Reservation is an albatross whose continuation under the current system risks creating deep fissures in our society, warns Vikram Johri.
Every cog in the wheel must present its unique services at the moment of instructed haste, says Vikram Johri.
'Deeply flawed, Sacred Games and Mirzapur come nowhere close to representing the diversity of stories from this country,' says Vikram Johri.
'Vajpayee was predictable in his ways.' 'Modi is a schemer, possessed of a shrewdness that can be rewarding in the chaotic world of politics.' 'His political journey gives reason to believe that 2019 will be another milestone in his private project,' notes Vikram Johri.
'Even when he moves beyond his traditional repertoire, he sticks to a template that does not take him too far from the viewer's gentler emotions,' notes Vikram Johri.
'It is this difference in their personalities -- one in eloquent command of the requirements of Parliamentary debate, the other unable to infuse spontaneity in his script -- that will be as much a factor in who India votes for next year, as other more germane factors,' says Vikram Johri.
'While they do -- and should -- speak up for causes close to their heart, the couple should be mindful of the nature of social media and how even the best intentions can quickly degenerate into rancour if the issue is not approached with nuance and caution,' says Vikram Johri.
'In the new Bollywood, where success can translate, like a chain reaction, into gains in related fields, mere appearance on the screen is no longer a guarantor of fame,' says Vikram Johri.
'Karti Chidambaram may be the beginning of a larger can of worms that the government has waited thus far to pop open,' says Vikram Johri.
'Khaitan's film will continue to invite comparisons with Manjule's, but the fact that it is out there for viewers to see is perhaps a greater tribute to the original than is conveyed by the cautious desire to remake it,' says Vikram Johri.
Jauhar is a recurrent theme in the history of that period. And Khilji was hardly the only Muslim invader whose onset forced women to self-immolate. Nearly the entire Mughal clan, including the benevolent Akbar, forced jauhar on the defeated, says Vikram Johri.
'The Left brands any criticism of Islam -- its history, its dogmas -- 'Islamophobic', conflating criticism of an ideology with criticism of a people,' notes Vikram Johri.
'What has taken the wind out of its sails is the government's own expectation management and its inability to strategise on delivery,' says Vikram Johri.
'North Korea could choose to go China's way by selectively opening up the economy, but Kim does not seem enthused by the idea.' 'Getting Pyongyang to give up the nuclear programme may be the best outcome Trump can hope for at the moment,' says Vikram Johri.
'That only a certain Mumbai story -- look at Salaam Bombay and Slumdog Millionaire for other examples -- gets made when an international audience is as much a target as the desi viewer, should invoke questions of representation,' notes Vikram Johri.
Purists may balk at this level of public discourse, but no one can deny its ability to marshal opinion.
'Some experts believe that the only jobs that will escape automation are the ones that involve anticipating the client's need, something that AI cannot do -- not yet anyway,' says Vikram Johri.
The nature of modern celebrity is particularly explosive when Bollywood romances cricket.
'Can he be the statesman that a divided nation needs?' 'Not remotely, but by following his gut, he may yet surprise the scores upon scores of naysayers,' says Vikram Johri.
The Looming Tower reveals the bitter CIA-FBI turf battles that led to the worst terrorist attack in America's history.
When Deepak Singh first started working as a salesman in the US, he was ashamed of the fall in status this signalled, says Vikram Johri.
'Is he one who defends individual liberty at all costs, or is he one who allows some give and take that recognises the primacy of the social contract, our coming together to live in a society?'
'The fact that Kalanick and others managed to build such great companies, in spite of their apparent foibles, should give us hope,' says Vikram Johri.
The real achievement of the film, which is now available worldwide on Netflix, is that it resists the temptations of the genre.
'The inability to have children with the person you love is a foundational shock of being gay,' says Vikram Johri. 'Karan Johar's becoming a parent through surrogacy focuses attention on exactly the demographic that India's divisive Surrogacy Regulation Bill targets.'
The film's genius is not in its ability to provide answers. Rather, it expands our empathy and forces us to locate the sublime within the unbearable, says Vikram Johri.
'Modi followed a prime minister whose second term was marked by such tragic passivity that Indians, it would seem, are willing to go to great pains to help this one realise his ambitions for them.'
Unlike Pepsi's Kendell Jenner ad, Tata Tea's Jaago Re campaigns were careful not to insert its product in the ad's storyline and they targeted topics on which there was near unanimity of outrage.
'For a working actor in Bollywood, it is nearly impossible to criticise its reigning deities.' 'Besides, due care ought to be taken when speaking of the dead too.'
ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar stirred a hornet's nest this week when she linked the low numbers of women in B-school to a focus on quantitative ability in the testing process.
Fewer e-commerce companies hired candidates from B-schools this year.
'No country has moved from bigotry to equality fast, and India, with its leisurely, elephant-like pace for the most non-controversial of things, will only take longer.'
Tales By Light is devoted to the kind of nature photography that appears on the pages of Nat Geo, but it exposes viewers to fascinating vistas that have only partly to do with photography, says Vikram Johri.
Of the two brothers in Kapoor & Sons, Fawad Khan's is the more successful, the better-earning, the more polite, the apple of his parents's eyes. Beside this perfection sits his homosexuality and the film forces us to question if we can look at Rahul as perfect, inspite of that fact.
Haven't we all united behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our national saviour-cum-reform evangelist? How can we still be in thrall to regionalist impulses, asks Vikram Johri
'They are perhaps the only night when the stars, those celestial seraphs, become as vulnerable, as doggedly human, as the rest of us.'
One mega success and the industry would be knocking on his door, camps be damned.
Beware the 'educated' man who thinks he is on women's side, says Vikram Johri
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