Honesty is the best policy !! Maybe, in the neolithic era

For the current crop of journalists it has increasingly become a norm to give the google results(in terms of numer) for everything right
from rhinotillexomania to inuktitut.The motif of this article is truth and so i promptly googled and noted down the brobdignagian number of 88,300,000.Does
this number suggest that truth is THE most exalted virtue on earth ? Certainly not. Because sex churns out a mind numbing figure of 178,000,000.Amidst this
discussion, one thing certainly crops up.Redundancy.If you go beyond a few hundred pages, these millions of web pages vanish into thin air and those few hundred are going to be your references. In the same way, truth has become redundant these days. Reason: No one likes hearing the truth. Recall what julia roberts says to jude law in closer : "Lie is the currency of the world".Indeed.
Avoir dupois comes into much more existence in India with this statement.Everytime a natural disaster strikes or a terrorist attack is perpetrated in our country, even though rescue operations are still underway , promptly the number of victims is issued to the press.But the fact is that this number has to be multiplied by at least five. The reason for this extrapolation according to my social science teacher during my tenth grade is that the exact figure will disconcert the most sangfroid of humans.Because of the fact that truth hurts the 'aam aadmi' is kept in the dark. This is akin to what
once gandhi and tagore-perhaps,the two most cerebral persons India has ever produced-were discussing.While tagore is a firm opponent of the concept of idols, gandhi tried to reason that the masses cannot understand subtlety. If a man of such stature presumes that truth will not serve any kind of purpose, we have to ponder at that.

After engineering(that too computer science), when i thought of myself as a misfit in that siberian pigeonhole called cubicle in a "top IT MNC", my interest veered towards journalism. When i applied for a bank loan for Rs 2 lakhs, the bank asked me all kinds of weird questions and for a masters at the execrable LAMAR university(which costs at least seven lakhs)and that does not even raise an odd eyebrow at the same bank.So,i had to trade in the currency of the world.I explained to the bank that i am very interested in technical writing and hence i got my loan.

Enough of my rodomontade, lets shift our gaze to hindi movies and how much they personify rectitude.Last year, rang de basanti was easily the most popular film which made everyone go on a candle light vigil. Ironically, the film only espoused anarchy and violence.But this,according to the gen next, was thought provoking. Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.If RDB was food for thought, then KANK was certainly blancmange. KANK was made with an attempt to bring people out of closet.Behind the painted veil,
adultery is a commonplace but when it got reflected on the big screen it unruffled quite a few feathers.Since truth hurts,people refrained from thronging to the cinemas and in the process KANK has SANK and RDB became the american graffiti for Indian audience. Remember what ethan hawke had to say about his ex girlfriend to julie delpy in that supremely sublime film "before sunrise": "My ex-girlfriend left me because i said to her that she cant take criticism".

A couple of weeks back anu malik was on a bashing spree on emon in the indian idol show and shabana azmi says to anu malik that the truth will demoralise the kid.Do u still have any reasons to support that age old cliche- Honesty is the best policy ? Pakistan is no better.With a regulated media, truth hardly comes out and people are cajoled into a travesty of democracy.

Contrast this with what is happening in west. When pamela anderson's children wanted to watch borat, she gave them a quick brief on the sex tape which features in the movie. And back home, if a child tends to be obdurate of sleeping, the mother says that "beta soja varna gabbar aa jayega".

P.S: Please forgive this tedious write up of mine. I know its convoluted, self-indulgent and too pedantic. Once again, forgive me.

A few Recommendations :

Virgin suicides : Sofia coppola's story of four sisters who try to grapple with the suicide of their youngest sister is heart rending especially due to the rude facade of their mother.

Paris, i love you: The city of love spawns twenty two "love" stories which have their own quirks all thanks to the kooky directors.

Bad education: Almodovar debunks the myth that he makes films with primarily women protagonists. Even though the typical almodovar setup exists like a transvestite, illicit relationship, this movie towers above them due to gael garcia bernal's amazing screen presence.

Boogie nights: The bright and shining star of mark wahlberg will linger in my mind for the rest of my life.

Maborosi: This koreeda's mini classic is what kieslowski's Amator espouses- using the natural light and nothing, absolutely nothing, else.