NL Hafta

In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan is in conversation with Mayank Shekhar, entertainment head at Mid Day. The duo reviews The Accidental Prime Minister, Uri: The Surgical Strike and Gillette's latest commercial. They also discuss the portrayal of politics in Indian films, the evolution of film production in India and more. Mayank and Abhinandan also look back at the quality of last year’s films. “I genuinely believe that 2018 was the best year that I have had as a film reviewer watching films,” Mayank said.Speaking about a new genre of movies, Mayank said, “They are propaganda films...there is a new genre called pre-election films.” On The Accidental Prime Minister, he said, “What really suffers the most is the production design...the prime minister’s office looks like a shaadi hall in the movie.” Abhinandan added, “I have heard that it does not look like a story, there are just scenes that are unconnected, it does not flow like a story...it’s just a bunch of scenes put together.”Explaining the lack of a storyline, Mayak said, “It is hard enough to adapt from non-fiction to begin with...it would take competence of another kind to turn [Sanjay Baru’s book] into a coherent screenplay. Abhinandan also points out the difference between Uri and The Accidental Prime Minister. He said, "I have heard this one is pretty well-made.” Mayank agrees. He said, “I was stunned by it because my expectations were hugely low, as they should be because again you are walking in thinking ‘oh this is that pre-election propaganda film'."About the Gillette commercial, Abhinandan said, “It is appealing to the right values...I do not know what is wrong with that...overall I think it is a fantastic kind of communication from a brand that is so associated with machismo to come out with.” Discussing the backlash against the ad, Mayank talked about the people who criticised the ad. “I think a lot of opinion formation and dissemination has a lot to do with the fact that they call attention to themselves,” he said.Tune in for more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s podcast, our regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Newslaundry subscriber Anushka Shah who is a researcher with MIT Media Lab. The podcast kicks off with a discussion on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The team talks about how even today, media coverage of communal riots has been limited to political whataboutery where journalists only cover how a political party accuses the other. Anushka points out that in the last two years, the 1984 riots has been covered twice as much as 2002 Gujarat riots.They talk about the Delhi High Court’s judgement convicting Congress politician Sajjan Kumar for his role in the riots. Madhu says journalists should focus on writing descriptive accounts of court proceedings instead of limiting reports to the final court judgement.Moving on, Abhinandan mentions how political parties offer farm loan waivers to please their voters. Manisha says loan waivers are only a short-term solution and we need to look at the root causes of farmer distress. Anushka says 25 per cent of all news stories on agriculture are about loan waivers while stories on unemployment and agricultural unproductivity are less than 0.2 per cent.The panellists then discuss the court ruling on the Rafael deal. In the judgement, the court said it has no objection to any part of the deal. Madhu says one needs to recognise that courts are not investigating agencies. Raman replies, “Reliance has never been into aviation (sector) and they get such a huge project of around ₹30,000 crores. I personally feel this was a good enough reason for a probe.”The podcast also touches upon Rajiv Gandhi’s role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Abhinandan says that as a representative of the state apparatus, Rajiv Gandhi deserved to be tried for culpable homicide. Madhu says that one should note that Rajiv Gandhi was living an apolitical life, and was not ready to be in a position of power. She adds, “I don’t think Rajiv Gandhi ordered the killings of Sardars, it was the people who wanted to please the Gandhi family.”Towards the end, Abhinandan refers to Republic TV's Republic Summit that was held on December 18 and 19. He says that with guests like PM Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and businessman Mukesh Ambani, the summit seemed more like Annual General Meeting for the BJP.Listen up! There’s more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.Host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the usual gang of Raman Kripal, Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guest Amit Varma, writer and columnist, and host of the podcast The Seen and the Unseen. The conversation ranges from the unending CBI saga to the JNU sedition chargesheet to Modi winning the first ever Philip Kotler Award, and more.The rumours of Arun Jaitley’s cancer treatment sparked a discussion on the ethics of reporting a public figure’s illnesses. Amit says, “Private lives are private lives, we should not get too much into them … it is when the taxpayers’ money is involved that I am concerned and want to hold those speakers accountable.” Anand then talks about PM Narendra Modi winning the Philip Kotler Awards, saying no one really knows if it’s an authentic award or not.Manisha recalls the media coverage of the JNU sedition case in the context of the chargesheet being filed this week. The panel also discusses the allegations of sexual assault against director Rajkumar Hirani and the #MeToo movement in general.Listen to the full episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/01/18/hafta-207-modis-philip-kotler-award-the-jnu-sedition-case-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of Reporters Without Orders Cherry Agarwal is in conversation with Arvind Gunasekar, a CBI beat reporter, Vakasha Sachdev, The Quint's associate editor-legal, Rohin Verma, former Newslaundry journalist, and Ayush Tiwari. The panel discusses the controversy surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation, former Supreme Court Justice HS Bedi’s report on alleged fake encounters in Gujarat between 2002 and 2006, brutal gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Gaya, JNU sedition case and more.The discussion kicks off with the panel sharing their thoughts on the media's recent coverage of pertinent news pieces. Speaking of Alok Verma's resignation and the larger CBI controversy, Arvind talks about the source of the conflict. The panel also talks about the role of the Central Vigilance Commission, Supreme Court-appointed supervisor retired Supreme Court judge Justice AK Patnaik, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection panel.Coming to the government's role, Vakasha speaks about how the government used on-paper transfer protocols to strip former CBI chief Alok Verma of his powers. He says, “The government is very clever here.” The panel also discusses how different decision-makers, in this case, seem to have a conflict of interest. Weighing in, Rohin adds, “Judiciary bohot zyada dari hui hai (the judiciary is very afraid)", when it comes to matters concerning the prime minister’s office.The panel also talks about the JNU sedition row, with Vakasha pointing out the dangers of the sedition law. For all this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

की जरूरत थी जो कि महज 48 घंटे में संसद के दोनों सदनों में पास हो गया. किसी भी बिल को पास करने की एक लंबी चौड़ी प्रक्रिया होती है, घंटों बहस चलती है उस पर विचार विमर्श किया जाता है, ज्यादा से ज्यादा लोगों के विचार उसमें शामिल होते हैं. लेकिन यहां एक हड़बड़ी नजर आती है. संविधान संशोधन में इतनी जल्दबाजी ठीक है?”इसका जवाब देते हुए आनंद ने कहा, “आरक्षण पर अंबेडकर ने कहा था कि आरक्षण तात्कालिक है और इसका प्रतिशत कम ही होना चाहिए. कुछ राज्यों में इसे बढ़ाया गया जैसे तमिलनाडु में जनसंख्या के आधार पर आरक्षण 50% से बढ़ाकर 67% कर दिया गया, लेकिन केंद्र सरकार द्वारा 10% आरक्षण बढ़ाना पैंडोरा बॉक्स खुलने जैसा है. अब केंद्र सरकार ने एक शुरुआत कर दी है. इससे बाकी समुदायों में भी आरक्षण पाने की होड़ लग सकती है. इसके अलावा ऐसा नहीं है कि आरक्षण मिलने से नौकरी मिल जाएगी. 10% आरक्षण के लिए जो क्राइटेरिया तय किया गया है उसके हिसाब से भारत की 95% आबादी आरक्षण के लिए योग्य है. अब उसमें तो प्रतिस्पर्धा बनी ही रहेगी यह सवर्णों के लिए खुद बहुत कंफ्यूज करने वाली स्थिति है.”चर्चा को आगे बढ़ाते हुए अतुल ने सिद्धांत से सवाल किया, “आरक्षण का लक्ष्य था सामाजिक, शैक्षिक समानता लाना. जो चीजें जातियों से तय होती हैं  उसको खत्म करने के लिए आरक्षण लाया गया था. हम पाते हैं कि लंबे समय से आर्थिक आधार पर आरक्षण की मांग भी हो रही थी. लेकिन यह 10% कोटा सामाजिक समानता के लक्ष्य को कहीं ना कहीं असफल करने वाली बात नहीं लगती?”इसका जवाब देते हुए सिद्धांत ने कहा, “आर्टिकल 15 (4) 16 (4) जिसकी आप बात कर रहे हैं उसमें सोशली और एजुकेशनली बैकवर्ड लोगों के बारे में जिक्र होता है, लेकिन इकोनॉमिकली बैकवर्ड के बारे में हम सिर्फ सुनते आ रहे थे. नरेंद्र मोदी उसे लेकर आ गए कि 10% आरक्षण आर्थिक आधार और पिछड़े लोगों को दिया जाएगा.”वो आगे कहते हैं, “66,000 प्रति महीना कमाने वाले आदमी को आप गरीब मानते हैं. तो देखना होगा कि इकोनोमिकली बैकवर्ड का क्लॉज़ जोड़ने के बाद भी आप हासिल क्या कर रहे हैं. कोई नई तस्वीर बन भी रही है या नहीं. क्योंकि हो सकता है सुप्रीम कोर्ट इसे रद्द कर दे, तब यह देखना दिलचस्प होगा कि बीजेपी की इस पॉलिटिक्स का क्या होगा.आरक्षण के मौजूदा स्वरूप को लेकर जो यथास्थिति है उसके बारे में बताते हुए सिद्धांत ने कहा, “2 साल पहले मैंने बीएचयू पर एक स्टोरी की थी.  इसमें यह सामने आया, कि बीएचयू में असिस्टेंट प्रोफेसर की कुल 900 पोस्ट है जिसमें 850 केवल जनरल केटेगरी के प्रोफेसर हैं, एसटी कैटेगरी का एक भी प्रोफेसर नहीं है, एससी के 15 और ओबीसी के कुल 35 असिस्टेंट प्रोफेसर वहां पर कार्यरत है. यह स्थिति जब बनी हुई है नौकरियों में तो फिर सवर्ण के लिए आरक्षण की जरूरत ही क्या है.”इस मसले पर जयया निगम ने भी अपनी राय कुछ इस तरह से रखी, “आरक्षण का यह बिल आर्थिक तौर पर पिछड़े लोगों के लिए लाया गया है और अभी तक इसमें जितनी बातें सामने आई हैं उससे यह कहा जा सकता है इसका फायदा सभी धर्मों के लोगों को मिलेगा लेकिन इस पर अभी तक तार्किक रूप से ऐसा कुछ नहीं आया है, जिसमें यह साफ हो कि सरकार आर्थिक तौर पर पिछड़े हुए लोगों को कैसे पहचानेगी. इसमें एक बात और सामने आ रही है यूथ फॉर इक्वलिटी की, जो सामान्य श्रेणी के लोगों का एक फोरम है. यूथ फॉर इक्वलिटी इसके खिलाफ सुप्रीम कोर्ट में गया है. मतलब सवर्णों के अंदर भी दो मत हैं. अब आप गरीब सवर्ण  कैसे तय करेंगे यह आने वाले समय में समाज के लिए एक बड़ी बहस हो सकती है.”पैनल की विस्तृत राय जानने और अन्य मुद्दों के लिए सुने पूरी चर्चा। Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Hafta regulars Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guests Arunabh Saikia, staff writer at Scroll, and economics journalist Vivek Kaul. The discussion revolves around the Citizenship Bill, the Reservation Bill, Alok Verma's reinstation and more.Arunabh talks about the Citizenship Bill and its impact on Assamese politics. “Is it even possible that no Indian is left out?” Abhinandan asks. Moving on to the Reservation Bill, Vivek says, “Reservation is useful when the government is creating jobs.”Manisha talks about the laws surrounding private radio news broadcasting and the pro-government bulletins (or lack thereof) on AIR. The panel debates whether the general public is interested in the #CBIvsCBI case, and HS Phoolka's resignation from the Aam Aadmi Party.Listen to the full episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/01/11/chhota-hafta-episode-206 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss BCCI’s notice to Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for their appearance on Koffee with Karan, the Golden Globes, the new Uber Eats advertisement, The Mule, the Gully Boy trailer, and Backstreet Boys being back—again!The discussion begins with a quick tussle between our hosts over Rajyasree’s accusation that Koffee with Karan is a Graham Norton Show rip-off. Rajyasree also points out the irony of BCCI being the moral police in light of the complaints against BCCI’s CEO. Both agree that the degree of reaction to Pandya’s alleged misogyny is unwarranted and that it's more important to call out Karan Johar’s “infantile humour”.Rajyasree then talks about Clint Eastwood’s The Mule, based on the true story of Leo Sharp. They praise the cast, especially Eastwood and his “grasp on cinema”, nominating him for a lifetime achievement award at age 90. Abhinandan was put off by the “easiness” of the film and the “goody-goodiness of the resolution” despite being greatly impressed by Eastwood.The conversation moves to the Golden Globes. Abhinandan and Rajyasree praise Christian Bale and Glenn Close’s speeches, the former for his humour and the latter for bringing to the fore the struggle of women to be accepted both as mothers and professionals. They then discuss the Uber Eats ad, “Alia’s Tinda Moment”. Rajyasree says the ad was cute but not very compelling. Abhinandan expresses his problem with Alia Bhatt—though he thinks “she is the best actor of her generation”, because of her “child’s face”, her sexuality on screen makes him feel “queasy”.Abhinandan isn't very excited about Gully Boy because he believes hip-hop is very culturally specific to the US so it cannot be entirely transposed to Bombay. He is more excited about the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Sonchiraiya, which is “a Paan Singh Tomar marries Bandit Queen and gives birth to a Gangs of Wasseypur kind of thing”.Finally, our hosts do not see the point of the Backstreet Boys' mushy comeback. They discuss how the main message of their latest video is that family is the most important thing in life. Featuring the Backstreet Boys with their wives and children, it promotes a heteronormative idea of family. “Yeh music video wagera unke bas ka raha nahin (this music video stuff is not in their league any more),” Abhinandan remarks.Tune in for more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Reporters Without Orders features Cherry Agarwal in conversation with Newslaundry’s Ayush Tiwari, The Print's Amrita Nayak Dutta and Economic & Political Weekly’s Tejas Harad. In this episode, among other things, the panel discusses the #QuotaBill, which allows for 10 per cent reservation for economically weak sections of people belonging to the general category in jobs and education.The podcast kicks off with Ayush talking about Greater Kashmir’s misinterpretation of Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s interview. Amrita speaks about media's coverage of the Indian Science Congress, where outlandish claims were made, while Cherry talks about media's coverage of the #CitizenshipAmendmentBill.Tejas doubts that the #QuotaBill “will stand judicial scrutiny”. He explains the long judicial and legislative process required to bring such a quota into effect. He says it is not being opposed by other political stakeholders because it would eliminate the upper-caste vote. The panel also discusses the Supreme Court's stand on an economic criterion being used for reservation and why this bill will involve amending Article 15 (4).The panel then goes on to discuss, in the context of caste, whether “people of a community being the torchbearers of the narrative” is necessary to rectify the discourse on caste. Ayush identified this to be a part of the larger debate on whether only those with the lived experiences of prejudice must be the dominant voices in the discourse.Amrita spoke about her story on the government’s attempts to monitor the media, as well as Information and Broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's response. Ayush argues that “it is not negative coverage, but real journalism at stake here”.For all this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta 202, the regular Hafta gang of Manisha Pande, Abhinandan Sekhri, and Anand Vardhan is joined by Saurabh Dwivedi, founder-editor of Lallantop.Saurabh, who travelled for a month in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the run-up to the elections, has some great insights to share. The team discusses the reasons for Congress’ victory in the Hindi heartland and whether it will have any bearing on the 2019 general election.Saurabh explains how PM Modi failed as a communicator in Chhattisgarh and why his speeches didn’t click with the masses.Anand tells us why political analysis as we see in news media is overrated. Abhinandan says the Assembly results were not Rahul Gandhi’s Pappu-pass-ho-gaya moment, but more a failure of the BJP government.The Hafta gang also discusses the resignation of RBI chief Urjit Patel and his successor Shaktikanta Das. Abhinandan says: "...the way everyone is dismissing him on his degree, I disagree with that...I will not diss him on that."Finally, the team discusses the Ambani wedding and what it means to be as rich as Mukesh Ambani.Listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the first episode of NL Hafta in 2019! Host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the regular gang of Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan, and special guest Dushyant Arora, lawyer and chief editor of News Central 24x7.The conversation starts with Abhinandan asking the panellists their views on ANI editor Smita Prakash’s interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The interview's earned a fair share of commentary and dissent, primarily against the journalist for being too soft on the PM. Anand takes the lead on the issue, saying he does not find it objectionable if a member of the media is respectful to a man in Modi's position. “That is the dignity the office carries, not the individual,” he says. But is it really respect or is it diffidence? Dushyant says, “The dignity of the office … is enhanced with greater questioning.”The panel then discusses the 28 counts of criminal defamation filed by Anil Ambani against various news organisations. Dushyant weighs in with a legal perspective, describing how the provisions of the NSA stack the odds against the accused, and how defamation has historically been used as a tool to "intimidate and silence" journalists.The conversation shifts to the 620-kilometre human wall formed by women in Kerela. Abhinandan notes that the effort was backed by the state to support the feminist struggle regarding entry of women of menstrual age into Sabarimala temple. Manisha candidly says the act, while commendable, didn’t really move her. She says this is not where “the heart of the feminist battle lies”. Dushyant adds that the act of conducting a shudhikaran after two women managed to enter the temple is unconstitutional.Moving on to the BJP-Congress faceoff about making a rendition of Vande Mataram, Abhinandan says, “For any society to progress, there has to be an active opposition of defiance for such things.” The panel unanimously spoke against this, as well as the mandate that requires movie theatres to play the national anthem and viewers to stand in a perfunctory display of patriotism.Another issue that sparked impassioned discussion from the panel was the leaked Rafale audio clip. They raised questions and expressed curiosity about the identity of the elusive “Mr X”—the journalist heard in conversation with Goa minister Vishwajit Rane. Abhinandan points out this oversight in the reportage of the issue on primetime news channels.Tune in to NL Hafta to find out more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.