In this episode, hosts Pooja Prasanna and Leena Reghunath are joined by The News Minute’s Nandini Chandrashekar, lawyer Nikhil Narendran and environmental journalist Bahar Dutt.
On the outrage over the film Empuraan, Nikhil says, “If you make a movie using the name of a known convict, Babu Bajrangi, why should the Hindu sentiment be hurt?”
Airing her disappointment over Mohanlal expressing regret for the film’s contents , Pooja remarks: “If anybody could withstand pressure, it's a star like Mohanlal. There was no call for ban, not even from the BJP. So what was the need to buckle?”
Leena calls individuals like Mohanlal “soft Hindutva insiders” and says that they don’t need violence to feel threatened. “Even a letter saying his honorary position as Lt Colonel will be removed is enough to shake them.”
The discussion then shifts to University of Hyderabad students protesting against tree felling in forest land near the campus. Bahar says, “We are the land of Chipko. Here we have students who have decided they want to save the forest and the biodiversity in their backyard.” She calls for celebrating the students instead of lathicharging and arresting them.
Nandini, who is also an alumna of the university, says there was no reason for the government to take the land. “It is not befitting the Chief Minister to call students cunning jackals,” she remarks.
Tune in for an in-depth discussion.
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Audio timecodes
00:00:00 – Introductions
00:01:49 – Announcements
00:03:03 – Headlines
00:12:29 – Empuraan row
00:41:34 – Protests in Hyderabad
01:09:10 – Recommendations
References
RSS and BJP's quiet takeover of Auroville
Empuraan row: BJP, Organiser attack Prithviraj and Supriya, Mallika Sukumaran defends son
Mohanlal’s Empuraan note betrays zero will to stick to film’s ‘strong’ statement
‘Don't destroy Malayalam industry like this’: Mohanlal on aftermath of Hema Committee report
‘Aren’t we all stakeholders?’ ask University of Hyderabad’s students, faculty
Explained: What is University of Hyderabad’s Kancha Gachibowli row about?
Inside the manosphere luring young Indian men and boys
Recommendations
Bahar Dutt
Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism
Nikhil Narendran
Nandini Chandrashekar
Leena Reghunath
Unmasking anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat narrative in ‘Empuraan’
How Mohanlal, Mammootty and the ‘national’ media failed the pioneering women of Mollywood
Pooja Prasanna
Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism
Produced by Bhuvan Malik, edited by Jaseem Ali.
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