Spread of Pan India movies
In five languages, Puri Jagannath’s sports-action drama ‘Liger’ will be released. There was ‘RRR‘ and ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ before this. In what year did the trend of catering to tastes around the country begin?
As Puri Jagannadh’s sports-action drama ‘Liger’ premieres today, “pan-Indian” films are once again in the spotlight.
Tiger, starring Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, and Mike Tyson, will be released on August 25 in five languages: Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil. Having the film released simultaneously in multiple languages will allow it to reach a larger audience across the country, making it a pan-Indian film.
Pan-Indian films, and the social media buzz encircling them, have taken up a large part in discussions about Indian cinema in recent years. Whether it’s interviews with film personalities or discussions among movie enthusiasts, pan-Indian films are everywhere these days.
There has been an increase in excitement around this trend following the success of S S Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ (starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR) and Prashanth Neel’s ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ (starring Yash, Raveena Tandon, and Sanjay Dutt).
Essentially, a pan-Indian film caters to the tastes and sensibilities of people and communities across the country.
It has been claimed in promotional events by the cast and crew of recent and upcoming pan-Indian films that all sections of society will find something relatable and resonating in their film.
Generally, the success of S S Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali films can be credited with the rise of pan-Indian films. With the release of the first big-budget movie in 2015, every other big-budget film has been advertised as ‘pan-Indian.’
There is no language or industry that cannot be affected by this phenomenon. ‘Pushpa’ (2021), starring Telugu superstar Allu Arjun, became a blockbuster in every language it was released in.
Even native films of the languages were sidelined, most notably the Hindi film ’83, about the 1983 cricket World Cup victory.
The subject matter of ’83’ was much more pan-Indian than that of ‘Pushpa,’ which dealt with the smuggling of red sandalwood in Andhra Pradesh.
There has been a lot of debate over which language version of Ayan Mukerji’s upcoming film ‘Brahmastra’ (2022), starring Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, sounds better.
Several Indian films have been dubbed and remade into other languages: Prabhu Deva’s directorial debut, ‘Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana’ (2005), was remade into nine languages.
In 1959, ‘Mahishasura Mardini,’ starring Kannada cinema legend Dr. Rajkumar, was dubbed and released in seven other languages.
Currently, films are specifically marketed as “pan-Indian,” and this is aggressively done.
While pan-Indian films have always existed, the term itself became popular post-Baahubali, according to Payal Patel, a student of film studies. There’s a lot of money to be made with such films, so this phrase gets hyped for all it’s worth.
Due to the heightened emphasis on overt nationalism over the past few years, films that attract and unite audiences across the vast country may appear attractive.
There are a lot of these films with Hindu mythological themes – for example, Prabhas is going to star in an adaptation of the Ramayana called Adipurush. Another popular theme is the struggle for Independence, which is usually portrayed in a very masculine manner, as in the global superhit RRR.
There are also action films with male leads, such as ‘KGF: Chapter 2’, the sequel to ‘KGF: Chapter 1’ (2018). According to some commentators, KGF films have revived interest in ‘Sandalwood,’ as the Kannada film industry is sometimes called.
In recent discussions on pan-Indian, female actors and characters have been overlooked.
In terms of history, Sridevi was probably the first ‘pan-Indian’ star. Her filmography shows that it is possible to succeed with both hard-hitting social dramas like K Balachander’s Tamil film ‘Varumayin Niram Sivappu’ (1980) and masala films like K Raghavendra Rao’s Telugu film ‘Devatha’ (1982) and its Hindi remake ‘Tohfa’ (1984).
Jayaprada, Sridevi’s contemporary, was also popular across multiple industries. Several of Tabu’s blockbusters have been released in different languages in recent years.
Although most pan-Indian films feature a male protagonist and a male superstar is the face of the film, few male stars have made smooth transitions into other industries.
Why is DSR not working in Punjab?
As an incentive for farmers to adopt DSR, the Punjab government is offering them Rs 1,500 per acre. In the majority of paddy areas, they are returning to the traditional method of puddled transplanting rice. What is the reason for this?
Punjab is not only far from its Direct Sowing of Rice (DSR) target for this year (it only achieved 6.7% of the total target) but has also experienced a decline of 85.7% in the DSR area since last year.
The state government announced an incentive of Rs 1,500 per acre for farmers adopting the DSR method and earmarked Rs 450 crore for this purpose (before paddy sowing).
In most of the paddy areas, farmers ignored this incentive and returned to the traditional method of puddled transplanting of rice (PTR).
Over 30 lakh hectares of farmland are planted each year with rice (paddy and basmati). DSR does not require puddled fields for transplanting paddy nurseries and flood irrigation, and the state government has set a target of bringing 12 lakh hectares (29.64 lakh acres) under DSR.
It is ideal for performing DSR on paddy (non-basmati) crops from June 1 to June 15 and on basmati (aromatic rice) crops from mid-June to June end.
Until July 10, only 80,000 hectares (1.98 lakh acres) of paddy could be sown using DSR in the state. By this measure, Punjab’s DSR area has fallen 93.3% below its target, and if compared to last year’s, it has fallen 85.7%. DSR was implemented in the state for the first time last year, covering 5.62 lakh hectares (13.88 lakh acres).
Announcing incentives to promote DSR was primarily aimed at saving groundwater. Groundwater can be saved by DSR by about 15% to 20%, according to experts.
Every government, including the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has realized it is difficult to wean farmers off paddy, so it is better to save some water using DSR.
There have been erratic power cuts this year, according to officials. Also, canal water was not available in adequate amounts during DSR sowing.
DSR could not be conducted in several districts of the Malwa region due to a breach in the Sirhind canal in May.
Moreover, the power supply to the tubewells was there for only 3 to 4 hours, which was not sufficient because farmers need a well-moist field before DSR, which requires proper watering.
A preliminary report has been submitted to the Department of Agriculture by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Ludhiana.
A total of 1.93 lakh hectares of rice have been planted so far, including 52,140 ha (1.29 lakh acres) of DSR and 1,40,900 ha (3.48 lakh acres) of PTR. According to this report, the PTR area was larger than DSR before the first official date of PTR notification.
In various districts, the government had notified PTR dates of June 18, June 22, June 24, and June 26. There were PTRs before the official dates in every district, according to this report.
Farmers managed PTR even with 3-5 hours of power supply to tubewells (as claimed by officials), a senior agriculture officer said. If PTR can take place with 3-5 hours of power supply to tubewells, then why couldn’t the DSR area be increased.
According to both farmers and experts, the DSR results differ from farmer to farmer and from soil type to soil type. There are some farmers who get higher yields from this method, while there are some who get lower yields.
For DSR, light soils are bad and heavy soils are good. Furthermore, most farmers in the state are still unacquainted with the technique, and after experiencing huge losses in wheat yield this year, they prefer the traditional PTR over the experimental DSR.
In spite of the fact that DSR does not require labor, it requires several sprays of weedicide to control weeds. Flood irrigation acts as a weedicide in PTR.
In DSR sowing, if my yield falls even 2-3 quintals/acres compared to PTR, my loss would be over Rs 6,000 per acre as MSP of rice is Rs 2,040/quintal while incentive with DSR sowing is just Rs 1,500. Additionally, the government provides me with an 8-hour power supply to irrigate my paddy crop,” said farmer Tarlochan Singh of Lambra in Jalandhar.
According to another farmer, farmers don’t want to take any more risks by experimenting with DSR after experiencing huge yield losses from 15% to 20% per acre during March in wheat – the state’s second assured marketing crop after paddy.
At most sites, farmers reported that labor was available in adequate numbers for Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per acre.
According to a professor at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, DSR will not save much water in Punjab.
If PTR takes around 5,000 liters to grow 1 kg of rice, then DSR will take around 4,000 to 4,200 liters with 15% to 20% water savings, which is also huge. Under the Haryana government’s “Mera Pani Meri Virasat” scheme, farmers who shun paddy crops and switch to alternative crops such as fruit and vegetables are offered Rs 7,000 per acre to save groundwater. There is also crop insurance available there, he said.
Things to know about the new President of India
As the nation celebrates 75 years of Independence, here are five things you should know about Droupadi Murmu, the new head of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The new President of India is Droupadi Murmu. Thursday (July 21) was the day when the results of the election were announced. She defeated the opposition candidate, Yashwant Sinha. Murmu, 64, is the nation’s first Adivasi citizen and the second woman to hold the position of Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces.
Taking office in the nation’s 75th year of Independence, Rashtrapati Bhavan’s new occupant reveals five things about himself.
Murmu has been a trailblazer from an early age. Born into a Santhal family in 1958, she was the first girl in Uparbeda, one of seven revenue villages in Uparbeda panchayat in Odisha’s backward Mayurbhanj district, to attend college – the Ramadevi Women’s College, now the Ramadevi Women’s University.
Previously, Murmu worked as a teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre in Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj and as a junior assistant in the Odisha government’s irrigation and power department.
As a councilor for Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, Murmu won an election in 1997. Her two terms in the Odisha Assembly were in 2000 and 2004, and she served as a Minister in the coalition government of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from 2000 to 2004.
In the state government, she was responsible for Commerce and Transport, followed by Fisheries and Animal Husbandry. She was credited with setting up transport offices in all 58 subdivisions of Odisha during her tenure as Transport Minister.
Murmu was also vice-president of the BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha.
Murmu also faced some obstacles along the way despite a successful political career. During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, she ran from the Mayurbhanj constituency but lost because the BJD and BJP severed ties.
She experienced a turbulent period in her personal life at the same time as the electoral setback. In a series of unfortunate incidents over the next six years, she lost three of her closest family members – her eldest son Laxman Murmu in 2009, her younger son Sippun Murmu in 2013, and then her husband Shyam Charan Murmu in 2014.
In 2015, Murmu became the first woman governor of Jharkhand.
Two centuries-old land laws – the Chhotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act – were amended by the BJP government led by Chief Minister Raghubar Das in November 2016 to ensure easy land transfers for industrial purposes. Murmu returned the Bills in June 2017 after widespread protests by Adivasis, who believed the amendments would limit their rights over land. He asked the government to explain how the changes would benefit tribal people.
She won Murmu’s admiration and respect when she refused to vote for controversial bills passed by the government of the party to which she had belonged.
Frequently speaking out on Adivasi issues, Murmu is an inspirational figure for the Santhal community and for women in general. According to Governor Murmu, speaking at an international conference on financial inclusion on November 24, 2018, the state government and the Centre were working to make banking services and other schemes available to tribals, but the condition of SCs and STs remained “extremely poor .”In addition, Murmu called for the translation of literature on Adivasi languages and cultures.
Akasa is ready to fly.
The first commercial flight by Akasa Air will take off on August 7. Is it going to operate on which routes? Can you tell me about its prices? Does the airline offer any other services? How does it plan to move forward?
The Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air announced Friday that it would launch its maiden commercial flight on August 7. Initially, the airline will operate from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Kochi using two Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and more routes are expected to be added as capacity increases.
In the initial phase of its network development, Akasa Air will operate 28 weekly flights between Mumbai and Ahmedabad beginning August 7. On August 13, the airline will begin operating 28 additional weekly flights between Bengaluru and Kochi.
In its launch phase, Akasa Air competes with existing airlines on low fares as a low-cost airline. Compared to other airlines’ lowest fares on the same dates, the carrier’s fares on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route are lower by about Rs 500 to Rs 600.
Akasa Air received its air operator’s certificate (AOC) from the DGCA earlier this month, enabling it to begin commercial operations. 72 Boeing 737 Max planes have been ordered, and 18 aircraft are expected to be inducted this year.
During the second half of the calendar year 2023, Akasa Air plans to start its international service.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
