. “Nobody wants women to take up such a dangerous sport. Only when they start winning medals do they get any appreciation,” she adds.
But the determination of the Indian lady pugilists is beginning to bear fruits. Last year in the Moscow world championship, India won one gold and four bronze medals. They also annexed the coveted Championship Trophy in October at the Venus Box Cup Invitational held in Denmark.

Ready punch: About the forthcoming world championship, Col PK Muralidharan Raja, secretary general of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, says, “Russians will start as favourites, but our women boxers are motivated enough to take on their might in front of the home crowd.”
The contingent’s coach Anoop Kumar Singh echoes the sentiment, “We expect all 13 boxers to end up at the podium. They have had a very tough training and with crowd support, tables can turn even for the best boxer in the ring.”
Apart from Mary Kom, other Indian girls adding spunk in the ring are Kalpana Chaudhary, Chhotu Laura, L Sarita Devi and I Ibomcha Devi. And each of them is definitely a Million Dollar Baby.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Party, interrupted

Organisers go underground as India’s first trance festival ends in disarray and controversy

With Mallvika Nanda & Siddhartha S. Bose
India’s biggest rave was busted two days before its scheduled end, when the poilce raided the party early Monday morning on the outskirts of Jaipur. Touted as the first festival of its kind in India, Moon Dust, according to the organisers, was supposed to host India’s finest psytrance talent alongside some of the world’s most respected and sought-after artistes. The festival, that began on November 3 and was scheduled to go on till November 7 in the forest area near the famous Ramgarh Dam around 40 km from Jaipur, had attracted a huge number of music lovers from all over the country — Bangalore, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Ahmedabad — as well as Dubai. But the party was raided early Monday morning and several police cases registered against the organisers who are now underground.
Superintendent of Police (rural), Anil Paliwal said: “The organisers have been framed under the Foreign Act that specifies registration of foreign citizens coming to the city. Cases have also been registered under the Noise Control Act,” he said. Under the Foreign Act, putting up of a foreign citizen in the city calls for a tourist’s registration with the local police, a formality apparently not observed in this case. Reports suggest that most of the festival’s 3,000 participants were foreigners, many of whom made it to the rave from from Pushkar, Manali and Goa.
Police are trying to trace the event’s main organiser in Jaipur, Kulbhushan Paliwal. And the violation of excise laws and the noise pollution near a forest area has also forced the Jaipur district administration to order a probe, said Additional District Magistrate (Jaipur city north) DN Pandey. Apparently, villagers had also complained about the rendezvous, which had high-watt speakers blaring into the night.
Says Delhi’s Saurav Chaddha: “The idea was fantastic but it wasn’t executed well. We didn’t get encouraging reviews from people inside, so we decided to leave soon. Everything at the venue was heavily priced.” He adds that the disaster (read bust) was imminent as the festival had attracted a huge crowd, mostly foreigners, who “naturally didn’t function according to the Indian mindset”.
Incidentally, when the police raided the site on November 6, the picture was that of a place abandoned in haste, with scattered beer bottles, cigarettes and hookahs strewn around. With entry tickets priced at around Rs 2,500 per head, those who turned up at the site were angered by the festival’s untimely closure. Some ticket holders were even thinking of demanding a refund.
Indraneel Dasgupta, who had just about entered the Moon Dust campus when it all ended, says: “The organisers got to know about the raid 40 minutes before the officials arrived and hence were found missing from the scene. However, people who had spent huge money on accommodation were disappointed.”
A Delhi-based DJ, scheduled to perform at Moon Dust, pulled out at the last moment. “I got in touch with the organisers over the Internet and quite a few of my foreign friends were also scheduled to play there. I suspected something fishy and, therefore, withdrew,” he says.
The “festival” was heavily publicised through Orkut and other social networking websites.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Spider on the wall

Sport Climbing, a relatively new sport in the country, is winning converts
There is some hope for the 600-odd Sport Climbing professionals in the country, as it might become an Olympic discipline soon. Otherwise, this poor cousin of other sports has no major source of funding except some government grants.
The 12th National Sport Climbing Competition is presently on at the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) in the South Campus. For the uninitiated, Sport Climbing involves climbing an artificial wall and emphasises on the gymnast’s ability to make difficult moves on risk-free routes on the wall. It was introduced in India in ’92.

On their own: Says chairman of the IMF committee for Sport Climbing, AVM (retd) AK Bhattacharyya, “The scenario might change once it becomes an Olympic discipline. Here, each professional works voluntarily, we just pay for their travel expenses. Even in terms of jobs, there are no specific prospects for these sportspersons.”

Gaining ground: However, the sport is gaining support in certain pockets of India. Says Shanti Rani Devi, who has shifted to Bangalore from Manipur to pursue the game, “In Bangalore, youngsters climb the artificial wall in the heart of the city daily. Even professionals, who want to stay fit, are getting attracted towards this sport.” The reigning women’s national champ Vathsala MN, who also works for an outdoor adventure sports management company in Bangalore, adds, “Cycling and climbing are topmost on the minds of our corporate clients who want their employees to be physically and mentally fit.”
But in Delhi, it seems the sport still has a lot of altitude to scale.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

In love, unabashedly

Delhi musician explores Kama Sutra in his new album
While music videos of all hues and genre ooze oomph de rigueur, here comes one which explores the gist of Kama Sutra unabashedly. Titled Moods of Love — Kama Sutra, the album is Delhi-based singer/ composer Abhishek Ray’s debut in the world of commercial music and will be released today. He says, “This album captures the myriad moods of love, ranging from furtive glances and romantic swells to torrid passion and the pathway to Nirvana as well.”

Diverse notes: The album has seven tracks sung by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, Harshdeep and Abhishek himself. The lyrics are by Nusrat Badr (lyricist of Devdas) and Syed Gulrez (lyricist of Taj Mahal). Abhishek, who has also done three solo albums with Gulzar, adds, “I’ve also written a script for a musical on the album and plan to have performances abroad.”
A video of one of the songs from the album has already been shot, featuring the Garam Masala babe, Neetu Chandra. “We’ve highlighted sensuality rather than just skin. The Censor Board has cleared it,” informs this trained Indian classical musician and pianist. He has also scored the
music for a Tamil film, Tundil.

The wild side: Abhishek is also an active member of the Tiger and Leopard census teams and is also a wildlife photographer. This Physics (Hons.) graduate from Hansraj College says, “Fusion comes naturally to me as I’ve the voice of a black man and fingers of a white man.” Keep scoring!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Power rangers

Do the young need to get together more often to seek justice? Yes, says Gen Z
Generation Z triumphs convincingly. The verdict given out in the Priyadarshini
Mattoo murder case proves just that. It all began with the movie Rang De Basanti triggering the trend of mass protests by Delhiites against the release of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case. And with youngsters taking their new-found voice to the streets, other issues that were gathering dust in the corridors of justice also came under the spotlight.
The Priyadarshini Mattoo murder is a case in point. Now, with the accused, Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a high profile police officer, being given the death penalty, youngsters feel that there is power in their voice.
Young vindicated: Says Class XII student Priyanka Arora, “It proves that the youngsters can do things if they get together, even if it means taking to the streets to be heard. But at the same time, other pending cases also need to be looked into.” The protest rally held at the India Gate recently for justice in the Jessica Lal murder case had seen participation by many school and college students of the city.
Social change: As the young feel vindicated, it may eventually lead to the society taking an active interest in public issues. Says Dr Surendra Nath, head of the department, Anthropology, Delhi University, “Such judgments help in restoring people’s faith in justice and changing human behaviour too. It sends a strong signal that nobody is above the law and thus contributes towards behavioural changes in society.” Shalini Iyer, a BA student says, “The verdict in the Mattoo case will act as a warning for those who want to harm others.” Affirms advocate Santosh Jain, “This judgement has also instilled confidence in women that they will get justice and highly connected persons too can be brought to book. However, it shouldn’t take 10 years to decide on a case. ”
So, the common man’s effort of organising mass protests, filing petitions and lighting candles at the India Gate is beginning to bear fruit
after all.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Superstar next door

Not many in this part of the country would know Naresh Iyer but all would be familiar with his voice, as this 25-year-old from Mumbai is the one behind hit youth anthems from Rang De Basanti — Rubaroo, Masti Ki Pathshala and Tu Bin Bataye.
It was at Channel V’s talent hunt Super Singer that AR Rahman had spotted Naresh and had offered him an opportunity to sing for his next movie, RDB. Soon thereafter, Naresh walked into the recording studio, little realising what future had in store for him. “It was after 12 hours of recording that Rahman asked me to sing Rubaroo at 4.30 am. I was dead tired, but who would miss such an opportunity? I recorded the song but made a mistake in two lines. Though Rahman was supposed to sing the track himself later, when the film’s music was released, I came to know that he had used my track. The part where I had made a mistake was sung by Rahman and thus I got to share credit for this song with him. This was my first Hindi film and I can just thank my stars for this,” he says.
Naresh, who was in Delhi to record a song for a new movie on cricket, adds, “Some of my Tamil songs are topping the charts and I’ve recorded Hindi songs too.” The singer is a foodie too. He says, “I love spicy food and on my next trip to Delhi, I’ll visit the walled city. I’ll also buy some funky clothes as after RDB, I try to keep the image of a hip-hop artiste.” The stardom bug has not yet bitten him and he can be mistaken for the boy next door.