The Mumbai Dabbawallah and the Bollywood Badshah
This is from a column I used to write for a now-defunct magazine published by the Mid-day group. The magazine was an advertising and marketing rag that was neither before its time, nor in tune with the times – it was simply out of time! It’s long gone. And most of the columns I wrote [...]
The Long Road: Musings on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and the enigma of Yudhishtira’s father
What have I been listening to lately? The late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan mostly. Not really his pop hits, although those are very good too. Even his more ‘commercial’ hits like Kinna Sonna and Afreen Afreen have the same intoxicating quality as his more serious classical work. But the tracks that have really got [...]
Thank you for the music: A few words of deeply felt appreciation from Ashok to his many supporters
These past couple of weeks have been intense. At times, almost too intense. I can’t really complain, though, because despite the somewhat lurid picture some sections of the media portrayed of me and my film, those who have their heads screwed on straight know that all this BS, otherwise known as media hype, will pass [...]
Dying For A Booker: Thoughts on Robertson Davies, Canadian authors, and the Booker Prize
This is one of my old Book Chaat columns which first appeared on Rediff.com. I have the pleasure of pointing out that the book I praise in the last sentence of para 2, (Margaret Atwood’s) ‘new novel is also excellent’, actually went on to win the Booker that very year. So I suppose I do [...]
Out of media, out of mind: Back to work
Well, it’s over, for now. I’m not giving appointments for interviews anymore. You won’t be seeing my picture or my quotes in the media as often as you have these past couple of weeks. Several interviews done over the past several days will continue to appear over the next few days, even weeks, due to [...]
A Voice For Peace: Anand Patwardhan’s ‘War And Peace’ in Mumbai theatres from today
“My documentaries are more difficult to screen than to make,” Anand Patwardhan admitted in a recent interview. He was referring to the Government ban on his documentary War And Peace, which was finally lifted by the Court, allowing the film to be screened publicly. War and Peace opens today at 9.15 p.m. at Fun Republic [...]
My mother and I: An intensely personal note by Ashok Banker on his film project Beautiful Ugly (Expanded and Revised by Ashok on 22 June)
(This is a much longer and detailed version of the blogpost that appeared here earlier, expanded and revised at the request of so many of you. Thanks for your support – please keep the comments and emails coming. – Ashok.) My mother married when she was 17. A year later, she was left with a [...]
“Film portrays mother’s rape in Indian high society”: Reuters news agency breaks Banker’s story internationally
This is the Reuters story that broke earlier this morning (Tuesday 21 June). Reuters, as you probably know, is an international news agency that supplies news reports to publications worldwide. I found three separate, more or less similar edits of the same piece. The one that appears below is the UK edit. There’s an US [...]
Picture This: Ashok in Conversation
Picture This: Ashok in Conversation Posted by: ashokbanker on Buzznet This one was also taken by Adeel Halim at the same Reuters interview.
Picture This: Ashok in Conversation
Picture This: Ashok in Conversation Posted by: ashokbanker on Buzznet This one was taken by Adeel Halim of Reuters (by whose kind permission this picture appears here) while his colleague Nita Bhalia interviewed me at the Atrium Lounge, Taj Land’s End, Bandra, Mumbai, on Saturday 18 June 2005.
Readerswrite: More reader reviews on Ashok’s Ramayana series
“Your version of the Ramayan” My name is Punit Gandhi. I am 20 yrs old and a voracious reader. i must say that i had never heard of you uptil jus over a month ago. I happened to be at Crossword Kemps Corner, searchin for a few Asimov novels and came across the first 3 [...]
Readerswrite: Featured Reader Review of Armies of Hanuman by Atharva Dandekar, Mumbai
‘Armies of Hanuman’ would be an important book. It would deal with some of the major events in the Ramayana, such as the abduction of Sita, the transition of Ratnakar into Valmiki, and of course, the introduction of a principal character- Hanuman. I was curious as to how you would represent these. And I am [...]
They came from South Africa, and England, and Toronto, and Goregaon, and Pedder Road: Post-Mumbai Launch notes
So it’s over. The Crossword Kemp’s Corner launch of Armies of Hanuman was yesterday and I’m typing these words on the morning of Friday, 17 June 2005. It’s always difficult to sum up such events. Often, it’s like writing itself. You sometimes write (or at least, I do) in the most undesirable circumstances, feeling rushed [...]
Calling Mumbai: Chalo, Kemp’s Corner, Armies of Hanuman launch on June 16! (Updated June 16 morning)
Okay, so here we are, L-Day. I’l look forward to seeing you at Crossword Kemp’s Corner this evening. If you’re a reader of my Ramayana novels and have been in touch with me before, remember, I’ll be there early, around 6 p.m., so please do come early and meet me personally. Once the maddening crowd [...]
Undesirable Desires: Book review of Sudhir Kakar’s novel Ecstasy
This review first appeared on Rediff.com some years ago, before my Ramayana series began publication. You might notice the references to K.M. Munshi and Iravati Karve, as well as the Ramayana and Mahabharata – as you can see, I was researching the puranas then, and preparing to write my retelling. Some people believe a good [...]
Love and Longing in Pakistan: Book review of Kamila Shamsie’s Broken Verses
(This review first appeared in Hindustan Times.) If a certain Mumbai tabloid is to be believed, L.K. Advani’s recent spate of political digression was inspired by a biography of Jinnah which he bought at his favourite Khan Market bookstore prior to his Pakistan trip. Advaniji might have been in less trouble today had he picked [...]
Readerswrite: The Things Some Ramayana Readers Say (And Don’t Say)
It’s now official: I’m unable to keep up with my reader mail. I used to get an email or two every week. Then it increased to about one a day. Now, it’s anywhere from 5 to 10 a day. And somedays, usually around the time an edition is released somewhere around the world, it goes [...]
Hot Docs: Anand Patwardhan’s War & Peace and other great documentaries you must see
The most popular entertainment genre in the world today is realism. By that, I include the putrid ‘reality shows’ that claim to portray ‘real events, real people’ but are little more than cleverly scripted, even more cleverly produced sensationalist dramas in which the main talent involved is ‘looking real’ while actually hewing closely to a [...]
Firangi reporter, desi tales: Book Review of Daniel Lak’s Mantras of Change
This one appeared in Hindustan Times, Delhi, about a week ago. Mantras of Change: Reporting India in a Time of Flux by Daniel Lak Penguin Viking India; Rs 375 Hardcover; 252 pages For me, the benchmark of non-fiction short writing will always be P. Sainath’s Everybody Loves A Good Drought, a collection of quietly brilliant [...]
That Long Silence: How the Indian Media Ignores Non-Celebrity Writers
This is yet another of my Rediff.com Book Chaat columns. It was originally about women writers being ignored in India by the media, but on rereading it, I realized that in fact, it’s really about non-celebrity writers as against celebrity writers. Either way, the trend continues, stronger than ever. And it’s worse in some ways: [...]
The real sex lives of real Indians
This one was part of my Book Chaat column for Rediff.com too. One of the two books it reviews is Love in a Dead Language by Lee Siegel, the subject of the interview I reprinted here a few days ago. As always, link, turn pink, or just blink, but don’t copy. Drink coffee instead. BOOK [...]
Epic News! Penguin India to publish Ashok K. Banker’s Mahabharata series in 9 volumes
It’s official now. The contracts are signed, sealed and delivered, the signing advance has been banked, the manuscript delivery schedule set. Penguin India, publishers of the Indian edition of my Ramayana series, will publish the Indian edition of my forthcoming Mahabharata series as well. The Mahabharata will be published in 9 volumes, starting sometime in [...]
