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Do Bollywood Stars Retire Or Fade Out?

Eyebrows were raised when Sanjay Leela Bhansali signed on yesteryear’s popular heroine Mumtaz for his web series Heera Mandi. It was her second comeback attempt. Close on the heels followed news that Sharmila Tagore will be seen in a OTT film Gulmohar. So too yesteryear’s cabaret sensation Helen in a web series produced by Abhinay Deo. And what a comeback it has been for Neetu Kapoor in Jug Jugg Jeeyo. There is one advantage of being in showbiz, you don’t retire at 60. You can go on and on like Dadamuni; even if you get a lifetime achievement award. Sadhana preferred playing cards at Otters Club, Bandra every day and kept out of arc light because her looks had changed. Asha Parekh by choice gave up acting. But not others. Many aging stars like Waheeda Rehman, Zeenat Aman have kept themselves in limelight by doing stray films or making guest appearances on reality shows. Among male stars Dharmendra will be seen in Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani and Apne 2. Jeetendra makes occasional appearances on reality shows but has kept away from the big screen. Raj Babbar and Shatrughan Sinha are part time actors and full time politicians. Mithun Chakraborty continues to work in films and judge reality shows. And one cannot forget Dev Anand who is a classic example of a star dying with his shoes on.
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Stalin’s Attempt To Mend Fences, Asks Prime Minister Modi To Inaugurate 44th Chess Olympiad

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin is going all out to make the 44th Chess Olympiad an outstanding success. This mega event is to be hosted at the heritage town of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), between July 28 and August 10. A stylised mascot Thambi has sprung up at many vantage points in Chennai. The historic Napier Bridge has been painted like a chess board and a teaser ad featuring Stalin and AR Rahman shot on it was released by the superstar Rajinikant. But, while doing all these publicity gigs the Stalin government seems to have conveniently forgotten to focus on their very own home grown heroes Viswanathan Anand, India’s greatest chess Grandmaster and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the new Grandmaster. Except for a “blink and you miss glimpse “, both were not highlighted in the publicity drive. Critics allege it was an intended snub for Brahmins. Stalin moved his pawn like a grandmaster when an opening presented.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him up to wish him speedy recovery when he was admitted to Kauvery Hospital for Covid treatment. Stalin quickly latched on to this bonanza door opener and requested Modi to inaugurate the Chess Olympiad, adding he would depute MP K Kanimozhi and TR Baalu to personally invite him. Perhaps, Stalin was trying to mend fences after DMK leader A Raja publicly threatened Modi that TN would secede if not granted more autonomy. But, will Modi inaugurate the Chess Olympiad? Wait and watch.

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.