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January, 2007 @newagebd.com Main Page « Front Page « Metro « Business « International « Sports « National « Editorial « Op-Ed « Home « Timeout « Letters «

The Nehrus and the Gandhis: An Indian dynasty The Granta Book of Reportage Published by Granta $15 Available on Amazon.com through Etc. Through the decades Granta, the magazine of new writing in English published from the UK, has been the stepping stone into greatness for some of the giants of literature and journalism. This collection of reportage—aptly named as it is too insightful and erudite to be plain reporting—is a collection that deserves to be read and reread as a reminder of why good writing can still move mountains in an age when TV reporting is elbowing the print media out of our everyday lives. While Suketu Mehta discovers the real Mumbai, with its high society hypocrisies and the shadows cast by Bal Thackeray and his murderous criminal network, BBC stalwart John Simpson writes a moving account of the tragedy of Tiananmen Square in China. Martha Gellhorn’s account of the invasion of Panama by the United States, also in this collection, remains one of the finest pieces of war journalism the world will ever be likely to read, across centuries. Feminism’s living legend, Germaine Greer’s piece on Cuba shatters the myths. It was one of my personal favourites and slaked a thirst to know Cuba’s revolution beyond the news headlines. What is the single philosophy that binds this collection together? These are extraordinary writers, bringing home stories that speak of humanity, courage and hope. In 1987, when Gellhorn was in her late seventies, wrote:    A writer publishes to be read; then hopes the readers are affected by the words, hopes that their opinions are challenged or strengthened or enlarged, or that readers are pushed to notice something they had not stopped to notice before. All my reporting life, I have thrown small pebbles into a very large pond, and have no way of knowing whether any pebble caused the slightest ripple. I don’t need to worry about that. My responsibility was the effort.    Every piece in this collection is an extraordinary testimony to that effort that blurs the lines between journalism and great literature.    – MH Behind the Nobel Banker to the poor Published by UPL Tk 480 Available at all good bookstores For a public figure who has been in the intense scrutiny of the media spotlight, in Bangladesh and abroad, Dr Muhammad Yunus has managed to stay remarkably private man. While he is frequently seen rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers of international capital and philanthropy, few even in Bangladesh, really know much about him. In his interviews Dr Yunus only ever talks about his work and the Grameen Bank, rarely drawn out to talk about himself. So it is surprising that in his 1998 autobiography Banker to the poor, the shy professor of economics who became disillusioned with the elegant theories he taught, comes clean about his philosophies, his aspirations, and the experiences that shaped his life. From all the childhood mischief he engineered during his Boxirhaat, Chittagong childhood years to his years in the US as a post-grad student and the struggles he endured to establish the Grameen Bank, they are all here. The style is candid and as fast paced as those detective thrillers that Dr Yunus professes to have been addicted to as a teenager, and will appeal to a very wide audience. When people see Dr Yunus, they see a Nobel Prize and the success of Grameen Bank. But written into the pages of this book are the many layers of a truly gifted and dedicated man and the struggles he endured to see his ‘idealistic’ micro-loans project succeed. Definitely a must read, and should be made compulsory reading at economics departments across the country.    – MH MOVIES Thank you for smoking    Dry humour is usually a British forte, but once in a while American forays into the genre like Thank you for Smoking play the part well. A satirical take on corporate rhetoric, the film follows tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (termed the sultan of spin) as he defends an industry killing millions of people every year. The dialogue is snappy, the humour is black, and the whole thing is one and a half hours of a viewer feeling guilty at finding the jokes funny.        Black Dahlia    Based on James Ellroy’s book of the same name, Black Dahlia puts a fictional spin on one of the most infamous homicides in LA. The film has all the trappings of a dark cop film, with a special touch of the vintage in the lighting and tone. Josh Harnett and Aaron Echkhart are perfect for the roles, (Harnett the quiet brooder and Echkart tightly strung), but there are too many sub-plots for the film to progress smoothly. On the other hand, the choice of extras like an audition for a porn flick, shaking down a lesbian bar and the unashamedly blatant death scenes will keep the attention fixed.        The Departed    Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg; with such names on the credits, Departed was either going to be huge, or a big disappointment. Fortunately, it delivers on the expectations. Martin Scorsese’s film depicts two double agents, an undercover cop and a gang member embedded in the police force; each is trying to root out the other, and they are connected by only a similar love interest. Although the ending is anti-climatic, the lead up itself makes up the movie’s foundations.        Borat    Cultural Learnings of America to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. From the man behind the rise of Ali G, Borat is the absurdly naïve reporter from Kazakhstan taking a road trip through America to make a documentary, and find Pamela Andersen. The film is so vulgar in its comedy, and its portrayal of Borat's home country, the embassy in the US is actually running an ad campaign on CNN denouncing it. IF you're not jewish, this is one that'll leave you laughing your guts out.