Looks like the BIG wedding is over, or sort of over, because festivities now move to England. That’s how clued in I am!
Has the rest of India remained at standstill during the excitement or has life and its calamities continued with no concern for what was going on?
Out there in the US, someone shot at President Donald Trump who hopes to become President Donald Trump once again. In between Kim Kardashian’s non-existent choli and packets of bhujia sev for employees, I have gathered that the bullet hit Trump’s ear, that the shooter was killed, that the photos of the incident were fake, that the photos were not fake, then TV interviews of the photographer who took the photo that was not fake but only looked fake, that this was the end of the USA, the beginning of the USA, how assassinations and assassination attempts do not change history, how they don’t change history, that now Trump will return, won’t return…
If you have not watched the satirical film Don’t Look Up, please do. Not only does it excoriate the circus that the media has become, from trivializing every issue it faces to sidestepping reality to focus on the lowest common denominator, it also rips apart the charade of politics which is only about staying in power and how big money controls the world.
The film Civil War now on streaming platforms tackles the state of the world and in the media in almost a straight-out documentary manner – every different from Don’t Look Up. As it follows the journey of embedded journalists in a USA that is falling apart, it is disturbing, distressing and yet very real. The dissonance of reporting on a world falling apart and your own fears in such a world is portrayed with amazing sensitivity by an almost deadpan Kirsten Dunst, in one of her best performances.
If the great Ambani wedding was like a reality show, then so was the hoopla around the reactions to Trump and even to US President Joe Biden’s verbal miscues. They all fit into this image of a world falling apart, struggling not to fly off the edge and yet pushing themselves off the edge in the attempt.
Shades of the same dystopian reactions continue with the western world’s reactions to and support of Israel continued attacks on the Palestinian people. From the Hamas strike on October 7, 2023 to date, the deaths of thousands of Palestinians have meant nothing compared to the “right” of Israel to defend itself and the right of a few western countries to sell arms to Israel so that it can kill Palestinians more effectively.
I suppose we need to relate all this to the Indian media. In many ways, perhaps even for the media, the Ambani celebration a short and welcome distraction from reality? We could laugh together at the shenanigans of the rich and famous, even as we struggled in our own world. Rising inflation rates especially in retail and fresh produce have put additional strain on households already struggling with economic distress. Terrorist attacks, collapsing infrastructure, continuing anarchy in Manipur, sectarian violence, none of that has changed.
While a TV channel has apparently justified political assassination, or at any rate, not questioned a BJP spokesperson who did so, there are rumblings from territories within the BJP’s domain. A priest at the Kedarnath Temple, part of the Char Dham pilgrimage, has alleged a Rs 125 crore scam in gold layering work. The temple is in Uttarakhand, a BJP-ruled state.
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/kedarnath-temple-priest-alleges-rs-125-crore-scam-in-gold-layering-work-management-responds-11686995866850.html
In some countries this is known as corruption. But, well, never mind.
NRIs excited about Modi’s foreign visits are so important.
No?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.