Mohanlal: still pristine

The one curious nature with us Keralites is that we seldom let go something/someone we love. It takes a lot of effort for a person to become a leader of mass in Kerala unlike the situation across our state border, and once he does, he stays.

Precisely why our filmi star Mohanlal hasn't been vacuumed out of the malayalee hearts despite his best efforts to exit the stage, unceremoniously.

The adjectives attributed to this actor by the pundits and public will envy any rival. Versatile, flamboyant, flexible, realistic...oh, I may need one full giga-byte to type them all here. In a nut-shell Mohanlal has been the one outstanding star among the glittering array of actors who've done Kerala proud...a true jewel.

Let me take the privilege of paying tribute to the actor who have had a two-way influence on my life. First as an adolescent film-mad boy who could brush aside any important works to watch him bedazzle on silverscreen; and lately as a more mature film-lover who purposefully avoided any contact with his new movies for prolonged periods of time just because I couldn't stick the deluge of crap anymore.

Mohanlal, who broke into the league as an anti-hero in 1980 conquered the Kerala hearts through his covetable exhibition of characters. From a rookie comedy man & romantic hero in his best-pal Priyadarshan's well-translated remakes to humourous one-from-your-neighbourhood man in Satyan Anthikkad movies, through the evergreen and charismatic Padmarajan flicks, thrilling the senses with trend-setter and career-changing characters like Vincent Gomez and SAJ and those realistic roles in the straight-from-life Lohitadas-Sibi Malayil tales, Lal chose to take the long hard route into people's ventricles. He was a dream actor for all directors and carried a guarantee tag for the producers and distributors. He has given his fans and public much and more to cherish.. The 3 National Awards or half a dozen state awards mean nothing more to common Keralite than the illustrious and unforgettable roles he portrayed.

I'm not sure where exactly the long slide down commenced for Mohanlal. But I'd bet my bottom dollars on his emergence as an above-the-almighty super-hero. This, one mustn't confuse with his old classic action-hero movies like Irupatham Noottandu (1987) & Rajavinte Makan (1986), somehow elevated the actor's image from a one-from-among-you man to an out-of-your-reach-hero. Films like Aaram Thampuran (1997)and Narasimham (2000), though commercially successful (and critically bull-shitted) triggered an unforeseen crisis for the Superstar from which he is still struggling to come out, even as you read.

Ustaad (1999), Ravanaprabhu (2001) and co didn't impress me much, neither did the following disastrous flicks like Praja, Onnaman (2002) and the likes. Seeing him and his movies degrade to standards of a third-rate axn film was so painful that I vowed never to watch another Lal movie after torturing myself with Praja (2001) on a near empty theater on New Years eve. Lal never give me an opportunity to break my oath for long 3 years until Roshan Andrews came up with Udayananu Thaaram (2005).

Every film star will go through lean patches, but for Lal the bad stretch seemed eternal. One after another he cast himself in utterly ridiculous movies and one after another they bombed at the box-office; each louder than the previous one. This is a list Lal will never be proud of, neither will be the vast majority of Lal fans in the Universe, starting 1999.

Olympian Anthony Adam

Life is beautiful

Sradha

Devadoothan

Praja

Unnathangalil (cameo)

Onnaman

Thandavam

Chathurangam

Mr. Brahmachari

Kilichundan Mampazham

Wanted

Hariharan Pillai Happiyanu

Vamanapuram Bus Route

Natturajavu

Chandrolsavam

Udayon

Kilukkam Kilukilukkam

Mahasamudram

Photographer

Baba Kalyani

Chotta Mumbai

Alibhai

Rock n roll

College Kumaran
Red Chillies

This archive from 1999-2009 features his major commercial releases which flopped. In the last decade Lal has given the audience not a single character which they'll remember 20 years from now, apart from Udayabhanu (Udayananu tharam, 2005), Mullamkolli Velayudhan (Naran, 2005) and Rameshan Nair (Thanmathra, 2005).

Just 3-4 roles worth remembering in a Jupiter year clearly tells a story, a far cry from the Lal of the late 80s or the 90s who gave us unforgettables like TP Balagopalan, Soloman (Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal), Jayakrishnan (Thoovanathumbikal), Ramadas (Nadodikkattu), CP (Vellanakalude Naadu), Sethumadhavan (Kireedam), Nettooran (Lalsalaam), Kalliyoor Gopinathan (Bharatham), Joji (Kilukkam), Mangalassery Neelakandan (only in Devasuram) and many many many more.

Its sad to note that Lal has already done irreparable damage to his celluloid-self, one which cannot be covered by a Band-aid or even a Plastic surgery. It is for anyone to imagine how the coming generation is going to perceive the "actor Mohanlal". If his 80s and 90s movies elevated his stature to Himalayan heights the current decade of rust have kind of nullified his previous efforts. I find him partly or wholly responsible for this state...

Whatever happened to the Lal who made us laugh, cry and think in all the dream roles an actor could get? His appearance on the screen was hardly inspirational, the roles totally misfitting and it appeared to me that Lal was getting uncomfortable with his own self. Many a times, his mannerisms and body language portrayed an individual who seemed to be trying too hard for an image makeover. For convenience, lets point the finger at those script-writers and directors who shelled out screenplays not worth a dime for Lal. Movies like Onnaman and HariharanPillai (2003) is doomed even if it was Tom Cruise leading the show. Even bewildering was it to see that these movies were created by directors like Joshi, Sibi Malayil, K.Madhu et al who'd created a name and fame for themselves. If you don't believe me, look at the list of Directors who shelled out loads of crap with Lal, it becomes clear that it is not one person at fault.

The one lesson Lal missed was that clinging on to the high standards he had set for himself was no easy job. It was eventually his responsibility to make sure that characters like Alibhai, Hariharan Pillai and Captain Kumaran was never born from him.

I agree cent-percent with blogger and film-critic BVN and his observation that Lal has completed transformation from the Asset side of Malayalam Cinema to Liability side with his 2008 disaster Red Chillies. What a shocker of a movie! Here is an example of a man who didn't care anymore.. Didn't care about his reputation, didn't care about the industry, didn't care about his fans like you or me... People even concluded that Lal cared only for the Green bucks, and his commitment to the industry and fans no longer existed. Is it so difficult to see through a screenplay (like Red Chillies) that this would be a colossal waste of 16 reels of film? Even Kunjakko Boban would've returned that poppycock script to Shaji Kailas.. But again Lal took it on his head because of his apparent inability to say "no" to close pals. And see where it has brought him.

But again, the rare streaks of light still trickle from those dark and deep clouds, evidenced by his latest release- Director Blessy's Bhramaram. The film, set on a framework similar to the duo' s previous hit Thanmathra (2005), exhibited to the world how the Carbon could come out as graphite or diamond if treated properly. It is also a testimonial to the barren intellectual state of our film industry which spreads rust into even the immaculate of metals.

So Lal, you're still pristine! Keralites will still forgive you for the torment you meted out to us in recent years because you're still capable of such occasional brilliance. What worries us is that this ray of light has become a bit too far between. Personally speaking, I'd like to see one Lal movie an year if it is a Bhramaram, or even like Madambi or Twenty-Twenty, instead of half a dozen Alibhais and Red Chillies.


Isn't it about time you handpicked what you want to do Laletta? Or are we destined to watch more red-faced appearances on the screen from you? I hope not, for goodness sake.


Images Courtesy: movies.sulekha.com

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Cochin Metro: Essential or Extravagance?

The Lords in New Delhi have finally given a green tick against one of the major infrastructural developments planned for Cochin: The Metro Rail.

Now this just sets the ball rolling and there is serious rough weather ahead of the rails, who doesn't know that, and giga-gallons of water would've flowed through the Periyar before the Metro could leave her shores. And as usual doubting Thomases (as well as sensible Thomases) have started asking questions...

So, who wants the Metro?

Well, end users, as always...I mean general public. And obviously the businesses... An MRTS is a huge fillip to a city's image in addition to the benefit of quick and efficient transport. A Metro line can meet the travel demands of the city for decades without significant expansion in its basic infra. It is expected to reduce the pollution in the city by the virtue of the no: of automobiles it takes off the roads. It improves the quality of living and provides more value to the most priceless commodity: time. Throw in the advantages such as creating employment to a few hundreds and ushering in development to new & outer areas of the city, one immediately visualises the positives of the system.


This is what the consultants have briefed about the project.. The Hindu, 24 Dec 2005

In an assessment made by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which is the consulting agency for the Metro project in Kochi, in 2011 there will be 13,681 travellers in an hour in one direction in the area under the Greater Cochin Development Authority. The peak hour estimates are 38,187 travellers in 2011, when the metro project is likely to be completed.

Now the million dollar question is: Is such a heavy-duty project an inevitability for a mini-metro like Cochin? So far, MRTS has been the choice of transit only if the city feeds over 4 million souls, as per Indian standards.

Before you zoom in on your verdict, I'd like to invite your attention to another small, neat city on the other side of the sphere: Dublin.

The Dublin Example

Dublin is lovingly addressed Europe's favourite small city. This is the city which has been my home for the past 3 years. It pales in comparison to the other regional heavyweights like London, Zurich, Paris or Berlin. With a population of just over a million, Dublin is no bigger than any major Kerala city. It has a Port smaller than Cochin but prides itself in the bigger hub-airport. The streets are traditional, architecturally rich, orthodox, pretty and congested but orderly. Dublin shows off a pretty impressive motorway network spreading out like a spider's web from various focal points of the city and hosts a 6-8 laner ring road, the M50.

Now whats so impressive about Dublin is the awesome public transport system the city has developed. (Refer the figure below) The wide and extensive road network is very well complemented by the exhaustive and exclusive BRTS system which is cheap and efficient. The sub-urban rail service or DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) (red)covers 3 different corridors and is punctual and quick. Dublin has resuscitated their old tram network(green), christened luas, and this services the residents on 2 different corridors. Luas has become the new face of Dublin, is hugely popular, trendy and punctual. And if that's not enough, Dublin is racing to the finishing point with their latest showcase: the Metro(blue).

Dublin Transport Infrastructure

This extensive and interlinked public transport system ensures that there are at least 2 different options available for a Dubliner on every corridors in the city. And hold on! This apparently small city has been credited by GaWC as an Alpha world City, pipping the likes of Los Angeles, where public transport is almost non-existent.

It might be unfair to compare a European capital to a third world city, especially since we're talking about big money here...really big money. The Cochin Metro is expected to cost the exchequer a dear 3000 crores for 25odd kilometers, roughly 125 crores/ km. And the frowns are yet more prominent with the fact that only 2 metro-systems in the world manage to produce green on the balance sheet.

So why are we speaking about such elaborate plans when there are, apparently, cheaper and better options?

Ok, lets dig a bit into the history of this proposal. The idea for a Metro system for Kerala's financial capital came from the most recognizable voice in Indian Railways: DMRC Chairman E. Sreedharan. He also considered the feasibility of the system in Trivandrum but the undulating terrain in the Capital rendered it unsuitable. He suggested a BRTS for Trivandrum for which actions are initiated and also a LRTS which would be more suitable for the city. (I've put my ideas about Trivandrum LRTS here, if you want to check out).

Coming back to Cochin, the city also featured an added advantage of having highly urbanized and industrialized Municipalities merged physically to the Corporation body. Cochin Metro is envisaged to pass through 4 urban bodies, the Corporation of Cochin and the suburban towns of Alwaye, Kalamasserry and Trippunithura. The combined population of these urban bodies and immediate suburbia may well cross 2.5 million, which theoretically still fall short of Indian benchmarks for a Metro.

But the morphosis and pattern of lifestyle of a city ought to set the standards for assessing the necessity of the type of transit mode it deserves rather than these population formulae. Every city with population of 1 million naturally thinks of a bigger transit system like the Metro in Europe. Dublin, for instance...

What are the other options?

If ever someone formulated a Transport 2025 policy for Cochin, then widening of those roads must become the utmost priority. Easier said than done in Kerala, eh? Ernakulam district has the highest length of 4-6 laned roads in Kerala but they're still strangulated all day long. Widening of roads is like having a bigger seat belt to treat obesity, you'll reach nowhere if you don't have alternate transit methods in place.

Cochin Road network

I'm sceptical of the success of systems like BRTS in Kerala, provided our road and driving culture. Also a BRTS could in no way replace a MRTS; its like a belt and a tie...both essential for a good pro outfit but one cant replace the other.

Now there is a solid proposal for a suburban rail service on the lines of one in Mumbai. Good one there, but again the existing rail lines are a bit dissociated from the main urban conundrum of Cochin (except for a small stretch). It still may not be good enough to take the pressure off the roads.



What about the light-rail options? No, according to Mr. Sreedharan. Because something like a Monorail, although a lot cheaper @ 40 crores/km, has a far inferior carrying capacity and has a maximum speed of 50km/hr. Also, the technical snags experienced with those Monorail in Goa must've left a bad taste in the mouth. Personally I feel its a waste of time searching for other options since the industry experts have given the green signal to the Metro. Perhaps we could think about an LRTS system to connect the two points of the Metro via Kakkanad, in future?

Goa Monorail

I'm curious to see how they propose to break even such a massive project. If it is taken up as a PPP project then it would be interesting to see who comes forward to build and operate it, and how. If someone is confident about making the ends meet, then double thumbs up!! Also with Kerala's notorious history of long gestation periods and even longer implementation time for her projects, I believe it makes sense speaking about the Metro now itself if we wanna see it running in 2025! True, transportation or infrastructural projects mustn't always be envisaged with profit in mind, you reap the real benefits after a decade or two,perhaps.

But at the end of the day we mustn't create yet another white elephant like our KSRTC which gleefully gobbles up public money and gives us this in return ---> shit...

How accessible this Metro would be for common population is yet another crucial question. Delhi Metro fares start at Rs. 6/- for a 1 minute ride. Well, how many of us in Kerala will opt for the posh way of travel regularly, for such exorbitant fares interests me...

So there! Its a delicately balanced scenario... Service vs Profits. Well, whats your pick?

Essential or extravagance?

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Taller, greener, better...

There is good news just out for skyscraper buffs like me!

The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airport Authority of India have trimmed down the height restrictions for constructions around our airports. This allows for buildings to sprout higher into the skies above our cities, almost double to what was permitted until yesterday.



I expect Kerala to significantly make use of this waive in the existing law. Kerala has been the only state outside the megapolis Mumbai, and to a lesser extent Gurgaon, to embrace the highrise culture. The trend which was kicked off in Cochin in the early 90s slowly spread to even the smaller Municipal towns of the state. Its become a fashion statement with even towns like Thiruvalla and Kottayam with just over 1 lakh population hosting 20+ structures.

Even though it may take some time for our local self Govts to adapt themselves to the law, it is certain that the Architects and builders would be licking their lips to make full use of it. Kerala is only second to West Bengal in population density; with 35 million inhabitants @ 825/sq km and severe scarcity of de-notified habitable land, it is common sense to understand that this model of urban development suits us best.

I'm a sucker for tallies, yo! I admire the style of urban development followed in North America and Australia which plots a highrise CBD, with suburbs harbouring midrises and housing estates. Each suburb is planned to be self-sufficient on its own for their shopping and entertainment needs, with residents travelling to city-center only for business and work. The CBD builds and rebuilds itself with major improvements necessary only in the transportation network.

A typical US city; Chicago seen here

European cities have taken a different route in urban planning with the CBDs not distinguishing itself from the suburbia in terms of height. Apart from a handful of cities like Frankfurt and Paris the concept of a tall central district was considered alien. But lately Moscow and even London appears to be moving towards the American way with new skyscrapers planned in their erstwhile low-rise heartlands.

Standard European cityscape; Berlin, Germany

In India there doesn't seem to be any definite pattern; haphazard has been the general rule, and Kerala has followed suit. This waiving of height restrictions means that now buildings would be allowed to rise twice as high as previously allowed. The new regulations make it possible for utilization of the land in a better, economical manner. Even though AAI primarily had Mumbai in mind while trimming the numbers, Kerala will benefit more than the megalopolis as along with the high population density we also have the highest concentration of present and planned International Airports in the country, 3 at present, 1 under serious planning and a dozen or so proposed, cough..cough..**



Kerala already has quite a few impressive records for highrise construction. Apart from the tallest u/c residential tower in South India, the Choice Paradise, there are elaborate plans for even taller apartments, hotel complexes, IT parks and so on, and this new regulations will be a shot in the arm as well.

I believe this would lead to a better utilization of land for supporting the exploding urban population. Utilization of land is a critical component of city-planning and the in-city airports, like the one in Trivandrum, did hinder its vertical rise in a big way. The major arteries of Trivandrum, especially the MG Road were shut down to highrise structures because the runway at TIA was too close. The newly developing pockets of the city along the NH Bypass also had height handicaps because it fell directly on the take-off funnel. With a cap of 60m for highrises even on NH Bypass, Akkulam, this seemed another handcuff for the builders and planners. As I understand it, structures could rise upto 50 stories on Akkulam shores where anything beyond 21 floors were not possible before.


Well, if you ask me if anyone is going to build such tall sky-kissers, Kerala cities have already breached the 30 floor mark and planning permission has been sought for 48 floored skyscrapers outside the Trivandrum city limits. A liquor baron in the city had plans for a true mixed-use skyscraper but this proposal got stuck on AAI tables. So if you ask me, I'm optimistic to see Kerala produce skyscrapers of a different breed!

Apartment developers could score some brownie points by going for true highrises because it gives an opportunity to provide more green, open spaces for the residents. I'm no fan of urban sprawl, where the city extends miles and miles into the outbacks. Expanding horizontally is inevitable for a growing city but only after it has exhausted the options for vertical growth. Sprawl will only lead to more complications in the future, like transportation, increased cost of maintaining infrastructure over a wider geographical area & encroachment into farmlands and forest-lands. If we don't want to end up as a bonsai form of Los Angeles, then we'd better check the horizontal growth of our cities. Experts are calling for more mixed-use developments to counter the sprawl, and growing taller is definitely the striking option.

And know what, taller could well be the greener option too! We've already had a beginning here in Trivandrum, SFS Grande, remember? Go green, go tall and save our poor Earth from this CO2 witch...please.

With the new AAI regulations in place, it is now upto the Govt of Kerala to get their priorities right regarding the width of the roads, policies such as FAR, utility developments and urban layouts with taller structures in mind. At least in the new developing corridors, provisions had to be made for the smooth graduation of our cities from midrise havens to highrise districts!

So let the race begin, eh? ;)

Thanks for JK and Desipundit for featuring this article.
The article also featrued in Urban Architecture

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Hell in a handbasket

Disclaimer: The references to any specific community or belief in this article is not aimed at spreading hatred. The newslinks provided are from national news-agencies and I regret if any of the observations made here hurt any reader in any way.


The smart Kerala Police has nabbed the prime suspect in the Ernakulam Collectorate blast the other day. Nice job again, yes, provided you keep him warm for the next few years.





Because the last time this guy Abdul Halim was arrested for stealing a car, (later proved to be used for the Bangalore blasts) the Police let go of him as they were taken for a ride by his tear-jerker tale about a dying wife! Imagine that...





Well, this post isn't exactly about Abdul Halim or Kerala Police but about a few uncomfortable pricks which have managed to creep under the unsuspecting Kerala society. The literate, affluent, forwardish and orhodox mallu-land folks are awakening to the rude truth that our evergreen strip of earth is no longer a cozy honeymoon point.

In reality, Kerala is emerging with a tag none of us would like to hear...a feather-bed for perpetrators and extremists. Look at this report from the Institute for Defense Studies , New Delhi, as early as in 2006.



The fact that the recent terror attacks in our country cut a vivid trail back to our state should've been a wake-up call for our think-tanks, especially in the aftermath of Mumbai 26/11. On the contrary, when other states have fastened their seat belts, Kerala still seems to be on a jaywalk with our lethargic leaders turning a deliberate blind eye towards the looming danger on the horizon.




The Calicut bus-stand blasts failed to wake us up, the Intelligence reports about utilization of Kerala soil for illicit activities were brushed aside, training camps in Vagamon went un-noticed and now we got it in a major district headquarters, and is it wrong to assume that these were dry runs for a much bigger or softer target? Still our Home Minister has gone on record claiming that the Collectorate blast was a one-off incident and nothing to be concerned about. Will our authorities and leaders only wake up if the wrong people decide to test the walls, furniture and the living souls inside the Secretariat, God forbid? Or perhaps we haven't got enough blood on our hands to necessitate desperate measures?



As a Keralaite, its appalling to see the ever-growing tally of Malayalees figuring in the wrong lists for the wrong deeds.

I always assumed religious fanaticism and intolerance to be ingredients of an idle, demented and illiterate mind. How wrong I was! Its shocking, to say the least, that the major culprits we've got here are all professionally educated folks bred out of leading institutions. So education doesn't make a man wise, does it? And such chauvinism indwelling in the minds of the exuberant Kerala youth appears baffling to many.The authorities may better check out the breeding grounds for the next battalion of fanatics right inside our professional colleges. It is unfair and in-just to point the finger at any particular community, but it will be for our own demise if we let loose the activities that go on in the name of God down there. It is no secret that there is widespread preaching classes, akin to those in Madrassas, going on in the Hostels of our Medical and Engineering colleges. The malleable young brains are moulded too easily and injected with all the malignant ideas, and I've been a spectator to this while in college. Some of the 'teachers' are upto no good, belonging to the same class as Abdul Halim, and the seeds of hatred, violence and fanaticism are easily sown.


A major aganda of these religious preaching is to view the religion above self, family and motherland. Inadvertently, provided the sensitive and abrasive history of our country, it is not too difficult to inject the poison of anti-nationalism into these students. End result: we get outputs like Shibily (software engineer and mastermind behind Vagamon camp) and C.A.M.Basheer(Aeronautical Engineer and most-wanted terrorist) from our colleges. This bud has to to plucked out and crushed at the earliest, for our own good.

The policies of our govt doesn't help either, with now Madrassas bestowed the same value as a CBSE certificate we can expect a turbulent ride, in future. Madrassas, whatever be the noble intentions behind them, have often turned out to be breeding grounds for fundamentalism, as evident from across our national border. Hush, these vote-bank politics...


Remember, the same vote-bank calculations almost caused a few lives in Calicut and Cochin because this guy Halim, a former ISS/PDP activist and Abdul Nasser Madhani's bodygurad, evaded arrests just because of the political environment which prevailed in Kerala before the previous Lok sabha elections.

Mr. Karat and Mr. Pinarayi may check and recheck their coalition arithmetic before their affiliate decide to check out a few more soft points. The only attribute I found right in the Left was their true-secular policies and now it has just vapourised into thin air. PDP had its rebirth from the murky shadows of the ISS(Islamic Sevak Sangh) and its alarming to see our mainstream political parties joining hands with such fringe groups.

Let's face it, our State Police is not trained to deal with this rising threats of extremism and still operates under shoe-string budgets. We need to discriminate a rookie goonda or petty thief from a trained extremist, and at the moment our laws are too soft on the latter. If Halim walks out through the loopholes in our system again, like he did last time, then its only a matter of time before he makes us regret.

So ding-dong! Its wake-up time... Act now before its too late. Do we need to write all scripts in blood? After all it is much much more thicker than water.

Related Post: Living on borrowed time

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I'm moving...

Hi all,

I'm in the process of moving to my own domain name at www.scorpiogenius.com.

Some of the features in the present address www.whoseowncountry.blogspot.com may not be fully functional in the new domain. And I'm no tech-guru, so expect some glitches for the first few days as I'm looking at customising the site more to suit my taste. ;) So I'm going to experiment with this poor site for the next few days.

So dont be aghast if you find this site in total mess this week.. The culprit is right here.

I've added the Blogroll manually and please notify me if you find your blog absent from the list. I dont want to miss any of your posts, no...

And I dont want you to leave without any fun. Here read on... Someone stole a Police Jeep a stone throw away from my house in Trivandrum! Now thats what I call a kiduva..

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Gods own craters

This is just a filler-post compiled from a forwarded e-mail I received today.

Courtesy: Metro Vaartha

One more reason why you should have a comprehensive insurance cover while taking-on the Kerala roads during monsoon. You never know where you'll end up, like this hapless biker found out.












Yes its funny, untill its you or me with our family down there...Hope the guy is ok, though.

These roads must be specially designed for amphibians, as found out by the warm-blooded dude who came to the rescue of the lad in the pool and ended up in 'hot water' himself. Able to swim must be a mandatory requisite for all the emergency-crew in Kerala, you concur? ;)

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The Pen, the ink & the colours PART III

Disclaimer: This post is not aimed at spreading detestation, nor is this an attempt to differentiate the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm aiming to evaluate in a small detail how one of our leading vernacular dailies has been doing their business around with regard to the ethical principles in journalism. The views expressed here are personal and the links to the blogs provided in this article is for the purpose of a broader description, but I do not claim responsibility for all the statements in those posts. Read the full disclaimer before proceeding to read this article.

Concluding, from Part I and Part II

The claim is pretty vociferous and veracious... Malayala Manorama is the most circulated newspaper in Kerala. It is ahead of its nearest opponent by over 5lakh copies (ABC 2008)




And the lead still keep climbing...

Manorama has a few points to their credit. It appears the most glitzy of all mallu dailies; it has an attractive makeup, is colourful and catchy, leads by miles in the quality of print and paper and sits pretty on a strong advertising cushion. Good for ém, sure!

Manorama is second to none in reporting business and development news, is forward-thinking when it comes to showcasing the state as an investment destination and is one of the well known Superbrands of Kerala. I like their Sports page, hosts a superlative 'Opportunities' supplement and dishes out a trendy 'Metro' pull-out in the bigger city editions. Not surprising at all, Manorama hosts the best online edition among all contemporary regional papers.

But wait a minute. Are we talking about a newspaper or a waxpaper here? Manorama is surely an 'intellectual product' and certainly not a 'material' one. And you take out the mundane features like colour and texture and look at MM in the right way, then you'd see why its no better than toilet-paper.

Have a look below to see how Manorama gets people to 'see' things. Below is the Manorama report of Pinarayi Vijayan's 'crowning' after the Navakerala march. The MM photographer's focus was on V.S. Achutanandan and his apparent disinterest with the proceedings. MM makes sure the point gets across by the tagline below the picture.



And see how Kerala Kaumudi has reported the same news. And hey, Achumama is all glued up into the action!

Images: Courtesy Sajith Vijayan, Rajith Mohan

I'm the last person to support our current CM Achuthanandan or his commie Govt, nor am I closing my eyes to the open war between the two senior comrades, but what kind of reporting is this? May be you could argue that it was the Kaumudi reporter who waited for the right time for his click, but given MMs track record this is another instance where it has created an avenue for sticking the hot rod onto the reds' ass.

Not the least surprising, given the history that the late godfather of this paper had vowed that he would commit suicide if a Communist Govt ever got elected in Kerala. Period.

The tradition is still kept alive by the new generation MM journos by news like "CPM activist's wife commits suicide" , "CPM supporter kicked his wife" (hyperbole) and so on...It isn't an exaggeration to say that Manorama and Deshabhimani will balance each other when it comes to biased reporting, you know what I'm talking about. Wonder if Congress will ever need another "Veekshanam" ?

The newspaper's wicked and shady deeds need just one undignified example: the ISRO Espionage Scandal that rocked the nation in the 90s. Who else could be behind such outrageous dreamwork rivaling the Hollywood fiction writers other than Manorama? The fairy tale cooked up by Manorama was taken over by other media and turned into a full-blown scandal. Spare a thought for the innocent souls, including the foreigners and the scientists, caught in the trap.

Recently, when the whole country was unanimous in condemning President George Bush and the United States for triggering another unnecessary and monstrous war in Iraq, Manorama shocked the entire state by exhibiting in the front page an emotional photograph of an American wife bidding a tearful farewell to her Marine hubby departing to destroy Iraq in a US warship!!! Disgraceful is a mild word to use here...What was MM thinking???

The accusations against the Manorama House doesn't end there. In the modern democratic era the word "lobbying" is as essential as it may sound obscene. Newspapers have their own regional preferences but Manorama is being constantly accused of playing the dirty regionalism card by torpedoing the developmental projects outside their turf.

When Infosys Technologies announced their interest on Kerala, MM jumped in with a clinical assessment of the locations Infosys considered and shortlisted their choice: Cochin. They even went on record with this one bit, totally exclusive which none of the other newspapers heard. When Minister Rajagopal proposed the Habitat Centre in Kowdiar, Manorama cited someone in the Finance Dept proposing to move the project to Cochin to help the project break-even early! Ditto with the Central University where what GoI wanted was 500 acres within 50km of an Int'l Airport. Manorama couldn't see beyond Malayattoor even when the Trichur location met the same criteria. When KCA announced the Cricket Stadium, MM came up with a report that 'officials' in BCCI had quoted that ''If not in Ernakulam, then nowhere in Kerala" WOW! The curious thing is that none of the other newspapers reported these 'demands', even though they were all present at the respective locales and conferences. So its logical to conclude that MM see and hear things which noone else does...

And lately,the finger has been pointed at the Manorama House for attempting to scuttle the Vizhinjam Port project for the favour of the business interests of their own backyard. Speak about the larger interests of the state!

This is what pisses me off to the maximum. Every newspaper has the right to be the patrons for their own niche, but could it only be done by annihilating the other locales? All these years I was reluctant to believe this one accusation against Manorama, but the Vizhinjam episode gave me first hand proof to see the truth. The personal account from one of my friends about the indifferent attitude of Manorama to report an awareness-campaign in favour of the port project put the newspaper in the right light, for me.

And Manorama, as shrewd as they are, pitches in with some seminars on Capital Development, Malabar Development and Coconut Development once a while, just for the namesake of it! Lets keep everybody happy, eh MM? and pull the plug from behind...

Even weird is some of the social issues and moral policing taken up by Manorama and its team. True, there have been some instances where the media house has to be given credit for reports like "How Kerala behaves towards the fairer sex".But there is ample proof that Manorama pays some of the inept journos in Kerala who haven't the faintest idea what they're writing about. First a stir-up in Vanitha about how mobile phones are perpetrating social morality, then comes a teething attack on Bluetooth technology which created a wave of laughter among the techies. And now Manorama has jumped upon the major medium of communication, the email!!

What does Manorama want us to do? Lock our telephones, throw away the mobiles, discard laptops and computers and go back to the Damayanthi- Hamsam era?

To crown it all, have a peep as to how careful and technically impeccable MM dudes are with their reporting. C'mon, have a look and enjoy! The report is of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman M.S.Ahluwalia speaking about the Budget, and look whose pic is there instead of the man...Nithari serial murderer Mohinder Singh Panther! Oops!

How very Manorama-istic... :()

So Manorama, behind all those glitz and colour, is not a dependable organization. It faults at its basic function: taking the truth to the public. You can argue that truth depends on which angle you look at it from, but view it upside down or in 3D, Manorama still stinks. It is a glorified example of the most-sold not necessarily being the best.

There is little hope that Manorama will change for their own good. They have a force behind them which keeps them going, not talking about the poor subscribers here. And at times I feel that as Keralaites we deserve something better than this load of crap.

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