Founder: Vishwa Nath (1917-2002) 70-6.&t*446& Editor-in-Chief, Publisher & Printer: Paresh Nath '&#36"3: cover story 30 Fast Forward How Ranveer Singh made it taran n khan In just five years, Ranveer Singh has gone from anonymity to superstardom. While his cinematic successes have won him adoration, his ribald public image has sometimes occasioned contempt. Fuelling his rise is an intense love of the spotlight, and the giant promotional machinery of modern Bollywood fame. perspectives 30 20 security 20 Force Alarm The many failings of the National Security Guard rajit ojha 48 60 business 23 Trade-Offs 48 Written Off India’s weakening stance after The unappreciated work of Bollywood’s script supervisors two decades in the WTO tanul thakur urvashi sarkar 6o Unnatural State 26 Cover to Cover The changing representations of tribal people in Hindi cinema The books that Bollywood characters read sohini chattopadhyay trisha gupta FEBRUARY 2016 3 the lede 8 8 Letters to a Young Poet The influential correspondence of Safia Akhtar anand desai 72 10 Big Cheese The new life of a former Bollywood bigwig tushar dhara 12 Running Late The Indian Railways’ sluggish bureaucracy photo essay / labour drives filmmakers away 72 A Work of Beauty kaushal shroff Taiwan’s young and controversial betel nut girls tourism chin-pao chen 14 National Service Aung San Suu Kyi’s quiet tourism push joe freeman equality 16 Native Daughters The battle to secure matrilineal books citizenship rights in Nepal mallika aryal 84 A Different Story New fiction in English on Karachi sarah waheed 94 84 the bookshelf 92 showcase 94 editor’s pick 98 NOTE TO READERS: 5)&i410/403&%'&"563&w0/1"(&*41"*%"%7&35*4*/($0/5&/5 4 THE CARAVAN THE LEDE Letters to a Young Poet The influential correspondence of Safia Akhtar / anand desai left: In 1949, Jan Nisar Akhtar left his On the evening of 8 January, in the Bhendi Bazaar family’s home in Bhopal to pursue a neighbourhood of south Mumbai, the grounds of career writing film a government school bustled not with schoolchil- lyrics in Bollywood. dren, but with people attending an Urdu language and literature festival. About 400 people sat in opposite page: Safia white plastic chairs facing a large stage, and many Akhtar’s letters, more watched from the balconies of a nearby initially published in a two-volume Urdu building. At 7 pm, an unlikely trio of performers set in 1955, were took the stage: Neha Sharad, a television actress; later translated into Suhail Warsi, a poet; and Pooja Gaitonde, a singer. Hindi and published That night’s event celebrated a series of let- as a book, Tumhaare ters that Safia Akhtar, an Urdu scholar, wrote to Naam. her husband, Jan Nisar Akhtar, himself an Urdu scholar, poet and Bollywood lyricist. To kick off the evening, Sharad read out a letter from April 1951, in which Safia praised the blossoming liter- ary abilities of her six-year-old son Javed—now a famous poet and Bollywood lyricist. “Mujhe faate- hana masarrat hoti hai iske zehanat aur dimaagh ko dekhkar. Maine tumhaare behtereen unsur neechod- express archive photo kar apna liya hai. Lekin tumne bhi kuch nahin khoya,” Sharad recited. (I feel a joy of accomplish- ache, even those audience members who did not ment when I see his intelligence and his mind. I know the history of the two writers’ relationship have made the best of you mine, yet you have not were moved by the mood. After a short break, lost anything.) during a call to prayer from a nearby mosque, the Warsi responded to Sharad with a line from one evening continued with other triplets of letter, of Jan Nisar’s poems, titled ‘Aakhri Mulaqaat’— poem and song. Last Meeting, where the narrator yearns for his The performers drew the excerpts of Safia’s loved ones. “Mat roko inhein paas aane do/ Yeh writing from a collection of letters called Zer-e- mujhse milne aaye hain/ Main khud na jinhein lab—which literally translates to “under the lips,” pehchaan saku/ Kuchh itne dhundle saaye hain” but idiomatically means whispered, intimate (Don’t stop them, let them come closer/ They have conversations. The book is one part of a two- come here to visit me/ These I can barely remem- volume set of her letters, published in 1955, that ber/ These shadows foggy and unclear). Finally, span almost a decade, from 1943 through 1952. Gaitonde, accompanied by a live band, sang one of The letters become especially dramatic in 1949, Jan Nisar’s songs from the film Sushila: “Darde dil when Jan Nisar moved from the couple’s home in darde wafa, darde tamanna kya hai, aap kya jaane Bhopal to Bombay, seeking work as a lyricist for mohabbat ka takaaza kya hai” (What do you know Bollywood. For the next few years, Safia supported of the pain wrought by heart, desire and fidelity, their family with money she made teaching Urdu you wouldn’t know of the demands of love). As at a college, all the while raising their two young the performers drew an arc from the letter’s joy, sons. Safia’s letters are worth reading not only for to the poem’s nostalgia, and finally to the song’s her expressive prose, but also for her rich account 8 THE CARAVAN PERSPECTIVES Force Alarm The many failings of the National Security Guard / Security / rajit ojha Panag and PC Katoch, argued that the operation seriously damaged the temple NSG hadn’t been the right choice for complex, which sparked public anger On 5 January, a day after Indian secu- the operation. They said that the force and further inflamed militancy in the rity forces had killed six militants who specialised in urban counter-terrorism state. In Blue Star, the Indian govern- attacked the Pathankot Air Force Sta- and hostage rescue, whereas the ment used a sledgehammer, where the tion, Defence Minister Manohar Parri- Pathankot operation entailed defending precision of a scalpel was needed. kar held a press conference at the base. the wide expanse of a military base in The idea for a special force trained In the course of it, Parrikar blamed terrain that featured fields, forests and to carry out counter-terror operations “bad luck” for some of the deaths of water bodies. In response, the govern- wasn’t new. Western countries had Indian personnel during the attack. ment asserted that the NSG’s exper- either set up or tasked such units in the It was a surprising statement, since, tise in hostage situations could have 1970s, among them the German GSG-9 in many ways, the security forces had proved crucial, since the base housed been fortunate in this instance. Before residential quarters where hundreds of The NSG’s poor showing in they entered the base, the militants airmen and their families, all potential the Pathankot operations abducted and then released the Punjab hostages, stayed. Police officer Salwinder Singh and his Amid the din of these arguments, a exposes basic flaws in its companions, leading to a security alert. crucial fact was never discussed: the conception, charter and Reacting to intelligence, the govern- NSG’s poor showing in the Pathankot functioning. ment deployed India’s premier counter- operations exposes basic flaws in its w w terrorist force, the National Security conception, charter and functioning. Guard, or the NSG, to the airbase on the Apparently, there are even differing night of 1 January. opinions on its mandate. Contrary and the British SAS. The NSG’s website After four attackers were killed in to the veterans’ comments about its describes the organisation as being initial fighting, claims that the opera- special mission areas, the NSG’s own “modelled on the pattern of the SAS of tion had been concluded spread through website describes it as a force whose the UK and GSG-9 of Germany.” television and social media. But, responsibility is “to tackle all facets The force came to prominence with subsequently, two more attackers were of terrorism in the country. Thus, the its impressive performance in 1988’s discovered, leading to further fight- primary role of this force is to combat Operation Black Thunder II, again ing, in which they were killed. Among terrorism in whatever form it may aimed at clearing the Golden Temple of the seven security personnel who died assume.” Rather than diagnose and militants, admittedly a less aggressive in the attacks was Lieutenant Colonel resolve the NSG’s problems, a series of group than Bhindranwale’s followers Niranjan Kumar, of the NSG’s bomb questionable decisions by successive in 1984. The NSG participated in a text- disposal squad, who was killed when governments has only deepened them. book operation, notably using snipers a grenade on a slain attacker’s body The NSG was founded in the after- to kill some militants, which created exploded. It emerged later that the NSG math of 1984’s Operation Blue Star, the enormous psychological pressure on didn’t kill a single attacker in the entire Indian Army’s disastrous operation the others. No civilians were killed, and operation—all six were eliminated by against Sikh militants led by Jarnail the temple complex sustained minimal personnel from other forces who were Singh Bhindranwale. The group had set structural damage. The operation’s present. up base in the Golden Temple in Amrit- outcome led many to believe that the Over the next few days, several com- sar. The army used heavy and indiscrim- Indian government had succeeded in mentators, particularly army veterans inate firepower in an urban area, leading creating a counterpart to the SAS and such as the lieutenant generals HS to nearly 500 civilian casualties.