Tag Archives: Kehne ki nahin baat magar ab zor se kehna hai

Ten of my Favourite Songs of Dissent

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(And some related emotions, not all dissent. Defiance, inspiration, perseverance, etc).

Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy. An elected government has to be held accountable. If it gets the bouquets for the good it does (which, by the way, is simply the result of it doing its job), it must also be ready to face the brickbats for when things aren’t done properly. When corruption, misuse of public funds, manipulation and other maleficence comes into the picture, a government that shrugs off responsibility, refuses to apologize or take effective measures to mitigate the impact of the problem—must be taken to task.

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Ten of my favourite Shashi Kapoor songs

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Of the three Kapoor brothers—Raj, Shammi and Shashi—Shashi Kapoor is the one who falls in the middle when it comes to my personal preferences. Raj Kapoor I tend to not like (except in the occasional film now and then, like Chori-Chori or Teesri Kasam). Shammi Kapoor I am nuts about and will gladly watch in just about any film from his heyday. And Shashi Kapoor—well, he did act in some films I don’t like at all (Bombay Talkie, Benazir, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Raja Sahib…), but he also acted in some of my favourite films. In Prem Patra, for instance. And Waqt. And Pyaar Kiye Jaa. And my guilty pleasure, Sharmeelee.

He was wonderfully handsome in a boyish sort of way, he was a versatile actor (compare, for instance, his hot-headed young Hindu radical of Dharmputra with the madcap of Pyaar Kiye Jaa), he was extremely watchable. (And, to his credit—or his wife, Jennifer Kendall’s?—remained relatively well-preserved until quite late. Of the three brothers, Shashi had the longest innings as a believable leading man, all the way from the start of the 60s to the early 80s).

Shashi Kapoor

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