Some may mark Wednesday, June 30 as the day of “Justice for Black America” when Bill Cosby —  an American stand-up comedian, actor and author famous for his TV show, The Cosby Show — walked free after serving just three years of a 10-year sentence on three counts of aggravated sexual attack. Half the world will mourn it as the day the #metoo movement died. When “America’s Dad” was convicted in 2018, it seemed a landmark moment when a famous and powerful man was held to account for abusing his position to exploit women. Women exulted as their movement gained traction with the Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby cases. Cosby used the classic Black card, much like American football legend OJ Simpson did to exploit racial divisions splitting the court of public opinion. The court decided that Cosby had been unfairly prosecuted three years ago but a 12-person jury had found him guilty. The climax in this cause celebre shows the American legal system is flawed and that the rich and famous can find their way out. But what it does for the women’s movement against sexual assault is a sad commentary on what is still a man’s world in which power and money can make a mockery of justice.

It is the same story, pan India. Aspiring Godmen turn rogue conmen when their followers blindly endorse their divinity. Tamil Nadu has its share of notorious babas — Daadi babas, Beedi babas, Naaadi babas and assorted con Babas who preyed on gullible followers in ingenious ways and amassed wealth. As a first, the current news sensation, Siva Shankar Baba, revelled in dance and nicknamed himself the Dancing Baba. His full moon day Rasa Leela’s with nubile girl students of his Sushil Hari International Residential School in Kelambakkam, a salubrious suburb of Chennai turned into giddy events. Also, Baba’s Waterloo. A devotee of Baba had donated 60 acres of land for the ashram cum school. 72-year old Siva Shankar Baba has travelled a hoary road as a graduate, logistics professional, soothsayer, desi dava vendor…the list goes on, till Baba’s potent talent for hugging and kissing his girl students hit public attention. Soon, stories of rape set Baba on the run, now in the CBI-CID net, charged under POCSO. So called true followers of Baba are busy fighting over the wealth. Siva Shankar is not the first nor will he be the last.

Pusarla Sindhu, the long-limbed Indian shuttle-cock champion has been the cynosure of all eyes in the last five years. She sprang a big surprise winning the women’s singles silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics, followed it up with a silver at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia and the gold at the World Championship in Basel. She is expected to bring home a medal from the Olympics at Tokyo set to start on July 23. Soon to turn 26, Sindhu, has a wholehearted supporter in former nine-time national champion Aparna Popat who is not really bothered with Sindhu not winning other BWF tournaments: “Sindhu does well in the big ones, the World Championships, Super Series Finals, and the multi game events like the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth. No one talks about Djokovic. Nadal, Federer, winning ATP titles now, only the grand slams like the Australian, French, Wimbledon and the US. Why can’t Sindhu be seen that way?  You introduce her as the World Champion and Olympic silver medallist. Who is asking for more? That’s all. It’s not that she needs to make money from other tournaments to make a living. She has got everything sorted. Winning the big ones is like a lottery, you win one big title and you get 20X. This has been her strategy, and it has worked.”

Dadasaheb Phalke Chitra Nagari, famously known as the Film City, is getting ready for a makeover in phases. This integrated film studio complex, spread over 520 acres, is located in Mumbai’s western suburb at Goregaon East. It has over 42 outdoor shooting locations and 16 studios of various sizes. Now, the latest news is that Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) is keen to equip the Film City with technologically advanced infrastructure. According to squarefeatindia.com – a leading real estate website, MFSCDC intends to undertake the development of 22 acres of the Film City via the PPP route. It will develop sound stages, post production facilities, and related infrastructure. It has invited Expression of Interest and the cost envisaged is around Rs 391.6 crore. With big demand coming from commercial cinema, TV and now OTT, most state governments see business opportunities in creating a hub for film shooting. It may be recalled that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met with several leading Bollywood bigwigs when he was in Mumbai a few months back, inviting them to shoot in UP. Perhaps not wishing to lose out business to other states, the Maharashtra government is going all out to ensure that the Film City is equipped with latest state-of-art technology that makes life easier for film makers. About time too.

Actor Udhayanidhi Stalin, new elected DMK MLA, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, is all over his Cheppakkam Thiruvallikeni constituency, a dense demographic mix of Hindus and Muslims, who have lived in amity for long, mostly from the middle- and lower-income groups. Their concerns: navigable roads, uninterrupted power and water, safe neighbourhoods. A TASMAC outlet right in their midst and the fallout of filth and unruly behaviour was one of the first vexing issues brought to him. Overnight, the outlet was sealed. The voters here are on overdrive praising his tireless efforts and can-do attitude of solving civic problems as fast as they are filed. This area is plagued by clogged up drains and overflowing sewage. He has tackled this with huge septic tank vacuum cleaners. Old tenements with broken power meters were on the list of woes. The young MLA has given orders to install new ones. The hawks are just waiting to see him take one wrong step. Udhayanidhi is tunnelling through, unmindful. After all, his grandfather, Kalaignar Karunanidhi, won from Cheppakkam three times, building the DMK cadre. And having played only the hero in his six films, for Udhayanidhi taking on the adversaries is scripted by the mighty party machinery. Reel hero turns real hero for now.

Undeterred by a big setback in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started preparations for assembly elections slated next year in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. After the recent marathon meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and senior office-bearers, the party has set sights on increasing the assembly segment-wise presence of the senior leaders. The saffron party has decided to strengthen the booth level management in all five states — notwithstanding criticism over the handling of the pandemic and the covid-hit economy. BJP will set up a five-member committee for each page of the electoral roll with the objective of providing the much-needed support to the party, and reaching out to every voter in the individual constituency. UP is critical for the party’s quest to retain power and the party is leaving nothing to chance: it’s bringing together CM Yogi Adityanath, Dy CM KP Maurya and other factions. Modi’s blue-eyed boy AK Sharma, who has been appointed as the state unit vice president, is also likely to play a key role in the makeover after the Yogi government came under attack on numerous fronts. BJP insiders say that Modi has yet again taken the control of poll management in a serious bid to avoid a West Bengal-like setback.

The legislature is the place where politics rules in word and deed. But have you heard of politics about the very building in which the legislature is situated? This politics over the legislature building has been going on for years in Tamil Nadu where leaders have had various reasons for shifting the TN Assembly out of Fort St George, with its historic colonial links. Karunanidhi wanted to leave the old Assembly because it was too cramped, and he made a master plan of an alternative building. Jaya was told not to travel to Fort St George because a statue of Kannagi, of Tamil epic Silapathigaram fame, was on the way. She wanted to shift the legislature south, but the High Court busted her plan to take over Queen Mary’s College. The DMK is back in power, and Stalin has not dropped plans to restore his father’s pet project, which Jaya had converted into a multi-specialty hospital. The government is spending Rs 500 crore to upgrade the King Institute in Guindy so that the current Omandurar hospital can be converted back into the legislature. About Rs 1,000 crore has been spent so far in making the changes. But this is India of Tughlaq rule where shifting of the capital itself was not thought to be too extravagant or fanciful.  

His rise was meteoric, so was his downfall. Rapid. Billionaire Pramod Mittal (65), the younger stepbrother of steel tycoon LN Mittal, who reportedly spent $82 million for his daughter’s marriage, is bankrupt. He has lost everything from coast to coast — business empires in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Africa, Philippines. Ditto: India. His steel business Ispat Steel was sold to Sajjan Jindal controlled JSW in 2010. The only saving grace was the Orissa-based Balasore Alloys, earlier Ispat Alloys. This listed company, with captive mines, is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of high carbon ferrochrome. Now, this cash rich company too has turned sick. The plants have been shuttered close to a year with hundreds of workers, employees, vendors, banks and utilities not paid. Reportedly, some of the top brass including finance director, company secretary, and independent directors have resigned over non-payment of dues and fees. People close to the company say this plant, a legacy of Pramod’s father Mohan Lal Mittal, will require a fund infusion of Rs 1,000 crore to start operations. Analysts are surprised that at a time when commodity cycle is on upswing how come this company has turned sick? For now Balasore Alloys future hangs in a balance –waiting for knights in steely armour.

The lockdown seems to be a boon for Bollywood actresses, especially the newcomers who are active on social media. Ananya Panday who has 19 million Instagram followers has been cashing on it by running some social media campaigns. Sara Ali Khan has been promoting fitness videos through a fitness app, Power. But on Instagram she has been regularly promoting brands like Vivo and Colgate. Janhvi Kapoor posts only activity videos like dancing and fitness apart from paid partnerships like Nykaa. Sara Ali Khan’s Hello Darshako which predominantly posts shayaris and random videos has gained her good many followers. Encouraged by this response, Sara has roped in her mother Amrita Singh, a former actress on this platform. And today we see mother-daughter doing commercials together. Disha Patani actively engages with her followers by posting action video almost every hour. Her popularity has gone up ever since she has been dating Tiger Shroff. Interestingly, a new starlet has been openly saying that she makes enough money (Rs 3-5 lakh per month) to pay her entire year’s rent by being active on social media. No, wonder these starlets are heavily focused on social media. Incidentally, most of the top actresses may not be getting big billing from films they sign but on social media they have more followers than the Khans and the Kumars.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who hogged the headlines ahead of the party’s official break up with alliance partner BJP and later during the formation of three party-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, is again on a major mission to save the government. Raut has been insisting that the alliance would stay in power and complete its five-year term. He met both the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar twice in a bid to strengthen the coordination and thereby address the disagreements among the ruling partners. Raut has admitted that there are differences, but they can be resolved. However, his fresh initiatives come at a time the BJP is said to have renewed efforts to form the government and if rumour mills are to be believed that too with Sena. Another set of rumours doing rounds is that the Urban Development & Public Works minister Eknath Shinde may walk away with one third of the 56 MLAs to join hands with the BJP. Four times elected MLA, Shinde enjoys good rapport with his party colleagues. But diehard Sainiks dismiss all these rumours and say nobody will ditch Uddhav Thackeray. But, with so much push and pull combined with Raut’s meeting diplomacy clearly indicates that all is not well within MVA and it is a matter of time.

Kane Williamson has been the nice guy of world cricket, a far cry from an adventurer of the Sir Edmund Hillary type, the death-defying New Zealander who became the first to climb the summit of Mount Everest some 68 years ago. But last week Williamson, the most genteel of cricketers of modern times, won cricket’s Mount Everest — the ICC World Test Championship, outsmarting India at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton, England. Williamson, 30, marshalled his potent set of speed merchants to win the rain-marred final. It’s Williamson’s team that has largely provided the real import to the ‘gentleman’s game’ that cricket is known for. Williamson has been in the vanguard of New Zealand’s pursuit of a first ICC prize for many years, but after a few heart-breaking losses in two finals in recent times, Williamson eventually got his hands on an ICC prize. After Williamson figured in the ICC Test team of the decade, the late Martin Crowe, a legend, said: “We are seeing the dawn of probably our (New Zealand) greatest ever batsman.” Williamson is the second highest run-getter for New Zealand with 7,230 runs; he topped the New Zealand batting in the WTC cycle with 10 matches, 918 runs, 251 highest, 61.20 average, 3 x 100s and 2 x 50s. For nearly 14 years, the right-hander has been a batsman beyond compare for New Zealand, also known as the All Blacks

Covid-19 has turned life topsy-turvy for everybody. For practitioners of classical art especially, the past few Covid-hit months have been excruciatingly painful. With Sabhas in Chennai, the Mecca of Carnatic music, shut and no live concerts, the artists have been caught in a pincer-like situation. On the one hand, their income flow has stopped. On the other, their live connection with the audience, too, has snapped. More than anybody else, the disadvantaged artists are worse off. These tough times call for mutual empathy and sympathy. Well, the pandemic has seen top female artistes in this part of the world coming out to aid fellow-artists who are in distress at the moment. Funds for the folks, and disadvantaged folks, at that! This is an initiative facilitated by Panchavarnam Silks. Eighteen top female artistes from the world of classical music and dance (Aruna Sairam, Bombay Jayashri, Sowmya, Chitra Visweshwaran, Sudharani Raghupathy, Priyadarsini Govind, Nityasree Mahadevan and others) have donated a six-yard sari each to help this cause. The saris were put on auction. The money thus raised will go to support the disadvantaged artistes and their families in these stressed-out times. These aren’t yards of fabric. Well, these 18 have given yards of hope to their fellow-artistes.

Looks like the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has decided to bring out a White Paper on the state of the economy. It is easy to blame a previous regime for populist doles and non-essential schemes that have emptied the coffers. Media watchers are nonplussed by a new energised Stalin, who is vocal, vociferous, and vituperative about the huge debt burden of TN, the inequitable share of the tax, Vat and GST allocated, the staggering cost of the corona pandemic and huge losses in livelihood. People openly talk about how Stalin was ridiculed at election rallies for his hesitant and almost rambling campaign mode. What a transformation after winning! What then happens to the election promises like the monthly stipends to women, cut in fuel VAT and other propositions? His advisors suggest that a plea of empty coffers left by AIADMK could prove useful to get through for now. But apparently Stalin stuck to his resolve… “A promise is a promise.” A staggering debt burden of Rs 5 lakh crore (for 20-21) is his inheritance. Meanwhile, it is rumoured that Stalin along with his wife Durga and son-in-law Sabareesan and key bureaucrats are likely to travel to London in July. Insiders say it could be for his routine health check-up plus woo investments in Tamil Nadu.

It was the quietest of birthdays for the emerging superstar of Tamil cinema. In normal times, his fans would also have indulged in shows of grand affection by holding charity events in honour of Vijay. In pandemic times, the star has been content to keep a low profile but his phenomenal record in the 2010s marks him out as the industry’s undisputed money spinner.  His co-stars held a Twitter chat event on his 47th birthday that was a super hit in terms of numbers. As Total Unlock nears with the second wave waning, Vijay awaits the opening of theatres to continue his domination of the big screens. In the last decade, he churned out nine films that grossed over Rs 100 crore, a record that surpassed the industry’s ageing Superstar, the one and only Rajinikanth who is now in the US for medical checkup. Vijay’s last four releases – Bigil, Sarkar, Mersal and Master – saw business in excess of Rs 350 crore worldwide with Master a Superhit even in the pandemic year of 2020. And now Beast is getting ready as the star’s next with Pooja Hegde and Yogi Babu in supporting roles. Beast may usher in the next wave of theatre-going cinema fans.

From being a high-profile Minister of State for Home Affairs for five years under Rajnath Singh from 2014, the 49-year-old, Kiren Rijiju was given the pleasant task of steering India’s sports programme, the Tokyo Olympics in particular. He held his own at the hustings of the 2019 Lok Sabha election from West Arunachal constituency, and became a giant killer, defeating two-time Chief Minister, Nabam Tuki by a huge margin of 1,67,132 votes. As a BJP candidate, he had won the 2014 election by 41,738 votes. The shift, as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), by replacing Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a silver medalist in the Double Trap shooting competition in Athens 2004, saw Rijiju become proactive in almost every aspect of running the ministry with assistance from the Sports Authority of India. Rijiju was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handpicked man for the job that covers the entire gamut of sports in the country, including selection of sportspersons for the Arjuna, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya, Dhyan Chand, Tenzing Norgay, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad awards and the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar. For a little over two years, Rijiju has been a livewire, and in the vanguard of assisting athletes for the Tokyo Olympics. He has supported the official broadcaster of the Summer Olympics, Sony Pictures Sports Network’s Hum Honge Kamyaab campaign for India’s athletes.

The year 2021 continues with Bollywood heavy weights staying bullish on real estate market. The latest one, according to a leading real estate website squarefeatindia.com, is popular Bollywood star Ajay Devgan has purchased a bungalow measuring 474.4 sqm located at Kapol CHS, JVPD, in Mumbai’s Juhu for Rs 47.5 crore. Devgan paid stamp duty of Rs 2.37 crore and availed a bank loan of Rs 18.75 crore. Earlier, Big B paid Rs 31 crore for a duplex in Andheri. Last year we saw big investments in the real estate space by nine top Bollywood producers, directors, and actors. Bhushan Kumar of T Series fame paid a whopping Rs 167.5 crore for 6,700 sqft villa at Vasanta Theosophical CHS in Juhu. While Hrithik Roshan bought three floors measuring 38,000 sqft for Rs 97.50 crore on Juhu-Versova link road. Late Sridevi’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor paid Rs 39 crore for a flat in Juhu while Alia Bhatt paid Rs 32 crore for a flat in Bandra’s Pali Hill. Adman turned director R Balki, bought two flats worth Rs 24 crore in Bandra.

Is it a truce between the two estranged partners BJP and Shiv Sena? According to reliable sources, BJP has renewed its efforts to form the government with estranged ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra – a move that gathered momentum after CM Uddhav Thackeray’s exclusive meeting with PM Narendra Modi. It is learnt that the Union Cabinet expansion has been deliberately delayed in view of the new development in Maharashtra. Sena will be accommodated in terms of cabinet berth. Devendra Fadnavis is likely to become CM for the third time while the name of Aaditya Thackeray for deputy CM is doing the rounds. Party insiders indicate that the “Maha Vikas Aghadi government may fall in the next 72 hours or in two weeks”. The deal is that the BJP-led government will not pursue various legal cases against Sena leaders. It may be recalled that Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, in a letter to Thackeray, had urged him to patch up with BJP to avoid harassment from Central agencies. Coming together will also help in the coming civic elections. Now the ball is in Thackeray’s court, and he has to decide whether to once again play a second fiddle in the interest of the party’s future or remain in the driver’s seat with the NCP and Congress.

Congress party’s ‘going solo’ call by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole has not gone down well with the alliance partners Shiv Sena and NCP. But, he has received strong support from two former CMs Sushil Kumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan. Both have hailed Patole’s efforts in a short span to rejuvenate the party and recharge the cadre. Both said there is nothing wrong to declare party’s resolve to regain its past glory and become No. 1 again and assume power single-handedly. In fact, Chavan went a step ahead saying that the MVA was formed with the single point objective of keeping BJP out of power and that has nothing to do with the Congress party pursuing its expansion plan. Chavan said Congress can tolerate Shiv Sena’s ideology but not that of BJP. With dissensions within the party, and the Congress leaders speaking out of turn, can this number four party in Maharashtra regain its pristine glory? That’s a wager nobody is willing to take.

Dravidian politics is hard to comprehend. Often, it is riddled with inconsistencies. How else could one interpret the composition of the just-announced economic advisory council (EAC) for Tamil Nadu? The MK Stalin-led government of the DMK has set up a high-profile EAC comprising Nobel laureate Esther Duflo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Raghuram Rajan (former Governor of Reserve Bank), Aravind Subramanian (former Chief Economic Advisor to the Centre), Jean Dreze (Development Economist) and S Narayan (former Union Finance Secretary). Who said DMK is anti-Brahmins? Well, the just- formed EAC has three Brahmins – two high-profile ones at that! Rajan and Subramanian, in particular, turned much bigger than the institutions they headed. Narayan is all too well known in the political and bureaucratic circles in Tamil Nadu. If these three have roots in Tamil Nadu, the other two are rank outsiders. Not surprisingly, tongues have started wagging. DMK is a party which has vociferously articulated the cause of reservation in higher educational institutions and government jobs. In the formation of the state’s highest policy-advisory body, the DMK regime of Stalin appears to have quietly overlooked its own relentless demand for reservation for dalits, backward classes and the like. Is there a paucity of talent within Tamil Nadu? Inconsistency is the sign of development, it said. DMK has embarked on a growth path, it appears.

He refused to bowl at Virat Kohli in the Royal Challengers nets though the RCB captain was instrumental in signing up the giant from Auckland for the IPL. Kyle Jamieson did the star turn for New Zealand in the rain-hit WTC Final at Southampton, picking up his Bangalore skipper’s wicket with one that came back. Cricket may have already found the new Joel Garner as the 6 ft 8 in fast bowler claims a unique record of a fifth five-wicket haul in only his eighth Test for a tally of 44 wickets at an average of just 14.13. No bowler since the 1890s has taken more at a lesser average. Bowling to a fuller length, up by 44% after an opening day in which he tried to do too much, did the trick as Jamieson dominated the Test while presiding over the destruction of the reputed Indian batting. Like Garner, the Kiwi gives nothing away, no loose balls as freebies for the batsmen.  During the IPL, Jamieson put two new Dukes balls in his kit bag to practise with them as the England tour was to come up immediately after IPL. What we have now is a gentle giant capable of bowling out Test batsmen with his consistency of line and length.

Arya Rajendran, all of 22, adorns the mayor seat of Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram with the distinction of being the youngest elected mayor in the country. This BSc maths second year student, stood and won from the Mudavanmugal ward under the CPI-M banner. Arya is no greenhorn test case politician, fielded by her party. Daughter of an electrician father, a CPI-M activist and working mother (LIC agent), privilege and power did not boost her rise, having been inducted into the Balasangam (the children’s wing of CPI-M) when she was in Class 5.  Politics being what it is, the accolades she got from all over the country when elected mayor, must have rankled the major opposition incumbents, the BJP and the Congress among others. Recently, BJP Councillor Karamana Ajith took her on for lack of supervision and accountability in her duties. The ward’s garbage disposal and inventory and high-cost equipment obviously got flak.  “The AKG Centre’s LKG student probably thinks of this as a play school. Taking on a Mayor’s duties is not child’s play.” Ouch, that must have hurt.  But Arya is no wilting wallflower. Her repartee, “No one needs to judge my capability and efficiency by my age. I am confident of holding my own.” Don’t mess with this Miss.

Athletes and officials who like to tipple will be allowed to consume their favourite alcohol, but strictly within the confines of their rooms at the Olympic Village spread over 44 hectares in Tokyo. The local organising committee of the Summer Olympics 2020, postponed exactly by a calendar year, because of the  COVID-19 pandemic, had actually mulled over banning consumption of alcohol in the Athletes Village in order to enforce the “No, No” rules generally put in place in Japan. Now the habitual among the 18000 athletes and officials, can look forward to enjoying a drink or two. However condoms will not be available. It’s from the Summer Games in Seoul in 1988, that condoms were distributed at the Olympic Village, but as a forced shift from a 32-year-old custom, the athletes and officials will get the contraceptives when they depart Tokyo. The Olympic Village consists of 3800 condominiums and 21 residential quarters. The “Playbook” which details the rules to be followed by all delegates and athletes during the Games has counselled participants to avoid being close to people. Any violation of the rules will risk getting ejected from the Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) believes that the majority of the people involved with the Games would have received both jabs of the vaccine by July 23, 2021, the first day of the Games.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, now Samantha Akkineni, has put in a once in a lifetime performance as the LTTE woman in a very highly acclaimed Season 2 of The Family Man, on Amazon Prime. The central antagonist, Srikant Tiwari who carried Season 1 entirely on his talent and skill, playing the role of a covert operator of TASC (a fictional NIA), is pushed to play second fiddle to Samantha as Raji. In trying to tar her in sepia tones as a Sri Lankan, the brown make up has totally gone haywire…but this does not diminish from her brooding, menacing , almost other worldly countenance as she takes on the suicide mission of bombing the venue for a crucial meet of the two neighbouring country’s Prime Ministers. Her kill skills, spycraft and totally frigid inhuman approach to the enemy spies and mission…chilling. Samantha has pirouetted through many inane films that showcased her good looks. In The Family Man Season 2, she conveys every nuance needed to prove what it takes to be a suicide missionary, whatever the cause.

There is a tiny flaw in Virat Kohli’s captaincy record. Teams playing under him have not won a single ICC trophy. One of the modern greats with the bat and at captaincy, the cricketer would dearly love to set the record straight. Not only because his record pales in front of his mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s sterling captaincy record. Dhoni won all the ICC trophies on offer — World Cup (50 overs), Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup besides the IPL three times and the Champion’s League Trophy twice for Chennai Super Kings. Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore is yet to taste success. An Indian captain led India to top of the Test ladder of merit as early as 2008-09 while Kohli kept it up there for 44 months from October 2016 right up to June 2021 when New Zealand moved up to No. 1 after beating England. Firmly in the saddle in all three formats since 2017, Kohli would be hoping that the World Test Championship, being played from June 18 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in England would become his first ICC and most prized Cup ever. India faces a very professional and committed New Zealand side under Kane Williamson. Still, given the strengths and skills Team India possess, they have a great chance to win the WCT and Kohli knows he must make it happen in England.

There is a joke in Tamil, “After allopathy, homeopathy, naturopathy, only Tirupathi.” As the pandemic raged, astrologers sprouted like mushrooms in the monsoon on YouTube. Tamil Nadu is particularly addicted to astrology. But where did these futurists go wrong in predicting the course of this scourge from Wave 1 to 2, and now watch out for 3? The 95-year old stalwart of the astro world, AM Rajagopalan, erstwhile editor of Kumudam Jothidam, a popular Tamil weekly, lucidly tells us about the very unusual planetary configurations from December 2019 onwards, when Saturn and Jupiter were impacted by the invisible Rahu. According to this much sought after savant, from September 2021 onwards, Corona’s deadly intensity will diminish. Abhigya Anand from Karnataka made news for accurately foreseeing the conjunction of six powerful planets aligned in a line, portending great danger from a pandemic that would shake the world. EK Dhilipkumar, another popular social media Jothishi has his disclaimer – “Can Doctors cure every malady? We can’t predict the course for every event or calamity.” His logic, Rahu is an invisible planet, the “paapa graham.” He foresees that the pandemic will start self-limiting by mid-2022. Srirangam Ravi also talks about planetary effects of Mars, and mainly Jupiter who starts his movement from June 21, and will give significant relief in September, and a collective sigh of relief by November.

The MK Stalin-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu has just finished a month in office at Fort St George. But it has already come under intense flak from Opposition quarters. The reasons are not far to seek. Escalating cement prices has put the DMK government in a tight spot. The builders’ lobby has turned hyperactive now and accused the cement makers of competitive collusion. Builders have claimed that the retail cement prices have increased by 13% to Rs 520 a bag of 50 kg from Rs 460 in May. Of course, the builders’ lobby have also come down heavily on steel makers for rising prices. Now, the rising cement prices comes as an unsolicited stick to needle the nascent Stalin regime. Put on the defensive, the Stalin government has sort of sought to correct the `recalcitrant cement industry’ through discussions. The builder lobby has always projected itself as the victim in this cement price game. Never once did the builder lobby come out with any explanation for zooming flat cost! Often, politics (read politicians) ignores the hard economics of any business. How to cement this irreconciliation? That is hard to visualise in Dravidian politics.

How many obits are to be written for the Grand Old Party? It is a sad and heart-rending feeling when one thinks of the role of this august group that fought so fearlessly for our independence, downed in disarray, retreating disheartened. Today, all tail waggers and party swaggers, the neo Tarzans of politics, covered in their capitalist chain armour are thriving only on this stage laid by the Congress. But what an ending, friends and countrymen! What is left of this great movement for which Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, Rajaji, Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur and other stalwarts gave their blood, sweat, toil and tears? Saying that this sorry state is because one Family is hell-bent on tightening its vice like grip on the party, knowing fully well that it is riding a snarling tiger. So, what if the Congress collapses? The Gandhis won’t let go of their own. The Congress won’t collapse totally: it may disintegrate, pulverised beyond salvage as a macro entity. But its atoms still have the power to radiate heat and light. This is the metamorphosis many are eagerly waiting for: another multihued butterfly emerging, yet another Phoenix rising from the funeral pyre of the erstwhile organisation. This will require the Kapil Sibals, Chidambarams, Manu Singhvis to allow the Gen Next to take centre stage. The Shashi Tharoors, Pilots, Milind Deora…..If ever a millennial Sun Tzu is wanted/needed…it is now. Sun Tzu who compiled The Art of War.

On a balmy Thursday on June 17 in England’s South-West coastal town of Bristol, the brightest star of Indian women’s cricket, Shafali Verma cocked a snook at India’s women selectors for not selecting her for the home limited-over series against South Africa. Shafali uncorked her typical bold and stylish brand of cricket that lit up the second day’s play of the one-off Test against England. Not accustomed to red-ball cricket, Shafali, 17 years and 141 days when she took guard, and one of the fortunate Test debutants sparkled with a knock of 96, hitting 13 fours and two sixes. The young right-hander fell in a moment of unbridled ambition to bring her century with a big shot. The Rohtak-born has been a whiff of fresh air playing electrifying knocks. She has not only breathed life into women’s cricket in India, but now has also campaigned straightaway for resumption of Test cricket across the world. It was a fallacy on the part of the women selectors to brand her as a Twenty20 specialist, when India’s women cricketers were pleading for continuous competitive cricket at domestic and international levels. Shafali took the centre stage at Bristol, raising a record first-wicket stand of 163 for India with left-hander Smriti Mandhana. It was India’s fourth century plus stand for the first wicket, and the world’s joint seventh highest in 889 Tests.

Cracks in the Shiv Sena led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) became clear with the latest, unilateral announcement by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole that the party will go solo in the next assembly elections. (Congress has one MP, 44 legislators and insignificant presence in local and civic bodies). He also added that if approved by the High Command he would like to be the party’s face for the post of Chief Minister. Clearly, Patole is posing challenge to his colleagues like Balasaheb Thorat, Ashok Chavan, Nitin Raut and Vijay Wadettiwar. Meanwhile, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar snubbed Patole for his ‘CM statement’. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seem to be playing his card well too. His closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created heebie-jeebies among his rivals. Informed sources say that Thackeray has killed two birds with one arrow. He has snubbed BJP by showing that he has kept his communication channel open with Modi. Brave Sanjay Raut said, “It’s a rumour that Shiv Sena CM will be replaced after 2.5 years … CM will be Uddhav Thackeray for 5 years.” For the NCP and Congress, the message is not to take Thackeray for a ride despite lacking administrative experience. Meanwhile, within the BJP too the rift is widening between former CM Devendra Fadnavis and the state BJP unit chief Chandrakant Patil.

The D Gang’s clout was all pervading.  All top stars – heroes, heroines and producers – were forced to fly to Dubai and perform for bhai’s events. There is video footage of stars hobnobbing with the Don at a Sharjah cricket match. A ‘No’ was not an option. And the job of terrorizing the film industry was entrusted to the handsome gangster Abu Salem, now languishing in Taloja jail, on the outskirts of Mumbai. Abu Salem almost threatened every top actor and producer. One of the early victims was Rajiv Rai, son of Gulshan Rai of Trimurti Films fame. He fled to the UK with his wife Sonam and son after a failed attempt on his life by Abu Salem’s henchmen. Gulshan Kumar of T Series fame was chased and gunned down. Bollywood biggies – producer-director Subhash Ghai, Manmohan Shetty, and Rakesh Roshan received threatening calls from Abu Salem. Rakesh Roshan survived a brutal murderous attack, and luckily recovered from gunshots wounds. Not unlike Haji Mastan, Abu Salem too needed his share of Bollywood beauties – and he got Monica Bedi. His threat forced producers to cast her opposite big stars in movies like Jodi No 1, and Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat. In September 2002, Monica Bedi and Abu Salem were arrested in Portugal. After serving prison sentences there, they were deported to India. To cut to the chase, the gangsters had paid informers in the film industry who tipped them about stars’ financials – movie signing amount, movie release date etc. Armed with this information, the underworld would make extortion calls. The Bollywood-Underworld nexus became apparent when Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 was investigated.  READ PART 4

High on money and muscle power, the underworld started dominating Bollywood. The money was routed through financiers and big stars who often visited Dubai to meet the Don. In the late 90s, early 2000s photographs of top actors, musicians and singers performing at Dawood’s Darbar were published by the media. These photographs exposed the nexus between Bollywood-Underworld. And proof of that was tapped telephonic conversation between Dawood’s right hand man Chhota Shakeel and various film personalities. This nexus pressurised Mumbai police to arrest diamond merchant cum film financier Bharat Shah under MCOCA. Reportedly, Shah was arrested for aiding Chhota Shakeel. Somebody like Rakesh Roshan had a narrow escape on the eve of the release of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, his son Hrithik’s first movie. The sharp shooters fired two rounds at him for not paying Rs 5 crore. This incident shook the film world. The Mumbai police came forward to provide them protection. But, things started ebbing with Dawood not keeping well; Abu Salem incarcerated, and Chhota Rajan too cooling his heels in Tihar jail. Insiders say the extortion cases have come down. Though there were sporadic incidents like gangster Ravi Pujari trying to take advantage of the situation. Now, he too has been arrested. Now the underworld has almost stopped extortion but continues with its piracy business. Ironically, the fraternity which complains about the underworld are the same people who glamorize the underworld, making them larger than life.  CONCLUDED

The  fashionable world of Parisians, also accustomed to a ‘Bon Appetit’ of the Rafael Nadal variety of tennis on the red shale at the Roland Garros, recently got to taste caviar on toast of one for the books kind, so imposingly dished out by a Serbian champion. Down and out virtually, Novak Djokovic summoned his physical and mental reserves, picked up the pieces to play havoc on the mind of the far from pretender for the crown, Stefanos Tsitsipas and eventually downed the terrific 22-year-old Greek with a blonde mane and Adidas bandana. The final bout lasted four hours and 11 minutes as the versatile tennis artist, who has won 1,102 singles matches on the ATP tour, proceeded to win his 19th Grand Slam singles title and come within whistling distance of Nadal and Roger Federer’s 20 each. The Serbian, 34, had stopped the successful run of the  southpaw Nadal in the semi-finals, who had proved to be a one-man Spanish Armada, winning the title in Paris, a baker’s dozen times between 2005 and 2020 and lifted the 14kg Musketeers Cup Trophy. Nadal did not win in Paris in 2009, 2015 and 2016, when the Serbian clinched his first clay Grand Slam. Trailing by two sets (6-7, 2-6), Djokovic smothered the Greek 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, firing a mere five aces to his opponent’s 14. The 187cm tall Djokovic who began his professional career in 2003, has won 305 matches on clay, 520 on hard courts, 104 on grass, 140 in indoor courts and 33 Davis Cup singles matches. Leading to the French Open, Djokovic had lost three Clay court matches at Monte Carlo, Belgrade and Rome this year but was unstoppable in Paris. He is in line for a sweep of the calendar year Grand Slam wins and be hailed as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).

It is almost akin to running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Shiv Sena, which heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with NCP and Congress, is not only striving to maintain its Hindutva identity but also projecting its secular credentials. Recently, party MP Rahul Shewale stoked a controversy after he proposed to rename flyover on Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link road after Ajmer’s Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz Moinuddin Chishti. The BJP and VHP slammed Shewale for his demand. Shewale reacted saying that he was unaware of BJP MP Manoj Kotak’s proposal to name the flyover after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja or demand by locals for Krantikarak Vastad Lahuji Salve and Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe.  Earlier, Sena leader Pandurang Sakpal, Vibhag Pramukh of south Mumbai likened ‘Azaan’ (a call for Muslim prayer) with Hindu ritual of ‘aarti.’ And mooted the idea of holding an ‘Azaan’ recital competition for Muslim children. The BJP accused Sena changing its stand to remain in power. Interestingly, CM Uddhav Thackeray has told BJP not to teach him Hindutva reiterating that the party has not left it despite joining hands with the NCP and Congress with an agreement to follow secular principles.

Yes, ever since the DMK win, it has been a Stalin overkill about how he is everywhere, doing everything, covering everything. Just the other day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin visited Mettur Dam, to inspect desilting preparations to receive the annual inflow of Cauvery waters from neighbouring Karnataka. This is very crucial to irrigate the TN kuruvai (short term) crop that has seen many a parched and lost year in the past, with both states fighting over river water sharing. With his new found confidence, Stalin announced that Mettur dam would be opened and that he expects Karnataka to open the hatch, a fait accompli decision, no longer up for negotiation. Is this a positive shift in the power equations of these two warring states? The same strong narrative in demanding vaccine stock for TN, reaching out to non BJP CMs for possible Third Front to leverage more federalism….the canvas is big. But some chinks in the armour are evident too: the opening up of liquor outlets (opposed earlier) as the state needs revenue (TASMAC revenue is Rs 30,000 crore plus) to back emergency healthcare. There are also serious concerns and talk about the Omandurar Hospital changing yet again to become the TN Assembly building, the original dream project of Kalaignar. The historic King Institute may take the place of this hospital. Taxpayers are the obvious beasts of burden.

At 69, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin knows that he has to hurry up and deal an impressive hand to the people who voted him in. May be even take on the issue of enhanced federalism. In his earlier avatar as lieutenant to Karunanidhi, and his mayoral stint, Stalin earned the sobriquet of Flyover Man with a visible preference for flyovers. Singara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai) was his other pet project to leave a lasting impact on the Chennai landscape. The Greater Chennai Corporation, under Gagandeep Singh Bedi, has launched Singara Chennai 2.0 with a slew of plans for beautifying its beaches (even far flung beaches of Thiruvottiyur and Uthandi with 21 km of coastline are to be developed as coral reefs). An integrated scheme for making a dramatic aesthetic impact on urban spaces, including water bodies, roundabout gardens, an underwater aquarium and numerous other breath-taking schemes! Ambitious? The cynical say, “Ah, new brooms sweep clean. Let’s see when all these sprout.” The practical punters are happy….so much to gain, invest and of course, earn. Who is the Catalyst powering this State Vista?  Could it be that Chanakya who orchestrated the party’s telling win? Or did a certain Wall Street wizard motivate Stalin? Whatever the genesis of Stalin’ takeover makeover, Gagan Deep Singh Bedi will lead the charge of the light brigade to make Stalin’s plans take shape.

For more than three hours she was not just the elephant in the room. Sasikala, confidante to J Jayalalithaa who ruled Tamil Nadu more like an empress, was the hot topic of discussion within the party founded by MGR and consolidated by his protege Jaya. Former CMs E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam joined ranks to keep Sasikala out of the party while expelling her loyalists who had the temerity to speak to her on their mobile phones seeking her comeback. So long as the two heads of AIADMK keep their flock together, they can stave off any attempts by the discredited Jaya aide to create confusion in the party about her imminent comeback. But she seems determined to get back in and seize control by manipulating sentiment among the party rank and file. Jailed for graft, Sasikala’s strength is a seemingly infinite access to funds. Disqualified as she is from standing in elections for another six years, Sasikala aims to become a party boss like Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is under a similar cloud. Her strategy before the polls was to announce retirement from politics in the hope that once the AIADMK was trounced at the polls, there would be a clamour for her re-entry. That didn’t happen with the party winning 66 of 75 alliance seats. But Sasikala lurks, waiting for that chance to pounce.

Karim Lala was one of the three dreaded dons of Mumbai till the early 1980s. The other two dons were: Haji Mastan and Vardabhai or Varadarajan Mudaliar. This Pashto speaking Pathan who had moved to Mumbai from Afghanistan in the early 1920s was operating from Mumbai’s Dongri area. He ran two hotels and a travel agency – which was just a façade. As a leader of the Pathan gang his real job was extortion, kidnapping, contract killing and narcotics. Many people instead of going to the police went to Karim Lala’s court to get instant justice. During his peak, Lala frequently invited several film personalities to his parties and Eid celebrations. One of his close friends was a well-known Pathan — Mohammad Yusuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar (who hailed from Peshawar in British India – now in Pakistan). At one such party, cabaret sensation Helen tagged along with Dilip Kumar to meet Lala and casually complained about her manager PN Arora, who had allegedly duped her of large sums of money. All that Karim Lala did was make a phone call. By the time the party was over and Helen reached home, a sweating Arora was standing outside her building with a briefcase full of money. For many producers, it was an Open Sesame moment. They started paying the underworld to put a stop to starry tantrums and ensure stars report to their sets on time. In south India, stars are time-conscious and report on sets with full make up. There are stories galore about top stars keeping the entire crew waiting for hours. Producers’ myopic vision and actors’ indiscipline paved the way for the entry of the underworld into the film world. For the goons not only the money was good but they were more than rubbing shoulders with stars and starlets. Guns and roses were a deadly combination.  READ PART 2

Neither dreaded don Karim Lala nor Vardarajan Mudaliar were glamour struck. For them looking at other women was a taboo – well, that was the image they had arduously cultivated. But, not so for Mastan Mirza aka Haji Mastan, the man from Salem, Tamil Nadu. He was besotted by actresses. So much so that he financed quite a few movies with well-endowed stars. He was particularly infatuated by Madhubala. And in her memory, married an upcoming starlet Sona, a look alike of Madhubala. There are photographs of well-known film makers paying obeisance to Haji Mastan by touching his feet. It was fear and money. Mastan’s diktat ran large. There are stories of how well-known actors and actresses were forced to complete movies.  A top leading actress, on her arrival from London, drove straight from the airport to the set as she was confronted by Mastan’s men. Similarly a thespian actor was physically picked up by the goons from his bungalow taken to Hyderabad and brought back after completion of shooting. Parallely, even as Mastan was going about his filmy business, Dawood Ibrahim’s notoriety was fast rising for contract killing, gold smuggling, extortions, drug trafficking and real estate deals. After fleeing to Dubai he had corporatized illegal activities under the umbrella D Company, paid his henchmen monthly salaries. For D Company, which was spreading its tentacles, the film industry was the low hanging fruit. Of course, like all Dons he and his brothers too sought to have their own harem of heroines and starlets. A case in point is Mandakini of Ram Teri Ganga Maili fame. With the D gang entering the scene, stars started reporting to sets on time. Producers were happy. But, not Dawood. This protection money was small beer for him. He saw huge business opportunities in acquiring distribution rights in India, then he moved to acquiring overseas rights before becoming a producer. Of course, Dawood’s brother Noora penned songs for Hindi films.  TO BE CONTINUED – PART 3 & PART...

In Joe Root’s words, it’s been a week of “ugly truths” for the England cricket team when the raging tweet storm has not spared James ‘Jimmy’ Anderson either. The fast bowler was all set to become the Test cricketer with the most appearance (162) for England beating Alastair Cook’s record when an old tweet he had sent out on fellow fast bowler Stuart Broad which said he “looked like a 15-year-old lesbian” bobbed up. While Anderson’s single contentious tweet is also under the scanner, it is a series of tweets by Oliie Robinson that is the eye of the storm. Over a 12-month period, they made references to Gary Speed’s suicide, the disappearance of young English girl Madeleine McCann in Europe, the N-word, derogatory messages about Muslims, people with disabilities and women. The fast bowling all-rounder seems to have been quite a fiery character when he sent those tweets in 2012 and 2013. The storm might take the sheen off the marathon man Anderson’s achievement in being a fast bowler who is passing all the batsmen and wicket-keeper batsmen who used to be the ones with the most Test caps for England, beginning with Hobbs, Woolley and Hammond through Cowdrey, Gooch and Stewart down to Cook who retired recently. Anderson needs four wickets to pass Anil Kumble on the all-time Test bowlers’ list and six wickets to make it 1,000 first class wickets.

Why be a spoiler…watch this recently released hilarious movie, Malaysia to Amnesia directed by talented director Radha Mohan. Enjoy. Here we talk about another Malaysia to Amnesia theme: former AIADMK Minister, M Manikandan, who held the IT portfolio as one of the youngest elected from the party, is now facing serious charges of cheating, sexual exploitation and blackmail from an Indian actor, Shantini Theva from Malaysia. In her police complaint she has alleged that she was cheated, exploited, and blackmailed. Manikandan is an MBBS from Annamalai University, MS from Ramchandra Medical College, is a Fellow of the Indian Association of Endo Surgeons, taught surgery as an Asst Prof in Madurai Medical college where he was considered a strict disciplinarian. Such charges from exploited women are now frequent, especially when a high profile person is alleged to be involved. But even more intriguing is the allegation that Manikandan lured the lady with promise of investments in IT sector in Malaysia. Why is the news about an alleged relationship that had gone on for five years, brought to light as soon as the erstwhile government falls? And the lady from Malaysia is shouting hoarse that she has enough proof that the former minister is having Amnesia about her pregnancy, subsequent miscarriage. Now an even more murky allegation… that he threatened her and her family by posting pictures on the net about her promiscuity. Affairs of the heart are taking more precedence than affairs of the state.

The Prince of Najafgarh — Virender Sehwag — was a natural and glorious hitter of the cricket ball. He smashed two Test triple centuries at Multan and Chepauk. His legion of followers would have hardly imagined that the high-spirited opening batsman who went leather hunting from the word go would have gone out of the way to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to refine his ways of aggression in the scene of action. But eight summers after he bid adieu to international cricket, the dashing batsman of the new millennium has announced that he would deploy the novel AI to teach how to play the game through the app “CRICURU” that he and former India player and assistant coach, Sanjay Bangar, have founded for the benefit of budding cricketers. He took the centre stage for near about one-and-a-half decades from 1999, clouted 243 x 6s and 2398 x4s and entertained the paying spectators, but all this he did by watching Sachin Tendulkar bat and learning from his personal coach that had the human touch. Now, he believes human coaching simulated into a machine can thrash out glitches in batting and bowling. At the launch of the AI enabled app CRICURU, Sehwag revealed that not many, who pointed out his lack of footwork, had answers, that was eventually told to him by Sunil Gavaskar, ‘Tiger’ Pataudi and Srikkanth. Sehwag’s experimental learning will be imparted by top guns of cricket.

“When you play Test cricket, you don’t give the Englishmen an inch. Play it tough, all the way. Grind them into the dust,” declared Sir Don Bradman, the colossal performer against England with 5,028 runs at 89.79 in 37 Tests. No cricketer has surpassed the record for 73 years. The Indian team led by Virat Kohli can only be inspired by cricket’s  all-time Don’s matter-of-fact words in order to put it across Joe Root’s England in the Test series to be played in August-September at Trent Bridge, Lord’s, Headingley, The Oval and Old Trafford. On the previous two tours to England in 2014 and 2018, India was trounced 3-1 and 4-1. The cause of the mismatched results was the lack of wherewithal to lift the batting average well above 23.95 in 2014 and 23.91 in 2018, when Kohli’s average was a fraction lower than 60! India’s bowling unit worked wonders in 2018, taking 82 wickets at 29.82 as against 59 at 43.25 in 2014. Statistics are part and parcel of cricket, more so in the bilateral series played in flannels. And achievements in England get a premium value. Familiar with the fickle weather, England has been a tough nut to crack. It has won 223 Tests and lost 123 of the 528 it has played at home since the one-off first Test against Australia at The Oval in 1880. England’s winning percentage of 54.84 against India at home (played 62, won 34, lost 7, drew 21) is the highest against a traditional opponent for close to six decades. England though has a 100% record at home against Bangladesh and Ireland and 75% win against Zimbabwe. So, India’s task is cut out; just try and put into action the Don’s message to the hilt to upset England apple cart.  

The top leadership of BJP — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Party President JP Nadda — seems to be having one too many problems on their plate. From handling of Covid-19 second wave to dissent in key states where it is in power. According to highly placed sources, the move to appoint PM’s trusted aide and former IAS officer AK Sharma as Deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh (so as to rein Yuva Vahini apostle turned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath) has been dropped with Yogi raising strong objections to Sharma’s inclusion as well as cabinet reshuffle. It is learnt that RSS tried to reason out with Yogi but he remained adamant. BJP has to tread cautiously here as any move to antagonise Yogi will see the revival of Yuva Vahini which may impact its poll chances not just in the assembly polls but also in Lok Sabha elections slated for 2024. So for now BJP and RSS will continue to hold Chintan Baithaks and gives suggestions to Yogi from time to time.

In Karnataka, the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has been under attack from the party ministers and legislators who are running a campaign for his removal. Yediyurappa who is serving as Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time is under tremendous pressure to resign and pave the way for his successor. Last week Yediyurappa, a prominent leader from influential Lingayat community, ultimately yielded and announced that he will step down if directed by the central leadership. Modi and Shah have yet to take a call. RSS functionary BL Santosh, who hails from Karnataka, does not get along well with Yediyurappa. In Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s leadership has been challenged by few party legislators who want the central leadership to immediately change him. Sources say that the state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra and state BJP chief VD Sharma have thrown hat in the ring. Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is now BJP MP in Rajya Sabha, went to Bhopal, after which speculations of change in leadership sparked a row. BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who camped in Bhopal and met many state leaders has clarified that MP will run only under the leadership of Shivraj Singhji. However, BJP insiders claim all is not well in MP; it is a wakeup call for Shivraj Singh Chouhan, popularly known as Mamaji.

Just when the real estate sector was picking across the country, the second wave has hit the sector really hard. In Mumbai, the scene is looking bleak. According to Squarefeatindia.com, a leading real estate website, “property sales in Mumbai in May 2021 saw a 50% dip to 5,360 units from 10,135 units in April.” The reason for this fall is the withdrawal of incentives by the Maharashtra government. It may be recalled that during the first lockdown – in August 2020 – the Maharashtra government had slashed stamp duty to 2% from 5%. This had a salutary effect on property sales.  Besides, new sales, It is learnt, many investors who bought flats and had not registered took advantage of this low rate and got their properties registered. Thus, between September 2020 and March 2021, property registrations were brisk. In December 2020, property sale-registration peaked at 19,581 units — 204% jump over December 2019. Citing this example, the industry’s apex body, CREDAI-MCHI, has dashed off three letters to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, urging him to once again reduce stamp duty to 2%. The other setback to builders is that nearly 4.22 lakh homes, across the top seven cities, which were expected to be completed by December 2021, will be delayed due to disruptions in supply chain.  Add to this, work from home culture is hitting sale of commercial premises and leases. According to Squarefeatindia.com, “There are 7,400 Office Leases, spanning approximately 90 million sqft which will come up for renewals in 2021 across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Gurugram and Noida.” But real estate agents are not bullish about renewal possibilities.

She oozed oomph in the most unselfconscious manner. Maybe she herself was not aware of the magnetic sexuality she projected when she came alive on the screen. If fate had consigned her to the backwaters of Eluru in Andhra Pradesh as Vijayalakshmi Vadapatla, this seductive actor launched as Silk Smitha in the Tamil film, Vandichakram in 1979, would have remained yet another anonymous villager. Silk fought her way out of abject poverty and struck out to conquer the arc lights of Kodambakkam as the Rani of raunch. This dark skinned, scintillating, and striking woman careened across the filmy scape, like a meteor, acted in over 300 films in just a span of 17 years, before she died by suicide in 1996. Whatever a lecherous audience spoke about her in trashing terms, few had the integrity to speak about the goodness of Silk Smitha. Bayilvan Ranganathan, a film actor, critic and chronicler talks about Silk as a generous, dignified person, who was punctual and disciplined. If a producer was in dire straits, she would not insist on immediate payment, cooperated with all on the sets, never asked for exotic meals to be catered. Even when the skimpiest costumes were given, she would robotically perform. Director Bharathi Raja cast her in a memorable role in Alaigal Oyvadillai. But Late Balu Mahendra exploited her raw sensuality to the maximum in Moonram Pirai (Sadma ). Even when Rajnikant or Kamal Haasan were signed as leads, the distributor/ financier would insist on at least one dance by Silk, guarantee for repeat audience. Three biopics, including Dirty Picture (Vidya Balan as lead) were made on Silk Smitha.  

Sometimes, bad times unexpectedly bring good tidings for some. Almost pushed to the realm of history, Sterlite Copper, part of the Anil Agarwal-controlled Vedanta Group, has suddenly started breathing. Closed for a few years now in the wake of a police firing that killed close to a dozen people outside its plant at Thoothukudi (Tuticorn earlier) in Tamil Nadu, Sterlite Copper virtually got the oxygen when the Tamil Nadu government complied to a court directive to let the plant produce medical oxygen to meet the shortage caused by the deadly Second Wave of pandemic. No doubt the environment (read political) has changed in the Dravidian land with the return of the DMK to Fort St George. But the Corona-induced health dynamics too have brought a change in the anti-Sterlite sentiment in the State. Insiders indicate that the Sterlite Copper team has all of a sudden undergone a major metamorphosis at the top. Vedanta has reportedly named an old-timer Kishore Kumar as the new CEO of Sterlite Copper. The incumbent CEO, Pankaj Kumar, who navigated the Sterlite Copper during its tough phase is believed to have called it quits. Along with him, a top functionary has also reportedly resigned. What surprises long-time watchers of Sterlite is the suddenness with which the changes are made at the top. The top-level re-jig, especially the timing and suddenness of its implementation, has taken everybody completely off-guard.

He comes from a political lineage famous in the south of Tamil Nadu. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan or PTR, the finance minister in MK Stalin’s cabinet, is the weapon the DMK government will be using to take a hard look at the Centre’s financial policies. The suave former investment banker has been told to deconstruct BJP top brass moves in finance and take them down whenever the opportunity arises. The finance minister’s contempt for the Goa transport minister Mauvin Godinho, who attended the GST meet and kept parroting lines in support of the Centre, will rate as an all-time classic. Dipping with sarcasm, the TN finance minister had a lot to say about Godinho, which he topped off with the throwaway line that said a lot: “Finally, I sincerely request the [Bharatiya Janata Party], even across the political divide, to impose some minimal quality control on its ‘MLA Acquisition’ procedures. If it had done so, Goa, and the Nation would be saved a lot of pain.” Some might say that sarcasm is the lowest form of art but it is an art form the 55-year-old may have perfected. The DMK has always been short of polished speakers in English who could take on Delhi and it has found a champion now. The finance minister and his vitriol could turn out to be a double-edged sword but right now he has been told to sharpen his skills.

Easy to speculate: did Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala’s cult CM look over his back after watching Mammootty in the just released Malayalam movie 1? Every Malayalee worth his pips as an educated political would wish… if only Mammootty stood for election, if only he could lead our state to that Camelot. This Mammootty showcase has a laudable theme…the Right to Recall your elected representative if he is proved corrupt, self-serving and insensitive. Many films have taken inspiration from this kernel….unbridled corruption, and unpatriotic representatives. But the ideal is beyond the best intentions of the idealists. 1 too tries and weaves a few commonplace incidents to ignite that fire of selfless service to the people. Even as the CM, Kadakkal Chandran played by Mammootty, moots the bill to Recall the Elected, the expected outcry, posturing and malevolent reactions from his own party and the opposition erupts. And in a telling comment, the ruling party MLA hits out, “we will face elections every two years.” The ganging up of the plundering and profiteering is quick. Even as the well-intentioned plot touches a chord, no viable or practical solutions are given. In fact, 1 leaves the viewer mystified, baffled: why so many loose ends including those memory losses the CM suffers? But it is Mammootty who carries this me-too motivational effort on his towering self. And makes 1 worth a watch…who knows some young contenders may come up with an ideal of politics.  

A soft spoken person, he is now ready to demonstrate his wares afresh. Indeed, he is unfolding a new future. Well, KV Ramani of Future Soft fame is now venturing out to set up a brand new private university. Established under the name and style of Sai University, it is aimed to integrate three fundamental pillars of education – learning, research and societal impact. The 104-acre campus in Chennai has been designed with an eye on maintaining a balance between modern aesthetic and cultural heritage. Ramani, the founder and chancellor of Sai University, played no small role in India achieving a pre-eminent place in the global information technology space. He was a co- founder of the IT industry body National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), and served as its chairman during 1997-98.  Ramani is currently the CMD of Digital Holdings and the founder and managing trustee of Shirdi Sai Trust. A hugely successful technology entrepreneur, he is a prominent philanthropist now. He joined IBM as a graduate engineer in 1970. Later, he went on to found Future Software in 1985. He also co-founded Hughes Software Systems, a telecommunications software company in India, as a joint venture with the US firm Hughes Software in 1990. The board of Sai University comprises some illustrious names. Well, a new innings has just commenced for Ramani. For a man with a kind heart, providing quality education is not just a passion but a mission too.

For BJP the battle ground has now shifted to Uttar Pradesh. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the guiding force for Sangh Parivar, has already swung into action to help UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who seems to have got a bad Press for handling the coronavirus pandemic. To make matters worse, there has been strong rumours of a cabinet reshuffle including induction of a new deputy chief minister. To allay fears and indicate full faith in Yogi’s leadership, BJP’s national general secretary BL Santosh praised Yogi Adityanath’s “effective” management of Covid-19. He tweeted: “In five weeks, Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh reduced the new daily case count by 93% … Remember it’s a state with 20+ Cr population. When municipality CMs could not manage a city of 1.5 Cr population, Yogiji managed quite effectively.” Having put one problem to rest, the next step was to up the ante. It is learnt that RSS along with VHP, Bajrang Dal, Sewa Bharati will mobilize their swayam sevaks and karyakartas in the run up to the next assembly elections in 2022. It may be recalled that in the recently held Gram Panchayat Election Samajwadi Party won big in PM’s constituency Varanasi. So, Sangh Parivar is leaving no stone unturned. UP with 403 assembly and 80 Lok Sabha seats is critical for the BJP which is aiming at a record hat trick in Lok Sabha elections slated for 2024.