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In the days of Ray, Ghatak, Sen, and Tapan Sinha, Bengali cinema was the forerunner of the Indian film industry. Later came Goutam Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Rituparno Ghosh and Aparna Sen. Their films made a mark on the history of Indian cinema, and were justifiably favourites at the National Awards. Then there were films by Kaushik Ganguly, Suman Ghosh, Anjan Dutt, Sandip Ray, and Srijit Mukherjee, again very relevant and topical, universal in nature. Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, the darlings of middle-road cinema, made some gems like Icchhe, Ramdhanu and Bela Seshe, that catered to middle-class sensibilities while addressing universal themes. Now, I believe, Bengali film makers have run out of ideas. Let's not even talk of commercial Bengali flicks that are blatant rip-offs of South movies. I am talking of middle-of-the road Bangla cinema. Recent offerings like Chhaya o Chhobi, Drishtikone, Haami, Uma, Ghare & Baire, Abaar Ashbo Phire, Cockpit, Amazon Obhi...

The world over these days, beauty contests for women are pretending to be contests for judging the overall personality of the contestant, not just external appearance and vital statistics. If that is the case, then why do they have the rather blatantly-titillating swimsuit round, may I ask? If a lady is not being judged for her vital statistics, then why is she made to strut around in a teeny-weenie bikini, and pose with a pout for the judges and cameras?  Why does it matter whether she stuns the audience in a strapless figure-hugging evening gown, balancing herself on inch-long stilettos, or not?  If her final answer is what determines whether she ultimately wins the title or not, then why the rigmarole of parading her in various kinds of provocative clothing? I failed to understand the double standards of these contests, and also of winners (think our local Aishwarya Rai or Priyanka Chopra) who seem be deep thinkers on world issues, judging by their answers. Why d...