WHY I BELIEVE IN RAM SETHU
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: RAM IN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
When the controversy over Rama Sethu became a full-fledged crisis I was very surprised. The RSS weekly Organiser has been carrying a campaign for almost a year and I thought it was just raving and ranting by some English-educated RSS workers. And except for Organiser there was no other mass movement or public outcry. I suspected that the weekly's misplaced enthusiasm would die a natural death. But when the controversy gained front page news and persisted in staying there I actually commended the organisation, its commitment and the people behind the affair. At first sight, for an English-educated citizen, RSS may look like a post-retirement camp of a few men who have some embers left in the belly. My first visit to a RSS shakha at Parla, a northern suburb in Mumbai was such an anti-climax. That I was sounding far more strident than the RSS workers when it came to issues like equality for Hindus. But over time, just as I have, most people will be amazed of what this organisation is capable of, its nationalistic viewpoint, its commitment to nation-building as well as its foot soldiers.

But as I have said earlier in a blog on Ayurveda, most people caught in the vortex of events have no clue of the evolution of Hinduism. Most researchers have not been able to estimate the origin of this way of life. All the same the vedas and puranas belong to an age which would be 5,000 or 10,000 or 15,000 years old. Also, there is no mention of the assorted variety of gods and goddesses in these ancient texts. Except for Indra and elements of nature as the supreme being, there is no Shiva, Ganapathy, Laxmi, Saraswati or any of today's popular gods.

The gods were introduced in the course of millennia after millennia of the way of life which we call today as 'Hindu'. To begin with Hindu, Hindutva, etc are all modern coinage. In ancient times, there was no one called a Hindu, there was only caste recognition. Only when Christian missionaries and Islamic marauders attacked India and started converting the people of this sub-continent did the identity of Hindu get established as a matter of differentiation.

Having said all this, what is the basis of Ram Sethu. If one goes by the millions of gods in Hinduism, it is easy to estimate that almost all the gods in the Hindu pantheon have been real life characters. In my village I came across a number new gods and their temples which are mostly frequented by the lower caste Hindus like me. The joint family I belong to has a temple in Kerala, just as every family has in Kerala, with a lady deity called 'devi' whose story and rituals are different from other gods that we always are used to.

I have come to a conclusion that almost all the gods and the stories revolving around them, including the Hindu epics, are true, only that the writers of various regions have embellished the kathas with super-natural events and powers to make the simple stories sound esoteric and thereby divine.

A few years ago a friend in my village told me about Ram Sethu. He did not know it was called so but he gave me a vivid account of how the rocks would float in water. "If you try to pick them up they would not move an inch but nevertheless they would float on the surface. We can step on them and not fall off". He was giving us an account of his pilgrimage to Rameswaram with his friends. Though we planned to make a trip to Rameswaram it never materialised. My argument then was that neither did Hanuman nor did his vanar sena ever jump across the Palk Strait. They were not even monkeys in the first place. They were probably tribals in the area with distinct south Indian features. Even today if you notice people in Kerala have features akin to monkey. More so like African blacks -- the jaws jut out with large teeth forming the rim of the mouth. Notice people like P.T. Usha. The north Indian army of Ram would have been surprised to see people with such distinctive monkey-like features that they called them vanar sena. Ram would have told them of his wife being abducted by Ravan which would have made Hanuman and his group to gang up against the Sri Lankan king. I also would venture to say that the Ram Sethu might be natural in its origin and no civil engineer amongst Ram's entourage had built it but it was used by Ram and his army to cross over to Lanka.

In all this remember that the event belonged to another era which did not have any kind of communication of transport systems other than the rudimentary bullock cart. When King Shivaji's son Sambhaji in Maharashtra lost the battle to the Mughals it took six months for the news to reach Kerala.

As I have stated in another blog when my grandmother wanted to go on a pilgrimage after my grandfather's death she expressly chose Banares and Ayodhya and not Tirupathy, because Hinduism does not see a north Indian versus south Indian divide, as the Tamil Nadu politicians are wont to. In this regard Jayalalitha is no better than Karunanidhi. I guess if the people of the state are sold on the north versus south divide there is little that politicians can do about it than to rake it up. The whole anti-Hindi racket is based on this premise.

Also, it is indisputable that millennia ago when there was no transport or communication infrastructure a story like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Shakuntala and every other folklore in Hindu scripture could be perfect in locations over thousands of kilometre area. Even today, with all the modern facilities, google map and satellite positioning systems our press reporters and TV channels get it all wrong. There is a village in Haryana (today's DNA report) which claims to be the birthplace of Ravan. And we were always told by DMK that Ravan was Dravidian and a south Indian to boot.

Come to think of it, is there any story in Hindu scriptures which is unbelieve-able, if you discount for the embellishment and chicanery. And I am not even a believer of the faith to blindly follow such claims.

Let me present to you my final argument before I rest my case. There was this college friend who used to mock at all the stories of major wars, valour, bravery and leadership in the past. He was referring to the wars that broke out in the western civilisation. The basis of his argument was that in the absence of technology that is available today even small battles cannot be fought with strategy and planning. Wars in those days, must be a huge commotion, according to him, with everyone killing the other without knowing who he is fighting against. Now, leave alone the leader or the commandor who would salvage a losing battle. "Can you even control a crowd of 1,000 people without a public speaking system. How could Alexander, the great, control 10,000 soldiers through the forest terrain and win battles against larger armies. It might just be his luck", he would argue. And I used to get convinced. Does that mean that all the literature written on true stories of valour and war strategy on great personalities before 19th century were all fake? Let's believe Karunanidhi when he says the sun rises in the west. And call it the benefit of the doubt.

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WHY I BELIEVE IN THE RAM SETHU
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: RAM IN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
Topic: BJP SHOULD THANK CONGRESS

During the BJP Maha Adhivesan held in Mumbai a few years ago I had a tete-a-tete with L.K. Advani. On the second day of the function it was surprising to see him with just of few hangers-on on the second floor foyer of Hotel Rang Sharada in Bandra. Journalists covering the function were on a wild goose chase to find out a sex scandal that never was. There were rumours of a senior RSS functionary caught in camera in compromising position. Even as I heard of the scandal I had two theories of my own. Someone has employed professionals for the occasion. Or someone in the Congress was trying to cock a snook at RSS high moral ground. Either way, it was a non-starter.

It was in such circumstances that I met Mr Advani. Mr Advani is probably the most influential politician for my generation, especially the Hindu youth. In the college I was a confused Communist, wanting to make this world a perfect place to live. I was a rebel with a hell lot of causes -- from socialism to salvaging the environment to moral rectitude. My moralising on all things sexual could put Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Jesus Christ to shame. Medha Patkar and Rustum Tirandas were whom I campaigned for as student activist, both for political as well as social causes.

Tirandas, for the uninitiated, was the most promising politician in Mumbai, with a naïve and reckless agenda to provide clean and orderly administration in Mumbai. We all had got together after a Parsi gentleman's letter to the editor in the Times of India on how we Indians should get on the streets to remove the corrupt Rajiv Gandhi government. This was during the height of the Bofors scandal. Those days I would shake with anger every morning reading Arun Shourie and Ram Jethmalani in the Indian Express. In time I, just as Tirandas and a vanar sena of about 1,000 people, found that people want to discuss the need for US-like perfect systems only at the dinner table. As I said in another blog, we Indians are utterly parochial, whichever class or caste we belong to. For any of us, economic/ development issues don't real matter. Nor does corruption. Nor does reservations.

But I was incredulously enamoured with people who would talk of the perfect world. I once handed over Rs 1,000 to a Narmada Bachao Andolan student activist in college. I used to do a bit of photography in college -- take pictures at Christian marriages and make albums for them. My charges were Rs 3,000 for the day-long event (which at times would not be more than three hours along with the benefit of partaking in the finest liqour that flowed!). My expenses came to about Rs 1,200 and I pocketed about Rs 1,800. It was from this earning that I gave away the money to the activist who was on his way to Gujarat to join Medha Patkar. But soon I started to read about the mega-project and I began to realise my mistake.

The project was supposed to be a natural disaster. The water was supposed to benefit only the rich farmers. Millions were estimated to be uprooted on the banks of the river in MP and Gujarat. Rehabilitation was supposed to be an eye wash. Today, I am older and wiser. On all these charges made by Medha Patkar none has proved right. Rather on the converse, magazines like India Today reported that NBA threatened villagers who took up the rehabilitation package, destroyed their new houses and infrastructure build for the evicted people. I didn't get the opportunity to meet Narendra Modi at the function to apologise for my 'funding' the NBA activities. Never mind the fact that I had supported the NBA a long time before Modi came into Gujarat's political scene.

But let me come back to my encounter with the former deputy prime minister of India. Mr Advani, I am not sure, realises that he has been the biggest influence on Hindu youth. I remember, in my school and college days being Hindu was considered infra dig. Going to temples was a matter of shame and unfashionable. Especially, English-educated children would sneak into a temple and won't let his friends know about it. Only Christians and Muslims took pride in their religion and their rituals. Even an apostate like me found the Hindu origin a little ashaming. We would love to run down Hinduism in public only to gain brownie secular points. I once even wrote an article in the college magazine titled,
'Ramjanmabhoomi Babri Masjid: Last Place God Made'.

Even today I am not a believer, but according to the true Hindu traditions, I am a Hindu just because I am born a Hindu. And I immensely take pride in it, solely for Mr Advani's movement. Mr Advani with his no-holds-barred campaign reinstated the lost self-respect in Hindu youth. I have heard the same experience also from M.V. Kamath. It's only after Sadhvi Rithambara and Uma Bharati coined the war-cry 'Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain' and logically argued over it that the English-educated Hindus youth felt their self-esteem being restored. But Mr Advani was the poster-boy of that Hindutva.

In the 90s, Mr Advani once came to Ghatkopar, a Guju suburb in Mumbai, very close to my college. That one visit changed my outlook -- I was converted from a rabid Leftist spewing fire and brimstone to a logical, reason-based nationalist. Today, I have my head on my shoulders all because of people like Mr Advani, Mr Shourie and Mr Kamath.

Mr Advani at that meeting spoke incredulously well; I consider him to be a better speaker than Atal Bihari Vajpayee or even Narendra Modi. He is under-stated in his speech, logical and cogent. It's hard to beat his argument, including his recent Jinnah comment. Successful politicians are those who can be as effective in arguments as Kapil Sibal or Arun Jaitley, but also poignant in their appeal to the cause. But what struck me hard during Mr Advani's speech at Ghatkopar on that day was that he did not utter a word against the Muslims. The Ghatkopar (east) area is predominantly Guju population. There is no Muslim population in and around Pant Nagar or Garodia Nagar. He could have chosen to go hammer and tongs against Muslims and Islam as that would have been quite impressive on the Guju crowd. Yet he didn't. I had gone there to listen to his fulmination as often reported in the press. He was mature and sophisticated and blue-blood nationalist.

Recently, Narendra Modi talking to Times Now channel, challenged Arnab Goswami to find any footage that has him (Modi) making a communal comment. Having experienced Advani firsthand, I can now believe Modi. Advani's public meeting at Ghatkopar happened at the height of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement.

I am giving you all this back ground because what I asked him on that afternoon at Hotel Rang Sharada might haunt him. The moment I introduced myself as a reporter from Organiser he told me to sit down beside him while the hangers-on kept whispering something into his ear. I have seen hangers-on do this even to George Bush. Wonder what secrets do they keep whispering to the politician's ears. After I introduced myself and exchanged pleasentries, which I am good at,Advani asked me what did I want to ask him. Quickly I told him that on the day Babri Masjid fell I had writen a type-written two-page letter to him supporting his cause, while asking him to get the middle-class involved in the process of nation-building alongside -- by way of promoting excellence, professionalism and sophisticated way of thinking. He dismissively told me he does not remember any such letter. It was then that I asked him the question which visibly stunned him.

"In the Hindu pantheon of gods many have been real-life characters -- be it Shiva, Ram, Krishna or the assorted bigger and smaller gods. It is by their outstanding deeds, character and philosophy that they managed to enter the pantheon. Do you think after thousands of years you, Narendra Modi, Vajpayee, Arun Shourie would all be part of the Hindu club of gods? After all, Mahatma Gandhi is almost there?" Even as I waited for his all-considered opinion three TV reporters had made their way up to the second floor looking for any senior politician for a sound-byte. Advani, sunk further into the thick sofa. But I instinctively knew my exclusive interview was over. Former Union minister for Broadcasting Ravishankar Prasad walked in after the securitymen and stood near another exit in the room at the far end almost as if waiting for Mr Advani to join him. The securitymen herded the TV reporters out of the room just as one black cat commando politely told me it will good if I too followed suit. I looked at Advani to rescue me. He smiled and said: "I will reply to that question on the phone. Call me later".

Thereby hung a tale.

(To be continued)

WHO IS INTERESTED IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: ONLY POLITICIANS WANT TO DEVELOP THIS COUNTRY
When Arun Shourie said the government should not be in the business of running planes and trains and manufacturing bread, we voted him out. And then we also bulldoze anyone who seeks his legitimate right to buy tickets at the counter or travel in fast train. Because we don't have the maturity or the sophistication to understand or resolve national issues. Come to think of it, we don't even have the capability of administering the country the way the first world does.

Look at the recent survey reports emanating from Gujarat. Narendra Modi, inspite of being the most progressive chief minister, getting the largest amount of domestic as well foreign investments for his state (Maharashtra lags far behind) is now panicky over his prospects in the next elections. Minorities are baying for his blood for all the wrong reasons but what is shocking is that Hindus in Gujarat are not impressed with the stupendous economic agenda and the development that has taken place in the last five years in Gujarat. So Modi will now be forced to go back to Hindutva.  Because as NDA and Chandrababu Naidu found out in the last general elections much to their chagrin that developmental issues can never be election issues even among the English-educated, white-collared, Amercanised Mumbai population. Even in Mumbai educated people who travel to the first world for every vacation are not sophisticated enough to put economic development as priority election issue. Can a Maharashtrian, to give an instance, give up the Marathi manus philosophy and vote on the basis of an economic agenda of a party or individual candidate? (Even as I write this standing at Dadar station waiting for a colleague a LIC official walks up to me seeking to enlist me as their agent. The second question he asks me is "are you a Maharashtrian?" Needless to say he is one)

Can someone from minority community vote for Modi on the basis of the economic development that has come about in Gujarat? Can a low caste Hindu vote for a high caste Hindu in BJP/ Congress party or a high caste Hindu vote for a non-BSP/ non-Dalit Panther party on the basis of the party's high economic growth track record. The depressing fact is that in India only the politicians are really interested in economic development and making India into a developed country. As only the politicians take hugely unpopular decisions towards economic development while we voters though make a big deal of economic growth, development and prosperity at the dining table, would ultimately vote for crass non-economic, parochial issues.

I have often noticed that every politician, irespective of the state he belongs, tries his best to take decisions in favour of reforms, disinvestment, privatisation, etc. He could be a Manmohan Singh, a Chidambaram, a Lalu Prasad Yadav, a Buddhadev Bhattacharya, an Arun Shourie, a Narendra Modi, a Chandrababu Naidu, a Jayalalitha, an A.K. Anthony. All of them are miserable failures at the hustings. The prime minister is still a Rajya Sabha member, not elected to the lower house because he still does not have a voter base even with the middle-class in this country, who are the biggest beneficiary of the reforms he initiated in 1991 and which he tries his best to plough on. I wonder if even the professional community of bankers, financial consultants, management top honchos, lawyers, journalists and stock market punters in Nariman Point would support him.

*************

MOBOCRACY AND INDIANS
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: HOW EDUCATED INDIANS BEHAVE THE SAME WAY AS BIHARIS
Topic: OWN CONVENIENCE PARAMOUNT

In the past few weeks the lynching of robbers, rapists and assorted criminals in Bihar has made front page news. And predictably there have been middle-class outrage, severe editorials and a general sense of oh-Bihar-is-last-place-god-made exasperation. The middle-class love to point the forefinger at someone when we, all the while, know that the other three fingers are pointed towards us. I am shocked by this hollier-than-thou attitude. Let me first tell you some instances of how we highly-educated, highly-stylised, Americanised to the extent that we make sure to use the expletives we hear in Hollywood movies and who vacation in the developed world every year behave. We, the middle-class, deride India and its systems in favour of the clean and orderly West, almost as a refrain.

Let me tell you about Mumbaikars. About what happened last month when I bought my railway pass at the local railway station in Mumbai. I stood in the long queue for my turn to buy the quarterly pass with a lot of time at my disposal as I had started from home early. In Mumbai local train stations the railways have made provision for a separate queue for commuters who want to buy first class tickets at the second class counters. That day as usually seen a commuter walked straight to the counter to get a first class pass as he is entitled to. It shouldn't surprise anyone that there was a murmur of protest as the first class commuter's show of 'imbecility'.

But I was shocked to see the person behind me call out to the first class passenger and give him choicest abuses for seeking his privilege of buying a pass without standing in the second class queue. In the melee I joined the ruckus. As I was also buying a first class pass, though I was standing in the second class queue because I had ample time at hand, I supported the first class commuter much to the dismay of the second class commuters. There was not one among the second class passengers who wanted to follow the regulation. Even though every one of them could read the board put up at the counter which specified a separate queue for first class ticket buyers none believed in following rules. That as I have stated in my earlier blogs, does not behove us Indians to follow rules and conventions. Breaking rules is fashionable, macho and smart. go-getting Indians don't believe in niceties of following traffic signal, keeping to the lane or using pedestrian crossings, or even foot-over bridge for that matter. Only feminine (chutiyas, as we in Mumbai call them) follow such conventions. Also, we Indians have started to think that our own convenience is paramount, and others be bulldozed over. Our insistence and as often seen our visible pride over our great culture of treating people around you with affection and respect has remained good Hindu literature. The westerners without any such baggage of culture and heritage behave exceedingly courteous and accommodating in public. Often you find that westerners are good to a fault. When you are in any western country you can be sure that people would show such 'smart' behaviour. This leads to an obvious situation. Your guards are always down when in public. And that remarkably leads to lesser stress and aggression.

Standing in the queue, fighting for the first class passengers' rights I realised how we in Mumbai are very close descendants of Biharis. This is the mobocracy in our Mumbai. Though I have not been witness to any first class passenger being beaten up by second class commuters, from my earlier experience of being manhandled by passengers in first class compartment for boarding a Karjat fast local (read my earlier blog) I am sure that must be the order of the day.

The fact is that if Biharis are so barbaric we in Mumbai are no different as we all belong to the same breed. It is only that we or our earlier generation have migrated to Mumbai for better jobs. A few years ago Shiv Sainiks beat up Bihari boys at Kalyan station when they came to take the railway exams for jobs, and even the press supported the Sena's cause. When Biharis lynched robbers the Times of India front page report brazenly sympathised with the mob, justifying their cause saying that the lack of law and order breakdown led to such vigilante action! Wow!

The same day the Times of India carried a Mumbai city story of a pedestrian man-handled by robbers inside the public latrine just outside Churchgate station. When the victim freed himself and ran out of the loo the robbers chased him through the streets shouting "thief, thief". The people around, as usually seen in Mumbai, also joined the chase. The victim knew a MLA staying in the quarters on Madame Cama Road and made towards that binglow and in nick of time reached there before the huge mob behind his heels could lynch him. Only when the MLA friend intervened along with his security men the mob dispersed. Just think of it, what if it had happened to any of us who don't have high connections. We would have been not only wronged but we would have to pay for it by our dear life. So much for a mob's instant justice, which the media is extolling as people's justice. Very leftist, very socialist.

If the law and order machinery has fallen apart do we citizens want a professional force to take over. We want all kinds of reservations in the name of secularism, reiligion, caste and most importantly, language as seen in Mumbai, the most happening city in the country.

Second, in case of long queues which irritate and inconvenience commuters badly, do we citizens ask for privatising railways? Just think of the change that private and foreign players have brought in telecom and banking sector. Do we wait in the queue for telephones or for banking transactions any more. I remember in the 80s and early 90s going to the bank was a full day's job. See how much we in the middle class hate privatisation of inefficient PSUs. (read this: http://
in.news.yahoo.com/070920/48/6l0x7.html )

CHUK DE INDIA
Mood:  smelly
Now Playing: Shah Rukh Khan's movie on nationalism restores losing pride
Topic: POSER ON PATRIOTISM
Hindi flicks, any movie buff would tell you, have changed a lot in the 21st Century. If they have been good, bad or tepid lately, though, is a matter of conjecture. But Chuk de India, the latest Shah Rukh Khan release, shows that Hindi film industry is not obsessed with inane issues or terrorist-are-victims-of-circumstances stories. Chuk de India will perhaps go down in the annals of Indian film industry's history as the most nationalist movie ever made.

Though the production values slacken at several places, the movie comes through as the most cogent vehicle to promote nationalism -- a bad word these days. The script has included so many messages for the countrymen and it has been done with finesse. Chuk de India also means Hindi film industry has come a long way from Manoj Kumar's melodrama and Sunil Dutt's understated performances. The fatigue over watching such movies perhaps gave Chuk de a slow start at the box office, but the hyperactive internet community of young Indians has given it the momentum to make it a formidable success. Running into fourth week the interest does not seem to flag.

The story of Chuk de India begins with Indian hockey captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) missing a goal and losing the game to Pakistan. Kabir Khan, like Amitabh in Kala Pathar, is called a traitor and faces brazen criticism of being a Pakistani mole in the team. He lives through the ignominy and even the media as well as his neighbours don't support him. Shah Rukh Khan appears highly motivated to play this role and he does wonderfully well. To retrieve his lost honour he approaches the Hockey Association with his proposal to make the women's hockey team worthy of the ensuing World Cup. When they don't entertain him he approaches the National Hockey Camp where he starts training 16 young girls who are state champions. Predictably, he goes on to coach them to victory in the World Cup.

The way director Shimit Amin handles the roles of the maverick players in the team has to be seen to be believed. Especially, Shah Rukh Khan's repeated instructions to his team members to play for the country giving up their regional biases sound so credible. With the regional political parties calling the shots at the Centre over the last decade, regionalism has become fashionable with language-based biases gaining legitimacy. In such circumstances there is the desperate need for movies like Chuk de India to make it abundantly clear that "nationalism comes first, your team-mates come next and if there are any feelings left, keep it for your state". Also, in these times when Islamic terrorism is gaining currency even in educated circles, movies like Chuk de India can prompt Shah Rukh Khan's millions of fans to realise that love for the country is above all other emotions.

The women hockey players in the movie have been chosen well, though they might look like a motley crowd of incongruous team-mates in comparison to the foreign teams playing against them. Kabir Khan's team gets the message of diversity of this country come through effectively. Vidya Malvade as Vidya Sharma, Sagarika Ghatge as Preeti Sabarwal, Chitrashi Rawat as Komal Chautala, Shilpa Shukla as Bindia Naik, Tanya Abrol as Balbir Kaur, Anaitha Nair as Aliya Bose, Shubhi Mehta as Gunjan Lakhani, Seema Azmi as Rani Dispotta, Nisha Nair as Soimoi Kerketa, Sandia Furtado as Nethra Reddy, Arya Menon as Gul Iqbal, Masochon V. Zimik as Molly Zimik, Kimi Laldawla as Mary Ralte, Kimberly Miranda as Rachna Prasad, Nichola Sequeira as Nichola Sequeira and Raynia Mascarenhas as Raynia Fernandes are appropriately chosen to represent various states.

What really hits the conscience of the viewers is the treatment meted out to the people from north-east and how people from the backward, yet richly naturally endowed states like Jharkhand, are considered as outcast or at best, as guests in this country. The girl players from north-eastern states bluntly tells the association official that they don't feel great to be be treated so. The girls from Jharkhand become the butt of jokes for others in the hip Delhi locality for their ignorance of English language. But their contribution to win the World Cup held in Australia makes for touching scenes. Almost every frame in the film draws heavily on the things that are wrong not just with Indian sports, but in our attitude, our language biases, our skewed political culture and our inability to look at the larger good of the country for the sake of personal good or religion. Shah Rukh Khan single-handedly brings the team members to fight for the country, and the relevance of it is not lost on the viewers.

Producer Yash Chopra has got Salim and Sulaiman to compose the music for Chuk de India. The music might sound too loud like a jamming session, but for a movie on sports that is probably par for the course. The most difficult part of making a movie on sports though, lies in editing. Any slip in editing can have voluminous consequences, and some of the shots in Chuk de India with appropriate sound effects remind the viewer of Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. Also, the shaky camera during the fisticuffs in the cloakroom where the players vent their dislike for each other is almost like a Hollywood movie. The direction and editing by Shimit Amin are world-class. The director earlier worked as an editor before venturing into direction. Shimit had earlier directed the police encounter story Ab Tak Chappan for producer Ram Gopal Verma. And cinematographer Vishal Sinha has given him company here too in Chuk de India, though Sudip Chatterjee is the boss in this department. The story has been woven by Jaideep Sahni. The film has been shot at several locations in Australia including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for the World Cup matches scenes. To tell our readers to watch a Shah Rukh Khan movie because it is good might be a little presumptuous, but if you have not seen it yet, you will never know what you have missed.