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There is a ‘Hundred’ revolution sweeping cricket. No more batsman or batswoman – they are all batters now. With a new format popping up, promoters wanted the game to be truly gender neutral and so it is bowler and batter now. But they had to stop their reform of cricket’s complex vocabulary there and had to retain ‘wickets’. They abandoned thoughts of making it ‘outs’ after a public backlash over the proposed changes. And so, mercifully, it will still be 70 for four wickets and so on although the fall of a wicket will be described as an ‘out’ on the glitzy screens broadcasting the new game from the UK. Cricket purists may have had a bit of a say in saving the soul of the game. Their wish may be fulfilled when the T20 format – now considered a somewhat more traditional form of cricket as it has been around at least for a couple of decades – will be recommended for the Olympics. The thought that the new-fangled ‘Hundred’ might be the format for the Los Angeles Olympics of 2028 was scotched. The ICC will propose to the IOC that T20 be the format for cricket’s Olympics debut and the traditionalists can heave a sigh of relief.
Business and economy need people to come together, work together. But the deadly virus also needs this vibrant togetherness to grow and circulate, mutate and spread. As long as this virus stays unsubdued, not only India’s $5-trillion-economy dream is threatened but also its operational $3-trillion economy, now staring at incalculable toll. In the absence of any vaccine promise, we opened with brave slogans – #LivingWithCorona #MyFamilyMyResponsibility etc. For a while it looked like working — with farmers’ agitation in full flow; people thronging to rallies in poll-bound states; mandis, malls and pubs drawing footfalls; even pilgrimage tourism (for devotees with Covid-19 negative report) reviving via Haridwar Kumbh Mela (key dates being April 12, 14, 21, 27 though crowds thinned down after PM Narendra Modi’s appeal to seers on Apr 17). But now, #LivingWithCorona is not working as lockdown hits state after state amid a ferocious Covid resurrection. The April 26 count: over 3.5 lakh news cases and 2,812 deaths in 24 hours. Clearly, the only deterrence against the virus is Vaccine. With phase 3 trials showing Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin’s efficacy against severe Covid-19 disease at 100% and an overall efficacy at 78%, Shashi Tharoor fans couldn’t have asked for more. Also, with US agreeing to lift embargo on ‘vaccine materials’ following PM Modi’s call with US President Joe Biden, India’s vaccine juggernaut – led by Serum Institute’s Covishield – should be back on track. Already, after 100 days of world’s largest vaccination drive, 14.2 crore jabs have been given. Hopefully, the MRP hagglers won’t give tough time to vaccine makers now.
The post on LinkedIn by Biju Janata Dal Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik has come in for harsh criticism. Patnaik in his post wrote: “I appeal to top wealthy Indians/ Companies! Can you shoulder the burden of vaccinating at least 25% of Indians as part of your duty to Motherland? In fact, some of you can do from only one year of profits! If there was ever a time to give back, its NOW! I am sure your shareholders would agree.” He may not have expected this kind of outburst. There were 1,119 likes but 238 scathing comments. Most of the comments asked Patnaik why he was only singling out the business community! Corporate India was already paying taxes and some of them were giving tons of oxygen free besides contributing to PM Cares Fund. Why are you begging someone else to do it? It is the job of the government to do it when you have the infrastructure, resources and capital. One common question raised by most of them was what about ‘corrupt’ politicians and bureaucrats who have crores stashed abroad? Their net worth would be equally high, they hinted. In essence, the message was loud and clear: Charity begins at home. First appeal to fellow politicians before asking others to chip in. Quite.
Versatile star Ranveer Singh seems thrilled after signing the Hindi remake of the 2005 hit Tamil movie Anniyan (dubbed version Aparichit). It shows. Immediately on his Instagram handle he wrote: “Proudly announcing my collaboration with the pioneering visionary of Indian cinema, the maverick master craftsman SHANKAR, powered by veteran film producer Dr Jayantilal Gada.” But the movie is already shrouded under controversy with the south producer S Ravichandran claiming that he owns the right to the film and the director Shankar cannot really sell the story of the film to Bollywood. The two producers – Gada and Ravichandran – are locked in a legal battle over the film rights so the chances of the film release date getting postponed cannot be ruled out. Meanwhile, various theories are floating around as to why Shankar and Ranveer came together for this remake. Some say Ranveer fell in love with script and was keen to make inroads in the south and this movie would be a perfect platform. Another theory doing the rounds is that Shankar was keen to sign Ranveer as he has not really worked with Bollywood’s leading stars save for Akshay Kumar and Anil Kapoor. But everybody agrees that Ranveer is the right man to play the lead role in the Bollywood remake – just like actor Vikram who played the lead role in the original Tamil film.
For the 43-year-old privileged crown Prince, Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of TN DMK chief MK Stalin, riding two horses simultaneously or wearing multiple hats should not be a problem…the DNA is such. His grandfather, late Kalaignar Karunanidhi, scripted the evolution of the DMK, even as he wrote cinema scripts and thundering dialogues for hit movies, cannily built his political empire into one of the most prosperous family dominated organisations. Son Stalin won his party spurs and long successful years as the heir apparent to the DMK throne, even as he acted in a few movies, won the mayor seat of Chennai, went to jail under MISA, an event frequently dredged up as a horrific reminder of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency. Udhayanidhi aimed directly for hero roles in eight movies, with big time heroines, a few of them box office hits, soaked in that alchemy of Cinema and politics. Now, the TN election scene: Udhyanidhi is the contender from Chennai’s iconic Chepuak constituency. Already the surveys predict that he will breeze through. The grapevine has even decided what his portfolios may be. Now comes the hard part. Udhayanidhi has to choose between Cinema Hero and Party Power, a hard niggling choice. Are you wishing, Kaash mujhe bhi aise chunaav karna pade?
Actor Khushboo at 51, has done it all. She has acted in over 130 South Indian films, has idlis, sarees and jhumkas named after her, and then came that icing on her popularity cake: Tamil cinema fans built a temple for her near Tiruchirappalli … all this for a ‘woman of substance’ who can hold her own in a debate, talk about premarital sex and women’s empowerment with no hypocrisy. You can love Khushboo or hate her, but not ignore her. Well, she proved it to three of the most articulate political outfits sashayed into DMK in 2010, welcomed no less than the then Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi, walked out in a huff in 2014, right into the arms of a Congress party in disarray and quit in 2020, claiming being sidelined as Queen Sonia ignored her. Then she had that Eureka moment: the merry-go-round popular star found an attractive perch in the BJP in 2020. A lesser woman would have collapsed under the trolls and media sarcasm that ensued. Not Khushboo. She took on the baiters with unashamed elan. So, what if I changed political affiliations like costumes for a film dance sequence, she shot back. The BJP had met its match…and Khushboo her rocket launch. She is the party’s candidate from Thousand Lights, a Muslim and historical DMK stronghold. Come May 2, she may well sweep the trolls or the polls.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Technology Cannot Disrupt Original Content Provider: Short Post Editor
They say time flies. How true! Today is our #SecondAnniversary. Two years back at the height of Covid-19 Pandemic when lockdown was the way of life we took a leap of faith and launched Short Post (Jan 28, 2021), the first-of-its-kind website in the country that focuses on Authentic Gossip. The Oxymoron is deliberate. Well, the response has been quite encouraging. That’s what has kept us going. Till date we have posted close to 2000 stories in the areas of Politics, Business, Entertainment and Sports. Each insightful story of around 225 words has been contributed by Senior Editors. There is a sense of satisfaction of creating a new segment in the market – authentic gossip — and in the process creating a brand (in a limited sense), creating demand (readers) and creating supply (writers). Well known advertisers — IDFC FIRST Bank, ICICI Lombard – supported us. And that really boosted our confidence. Thank you!
So here we are raring to go. But, when I look at the media landscape the disruption is indeed fast and furious. Technology is playing a very big role in how content will be consumed. In the past, we have seen how social media has disrupted the media world. Now, everybody is saying the same thing about ChatGPT. It has reached 1 million users in five days. Its scorching pace of growth is indeed frightening and will disrupt the media industry big time. My limited argument is can it do investigative stories, write gossip items using the digital world ecosystem. Unlikely. Clearly, the original content has to be created first — only then can ChatGPT do the magic. That’s what we promise to do – focus on original content.
Before I sign off, I am reminded of an old advertisement of the early sixties: “Avis is only No.2 in rent a cars. So we try harder”. Likewise I can say, we are two years old and we are trying even harder to be relevant to you readers.