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Showing posts from December, 2010

The movie of 2010: 'Phas Gaye re Obama'

Simply put; this is the movie of the year. Very entertaining, great performances and a good story line to go with the humor element. Phas Gaye Re Obama has it all. The only thing, I felt that the director Subash Kapoor left out was the typical dance number (something that was earlier called a cabaret and now an item song) maybe because of the low budget with which the movie was made. In fact, this low budget thing works out well for the movie. The director and his crew, seem to have not wasted any one's time, and the speed at which the film moves is quite fast. This is also important, as the plot and story line of the movie is such, that can be prone to slack or slowness. Also, with low budget, there are virtually no huge stars, no huge media hooplah, that keeps in check the viewer's expectations from the film. Sanjai Mishra, Rajat Kapoor and Neha Dhupia are the only recognizable faces in the star cast. Nevertheless, the performances have been super. So go watch this movie. I

Salary hike of MPs

The salary hike Bill is one more taint on the already receding image of politicians who run our country. The bill, seeking to raise the salaries of MPs three fold has been unanimously passed by both houses of the parliament, leading to a furor among the people. To worsen the situation, Opposition demanded a fivefold hike, and was unhappy with a threefold increase. Of course, when compared to their counterparts in developed countries, our MPs receive less salaries, but they do not do the equal amount of work. Most MPs visit their constituencies only during election campaign visits. The provision for raising salary, daily allowance and minimum and additional pension would involve a recurring annual expenditure of Rs.103.76 crore . With problems like price rise and farmer suicides facing the nation, this is the most inappropriate time to hike salaries of MPs. When there are criminal charges, pending cases, corruption charges against the MPs, they absolutely do not deserve a pay h