Hello

This is the name of a recently released movie which openly, is an adaptation of the book -"One Night at a Call Centre". The movie has also been penned by the author of the book himself- Chetan Bhagat.

The book had garnered mixed reviews- few liked it (I did-) and some didn't.
The movie released and it was review time again. I read the review in the Pune Mirror. With due respect to the paper, the review seemed inane. The writer hardly knows what he's talking about.
He talks about the lewd sets; which is permissible- but what is not is the fact that he questions the very characters in the movie. And then he even goes on to audaciously admit to not having read the book before- he tried reading it twice and could self-admittedly never get past the first 10 pages of the book on both counts. What a person to make a remark on the movie! Irresponsible journalism is creeping everwhere and it is So glaring and what is worse is that the editors don't even realise this.

Clearly, the characters are straight from the book and there's nothing so appalling or unbelievable about them. Such people do exist and who knows- from their perspective, they may find the so called normal people to be dreadful.

Innocent Victims

We as a people are constantly being attacked by external elements of society - attacks on our conscience, our faith- in the human race as well as the State machinery, the emotional turmoil that the family of the victims go through- not to mention the fatalities sustained on account of these attacks.

Though it is beyond a layman to understand the rationale of such possessed minds behind such activities, what is more disturbing is the ineptness with which the situation is handled.

Regionalism, advertisements not made in public taste, celebrity (dis)arrangements, and such other petty issues are more spoken about whereas terrorism is left looming in the background. There is a marked fear in the mind a common man to confront/ discuss the issue; the people behind such sordid acts- it is difficult to admit that the slayers are the sons of this very soil.

The Right to Life ordained by the Constitution of India has been morphosised into a "Will to let live" - at the mercy of these external elements. The nation has been taken hostage to.

Minors are also being made a party to spreading such terror. It would be anybody's guess to fathom what the future holds.


In a bid to address the issue, discussions/ debates are telecasted wherein accusations are hurled at the ruling party for such heinous acts (Congress blames BJP for the Godhra riots; BJP blames Congress for the Delhi carnage). The opposition calling the ruling party a "Terrosist" on National television- How are the viewers expected to react? What are they to do? Is it our misfortune that such people contest elections - or has it become our liability that we vote?

Considering however that this is the bend of democracy*, but isn't it also the duty of the Opposition to keep a vigil on the acts/ omissions of the ruling party? Does it always have to come into the picture after the damage is done?

The citizens deserve a proactive Government - a Government that will safeguard to the citizens their fundamental right to life.

*A state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.