SPECIAL REPORT Mamta Sen
In the tales of Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, Slumdog Millionaire’s child stars who turned “refugees” at the blink of an eye, lies hidden the story of Mumbai’s Muslim community. It is the story of their plight when it comes to housing and Government promises.In March this year, after the film won several Oscars, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Kripashankar Singh announced that Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority Mumbai would allot Rubina and Azharuddin two Low Income Group flats at Malad. Singh announced that Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had already approved of the proposal. He was contradicted by Chavan himself, who stated that the approval was on hold. Singh then inducted the two children into the Congress’ election campaign. That they were not paid a penny for their services is, of course, another story. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Government’s demolition squad razed their illegal shanties to the ground, rendering them homeless.It was only after the national and international media took note, and director Danny Boyle flew down to Mumbai and “gifted” the children a flat each through the trust Jai Ho — formed to take care of the children’s interests — that the Mumbai Congress got into action. Chavan finally gave his approval, and Singh prepared the allotment letters and got them delivered with a cheque of Rs 4 lakhs [from the MRCC fund] each.Nirja Mattoo, a trustee with Jai Ho, says that it was because of the keen interest taken by Boyle that the children are finally getting their own homes. “We did not want to politicise the issue, which was why we kept the matter low key,” she says, adding that the flats they are planning to acquire are 250 square feet each, while the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority [MHADA] has allotted the children 180 sq ft each.Nizamuddin Rayen, spokesperson for Mumbai Regional Congress Committee [MRCC], who along with Kripashankar Singh claims to have pushed the case, says that the process got delayed because of the election code of conduct. “Allotting flats is the State Government’s area of work. At the most, the MRCC can push a case. But we were the first to ask for houses for the children. And though the flats have been allotted from the CM’s quota, the MRCC has agreed to bear the furnishing expenses,” he boasts. MANY OF MUMBAI’S MUSLIMS, meanwhile, are feeling that their community is being taken for granted by the Maharashtra Government. They are finding it difficult to justify the razing of the children’s plastic huts, without giving them any form of accommodation beforehand, especially when specific promises had been made to them. Farid Shaikh of Mumbai Aman Committee says that Rubina and Azharuddin have been exploited by the Congress, just like all other Mumbai Muslims over the last many years. He believes that Priya Dutt, the local MP in whose constituency Rubina’s slum was located, should have had the courtesy to consider her case on humanitarian grounds. “It was Priya Dutt’s job to see that a house was allotted to Rubina as soon as she won the elections,” he says. According to Shaikh, nearly 50-60% of the city’s Muslims live in slums. Political parties use them for political gains and then do nothing for them. “Subsidised housing for Mumbai’s Muslims, like other facilities, is only on paper. The reality is different. With Rubina this issue has come to the forefront,” he asserts.As for Priya Dutt, the newly re-elected MP from North-Central Mumbai, she ensured that her husband Owen Roncon did the talking on her behalf. Roncon was quite annoyed when asked why his wife did nothing to give a flat to Rubina. “Let me tell you that MP funds are not for buying flats. The funds are meant for the betterment of the area. Rs 2 crores are given to spend on the development of 16 lakh people from the constituency; and not on someone like Rubina who has had her fair share of glory,” he said, accusing the media of blowing the issue out of proportion. “Just because the Congress paid a huge sum of money to buy the copyright of the song Jai Ho, doesn’t necessarily imply that Priya should give a flat to her,” he retorted.Amin Patel, chairman of the Maulana Azad Minority Financial Development Corporation [MAMFDC], a Maharashtra Government body for the uplift of minorities, points out that though he would have helped Rubina in his personal capacity, he did not have the power to do so. “We cannot give subsidised housing, but only loans for self-employment and education. Vilasrao Deshmukh, when he was Chief Minister, had proposed a 5% reservation for minorities in MHADA. I am talking to the State housing secretary, Sitaram Kunte, to see that this reservation is implemented,” he says. Patel, who is from the minuscule Aga Khani community, however, does not agree that it is only the Sunni Muslim community [to which Rubina belongs] that faces problems related to housing and finance, and not the Aga Khanis. The Aga Khanis already have various housing societies constituted for them, where the Sunnis are allegedly denied residence. With important organisations like the MAMFDC and MHADA controlled by the Aga Khanis, Mumbai’s Sunnis feel that they are getting a raw deal.Patel says that the MAMFDC cannot make an exception for Rubina — or Azharuddin — just because she is a star. “Several other children face similar problems,” he says. A top Indian Youth Congress functionary, on condition of anonymity, points out, “Here is this girl from the minority community, who has managed to get noticed internationally, but the State Government ignored her deliberately. The Congress could have used her example to promote further development.” ABDUL JAFFAR ANSARI, president of All India Ulema Foundation told Covert that the children’s plight was partly discussed in a two-day conference held in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh in May. Around 700 clerics attended the meeting. The BJP is quick to assert that the Congress had used the children to woo the Muslim voters. Madhav Bhandari, spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP, says, “Post the elections the Congress Government ignored both the children. It was a classic case of ‘use and throw’; this is how India’s oldest ‘secular’ party treats Muslims”
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
SPECIAL REPORT | Mamta Sen
MNS SPOILED THE POLLS FOR SENA
URL: http://www.covertmagazine.com/mamta-sen.htm
MUMBAI: “We have created new voters in these elections,” claims the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena. The Maharashtra State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party is restless. “The Shiv Sena is deliberately playing down the fact that the split within has helped the Congress-NCP combine in the State,” senior BJP leaders point out. The MNS made a huge dent in the Sena vote bank, and almost all of the MNS’ 11 candidates got over one lakh votes each.
However, the Shiv Sena insists, for the record, that it faces no threat from the MNS, and there is no danger that the latter would eat into the Sena’s traditional Marathi stronghold. Sena spokesperson Neelam Gore says that according to an internal assessment, the MNS had done well wherever there was a consolidation of Congress votes. “If the split had been the reason, then we would not have won the Kalyan seat. Why didn’t the MNS make a mark in constituencies like Shirur, Buldana or Hingoli where the Nationalist Congress Party got defeated and the Shiv Sena won?” she asked, brushing aside questions about sharper divisions between the Sena and the MNS in the near future. “Balasaheb was forced to issue a statement in his journal Saamna against any such reunion taking place. There is no question of a truce or a merger. The media has been giving nonsensical space to this so-called merger, which I believe is all humbug,” she adds.
AKHIL CHITRE, executive member of the MNS Vidyarthi Sena — youth wing of the MNS — is of the view that the MNS has not cut into the traditional Sena vote bank. He says, “We have created our own vote bank, which is the new breed of young voters. They are educated and young — between the age groups of 18 and 35 years.” The key constituencies where the MNS has performed exceptionally well are Nashik, Pune, Thane and all of Mumbai’s six constituencies. Nashik and South Mumbai proved to be two key constituencies for the MNS. The party’s South Mumbai candidate Bala Nandgaonkar put up a tough fight against Milind Deora of the Congress. “Nandgaonkar has drawn in a lot of the first-time voters, especially Muslims from South Mumbai, while Shirish Parkar has succeeded in getting the Muslim, Gujarati and Marwari votes in North Mumbai,” Chitre points out. “We were keen to contest from Ratnagiri and Raigad since we were sure to get elected there, but we couldn’t because of a lack of funds,” he adds. He cannot say if the MNS and the Sena will join hands, but does not think they will. He does not agree that the MNS has contributed to the Congress’ victory by dividing Sena votes and insists, “We have created our own niche on the issue of development and ‘sons of the soil’.”
THE BJP believes that it has retained its vote bank, but the Shiv Sena has not been able to do so. “We have always maintained that the Congress is promoting the MNS to cut into our votes. The Congress has been funding them as well. This clearly shows in the results,” says Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson in Maharashtra.Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray points out that the Sena may not have won a single seat in Mumbai in the Lok Sabha elections but the situation will change soon. “The Marathi manoos knows who its torchbearer is. Wait and see,” he says
URL: http://www.covertmagazine.com/mamta-sen.htm
MUMBAI: “We have created new voters in these elections,” claims the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena. The Maharashtra State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party is restless. “The Shiv Sena is deliberately playing down the fact that the split within has helped the Congress-NCP combine in the State,” senior BJP leaders point out. The MNS made a huge dent in the Sena vote bank, and almost all of the MNS’ 11 candidates got over one lakh votes each.
However, the Shiv Sena insists, for the record, that it faces no threat from the MNS, and there is no danger that the latter would eat into the Sena’s traditional Marathi stronghold. Sena spokesperson Neelam Gore says that according to an internal assessment, the MNS had done well wherever there was a consolidation of Congress votes. “If the split had been the reason, then we would not have won the Kalyan seat. Why didn’t the MNS make a mark in constituencies like Shirur, Buldana or Hingoli where the Nationalist Congress Party got defeated and the Shiv Sena won?” she asked, brushing aside questions about sharper divisions between the Sena and the MNS in the near future. “Balasaheb was forced to issue a statement in his journal Saamna against any such reunion taking place. There is no question of a truce or a merger. The media has been giving nonsensical space to this so-called merger, which I believe is all humbug,” she adds.
AKHIL CHITRE, executive member of the MNS Vidyarthi Sena — youth wing of the MNS — is of the view that the MNS has not cut into the traditional Sena vote bank. He says, “We have created our own vote bank, which is the new breed of young voters. They are educated and young — between the age groups of 18 and 35 years.” The key constituencies where the MNS has performed exceptionally well are Nashik, Pune, Thane and all of Mumbai’s six constituencies. Nashik and South Mumbai proved to be two key constituencies for the MNS. The party’s South Mumbai candidate Bala Nandgaonkar put up a tough fight against Milind Deora of the Congress. “Nandgaonkar has drawn in a lot of the first-time voters, especially Muslims from South Mumbai, while Shirish Parkar has succeeded in getting the Muslim, Gujarati and Marwari votes in North Mumbai,” Chitre points out. “We were keen to contest from Ratnagiri and Raigad since we were sure to get elected there, but we couldn’t because of a lack of funds,” he adds. He cannot say if the MNS and the Sena will join hands, but does not think they will. He does not agree that the MNS has contributed to the Congress’ victory by dividing Sena votes and insists, “We have created our own niche on the issue of development and ‘sons of the soil’.”
THE BJP believes that it has retained its vote bank, but the Shiv Sena has not been able to do so. “We have always maintained that the Congress is promoting the MNS to cut into our votes. The Congress has been funding them as well. This clearly shows in the results,” says Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson in Maharashtra.Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray points out that the Sena may not have won a single seat in Mumbai in the Lok Sabha elections but the situation will change soon. “The Marathi manoos knows who its torchbearer is. Wait and see,” he says
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
HIS MASTER'S MUSCLE
By Mamta Sen and Noor-ul-Qamrain
URL: www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
As the election process unfolds, Covert takes an in-depth look at one of the hidden links in the chain — the political muscleman, the tough guy who is used by every politician to do work that cannot be done by regular campaign workers.
Mumbai: With several gold chains around his neck, 37-year-old Pratik Patel makes his entry at the local teashop just off Vakola bridge in Santacruz, hours after the appointed time. “I had to avoid being caught, sorry,” he says, before asking why we are doing a special feature on political musclemen. “This democracy thing and clean governance is all rubbish,” he laughs, recalling how he witnessed booth capturing even when he was a child in the slums of Vakola.
“I was 14 when I got involved in elections, thanks to a local goon who was in touch with the young boys. We were asked to put stamps on a strip of paper and then fold and put them into a tin box which was later sealed with red wax. There were many such boxes. We usually worked at night, for almost an entire week,” he remembers. With the advent of electronic voting machines a lot has changed, but he says they have managed to duplicate these as well. In the years that followed he was given extortion jobs, which eventually became his main source of income. But he has now graduated to being the “bhai”, the head, and is grooming several newcomers in the profession: “Most of the boys who get into campaigning during elections are uneducated, unemployed and of course poor. We choose boys between the ages of 22-28. Politicians and established goons lure them by promising them money and power.” Even young girls in this age group are finding work in this line. “Girls, mostly from places outside Mumbai, who settle down in these slums and work as door-to-door saleswomen, act as a good cover for our boys,” he says.
Municipal, Assembly and Lok Sabha polls are the most lucrative of all their ventures, which also include activities like land grabbing and extortion. “We sell ourselves to the highest bidder and do not align with any particular party,” he says, adding that of all parties, the Congress pays the best. The rates vary from poll to poll. The charges for Assembly elections are between Rs 5-10 crores per constituency, but for the Lok Sabha, even Rs 100 crores is not enough.
Shiny Singh, 32, who is generally hired by one of the most controversial and high profile politicians from Maharashtra’s Konkan region, says that all politicians have their henchmen who rig the polls. Every booth is a rigged affair. “We bring in over 35% of the votes. Do you think the public actually comes out to vote for these politicians who claim to have won by so and so margin?” he laughs. For every 1,300 votes per booth, 800 are apparently bogus, courtesy the musclemen.
The process begins well before the elections, when boys are hired to examine the slums and get an idea of the actual number of residents living on each address via the electoral list. Many voters’ names continue to be on the list even though they have left their present address or died. This is where the musclemen come into the picture. “We get fake railway passes issued on these names, which are then passed on to our men, who on voting day stand in queue and cast their vote.” He nonchalantly mentions that even as he speaks fake passes are being printed and stored. They will be distributed a day before the election. “Local electoral officers and the police too are taken into confidence,” he adds. The distribution of money is a well-planned affair amongst voters prior to D-Day. Every family gets Rs 500 per day via a choudhury, the local middleman who gets to keep his share of the money. “Bogus voting happens during the first two hours after the polling centre opens and late in the evening, during rush hour. The afternoons are generally ignored,” he mentions.
Shiny says that his boss, a minister in the Maharashtra Cabinet and worth crores himself, hires boys at election time by giving them a “salary” of Rs 10,000 per month. “They have to come and sit at the party office for two hours every morning and evening. For every job performed a 60:40 arrangement exists. He has thousands of young boys on his payroll all over the State. They only turn up for rallies and elections.”
Once their interest is served the same politicians, however, ignore them for the next five years.
Daniel Swamy, 23, from Dharavi, who has been hired by the Congress to hang out at sensitive pockets to see that voters comply with his “orders”, says, “Politicians generally rope in boys as young as 12 to campaign for them. They train these boys to be their chamchas but do not guarantee employment or jobs once they win the elections. I once overheard one politician telling another, ‘Agar hum log in jaise logon ko kaam-dhanda dene lage, to hamara kaam kaun karega?’ That is when I realised what these people are like.”
Srinagar: In Jammu & Kashmir, election musclemen are entirely different from the men who run affairs in States like Bihar and Maharashtra. It is not the criminal gangs that operate for such purposes; but it is a strange mix of counter-insurgents, policemen and small-time politicians who become the musclemen when elections arrive. In Srinagar, in the recent Assembly elections, where voter turnout was low compared to other parts of the Valley, this dangerous breed of politicians-cum-gangsters played a vital role in making certain candidates win. About 1,200 former counter-insurgents, abandoned by the Government and security agencies, were used by the political parties and candidates for this purpose. They live without money, often in subhuman conditions, and are more than willing to work for the political parties. Some of them have even contested Srinagar’s municipal elections and become corporators.
Muzaffar Ahmad alias Babloo, for instance, is “indispensable” in Srinagar. In the recent Assembly polls he played an important role in “mobile voting” in Srinagar city. “I was paid for the job and so were my boys. We were given the task of polling votes at different stations in the Amira Kadal Assembly segment in favour of the candidates who won,” Muzaffar said.
In Kashmir, several henchmen of the separatist groups have joined mainstream politicians. Mansoor Ahmad was Junior Engineer with the State Government. In 1990 he was indicted in a scam in Anantnag district along with a number of officers. After the scam Mansoor joined the ranks of the militants and became an active member of the JKLF. In 2002, he joined Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and was handpicked by him as his personal secretary when he was Chief Minister.
A former Sikh militant, Indumeet Singh, is now closely “associated” with the PDP. He was with the JKLF in the early 1990s and was arrested and put in jail for several years. After his release, he started his own business in Srinagar. In the 2002 Assembly elections he was co-opted by the PDP and was prominent amongst those who stood up to the National Conference in the Valley. When Tariq Hameed Karra won from the Batamaloo Assembly segment and became minister in the Mufti Government, he made Indumeet Singh his PA. Indumeet provided a lot of “supporters” to the PDP in Srinagar city, including some released militants.
Syed Asghar Ali was director of Rural Development when Peerzada Syed of the Congress was Minister of Rural Development during the PDP-Congress coalition Government. Syed Asghar was suspended for being allegedly involved in a huge scam in his department. He joined the PDP and was very visible in the Kishtiwar-Doda Assembly segment organising support against Ghulam Nabi Azad. Ali is known as a prominent “land mafia mover” in Jammu city, where he owns a number of hotels. He used his money power in Kishtiwar and Doda and helped the PDP get “supporters” and “vocal voters”. In recognition of his services, the PDP soon selected him as their MLC in the recent 2009 Legislative Council elections
URL: www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
As the election process unfolds, Covert takes an in-depth look at one of the hidden links in the chain — the political muscleman, the tough guy who is used by every politician to do work that cannot be done by regular campaign workers.
Mumbai: With several gold chains around his neck, 37-year-old Pratik Patel makes his entry at the local teashop just off Vakola bridge in Santacruz, hours after the appointed time. “I had to avoid being caught, sorry,” he says, before asking why we are doing a special feature on political musclemen. “This democracy thing and clean governance is all rubbish,” he laughs, recalling how he witnessed booth capturing even when he was a child in the slums of Vakola.
“I was 14 when I got involved in elections, thanks to a local goon who was in touch with the young boys. We were asked to put stamps on a strip of paper and then fold and put them into a tin box which was later sealed with red wax. There were many such boxes. We usually worked at night, for almost an entire week,” he remembers. With the advent of electronic voting machines a lot has changed, but he says they have managed to duplicate these as well. In the years that followed he was given extortion jobs, which eventually became his main source of income. But he has now graduated to being the “bhai”, the head, and is grooming several newcomers in the profession: “Most of the boys who get into campaigning during elections are uneducated, unemployed and of course poor. We choose boys between the ages of 22-28. Politicians and established goons lure them by promising them money and power.” Even young girls in this age group are finding work in this line. “Girls, mostly from places outside Mumbai, who settle down in these slums and work as door-to-door saleswomen, act as a good cover for our boys,” he says.
Municipal, Assembly and Lok Sabha polls are the most lucrative of all their ventures, which also include activities like land grabbing and extortion. “We sell ourselves to the highest bidder and do not align with any particular party,” he says, adding that of all parties, the Congress pays the best. The rates vary from poll to poll. The charges for Assembly elections are between Rs 5-10 crores per constituency, but for the Lok Sabha, even Rs 100 crores is not enough.
Shiny Singh, 32, who is generally hired by one of the most controversial and high profile politicians from Maharashtra’s Konkan region, says that all politicians have their henchmen who rig the polls. Every booth is a rigged affair. “We bring in over 35% of the votes. Do you think the public actually comes out to vote for these politicians who claim to have won by so and so margin?” he laughs. For every 1,300 votes per booth, 800 are apparently bogus, courtesy the musclemen.
The process begins well before the elections, when boys are hired to examine the slums and get an idea of the actual number of residents living on each address via the electoral list. Many voters’ names continue to be on the list even though they have left their present address or died. This is where the musclemen come into the picture. “We get fake railway passes issued on these names, which are then passed on to our men, who on voting day stand in queue and cast their vote.” He nonchalantly mentions that even as he speaks fake passes are being printed and stored. They will be distributed a day before the election. “Local electoral officers and the police too are taken into confidence,” he adds. The distribution of money is a well-planned affair amongst voters prior to D-Day. Every family gets Rs 500 per day via a choudhury, the local middleman who gets to keep his share of the money. “Bogus voting happens during the first two hours after the polling centre opens and late in the evening, during rush hour. The afternoons are generally ignored,” he mentions.
Shiny says that his boss, a minister in the Maharashtra Cabinet and worth crores himself, hires boys at election time by giving them a “salary” of Rs 10,000 per month. “They have to come and sit at the party office for two hours every morning and evening. For every job performed a 60:40 arrangement exists. He has thousands of young boys on his payroll all over the State. They only turn up for rallies and elections.”
Once their interest is served the same politicians, however, ignore them for the next five years.
Daniel Swamy, 23, from Dharavi, who has been hired by the Congress to hang out at sensitive pockets to see that voters comply with his “orders”, says, “Politicians generally rope in boys as young as 12 to campaign for them. They train these boys to be their chamchas but do not guarantee employment or jobs once they win the elections. I once overheard one politician telling another, ‘Agar hum log in jaise logon ko kaam-dhanda dene lage, to hamara kaam kaun karega?’ That is when I realised what these people are like.”
Srinagar: In Jammu & Kashmir, election musclemen are entirely different from the men who run affairs in States like Bihar and Maharashtra. It is not the criminal gangs that operate for such purposes; but it is a strange mix of counter-insurgents, policemen and small-time politicians who become the musclemen when elections arrive. In Srinagar, in the recent Assembly elections, where voter turnout was low compared to other parts of the Valley, this dangerous breed of politicians-cum-gangsters played a vital role in making certain candidates win. About 1,200 former counter-insurgents, abandoned by the Government and security agencies, were used by the political parties and candidates for this purpose. They live without money, often in subhuman conditions, and are more than willing to work for the political parties. Some of them have even contested Srinagar’s municipal elections and become corporators.
Muzaffar Ahmad alias Babloo, for instance, is “indispensable” in Srinagar. In the recent Assembly polls he played an important role in “mobile voting” in Srinagar city. “I was paid for the job and so were my boys. We were given the task of polling votes at different stations in the Amira Kadal Assembly segment in favour of the candidates who won,” Muzaffar said.
In Kashmir, several henchmen of the separatist groups have joined mainstream politicians. Mansoor Ahmad was Junior Engineer with the State Government. In 1990 he was indicted in a scam in Anantnag district along with a number of officers. After the scam Mansoor joined the ranks of the militants and became an active member of the JKLF. In 2002, he joined Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and was handpicked by him as his personal secretary when he was Chief Minister.
A former Sikh militant, Indumeet Singh, is now closely “associated” with the PDP. He was with the JKLF in the early 1990s and was arrested and put in jail for several years. After his release, he started his own business in Srinagar. In the 2002 Assembly elections he was co-opted by the PDP and was prominent amongst those who stood up to the National Conference in the Valley. When Tariq Hameed Karra won from the Batamaloo Assembly segment and became minister in the Mufti Government, he made Indumeet Singh his PA. Indumeet provided a lot of “supporters” to the PDP in Srinagar city, including some released militants.
Syed Asghar Ali was director of Rural Development when Peerzada Syed of the Congress was Minister of Rural Development during the PDP-Congress coalition Government. Syed Asghar was suspended for being allegedly involved in a huge scam in his department. He joined the PDP and was very visible in the Kishtiwar-Doda Assembly segment organising support against Ghulam Nabi Azad. Ali is known as a prominent “land mafia mover” in Jammu city, where he owns a number of hotels. He used his money power in Kishtiwar and Doda and helped the PDP get “supporters” and “vocal voters”. In recognition of his services, the PDP soon selected him as their MLC in the recent 2009 Legislative Council elections
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
SPECIAL REPORT
FIGHT NIGHT FOR STARVING FARMERS
BY MAMTA SEN
URL: http://www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
Mumbai: The drought hit farmers of Sholapur and Chinchwad have found a novel way to scramble out of the deep economic gloom affecting their lives. Unlike his counterparts in Vidarbha, Dada Jadkar from Modamin village in Sholapur district did not want to end his life when his crops failed and he was left with no money or food to feed his family. He decided to beat the life out of others by joining the local wrestling group. Little did he know that this “hidden skill” would land him the job of a professional fighter with a sports entertainment company in Mumbai.
Dada is among a fast growing breed of farmers who are now migrating to the towns and cities to enrol themselves in local sporting events in the hope of earning some money. “I was completely frustrated as the crops had failed and there was no help from the State Government. I was running from pillar to post in search of some help, but was totally unsuccessful in getting a job. I even worked as a labourer for some time, but my luck changed when our local school’s PT [physical training] teacher fell sick, and I was asked to take his place for a small amount. The entire village knows that I love desi kushti [Indian wrestling] since I often practised with the boys at home,” Dada told Covert. He happened to meet the two men sent by the entertainment company to find “fighters” at the local panchayat office. They offered him a job and he signed the papers.
“I got Rs 3,000 for my first fight and that was enough to keep me going,” Dada said. At 40, he is the oldest among the fighters and comes to Mumbai every weekend to fight professionally. His family members, he said, were shocked when they got to know that he was getting paid to fight. “My mother thought I am going off to fight a war and would die and never come back,” he laughed, adding that his father was now happy with his “progress” and boasts about him in their village.
For 24-year-old Laxman Bhimrao Ghupe from Bhonsari village, it was his love for karate that made him represent neighbouring clubs in contests. This eventually landed him the job of a professional fighter. “The good thing about mixed martial arts is that it involves a wide variety of fighting techniques, from karate to kickboxing. It is also easy to learn,” Laxman said. He continues to farm in the village but is now able to augment the family’s finances with the money he earns as a freelance contractor with an electrical circuit factory a few kilometres from his village.
Like Dada, Laxman said he needed money and had explored various opportunities. “I started learning karate when in school, but little did I know that the sport would get me the money to feed my family of six. As traditional farmers no one else from my family had ventured into any other profession,” he said.
Prashant Kumar, founder and MD of Full Contact Entertainment and promoter of Full Contact Championships [FCC], which claims to be the country’s first ever mixed martial arts fight network, believes that professional fighting could definitely open up new avenues of employment for Indian farmers. “They are used to long hours of work on fields and physically too they are equipped to handle pressure. In the last two years that the FCC has been formed we have had many of our players from rural India,” he said. Many of them are in the age group of 18 to 28 years. He however refused to divulge how much he paid them: “We pay them per fight along with travelling and accommodation costs.”
Satyajit Raut and Vinod Shinde, talent hunters for FCC, who scout rural India looking for fighters, said that, till date, they have enrolled nearly 100 fighters from the villages. “When we make trips to remote villages we come across many farmers who are desperate for alternative means of employment. The conditions in which they live are terrible and disturbing. We manage to convince many of them to join us,” said Raut.
Shinde said that initially the farmers’ families raise major objections as they are against the idea of earning money through fighting. They do not want to part with their sons. “We explain to them that they will be paid for fighting, and then some of them agree. They still do not understand what their sons do exactly, but are content that for the time being their boys instead of being jobless, are getting some money to help the family,” he said. Shinde added that the word had spread, and they had been approached by farmers from Vidarbha. He claimed that many of the professional fighters were provided with insurance cover.
A success story is that of 22-year-old Babloo Yadav from Pimprigaon who has been training for nearly two years with FCC and has managed to win seven gold medals in a row at various mixed martial arts championships across the country. He has even won gold at the Asian Kickboxing Championship recently. “But to date no one is aware of my capabilities,” he said with a smile.
Prashant Kumar said that his company now wanted to promote the “fight night culture” in Mumbai, and then possibly in other cities as well. “We hope to introduce the concept of professional fighting which is a phenomenon abroad. Every fighter gets paid to participate, and those wanting some entertainment, can enjoy watching real fights instead of the mock ones promoted by WWF,” Kumar said. He is himself a martial arts fan, and the FCC, he said, was another way of promoting a hobby he has been pursuing seriously for the last two years. “I have already approached the sports ministry to look into this seriously, since if pursued well these championships have the chance of becoming much bigger than they are now,” he said [¼]
BY MAMTA SEN
URL: http://www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
Mumbai: The drought hit farmers of Sholapur and Chinchwad have found a novel way to scramble out of the deep economic gloom affecting their lives. Unlike his counterparts in Vidarbha, Dada Jadkar from Modamin village in Sholapur district did not want to end his life when his crops failed and he was left with no money or food to feed his family. He decided to beat the life out of others by joining the local wrestling group. Little did he know that this “hidden skill” would land him the job of a professional fighter with a sports entertainment company in Mumbai.
Dada is among a fast growing breed of farmers who are now migrating to the towns and cities to enrol themselves in local sporting events in the hope of earning some money. “I was completely frustrated as the crops had failed and there was no help from the State Government. I was running from pillar to post in search of some help, but was totally unsuccessful in getting a job. I even worked as a labourer for some time, but my luck changed when our local school’s PT [physical training] teacher fell sick, and I was asked to take his place for a small amount. The entire village knows that I love desi kushti [Indian wrestling] since I often practised with the boys at home,” Dada told Covert. He happened to meet the two men sent by the entertainment company to find “fighters” at the local panchayat office. They offered him a job and he signed the papers.
“I got Rs 3,000 for my first fight and that was enough to keep me going,” Dada said. At 40, he is the oldest among the fighters and comes to Mumbai every weekend to fight professionally. His family members, he said, were shocked when they got to know that he was getting paid to fight. “My mother thought I am going off to fight a war and would die and never come back,” he laughed, adding that his father was now happy with his “progress” and boasts about him in their village.
For 24-year-old Laxman Bhimrao Ghupe from Bhonsari village, it was his love for karate that made him represent neighbouring clubs in contests. This eventually landed him the job of a professional fighter. “The good thing about mixed martial arts is that it involves a wide variety of fighting techniques, from karate to kickboxing. It is also easy to learn,” Laxman said. He continues to farm in the village but is now able to augment the family’s finances with the money he earns as a freelance contractor with an electrical circuit factory a few kilometres from his village.
Like Dada, Laxman said he needed money and had explored various opportunities. “I started learning karate when in school, but little did I know that the sport would get me the money to feed my family of six. As traditional farmers no one else from my family had ventured into any other profession,” he said.
Prashant Kumar, founder and MD of Full Contact Entertainment and promoter of Full Contact Championships [FCC], which claims to be the country’s first ever mixed martial arts fight network, believes that professional fighting could definitely open up new avenues of employment for Indian farmers. “They are used to long hours of work on fields and physically too they are equipped to handle pressure. In the last two years that the FCC has been formed we have had many of our players from rural India,” he said. Many of them are in the age group of 18 to 28 years. He however refused to divulge how much he paid them: “We pay them per fight along with travelling and accommodation costs.”
Satyajit Raut and Vinod Shinde, talent hunters for FCC, who scout rural India looking for fighters, said that, till date, they have enrolled nearly 100 fighters from the villages. “When we make trips to remote villages we come across many farmers who are desperate for alternative means of employment. The conditions in which they live are terrible and disturbing. We manage to convince many of them to join us,” said Raut.
Shinde said that initially the farmers’ families raise major objections as they are against the idea of earning money through fighting. They do not want to part with their sons. “We explain to them that they will be paid for fighting, and then some of them agree. They still do not understand what their sons do exactly, but are content that for the time being their boys instead of being jobless, are getting some money to help the family,” he said. Shinde added that the word had spread, and they had been approached by farmers from Vidarbha. He claimed that many of the professional fighters were provided with insurance cover.
A success story is that of 22-year-old Babloo Yadav from Pimprigaon who has been training for nearly two years with FCC and has managed to win seven gold medals in a row at various mixed martial arts championships across the country. He has even won gold at the Asian Kickboxing Championship recently. “But to date no one is aware of my capabilities,” he said with a smile.
Prashant Kumar said that his company now wanted to promote the “fight night culture” in Mumbai, and then possibly in other cities as well. “We hope to introduce the concept of professional fighting which is a phenomenon abroad. Every fighter gets paid to participate, and those wanting some entertainment, can enjoy watching real fights instead of the mock ones promoted by WWF,” Kumar said. He is himself a martial arts fan, and the FCC, he said, was another way of promoting a hobby he has been pursuing seriously for the last two years. “I have already approached the sports ministry to look into this seriously, since if pursued well these championships have the chance of becoming much bigger than they are now,” he said [¼]
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Special report
Ghai LANDS IN TROUBLE
By Mamta Sen
Bollywood director Subhash Ghai’s film academy Whistling Woods International Private Ltd has caused the Maharashtra Government losses to the tune of Rs 150 crores or more, thanks to the generosity of erstwhile Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The Maharashtra Government had adopted Ghai’s proposal of constructing a plush hi-tech film training institute as a joint venture with Ghai’s banner Mukta Arts. Deshmukh cleared the proposal to allot 20 acres of land in Film City, in suburban Mumbai, at what were throwaway prices. According to well placed sources, Ghai was given the land for a mere Rs 3 crores, when according to Mantralaya officials, the cost of the land was nearly Rs 150 crores then and today exceeds Rs 200 crores in the open market. As part of the deal, the State Government was prepared to hand over the 20 acres of land to Ghai’s company WWI, but had to convert it into a lease agreement following strong objections from several board members from Film City. Under this new agreement, Ghai was required to pay Rs 28 lakhs a year as “rent” for this prime property, with an increase of 10% every ten years.
Covert has been told by sources within Film City and the State Government that Ghai has failed to pay a single paisa to the authorities, as required by the agreement. “They have violated all norms on paper. They are running the academy, which charges exorbitant fees, as though it is their own private affair. We are not even aware of the profits made since they claim they haven’t made any,” one source said.
The original allottee for the land, PDR Videotronics, claims that this land was given to them in 1974, and has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court challenging the agreement between the State Government and Ghai. The Government had reportedly told PDR Videotronics at the time that a third party could not be allowed to run private institutes in Film City. Later, film director A. Patel filed a petition challenging the agreement, maintaining it was illegal, as no public tender had been issued. Patel died a few months ago and there has not been much movement forward on the PIL as a result.
Sanjay Patil, joint managing director of Film City, politely said that since the matter was pending in court he would not like to comment on it. But sources within his office told Covert that both Film City and the Maharashtra Government are working on a new agreement related to revenue sharing. “Mukta Arts has told us that they have been suffering losses since they began the academy. We have now asked for all their balance sheets and hope to get a new agreement in place where the Government can at least have access to some revenue through rent or otherwise. We are also investigating their fee structure,” the sources said.
Local Shiv Sena MLA Gajanan Kirtikar, who has been asking questions in the State Assembly since 2000 about the agreement and the running of Ghai’s institute, insisted that this “is nothing but corruption at the top level”.
Kirtikar said that many things were wrong with the Whistling Woods agreement: the illegal allotment of land, the expensive fee structure, down to the encroachment of seven acres of land from a garden plot reserved for setting up a memorial for the soldiers who died in the Kargil conflict. He said that even the trees planted at the memorial had been razed in violation of environmental laws. “How can the State Government give away 20 acres of land without inviting tenders? As for the fee structure, no one from the State Government was informed, nor were any suggestions taken on board,” he said.
Reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Public Undertaking Committee appointed by the Vidhan Sabha in 2006-07, raised the issue of corruption and recommended stern action against the director of the company at the time Govind Swarup, by sealing off his property and other assets. But the Deshmukh Government ignored both reports. Swarup has since retired and Patel is no more. “Hence the case has been conveniently forgotten,” said Kirtikar, who raised the issue again in the winter session of the Assembly, after Ashok Chavan took over as Chief Minister. He reiterated the demand for an enquiry into the land deal and the financial status of production units operating out of Film City.
In his written reply, Chavan informed the legislator that the Ghai issue was being investigated. He provided a 32-page report of 850 production houses that had not paid their dues, with the total amount running to Rs 5 crores. “Under investigation” is a standard response by the Government to tricky Assembly questions.
“We have now filed an application under the Right to Information Act against Whistling Woods and we hope to get some concrete response by end April,” Kirtikar said. Chief Minister Chavan was the Minister of Culture in the Deshmukh Government and party to the Film City-Whistling Woods deal.
Film City, the hub of the Indian film industry, has played a pivotal role in producing box office hits. One of the landmarks in the history of Indian cinema was Raja Harish Chandra, produced by Dada Saheb Phalke, whom this vast expanse of 513 acres is named after. Apart from Whistling Woods, other well-known names that have been allotted land in Film City are Adlabs [10 acres], Bombay Natural History Society [30 acres] and Amir Park [25 acres]. Incidentally, in addition to WWI, all these tenants are defaulters and have yet to pay their dues to Film City and the Maharashtra Government.
The land occupied now by the film academy earlier belonged to adivasis whose villages, called padas, were razed to the ground to make way for the complex. Several left, but some still remain, refusing to give up what they claim is rightfully theirs. They earn their livelihood from selling firewood and vegetable farming, and point out that since the film academy came up they have been facing major difficulties.
“We are not allowed to farm on the very fields we have owned for generations, and we are not permitted to pick firewood. It has become very difficult to make ends meets,” said Suman Kisan Bhagat, who claims that 40 gunthas of land were forcibly taken away from her without any form of compensation. She has tears in her eyes as she speaks to this correspondent, sitting amidst a small cluster of huts in Devipada, where the Warli adivasis now live.
“We even went to jail for this, 23 women and seven men with our children. We had gone to protest and Ghai sent the police to stop us,” she said. Anusaya Laxman Gavit is in complete agreement. Pointing to a huge gaping hole in the thick concrete wall she said, “Why should we be forced to move out of here? It is because of us adivasis that jungles like these survive.” The pada is spotless and several students from the academy visit the hutments to shoot village scenes.
Parvati Motiram Khandori said that Ghai has been calling her to come in for a “settlement meeting”, but is not keen on meeting her two educated sons. “I am illiterate and have no idea why he wants to meet me,” she said, showing yellowed rent receipts that date as far back as 1959.
Dinesh Yeswant believes it would help if they were all given employment, as with their main source of income gone they had little to do but sit around the entire day, waiting for stray jobs to come their way.
Subhash Ghai was unavailable for comment but the CEO of Whistling Woods, Ravi Gupta, rubbished reports of displacing adivasis. “There are always encroachments in the form of hutments and we were told these huts would soon be relocated under the SRA scheme. There are a few hutments within our campus, but they cannot be called a village,” he said, adding that the matter was in court. “Frankly, there is not much merit in the case. Anybody can file a PIL in this country and just because someone did against us it does not mean that we are in the wrong. There are always certain vested interests working,” he said. Gupta added that the land still belonged to Film City and had not been given to them. “It is still with the Government under the agreement,” he said.
Gupta clarified that under the agreement Mukta Arts holds an 85% stake in the joint venture, whereas the State Government has a 15% share. The company has invested Rs 70 crores since the project began, but not only is turning a profit far away, the company has been suffering major losses ever since the academy has started functioning formally three years ago. “With such a high level of investment, it does take time for any set-up like ours, with high costs and infrastructure, to settle down. We have around 300 students whom we charge Rs 5 lakhs each as admission fees for two years and this also includes the cost of making three films of their own. However, in any Government institute like the Film and Technical Institute of India or even the Indian Institute of Technology, fees are usually less than Rs 50,000 and the Government ends up spending almost Rs 9 lakhs on each student — which is of course the taxpayers’ money,” Gupta said.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, now thoroughly bored with its agitation against North Indians, has moved to new pastures and is busy making inroads into the film industry. They have targeted Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods, claiming that a scam estimated to be over Rs 200 crores was instrumental in the institute’s creation. Just last month, MNS founded a Film Workers’ Union “to tackle the injustice meted out to film labourers in Film City”. The group claimed that if land could be given to Ghai, it should also be given to the workers.
The twist in the tale is that while Raj Thackeray’s wife Shalini is the general secretary of the workers’ union, Smita Thackeray is one of the members on the national advisory panel of Whistling Woods
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I am an aam aadmi..god i hate that word..why? well simply because it sidelines me as an untouchable..into the matrix of political lingos which simply do not end. education is the weapon for progress they say. but sadly education is also the antidote for resurrecting oneself of ones awaremess of poverty. depreciation of the mind is what bringly alive the concept of common man or the aam admi.
Friday, January 9, 2009
CHILDREN OF THE IDIOT BOX
By Mamta Sen
URL: http://www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
Maharashtra Labour Minister Nawab Malik has created a stir in the entertainment industry by sending notices to all television producers through the labour commissioner about the safety norms for child artistes working on the sets and the long hours they put in. Most television channels declined to comment on the notice, with some claiming that they had not even received it. But measures are being put in place to ensure that the child actors do not disclose information about their work conditions and schedules.
Television channel Colors which is airing at least four serials with children in the lead — Balika Vadhu, Uttaran, Jai Sri Krishna and Chhote Miyan — was not particularly forthcoming on this. Programming head Ashvini Yardi pointed out that these serials try to focus on social issues that have never before been dealt with on Indian television. “Our single biggest priority is to offer programming that will help break through the clutter and this is why you will see us deliver a strong proposition of differentiation and distinctive content,” she said.
The channel has ensured that children acting in its serials do not interact with the media. This has reportedly been incorporated in formal agreements, according to a family friend of Balika Vadhu’s lead character Avika Gor who plays the role of Anandi.
Eleven-year-old Avika is today the most sought after face on Indian television. She has won an award for Best Female Child Artiste, as well as for Best Female Newcomer, Best Female Artiste, and Best Fresh Face, outdoing senior actresses. Rumours are, Avika, who is earning lakhs of rupees, has stopped going to school. Numerous calls to her father Sameer by this correspondent went unanswered. Avika has also started modelling and recently walked the ramp for an imitation jewellery designer at a five-star hotel. She is also making her debut in a movie Paathshala with actor Shahid Kapoor. It also stars her “rival”, ten-year-old Swini Khara.
Swini had made audiences sit up with her crisp performance in Balki’s Cheeni Kum starring Amitabh Bachchan, where she played the role a terminally ill patient. She began her career as a three-year-old modelling for Ajanta toothpaste and hit the big screen with Kalpana Lajmi’s Chingari and Hari Puttar. Her forthcoming films include Paathshala [with Avika] and Kaalo, as well as a voice over in Nikhil Advani’s Ab Delhi Door Nahin. Swini, who was nominated for Best Child Artiste [female] along with Avika for her role in Baa Bahoo aur Baby on Star Plus, confesses that though she does get tired, it is the sheer enjoyment of acting that keeps her going. Her mother Shilpa though believes work schedules often differ with each production house. “Swini generally does shooting after school, but we prefer commercials to films or serials since they wrap up pretty fast. We often tend to bunk school for commercials since they usually take up an entire day,” the mother said, adding that children too should be compensated since school is kind of “work” for them. “Juggling school and shootings together often takes a toll, but Swini carries her school books to the film sets and studies between shots,” said Shilpa, refusing to answer how much her daughter is paid for her long hours of work. She admitted, however, that the competition was getting extremely stiff.
Casting director Mona Irani, who has been working with child actors for the last 16 years, said, “Earlier there used to be a mere ten kids auditioning for one role. Now around 150-200 kids land up, out of which only one will probably be selected.” She said that this increase in numbers has become noticeable over the past five years. “There is a lot of talent, it is just a question of getting the right break,” she said. Mona was of the view that more than producers, parents need to be pulled up by the Government for pushing their children to the brink.
“Parents themselves give permission for their kids to shoot for 14 hours at a stretch. The notice should have been sent to them instead. Most parents want their kids to be mini-stars. Once the child gets a taste of fame they stop him or her from going to school. Quick money and instant recognition is what drives parents to push their children to such limits. They are trying to live their dreams through the child,” said Mona, adding that the remuneration ranges between Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh a day.
Money, and not safety, is of utmost importance, according to several coordinators in the entertainment industry. A modelling coordinator confided that film sets were often not safe for child actors. “You often have men, specially technicians, landing up drunk on the sets and I have seen kids left alone by parents to fend for themselves, with no separate rooms for them to relax. So yes, they are vulnerable and it is almost as if we are waiting for a disaster to happen,” he said.
Hansika Motwani, a former child artiste who made her debut opposite Himesh Reshammiya in Aap Kaa Surroor: The Real Luv Story last year, is a case in point. “Her mother used to call the shots. The child at eleven years was even made to act as a rape victim in a movie called Jaago based on a real life incident. This movie catapulted her to the status of the highest paid child actor then. Though the girl is only 18 years old today, she looks over 30 and has hardly made an impact as a heroine,” insiders point out.
“The child should be given an opportunity to decide,” according to theatre artiste Debashish Chanda whose two daughters Swarna and Prothoma have been acting in serials since three years old. While Swarna [9] has acted in Neelanjana on 9X, Prothoma [6] is busy doing commercials. “Work only depends on the number of scenes per day and yes, though juggling school and shooting is tiresome, one cannot help it,” Debashish said. He admitted to being disappointed if his children failed the auditions, adding, “Favouritism is rampant here as well; which is why I have registered my kids in the Cine Artiste Association as members to protect them from being taken for a ride.”
Swarna, of course, did not know what the fuss was all about. “Sometimes I do get tired but it’s okay. In school I am the only one who is famous and I love it when everyone notices me,” she said with a big smile [¼]
REALITY BITES FILM STARS
The small screen has always been regarded as the last hope for resurrecting one’s acting career. Amitabh Bachchan gave a shot to his career with Kaun Banega Crorepati?, a lead that several actors followed. TRP ratings for Salman Khan’s Dus Ka Dum, Shah Rukh Khan’s Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai? and Akshay Kumar’s Fear Factor remained low and dissuaded others from anchoring similar shows. Instead, film personalities decided to play the role of celebrity judges in several song and dance reality shows, rather than actually acting in teleserials as was the case over a decade ago. Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge, Star Voice of India, Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dhikhhla Jaa are some of the more popular shows where celebrities take on the role of strict judges, often relaxing sufficiently to sing or dance with the contestants.
To spice up their shows, the channels are wooing film personalities who are in great demand. Nach Baliye 4 has Farah Khan, Arjun Rampal and Karisma Kapoor as its judges, while the relatively new dance show, Dancing Queen has Hema Malini and Jeetendra.
Rajesh Kamat, chief executive officer of Colors, says that proper weekend programming along with a good choice of celebrities as anchors is the formula for a successful show. However, as sources pointed out, for many of the film personalities the show becomes an opportunity to project their ongoing films. For instance, Deepika Padukone has paired up with MTV Roadies with the return benefit of publicising her new movie Chandni Chowk to China. “I too have been an avid watcher of the show and I think it is a complete blast,” she said when asked about this.
Makarand Wadekar, principal consultant for I Search which tracks TRP points, said that several reality shows were running on advertising revenue and a celebrity was taken on as a judge simply to raise the ratings. “But if the script and idea of a particular show are clear and bold enough to pass on the real message then celebrities are not used for the show,” he said giving the example of Sony TV where the song-based shows enjoy the highest TRP ratings currently.
As for reality channels, two will be launched by CNBC-TV 18 and Turner International on 1 January 2009. The total investment for these over the next three years is expected to be US $39 billion of which $12 billion has already been invested in India. Sports 18 of CNBC will also start operating with an adventure reality show called Volvo Ocean Rally.
By Mamta Sen
URL: http://www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
Maharashtra Labour Minister Nawab Malik has created a stir in the entertainment industry by sending notices to all television producers through the labour commissioner about the safety norms for child artistes working on the sets and the long hours they put in. Most television channels declined to comment on the notice, with some claiming that they had not even received it. But measures are being put in place to ensure that the child actors do not disclose information about their work conditions and schedules.
Television channel Colors which is airing at least four serials with children in the lead — Balika Vadhu, Uttaran, Jai Sri Krishna and Chhote Miyan — was not particularly forthcoming on this. Programming head Ashvini Yardi pointed out that these serials try to focus on social issues that have never before been dealt with on Indian television. “Our single biggest priority is to offer programming that will help break through the clutter and this is why you will see us deliver a strong proposition of differentiation and distinctive content,” she said.
The channel has ensured that children acting in its serials do not interact with the media. This has reportedly been incorporated in formal agreements, according to a family friend of Balika Vadhu’s lead character Avika Gor who plays the role of Anandi.
Eleven-year-old Avika is today the most sought after face on Indian television. She has won an award for Best Female Child Artiste, as well as for Best Female Newcomer, Best Female Artiste, and Best Fresh Face, outdoing senior actresses. Rumours are, Avika, who is earning lakhs of rupees, has stopped going to school. Numerous calls to her father Sameer by this correspondent went unanswered. Avika has also started modelling and recently walked the ramp for an imitation jewellery designer at a five-star hotel. She is also making her debut in a movie Paathshala with actor Shahid Kapoor. It also stars her “rival”, ten-year-old Swini Khara.
Swini had made audiences sit up with her crisp performance in Balki’s Cheeni Kum starring Amitabh Bachchan, where she played the role a terminally ill patient. She began her career as a three-year-old modelling for Ajanta toothpaste and hit the big screen with Kalpana Lajmi’s Chingari and Hari Puttar. Her forthcoming films include Paathshala [with Avika] and Kaalo, as well as a voice over in Nikhil Advani’s Ab Delhi Door Nahin. Swini, who was nominated for Best Child Artiste [female] along with Avika for her role in Baa Bahoo aur Baby on Star Plus, confesses that though she does get tired, it is the sheer enjoyment of acting that keeps her going. Her mother Shilpa though believes work schedules often differ with each production house. “Swini generally does shooting after school, but we prefer commercials to films or serials since they wrap up pretty fast. We often tend to bunk school for commercials since they usually take up an entire day,” the mother said, adding that children too should be compensated since school is kind of “work” for them. “Juggling school and shootings together often takes a toll, but Swini carries her school books to the film sets and studies between shots,” said Shilpa, refusing to answer how much her daughter is paid for her long hours of work. She admitted, however, that the competition was getting extremely stiff.
Casting director Mona Irani, who has been working with child actors for the last 16 years, said, “Earlier there used to be a mere ten kids auditioning for one role. Now around 150-200 kids land up, out of which only one will probably be selected.” She said that this increase in numbers has become noticeable over the past five years. “There is a lot of talent, it is just a question of getting the right break,” she said. Mona was of the view that more than producers, parents need to be pulled up by the Government for pushing their children to the brink.
“Parents themselves give permission for their kids to shoot for 14 hours at a stretch. The notice should have been sent to them instead. Most parents want their kids to be mini-stars. Once the child gets a taste of fame they stop him or her from going to school. Quick money and instant recognition is what drives parents to push their children to such limits. They are trying to live their dreams through the child,” said Mona, adding that the remuneration ranges between Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh a day.
Money, and not safety, is of utmost importance, according to several coordinators in the entertainment industry. A modelling coordinator confided that film sets were often not safe for child actors. “You often have men, specially technicians, landing up drunk on the sets and I have seen kids left alone by parents to fend for themselves, with no separate rooms for them to relax. So yes, they are vulnerable and it is almost as if we are waiting for a disaster to happen,” he said.
Hansika Motwani, a former child artiste who made her debut opposite Himesh Reshammiya in Aap Kaa Surroor: The Real Luv Story last year, is a case in point. “Her mother used to call the shots. The child at eleven years was even made to act as a rape victim in a movie called Jaago based on a real life incident. This movie catapulted her to the status of the highest paid child actor then. Though the girl is only 18 years old today, she looks over 30 and has hardly made an impact as a heroine,” insiders point out.
“The child should be given an opportunity to decide,” according to theatre artiste Debashish Chanda whose two daughters Swarna and Prothoma have been acting in serials since three years old. While Swarna [9] has acted in Neelanjana on 9X, Prothoma [6] is busy doing commercials. “Work only depends on the number of scenes per day and yes, though juggling school and shooting is tiresome, one cannot help it,” Debashish said. He admitted to being disappointed if his children failed the auditions, adding, “Favouritism is rampant here as well; which is why I have registered my kids in the Cine Artiste Association as members to protect them from being taken for a ride.”
Swarna, of course, did not know what the fuss was all about. “Sometimes I do get tired but it’s okay. In school I am the only one who is famous and I love it when everyone notices me,” she said with a big smile [¼]
REALITY BITES FILM STARS
The small screen has always been regarded as the last hope for resurrecting one’s acting career. Amitabh Bachchan gave a shot to his career with Kaun Banega Crorepati?, a lead that several actors followed. TRP ratings for Salman Khan’s Dus Ka Dum, Shah Rukh Khan’s Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai? and Akshay Kumar’s Fear Factor remained low and dissuaded others from anchoring similar shows. Instead, film personalities decided to play the role of celebrity judges in several song and dance reality shows, rather than actually acting in teleserials as was the case over a decade ago. Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge, Star Voice of India, Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dhikhhla Jaa are some of the more popular shows where celebrities take on the role of strict judges, often relaxing sufficiently to sing or dance with the contestants.
To spice up their shows, the channels are wooing film personalities who are in great demand. Nach Baliye 4 has Farah Khan, Arjun Rampal and Karisma Kapoor as its judges, while the relatively new dance show, Dancing Queen has Hema Malini and Jeetendra.
Rajesh Kamat, chief executive officer of Colors, says that proper weekend programming along with a good choice of celebrities as anchors is the formula for a successful show. However, as sources pointed out, for many of the film personalities the show becomes an opportunity to project their ongoing films. For instance, Deepika Padukone has paired up with MTV Roadies with the return benefit of publicising her new movie Chandni Chowk to China. “I too have been an avid watcher of the show and I think it is a complete blast,” she said when asked about this.
Makarand Wadekar, principal consultant for I Search which tracks TRP points, said that several reality shows were running on advertising revenue and a celebrity was taken on as a judge simply to raise the ratings. “But if the script and idea of a particular show are clear and bold enough to pass on the real message then celebrities are not used for the show,” he said giving the example of Sony TV where the song-based shows enjoy the highest TRP ratings currently.
As for reality channels, two will be launched by CNBC-TV 18 and Turner International on 1 January 2009. The total investment for these over the next three years is expected to be US $39 billion of which $12 billion has already been invested in India. Sports 18 of CNBC will also start operating with an adventure reality show called Volvo Ocean Rally.
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