Mumbai: Talking points

2015 witnessed award wapsi, two chilling murder cases, and a strike by FTII students. We look back at the events that Mumbai couldn’t stop talking about this year:

Award wapsi courts controversy From ghar wapsi (re-conversions) to award wapsi; the country witnessed a number of wapsis since Narendra Modi came to power. It all started with noted writer Nayantara Sahgal returning her prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in protest against what she the called the “vanishing space” for diversity. Then, 24 writers returned their awards in protest against the PM not speaking about the persecution of free thinkers in the country. What followed later were heated debates on national television and social media.

Bollywood too stood divided on the issue: Anupam Kher opposed the notion of award wapsi with a rally in Delhi, filmmakers like Kundan Shah, Anand Patwardhan returned their National Awards. Khosla Ka Ghosla producer Savita Raj Hiremath criticised Dibakar Banerjee's decision to return the National Award the team won for the film.

Save the Internet! The year 2015 witnessed a major storm over the treatment of traffic on the Internet, with several users denouncing moves by tech giants such as Twitter, telecom company Airtel as well as Facebook’s Free Basics initiative. All India Bakc**d, the stand-up comedy collective was part of the debate, broadcasting videos urging citizens to not fall for the promises made by these telecom service providers. As the battle over net neutrality raged on, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) received a barrage of mails from netizens to save the Internet from such initiatives. Since Facebook came up with Free Basics in India, the campaign has gathered steam yet again.

FTII Vs Gajendra Chauhan: The epic battle Gajendra Chauhan had his second coming: the actor who had become a household name because of his portrayal of Yudisthir in Ravi Chopra’s Mahabharata, was back in the limelight. Albeit for all the wrong reasons. When the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced Chauhan as the new chairman of India’s premier film institute FTII, the students and alumni cried foul and went on a strike as a form of protest. What followed were months of protest from the students, with number of artists and former alumni coming together to show solidarity. Eventually after 139 days, the strike ended and the students went back to their classes with Gajendra retaining his position. But what has still not stopped was people talking (rather questioning) his capabilities as heading the premier art institute.

Marine Drive gets its golden glow back White or yellow Diamonds or gold The colour of the Queen’s Necklace that strings across the iconic boulevard from Nariman Point to Walkeshwar was a touchy topic for Mumbaikars this year. Politically, Shiv Sena and BJP locked horns, with the Sena criticising the BJP for ruining the nostalgic charm by installing white LED lights. It all ended well when the Bombay High Court suggested bringing back sodium vapour lamps.

Namo and the photoshop fail The Press Information Bureau of India recently became a conversation starter when it posted a photoshopped picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducting an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged Chennai city. Users lost no time in pointing out the poor Photoshop job. Trolls came out in multiples and released memes that had Modi staring at Gerard Butler’s angry face from 300 and Miley Cyrus on the “Wrecking Ball” among many more. The picture was subsequently removed after its authenticity was questioned on social media, but the PIB was already in hot water. The PMO has sought an official explanation since.

A matrimonial milestone “Seeking 25-40, Well placed, Animal-loving vegetarian GROOM for my SON (36 5''11) who works with an NGO. Caste No Bar (Though IYER preferred)”. At first glance, the advertisement seemed like the typical one that appear in the matrimonial section of a regular newspaper. But a closer look at the two words in capitals reveals why it became a talking point. In fact, this advertisement is India’s first gay matrimonial to be published. The mother of prominent LGBT activist Harish Iyer placed the ad, that was rejected by several publications and finally found room in a tabloid. Well, matches may be made in heaven, but for Iyer it was the ad which certainly did the trick. After receiving a few responses, the Tamil-speaking lad met an Iyer boy, abiding by his mother’s wish.

Hema Upadhyay murder case Earlier this month, news about two dead bodies found stuffed inside cardboard boxes at a nullah in Kandivali hit the headlines. It was later revealed that painter and installation artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani were victims of the double murder. This development sent the art world in a tizzy — several artistes condemned the murder and believed estranged husband Chintan simply to be a victim of unfortunate circumstances. However, Chintan remains the police’s number one suspect, and was taken into custody following extensive interrogation. Meanwhile, artisan Vidyadhar Rajbhar who is believed to have committed the actual murder is on the run.

“How do you stop the annoying Candy Crush requests ” The India media was abuzz when social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg announced the decision of Delhi being the destination for the next Townhall Q & A. The Facebook CEO was left with no choice, than to be picky as his team handled the entire session, selecting students through a lottery. During the session, Zuckerberg addressed the issues of net neutrality and spoke about his company’s initiatives to make the Internet affordable and accessible, and then followed with a question answer session. What became the highlight of the session was a very “serious” question by one of the members in the audience, who boldly asked Mark — “How do you stop the annoying Candy Crush requests ” Although initially stumped, Mark later assured the student that Facebook was working on a solution!

Sensitive case of the Censor Board The Censor Board didn’t have to try too hard to be a flak magnet this year. In January, then chairperson Leela Samson quit, alleging nepotism within the Board. Things got worse, as her successor, Pahlaj Nihalani, came out with the list of unusable words, including “Bombay” and “lesbian”, which raised a lot of frowny points from the industry as well as outsiders. The rest of the year, Pahlaj made it a point to keep the country busy with his often-ludicrous comments on what is sanskari and asanskaari; and asking for cuts in films, with hazy explanations. He also drew criticism for a video dedicated to Prime Minister Modi, which he uploaded on YouTube. The video was so bad, that even BJP insiders weren’t happy with it and reportedly said as much to Nihalani.

India’s daughter controversy Produced and directed by Leslie Udwin, India’s Daughter, a documentary that depicted the 2012 gang rape in Delhi sparked a furore among women advocates after the government’s decision to disallow the airing of the documentary. The documentary features key convict Mukesh Singh, awaiting execution after being sentenced to death by a trial court in Delhi, defending his actions and speaking about the right conduct of a woman. The BBC had initially planned to air the documentary on the occasion of Women’s Day, but ultimately was left with no option than give into protests. Many questioned the morality and legality of interviewing a convict as well as Udwin’s approach, while some supported its realism.

Chetan Bhagat: ‘What do historians do ’ Famous for his outspoken nature, Chetan Bhagat is no stranger to Twitter wars. Stirring twitter controversies (remember his dig at authors returning their Sahitya Akademi awards or the Twitter-battle with Twinkle Khanna ), he has often been vocal on Twitter to present his take on issues. This time he irked historians by questioning what exactly they do — he was addressing the protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Indian historians, over the “rising intolerance” and “highly vitiated atmosphere” in the country. The twitteratis backlashed, most of them questioning Bhagat’s own work and ridiculed him for his obliviousness. Following a firestorm of tweets, Bhagat eventually issued a clarification that the entire thing was a joke.

The godwoman of controversies Popular godwoman Radhe Maa created quite a stir online with pictures of her in mini-skirts doing the rounds. The woman who has also received flak in the past for dancing to Bollywood numbers, became the talk of town after she was named in a complaint filed under the Dowry Prohibition Act. The complaint accused Radhe Maa of instigating a woman’s in-laws and husband to harass her for dowry. Allegations of harassment, disrespecting religion and obscenity now trail Radhe Maa.

Sundar Pichai makes an impact A Bachelor’s degree from IIT, followed by a master’s degree at Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania — certainly feels like the boy is living the US dream. But here’s the icing on the cake: He is appointed as the new CEO of Google! Sundar Pichai, the man of the moment, certainly won the respect of millions back home as he climbed the ladder to success slowly and steadily.