SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013 (PAGE-4)

MOVIE REVIEW SOCIETY A masala movie YOGA - Is it 'Hindu' or Indian ? Taran Adarsh Suman K Sharma acclaim for his powerful demonstration of the nauli technique There's an overdose of masala films. And practically of strengthening the abdominal muscles when he had a Is yoga a sectarian, 'Hindu', practice or a way that has all prominent names have featured in masalathons this three-ton elephant and a motor car driven over his body. been developed in India over the past several millennia to year. Take a look: SRK [CHENNAI EXPRESS], Ranbir Because of the pride in our heritage or for more pragmat- improve human body and mind? The apex court of the land Kapoor [BESHARAM], Ajay Devgn [HIMMATWALA], ic reasons - 'yoga is a multi-billion industry today' - some of is pondering whether it would be appropriate for it to direct Akshay Kumar [BOSS], Sanjay Dutt [ZILA GHAZIABAD, us may not perhaps agree with Wendy Doniger's assertion that yoga should be taught as a compulsory subject in the POLICEGIRI], Sunny Deol [SINGH SAAB THE GREAT] that 'The British passion for physical culture spilling over into country's schools. Incidentally, the Supreme Court of the and Saif Ali Khan [BULLETT RAJA]. Sadly, most of these the Hindu world, rescued (emphasis added) physical yoga United States of America has ruled that yoga is not a reli- films were shown the red flag by cineastes, which prompt- from the opprobrium into which it had fallen and made it once gious practice. ed the cynics to believe that it's the end of the road for again respectable' (On Hinduism, p.121). But nobody can We are talking in the context of school children. So let us the 1980s-styled formula films. But there's also the school deny that the yoga that is being practised in institutions, inside leave alone the philosophical aspects of yoga - the yoking of thought that strongly feels that masala entertainers will private homes and outside in municipal parks has indeed never go out of fashion. The good ones will work, the of mind and body, union with the Supreme and so forth - our awful ones will bite the dust... boys and girls will have time enough for such esoteric issues Prabhu Dheva revived the masala genre in Bollywood when and if they grow up in good health. It is the aasanas with WANTED, triggering off a plethora of entertainers (bodily postures) and the pranayama (breath control) that subsequently. Not deviating from what he re-introduced are our present concern. to the audiences, Prabhu Dheva has fruitfully crafted and Yoga is indigenous and there can be no doubt about that. churned out desi entertainers one after the other. This The first ever image of a yoga-mudra comes from the Indus time, the actor-choreographer-director teams up with Valley Civilisation in the form of a soap-stone seal of a man Shahid Kapoor to narrate a story that's set [once again] sitting in the padma aasana. Yogis find a mention in the Rig in the countryside. The only difference is, R… RAJKU- Veda and much later, in Rishi Patanjali, we had a great expo- MAR is *not* a remake of a South Indian hit, like Prab- nent of the extant as well as the arcane practices of yoga. A hu Dheva's previous endeavors. text, Hathayoga Pradipika, which could have been authored Curiously, a few weeks ago, Shahid Kapoor teamed between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries, describes up with Rajkumar Santoshi for an entertainer [PHATA fifteen yogic postures to strengthen the body. POSTER NIKLA HERO] and many a people are draw- Then came the British Raj and along came its opposition ing parallels between that film and this one [R… RAJKU- by the resurgent nationalists. Wendy Doniger, the author of MAR]. Not true! Now to the next question: Is it a replica On Hinduism, says, 'under the British Raj militant yogis of a standard masala film or there's more to it? More sig- engaged in exercise regimes to make them tough, in order nificantly, how compelling is Shahid in the masala space? to oppose the British.' Does he look persuasive and convincing enough, rattling The contrast between the alien ruler and the native must mass-friendly dialogues and bashing up dozens of have riled the resurgent nationalists a great deal. The Angrez battle an army of villains, led by Sonu Sood and Ashish rogues like we swat flies? Let's find out… was rosy-cheeked and imposing in his presence. We Indi- Vidyarthi, and reducing them to pulp looks completely Rajkumar [Shahid Kapoor], who works for a drug deal- ans in comparison were generally sallow and not as physi- far-fetched even in the masala scenario. In short, Shahid brought a salutary effect on people's health and well being. er Shivraj [Sonu Sood], is entrusted the task of eliminat- cally strong as he. One can only imagine how bad young is at home when he has to sing songs and romance Son- To say that the stretching-and-relaxing and breath-con- ing the rival drug dealer [Ashish Vidyarthi]. Prior to that, Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi and his friends at the akshi, but looks far from convincing when he has to act trol yoga routine should be discarded because it is a 'Hindu' he eyes Chanda [Sonakshi Sinha] and falls head over school must have felt about that taunting ditty - 'Behold the as a super-hero. practice would be as wrong as saying, for instance, that veg- heels in love with her. Rajkumar is unaware that Vidyarthi mighty Englishman/He rules the Indian small/Because being Prabhu Dheva has always excelled in the masala etarianism should be avoided by the non-Hindus because it happens to be Chanda's uncle. In the meantime, Shiv- a meat-eater/He is five cubits tall.' genre and that's the reason why he's labeled the king of is a percept followed by staunch Hindus. The sticklers to raj too falls for the charms of Chanda. He makes peace Dietary preferences apart, it was the exercise regime entertainers, but a feather-light concept and predictable secularism can make suitable variations where a seeming- with Vidyarthi and expresses the desire to marry Chan- practiced by the Tommies that kept them fighting fit. Doniger goings-on act as dampeners. Like I stated earlier, a few ly religious element becomes a part of the yoga regime. Sri da. The battle lines are drawn… appears to endorse Mark Singleton's claim that in the nine- sequences/moments do manage to keep you attentive, Sri Ravi Sankara's Art of Living yoga exercises include incan- Masala entertainers are all about compelling the spec- teenth century 'a transnational, Anglophone yoga arose…, but they're few and far between. One swallow does not tation of Om which is said to induce a calming effect on the tators to believe in the super-hero qualities of the protag- compounded of the unlikely mix of British body-building and a summer make! Dialogues too are serviceable, with a body. Those who have objection to Om are advised by the onist. He has to be an all-rounder actually: emote, physical culture, American transcendentalism and Christian few clever lines integrated in the narrative. instructors to replace it with any other suitable word for a sim- romance, sing, dance and flex muscles, when required. science, naturopathy, Swedish gymnastics and the YMCA, Pritam delivers a chartbusting score. 'Gandi Baat', ilar effect. The Supreme Court is right in its meditative Prabhu Dheva has been serving us the staple dish, albeit grafted onto a rehabilitated form of postural yoga adapted approach towards the issue. Yoga is beneficial to a person's 'Saree Ke Fall Sa' and 'Mat Maari' are catchy and the first specifically for a Western audience' (p.120). If the Raj in its in new avatars and modifications, successfully. Much like two songs especially have already caught the fancy of health, but for the state to impose it under force of law would his last outing RAMAIYAVASTAVAIYA, Prabhu Dheva panoply laid the foundations of the modern physical culture be counter-productive. One is reminded of the times when, listeners. But 'Kaddu Katega' appears reminiscent of the in India, it had its self-serving purpose too - for did not the emphasizes on romance yet again in R… RAJKUMAR, item song in ROWDYRATHORE ['Aa Re Pritam Pyaare'], in the euphoria of the newly gained freedom, the policy mak- native soldiers of its army have to be physically strong to with action being the icing on the cake. And while posi- while the romantic track ['Dhokha Dhadi'] is plain aver- ers in New Delhi tried to impose Hindi in the South. There tioning it as a romantic fare, Prabhu Dheva also pack- age. Action sequences, though executed well and high defend it? Our own social reformists took up the cause with were not only violent agitations against the move, but a whole ages light moments aplenty and chart-busting music to on energy, fall in the same mould as the ones we have some verve. Swami Vivekananda said famously that a youth generation refused to have anything to do with the Rajbhasha. make R… RAJKUMAR a wholesome entertainer. watched in scores of masala entertainers. could get closer to God playing football rather than reciting It would therefore be wiser of the government to confine While R… RAJKUMAR has everything that the hoi Shahid Kapoor gets to portray a mass-friendly char- Bhagwad Gita. In 1915, SC Vasu came out with a transla- its role to being a facilitator - standardizing the yoga regime, polloi looks for in atypical mass entertainers, the prob- acter and he gives it his best shot. He's an exceptional tion of the Hatha-yoga Pradipika leaving out certain portions providing trained instructors and spreading awareness about lem lies in the fact that there being an overdose of masala dancer and emotes very well too, but, like I pointed out of the original which fell short of his scientific temper. Swa- yoga, so that more and more people, particularly schoolchild- films, one can actually foresee what's in store next. The earlier, he looks far from real when it comes to fighting mi Kuvalyananda and K. Ramamurthy (who won world-wide ren, may derive benefit from it. story is done to death, the screenplay is far from inven- an army of villains. Sonakshi Sinha seems to be getting tive and everything seems conventional. Sure, a few repetitive and needs to reinvent herself. Ditto for Sonu moments do keep you glued and hooked to the proceed- Sood, who plays the mandatory villain without much of HEALTHLINES ings, but the waferthin plot and lackluster screenplay an effort. plays spoilsport. Asrani is just about okay. Ashish Vidyarthi plays the Another reason why R… RAJKUMAR falls like a pack evil uncle to perfection. Mukul Dev is passable. Srihari of cards is the casting. Although Shahid Kapoor has gen- doesn't get ample scope. Endovascular Surgery uinely acted well, placing him in the same zone as On the whole, R... RAJKUMAR doesn't work. It is Salman Khan [DABANGG] and Akshay Kumar [ROW- Prabhu Dheva's weakest Hindi film to date! Dr Pankaj Goel DY RATHORE] looks far from convincing. Making him http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/ Like in all walks f life, science is mak- ing rapid progress in the field of cardio- NATURE vascular surgery too. Aortic aneurysm is a disease in which the aorta (the largest blood vessel of the body which arises from the heart and carries blood Bees, wasps and hornets to the whole body) enlarges. Once the aneurysm reaches the size of 6cm it car- Maneka Sanjay Gandhi my warriors whose heads were made of hollow gourds ries a very high risk of rupture. filled with bees. Invaders were fooled into smashing their A long time ago, I was bitten by a bee on the nape The treatment of aortic aneurysms is surgery. The affect- heads and beating a hasty retreat. ed part is to be isolated from the pressure of the blood cir- of my neck. My husband immediately ran inside, cut a Armies in the Middle East were even cleverer. Experts potato in half and applied it to the sting. It worked to in pottery, they made special clay containers that attract- culation so that the risk of rupture is removed. Convention- ilar to stenting the arteries of the heart. This procedure can extract the sting and some of the poison but it hurt for ed these insects who made nests in them. When these ally this has been done by open surgery. In this technique a be performed with the patient awake, there is no scar and days. Once Rajiv, Sonia and the children went on a pic- had to be used, the containers were plugged with grass full surgical incision is made (10-12inches) and the aneurysm the patient can be discharged the next day. Although cur- nic. One of them threw a stone at a wasp’s nest and and then these grenades were lobbed at the enemy. See- is resected. The aorta is then replaced with an artificial tube rently this technique is used for selected cases, in the near they came back with hundreds of stings, ill for days. ing the success of the bees, they progressed to using graft (fig. below). This is a major operation requiring blood future it will become the preferred treatment for aortic Luckily none of them was allergic to the poison because other insects like ants, scorpions. and 10-14 days hospital stay. In the recent past a new tech- aneurysms. people who are allergic can actually die of a single bite. As the cities progressed and wars between city states nique has been developed which is revolutionising the treat- In August 2013, we successfully performed the first When a bee bites, it dies because its stinger is a part increased, the ramparts around cities grew and each one of its abdomen. This is torn away and left inside with the ment of this difficult problem. In this technique a stent is cov- endovascular repair of an aortic aneurysm in the region. became a fortress. Invading armies surrounded the ered with a tube graft (covered stent) and introduced into the (The author is Additional Director Cardio-thoracic and Vascular sting. If not extracted, the poison spreads and is very fortress and camped there for weeks and months, stop- aneurysm through a small puncture in the artery. This is sim- Surgery at Fortis Health care) painful. ping food and water and often digging tunnels to get in secretly. In 400 BC Aeneias, the Roman war tactician wrote a book on surviving sieges. He advised the besieged people “to release wasps and bees in the tun- nels being dug under their walls, in order to plague their Foods for Breastfeeding attackers." The Roman army used bees and hornets as an Juhi Gulati Amla Scramble a couple of eggs for breakfast, toss a hard boiled essential part of their expansion programme and Pliny, egg or two on your lunchtime salad, or have an omelette who was considered the world' s most important natu- Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child and salad for dinner. Opt for DHA-fortified eggs to increase ralist of that time and who wrote completely absurd non- with breast milk directly from female human breasts (i.e via the level of ths essenial fatty acid in your milk. sense about all nature's creatures, declared that it took lactation) rather than using infant formula. * Whole-Wheat Bread : Try to make these smart, nutrient-rich foods a regular 27 stings to kill a human. So common was the use of Folic acid is crucial to your baby’s development in the bees as weapons by the Romans that there was a sharp part of your diet: Your body and your baby will thank you. early stages of pregnancy. But its importance doesn’t end decline in nests during the days of the Roman Empire. * Low -Fat Dairy Products : Using insects to defend walled cities had, by then, Whether you prefer yogurt, milk, or cheese, dairy prod- there. Folic acid is an important nutrient in your breast milk become common practice throughout Europe. In 908 ucts are an important part of healthy breastfeeding. In addi- that your baby needs for good health and it’s crucial you eat Chester, in England, was attacked by Scandinavians tion to providing protein, B vitamins, and vitamin D, dairy enough for your own well-being too. Enriched whole-grain Bees are essential to pollination. Many people eat who built tunnels undeterred by boiling oil and rocks. breads and pastas are fortified with this vital nutrient and their honey. Today, the nicotinoid pesticides, which products are one of the best sources of calcium. If you’re Finally the residents of Chester collected all the bee- breastfeeding, your milk is loaded with calcium to help your also give you a healthy dose of fiber and iron. came about in the year 2000, have almost wiped out hives in their city and threw them into the tunnels. The 70% of the species. I do not know whether our young baby’s bones develop, so it’s important for you to eat enough *Leafy Greens : attackers fled. 700 years later the Scandinavians tried Leafy green veggies like spinach, Swiss chard and broc- people have ever even seen bees. So let us go back to again in the city of Kissingen and the inhabitants threw calcium to meet your own needs. Try including at least three a time when they made history. cups of dairy each day in your diet. coli are filled with vitamin A, good for both you and your baby. beehives at them. The warriors were protected, but their The benefits don’t stop there. They’re a good non-dairy Bees, wasps and hornets were used for centuries as horses panicked and ran. By then all of Europe had * Legumes : essential weapons of war in battles across Europe. The picked up this trick. The Germans used bees to drive Iron-rich beans, particularly dark-colored ones like black source of dietary calcium and contain vitamin C and iron. predecessor of the Gatling machine gun was a windmill the Austrians away, the Greek islands used them to drive beans and kidney beans, are a great breastfeeding food, Green veggies are also filled with heart-healthy antioxi- like weapon that threw straw beehives at the enemy. away pirates, the Hungarians drove away the Turks and especially for vegetarians. They’re a budget friendly source dants, are low in calories and are tasty to boot. Alexander's father Philip was credited with this inven- of high quality, non -animal protein. * Water : tion. According to the book “Six Legged Soldiers”, the so did the Austrians, the Moors drove away the Por- first time that bees were used in attacks was when man tuguese. Even nunneries took to using bees to drive * Blueberries: Breastfeeding moms are especially at risk for energy still lived in caves. Warring tribes (when was man ever away male invaders. In fact, most cities started growing Breastfeeding moms should be sure to get two or more draining dehydration. To keep your energy levels and milk not in a state of constant warfare) would cut down bee- their own beehives and castles in the United Kingdom, servings of fruit or juice each day: Antioxidant rich blueber- production up, make sure you stay well hydrated. You can hives at night when the creatures were calm and unable especially Scotland, can still be seen with recesses ries are an excellent choice to help you meet your needs. vary your options and meet some of your fluid requirements to see intruders, cover the hive with mud to prevent them made for beehives. King Richard the Lion Hearted, the These satisfying and yummy berries are filled with good-for- by drinking juice and milk, but be careful when it comes to absent hero of the Robin Hood story, left England to from emerging and then throw the hives into enemy you vitamins and minerals and will give you a healthy dose caffeinated drinks like coffee or tea. Keep your intake to no attack the Muslims and recapture the mystical Holy Grail caves. They would burst and the enraged insects would of carbohydrates to keep your energy levels high. of Jerusalem. The wars were known as the Crusades. more than 2-3 cups a day or switch to decaffeinated vari- attack the inmates of the caves who could not even run * Oranges : eties. Caffeine enters your breast milk and can cause your out because the enemy waited there. From Lion Hearted his title was changed to Richard the Bee Armed because he used these insects in catapults Portable and nutritious, oranges are a great food to boost baby to become irritable and sleep poorly. In the Old Testament of the Bible this is apparently a energy for new moms. Oranges and other citrus fruits are common tactic. Joshua chapter 24:12 "I sent the hornet to mount his assaults. Even naval battles were fought *Whole-Grain Cereal : before you, which drove them out from before you, even with them. Ship crews as early as 300 BC took bee nests excellent breastfeeding foods since nursing moms need After yet another sleepless night, one of the best foods the two kings of the Amorites." In Exodus "and I will send on board and flung them across enemy decks - a prac- more vitamin C than pregnant women. Can’t find time to sit to boost energy for new moms in the morning is a healthy hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the tice that lasted till the 16th century. down to a snack? Sip on some orange juice as you go about breakfast of whole-grain cereal. Many cold cereals are avail- Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee." The word bombard, which is used to mean throw a your day-you’ll get the vitamin C benefit and can even opt able that are fortified with essential vitamins and nutrients Ancient Nigerian tribes developed a bee cannon. large number of projectiles, comes in fact from the Latin for calcium fortified varieties to get even more benefit from to help you meet your daily needs. Whip up a healthy hot Large horns were made, bees loaded into them and then word Bombus which means Buzzing ! your beverage. breakfast by stirring blueberries and skim milk into a deli- directed at the enemy. (To join the animal welfare movement contact gand- * Eggs : cious serving of oatmeal. The Mayans had elegant weapons. They built dum- [email protected], www.peopleforanimalsindia.org) Eggs are a versatile way to meet your daily protein needs. (The author is Consultant Deititian)