“If you’re moving from an iPhone to a Samsung Android device, you can transfer your account information, profile photo, individual chats, group chats, chat history, media and settings,” the company said in a blogpost.
In addition, users can only do the migration during the initial setup of a new Samsung device, as the instructions from WhatsApp say that “your new Android device must be factory new or reset to factory settings” to allow the migration, so users would have to do a complete factory reset of their Samsung device if it is already operational.
Purogamana Kalasahitya Sangham has reacted to the incident where the film shooting in Palakkad was stopped. Strongly criticizing the RSS action, the association said that the RSS is working like the Taliban in Afghanistan with the arrogance that Narendra Modi is in power, Pu Ka Sa said in a press release.
According to Purogamana Kalasahitya Sangham, literature and creativity are as important to man as air, and cinema is a favorite pastime of millions. The association also worries whether our country is heading towards a catastrophe that requires the prior permission of religious-nationalist extremists to sing and to film.
“In any case, in democratic Kerala, there is no question of allowing this move by the RSS. Will defeat RSS terrorism through resistance”, it says in a statement.
But before that, she went round the world beseeching Europe and America to intervene on behalf of the people of East Pakistan to restore them their Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Pakistani custody somewhere in Pakistani Punjab, and honour the people’s mandate. She continued her diplomatic endeavour, while the Opposition right from Jai Prakash Narayan to the Jana Sangh and some sections of the media kept harassing and mocking her as ‘powerless and gutless’. Wonder whether Mr Modi would care to remember that. But it is worth remembering to learn from her strategy and experience and how she succeeded in her effort.
Cut to our times: when we were welcoming “Doland” Trump, as Modi addressed him in Ahmedabad, the US was playing footsie with Imran Khan, working out a plan to withdraw from Afghanistan without any serious damage or casualties to US/NATO troops. For that, they did a deal with Pakistan to hand over Afghanistan on their departure to these soldiers of fortune, the people, specially women and children of Afghanistan, be damned.
Just like we ignored the threat of Corona, till it hit us on the forehead, we not only turned a blind eye to the US plans but even despatched our External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Doha not once but repeatedly to register our agreement with the deal of US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who many in Afghanistan call “Zalim Khabeeszad”.
As for China, for all its support to Pakistan, the advent of Taliban regime will encourage Islamic jihadists in Uyghur and endanger Chinese security. Perhaps that is what the US may have had in mind as a bonus when they readily handed over Afghanistan to these Pakistani mercenaries. Therefore, for all its commitment to Pakistan, it can’t go the whole hog and turn a blind eye to the expansionist designs of these neo Islamists.
But we kept following faithfully the Americans even to our utter disadvantage. When we were getting oil cheap from Iran and were also offered a direct pipeline, when we were developing the Chabahar port, we dutifully obeyed Trump’s diktat and abandoned all our national interest.
Today the only way to approach Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan is via Iran. But that needs some kind of commitment of friendship treaty with Iran and thus help the Afghan people liberate themselves with our support.
It’s a test of Modi’s imagination and enterprise and it remains to be seen how he fares.
What was Indira Gandhi’s ultimate strategy to secure Bangladesh from the clutches of the army Junta of Pakistan? That’s the need of the hour in Afghanistan as well. Yes, we have to reassure the people of Afghanistan that we are with them and would come to their aid and defence in every which way. But before that we need to do a lot of diplomatic homework.
Sure, we need to secure our western borders before that, not by crushing the Kashmiris under the boot of the Indian armed forces, but by winning their confidence and taking them along in this struggle.
It is Modi’s moment. If he succeeds in chasing away the Talibani mullas from Afghanistan and restoring a modern democratic government in Afghanistan, all his past sins may be forgiven and he may long be remembered in history as a liberator. I wonder, though, if he and the RSS have it in them, given their past narrow mindedness.
Anshuman Jha is an artist who prefers versatility over volume and this comes across in his choice of films. After a sensitive portrayal of a homosexual man in his last release, “Hum Bhi Akele, Tum Bhi Akele” he has gone to the other end of the spectrum. His next is ‘Lakadbaggha’, an out and out action film for which he has chosen to invest 5 months in intense training and preparation. To be helmed by Victor Mukherjee, the film is set in East Kolkata, Chinatown, and will go on the floors in December 2021.
The RSS has now started finding virtue in these landlords and project them as benevolent patrons of the peasants. In sharp contrast to the historical facts, they have started presenting the peasant struggles as a Muslim attack on Hindu landlords.
The worst observation in this regard has come from senior RSS activist and former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav. On Thursday, he described the Moplah rebellion of 1921 as ‘one of the first manifestations of the Taliban mindset in India’, and criticised the LDF in Kerala for celebrating it as a revolution.
It is obvious that he looks at the struggle as a terrorist movement. No sane person claiming himself to be an outstanding intellectual could stoop so low to malign a movement. Only a person with an acute sense of hatred towards Muslims could utter this nonsensical term. Besides, it also underlines that he has no understanding of India’s political economy and agrarian situation during the colonial rule.
It has often been perceived as one of the first nationalist uprisings in southern India. It has even been described as a peasant revolt. In fact, in 1971, the then Kerala government had included the participants of the rebellion in the category of freedom fighters.
The BJP is against glorifying the massacre as a freedom struggle, and is opposed to giving freedom fighters’ pensions to the participants. The BJP wants the relief to go to the dependents of the victims of the “jihadi massacre” instead.
Malabar fell under British rule in 1792. By then, the Moplahs, once a prosperous trading community, had been reduced to penury as the English and the Portuguese wrested control of maritime commerce. Further, Malabar’s landlords under the British were almost exclusively Hindu.
Throughout the 19th century, the Moplahs would revolt against this order, attacking either the Hindu landlords or European bureaucrats. Between 1836 and 1919, there were 29 such “outrages”, as British chronicles from the time describe these uprisings. Whether the uprisings were a reaction to Malabar’s oppressive land system or driven by religious fanaticism was debated even at the time by British officials. The historian Stephen Dale explains how the two elements mixed to create violence:
“For whereas the lower Hindu castes were part of a hierarchy in which an oppressive Nambudri landlord was also a social and religious superior, the Mappillas as Muslims would identify the same Nambudri as an unbeliever and could invoke Islamic tenets to justify a challenge to his authority.”
Meanwhile the Railways has removed a painting of the 1921 Moplah Rebellion from the station of Tirur town in Kerala’s Malappuram after the Bharatiya Janata Party protested. In October 2017, the BJP’s state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan had said the rebellion should not be celebrated.
The BJP is of the opinion that depicting the “unprovoked massacre of Hindus as part of the Independence struggle is an insult to history as well as the majority community in Kerala”. The Sangh Parivar had often played to hilt this narrative as part of the BJP’s agenda of mobilising Hindu vote banks in Kerala. The Parivar version has also gained ground in tune with the emerging polarisation in the state.
In the run up to the events marking 100 years of the rebellion, the BJP, highlighting the ‘loss’ incurred to the Hindu side in the riot, claimed that temples had been destroyed and thousands of people (Hindus) had been killed.
Javed Akhtar told NDTV that right-wing across the world want the same things.
New Delhi:
No film involving writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar will be allowed to be screened in the country till he apologises to functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for comparing it to the Taliban, Maharashtra MLA and BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam said today.
The remarks came a day after the poet-lyricist, during an interaction with NDTV, drew a parallel between the Taliban and “those who want a Hindu Rashtra”. The RSS, ideological parent of the BJP, has long held that India is a Hindu ‘rashtra’ or state.
“This statement by Javed Akhtar is not just shameful, but painful and humiliating for crores of functionaries of the Sangh and the Vishva Hindu Parishad and crores of people across the world who follow their ideology,” Mr Kadam said in a video message that he also shared on Twitter.
He added that functionaries of these organisations serve the poorest of the poor and the poet-lyricist has insulted them.
“Before making these remarks, he should have thought that people with the same ideology are running the government now, are fulfilling raj dharma. If the ideology was Talibani, would he have been able to make these remarks? This shows how hollow his statements are,” the BJP spokesperson said.
“We will not allow any of his films to run in this land of Ma Bharti till he apologises with folded hands to the functionaries of the Sangh who have dedicated their lives to the nation,” Mr Kadam, who is MLA from Ghatkopar West, said.
Mr Akhtar, also a former MP, is the father of filmmaker Zoya Akhtar and actor and filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, and the husband of renowned actor Shabana Azmi.
Speaking to NDTV yesterday, he said the right-wing across the world want the same things. “Just like the Taliban want an Islamic State, there are those who want a Hindu Rashtra. These people are of the same mindset — be it Muslim, Christian, Jews or Hindus,” he said.
“Of course, the Taliban is barbaric, and their actions are reprehensible, but those supporting the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal are all the same,” he said.
Responding to a question on remarks by some Muslim leaders welcoming the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mr Akhtar said “these people are a miniscule of the Muslim population of our nation”.
“Most of the Muslims I spoke to were shocked and appalled that such statements were made by some. Today, most young Muslims in India want a good job and a good education for their children in good schools. But on the other hand, there are some who want to believe in this kind of regressive thinking — where men and women are segregated, where regressive mindset is promoted. But like I said, these people are a handful, so let them say what they want, they will not achieve it,” he said.
Mr Akhtar added, “I have total faith in the basic sensibility of an average Indian. The majority of this nation is extremely decent and tolerant. That must be respected. India will never become a Talibani country.”
He added, “On August 29, collections for the film were almost as much as the collections recorded on Sunday last week. In other words, the film’s collections on the first Sunday and the second week’s Sunday have been nearly the same. In some cinemas, the second Sunday was even better. For instance, the collections at Cinepolis WTP, Jaipur were around Rs. 62,898 on the first Sunday and the film netted Rs. 83,872 on the second Sunday. Similarly, the second weekend’s collections at Raj Mandir Cinema, Jaipur (Rs. 3,74,719) were better than the first weekend (Friday-Sunday; Rs. 3,43,490).”
Anyone who has seen the trailer for Free Guyprobably thinks they know exactly what the film is going to be—and that’s partially true. Directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Stranger Things), it’s a big-budget, video game-influenced movie about Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a NPC (non-playable character) in a massive online shooter video game called Free City, which is kind of Fortnite meets Grand Theft Auto. He walks around Free City oblivious to everything while real-life players cause unheard of carnage all around him. Until, one day, he realizes what’s actually happening and does something about it.
That much is obvious. What those trailers don’t tell you about the film is that Guy’s story is much more impactful and complex. It’s a love story. A story about human acceptance, empathy, and even the nature of existence itself, packaged in a bright, beautiful popcorn movie with plenty of comedy and action along the way. All of which is to say, Free Guy is way better than you may have been expecting—in fact, it’s absolutely joyful.
While Guy is the central character in the movie, things really kick into gear with the introduction of Millie, played by Killing Eve breakout Jodie Comer. She’s a top-level Free City player who also happens to be a game designer and believes the person who made Free City—the rich and powerful Antoine (Thor: Love and Thunder’s Taika Waititi)—stole important work she and her partner Keys (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) did and used it in this game. So Millie goes into Free City to try and expose him, which is where Guy sees her, quickly falls in love, and breaks out of his usual NPC routine.
The downside to Free Guy is that once those basic bones of the story are set, you’ll probably figure out exactly what’s going to happen—even if there are a bunch of steps along the way. However predictable, the journey to get there makes up for it by being akin to a rocket ship; from the moment Free Guy begins, Levy and his team do not let up. It’s fast-paced with a light, breezy tone, and every scene is jam-packed with jokes, both through the story and in the background, plus tons of Easter eggs. The action is used not just to entertain, but to develop characters, which in turn endears them to the audience. While it’s very respectful and true to gaming culture, it’s one of those movies that almost anyone could watch and find enjoyment in.
Great Addition for Streamers. Brilliant pixels for every raid.
As Guy, Ryan Reynolds is basically just Ryan Reynolds. That’s not a bad thing, he’s great. But for the most part, he’s mostly presenting his usual wisecracking, handsome self. It works perfectly for the character and there’s a dash of innocence that gives Guy a bit of a twist but, for the most part, what you expect is what you get. Beyond just Reynolds though, the cast shines even brighter. Comer has a level of authority and swagger mixed with naivety and vulnerability which makes Millie hugely endearing. Waititi is laugh-out-loud hilarious as the villainous megalomaniac Antoine, and while Keery’s Keys is basically the straight man in the story, he does so with confidence and care. Throw in Pitch Perfect’s Utkarsh Ambudkar as Keys’ malleable co-worker, Get Out’s Lil Rel Howery as Guy’s best friend Buddy, and a laundry list of cameos, and the cast really brings Free Guy to a whole new level.
The visual effects of Free Guy are noteworthy too, not because they’re particularly flashy, but because they’re just flashy enough to make the world of Free City seem both fun to live in and kind of real. That’s important so we buy into Guy’s journey and feel like the game is as important as our reality, and ultimately, that balance is what makes Free Guy so good. On one level, it’s just a fun, simple story set primarily in a video game. But by weaving the real and fantasy worlds together, Free Guy makes us care about the characters in ways that elevate it from any potential mediocrity. Guy’s journey becomes a window into the way you should treat strangers and his feelings for Millie are revealed to come from somewhere pure and heartfelt. The film also explores the idea that something original should be celebrated for its originality, instead of simply mass-marketed and repackaged. The way people have their eyes opened to new realities can be seen as literal or through a social lens, and as people in the world watch Guy’s journey, everyone seems to find their own unique brand of inspiration.
Free Guy has a lot of ideas floating throughout, but never to a point where it feels preachy. If you just want to go along for the ride, you can do that too. Oh, and the film’s final act is a surprised-filled cornucopia—a cathartic cacophony of satisfying payoffs both narratively and emotionally that brings everything together beautifully. Sure, you knew how Free Guy was going to end 10 minutes after it started, but seeing how it all plays out is not only good old-fashioned fun, it’s got heart and smarts to boot. I feel safe putting Free Guy on a list with Wreck-It Ralph and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as some of the best video game-themed movies in recent memory.
Nation building is as old as man. It has always been an attempt to strengthen the internal unity and cohesion of a family, tribe, clan, nation or modern state, in the face of a challenging environment, or an external foe, in order to triumph over it.
Members of a family, tribe, clan, nation or state often quarrel among themselves, at times bitterly and with deadly consequences. But nation building is always about forgetting and forgiving internal bickering and unite to face a shared future. It is never about raking up old quarrels, etching deeper fissures among members and trying to marginalise large sections as unwanted.
RSS claims its first and foremost aim is nation building. All its activities are geared towards creating a strong, cohesive, and united nation. Why then does RSS dig up old quarrels, that cannot but divide Indians? Why does it insist on identity-based politics, when it knows identities are never negotiable, being the very core of who you are? In fact, RSS’ world view was so at variance with the that of the mainstream after independence, that Sardar Patel had to ban it in the wake of Gandhi’s assassination.
RSS almost never talks of its vision of the shared future that awaits the nation that it wants to build. Why is RSS so rooted in the past, blinkered by the vicissitudes of history and so blatantly shy of delineating the shared future that awaits us as a nation? RSS’ idea of a nation, and who RSS thinks we are, has best been delineated by its three ideologues, V.D. Savarkar, M.S. Golwalkar and Deendayal Upadhyay. Of the three, Savarkar best explains RSS’ idea of who we are, in a generally accepted theoretical framework. So, let us examine his idea of Hindutva, nation, and state.
Any self-respecting police force would have used its best officers to prove the charges levelled, true or false, against the accused men. But the Delhi Police is without the mojo it used to have once, long ago. Especially after Amit Shah got charge of the Union Home Ministry in 2019. The Delhi Police serves the politicians who lord over it rather than the people of Delhi. In fact, the Delhi Police works in the shadow of the Union Home Ministry. The Delhi Police is caught in a systemic fault-line, and no amount of screaming and shouting can undo the knot.
The BJP, because it’s in power at the Centre, is forever parading the benefits of a “double-engine” government for the national Capital. However, the Delhi electorate has chosen not to give the BJP the ‘state” of Delhi and, therefore, without the “double-engine”, the Modi Government makes sure that the Delhi Police remains at its beck and call. In situations like the northeast Delhi riots, it’s advantage the Union government, ergo the BJP.
But, unlike the AAP Government, the courts aren’t helpless. If a wrong is perpetrated, India’s courts have for the most part delivered justice. So, it’s that the Delhi court freed three accused in one of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots cases, one of them charged with “looting and damaging” a shop.
