Slumdog Millionaire, the Oscar-winning movie, faces a defamation suit for allegedly wrongly crediting the bhajan'Darshan do Ghanshyam' to the blind poet Surdas. It is being claimed that poet Gopal Singh Nepali, had written the song for the film Narsi Bhagat. Nepali’s children have filed a civil suit on grounds of defamation/loss of reputation of their father and the violation of an author's moral rights. His daughter Savita Singh even described the act as sahitya ki chori(theft of literature).
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Bye-Bye not Ta-Ta
Tata Group, one of the largest Indian conglomerates with interests in automobiles, steel, power, software etc. and makers of world’s cheapest car Nano, have won its suit against .
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) panel has awarded the ownership of domain to the Tata group. is a travel community site owned by .
Though not very well versed in intellectual property laws, I feel that use of tata was in the domain name was not done with an intention to benefit from the brand franchise of the Tatas and considering that tata happens to be a common farewell description in India, this decision is bound to open a can of similar litigation.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Tata Sky ad campaign featuring Asin
Tata sky has come up with a new ad campaign directed primarily towards housewives and homemakers. Gajini girl Asin talks about how TataSky has impacted her homemaking skills such as cooking.
In one of the commercials Asin tells her audience how the record feature of Tata Sky helps her. She can wach her favorite soap while another show airing on a different channel is simultaneously being recorded by Tata Sky+. Thus she does not miss any of the shows that interest her. She mocks the viewer who might not have this facility, saying that they can watch the two programs between commercial breaks.
A second ad features Asin making fun of women who do not own a Tata Sky+ as they have to make a choice between cooking delicious meal and watching their favourite serials. Though she can afford to cook an elaborate meal consisting ofbiryani and kebabs almost daily by virtue of Tata Sky+ recording the programs airing on TV while she cooks, she has sisterly advice for those who do not own the device – stick to dal-chawal and have a papad for change.
The ads, however, are kind of sarcastic in nature and might result in annoying the taget audience as opposed to showing them the advantages of Tivo like technology. Some people also seem to think of the dal-chawal ad as being insulting to vegetarians.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Britannia Bourbon biscuits get sexy

A girl is visiting her boyfriend to watch a movie at his house, when she realises that his friends are over to watch a match instead. Disappointed, she begins eating a Britannia Bourbon biscuit and suddenly she lets out a moan. Distracted, the boys begin staring at her in astonishment as she lets out more sensual moans. Seeing his friends’ sudden interest in his girlfriend, the boyfriend throws out his friends and ends up watching the movie, just like she wanted him to in the first place.
I do feel that Bourbon needed some revitalizing, especially as more Indians develop a taste for dark chocolate as opposed to extra sugary cream of Bourbon and some shift to competing products like chocolate chip cookies (Hide n Seek, GoodDay) and Britannia’s own Pure Magic dark chocolate cream biscuits. The ad campaign, however, seems like a desperate effort to glamorize a not-so-premium product.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Kaminey in trouble over lyrics
Kaminey, the latest work of director Vishal Bharadwaj, is in trouble over the lyrics of one of its most popular songs dhan te nan with some members of a community taking objection to the reference made to them in the song. The result - we get to hear lots of beep-beeps.... reminds me of the Roadrunner Show.
Slumdog Millionaire and why Pinky doesn’t smile!
Shafiq was the star of Meera Nair’s Oscar nominated ‘Salaam Bombay‘. He won the President’s medal for best child artist for his role of Krishna, a 12-year old boy who sells wada-pav in the movie. Today he is a rickshaw driver in Bangalore.Read Shafiq’s story
Preeti Mukherjee, who was part of the Oscar-winning documentary Born Into Brothels, directed by Zana Briski, today works as a commercial sex-worker. Read Preeti’s complete story
In case of Shafiq one can call it plain bad luck but Preeti seems to have stayed back because of family ties. Allegations of Rubina’s father trying to sell her are already afloat.
So are things looking up for Azhar and Rubina? May be. But let us not forget Pinky Sonkar who starred in Oscar Winning short film Smile Pinki. Despite tall claims from local leaders of ensuring a better life for the six-year-old, Pinki continues to be bereft of basic amenities.
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