Rani Mukherji could order somebody to ‘fly alone’ only in a film scene after arousing his desires just because the script did not allow him to go rightfully mad. Not everybody would disappear from the scene after simply asking Rani as to what he was supposed to do when he was being left unattended by her. If you keep on playing with flares it is bound to burn you sometimes. The pub-culture that is glamorized and sold on the page3 of the media and that wants all other components of the society to bend and shed their sensibilities to allow some insensitive individuals to live their life according to their wishes, in fact help in promoting an attitude that sparked the Jessica-incident. Talking of a limit in a world where you want to break all limits is hypocrisy. Expecting a drunk to behave sensibly defies all logics. Ironically the pub-culture that advocates enjoyment shorn of all responsibilities was never the target of attack in any media discussion.
To me, justice to Jessica should not end only after punishing the drunken shooter who weighed a life less than his desire to showcase his political connections but should continue with finding, devising and implementing ways and strategies to restrict the explosion of pub-culture. As a matter of fact, the media activism in this case was meant merely to exhibit the supremacy of media over the political class before the general public. I would have acknowledged their ‘noble intentions’ had the media taken the responsibility of dissuading youth from falling into the trap of pub-culture instead of glamorizing it. Jessica’s murder was lapped up by the media primarily because the victim represented the page3 class with which the Indian media identifies itself. Media felt victimized because the incident established supremacy of political class over the page3 class. After all they never thought of fighting it out for the general public that has remained at the mercy of the political class right from the day India became independent.
The Jessica-case was used by media not only to dethrone the political class from their position of absolute strength but also to stake the claim for the same simultaneously. The media activism that peaked with the ‘Tehelka expose’ and felt triumphant after succeeding in turning around the decision in the ‘Jessica-case’ eventually fall deflated with the ‘Radiagate expose’ only because the media never intended to change the power structure but only wanted to replace the political class with itself in order to form a new power equation.
The movie is a true portrait of the incident just from the media point of view. If you were following media reports earlier – you will find nothing new here.
To me, justice to Jessica should not end only after punishing the drunken shooter who weighed a life less than his desire to showcase his political connections but should continue with finding, devising and implementing ways and strategies to restrict the explosion of pub-culture. As a matter of fact, the media activism in this case was meant merely to exhibit the supremacy of media over the political class before the general public. I would have acknowledged their ‘noble intentions’ had the media taken the responsibility of dissuading youth from falling into the trap of pub-culture instead of glamorizing it. Jessica’s murder was lapped up by the media primarily because the victim represented the page3 class with which the Indian media identifies itself. Media felt victimized because the incident established supremacy of political class over the page3 class. After all they never thought of fighting it out for the general public that has remained at the mercy of the political class right from the day India became independent.
The Jessica-case was used by media not only to dethrone the political class from their position of absolute strength but also to stake the claim for the same simultaneously. The media activism that peaked with the ‘Tehelka expose’ and felt triumphant after succeeding in turning around the decision in the ‘Jessica-case’ eventually fall deflated with the ‘Radiagate expose’ only because the media never intended to change the power structure but only wanted to replace the political class with itself in order to form a new power equation.
The movie is a true portrait of the incident just from the media point of view. If you were following media reports earlier – you will find nothing new here.
