The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
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Actor Ananya Panday flashes the right smile for the photographers as she exists a Bandra café even as a cross onlooker gives her the dagger look. Pic/Shadab Khan
Not staying silent
The recent Bollywood movie, Kabir Singh, has come under some heavy criticism for its misogynistic overtones. In it, the character that Shahid Kapur plays is shown as a sexist, highly aggressive man who doesn't refrain from slapping his significant other, played by Kiara Advani.
The scene and the film in general has received major backlash, and has now prompted a number of women on social media to share stories about facing domestic violence, highlighting how problematic the movie is. One user, for instance, wrote how her ex-boyfriend had punched her so badly in the face that her eyes are now of two different sizes. Most of the comments to such posts have been supportive, and despite the misogyny in the Hindi film, it's heartening to see people in real life standing up for each other.
These people have designs for change
That 54.06 per cent of Indian women architects are employed in the private sector, and a promising 16.09 per cent have independent practices are just some of the interesting data that Brinda Somaya, architect and urban conservationist, shared with this diarist recently, in context to an exciting event in early 2020.
The respected voice for women's architecture is the guiding force behind a three-day international conference to be held in Mumbai in January 2020. Called Women in Design 2020+ this international conference will bring together 35 of the most creative minds across architecture, design, photography, art, film and literature.
"It's going to be a fabulous celebration of design change-makers," shared Somaya, adding that some of the world's sharpest minds in the industry will debate, discuss and ideate at this platform including India's Abha Narain Lambah, Shimul Javeri Kadri and Farah Khan.
Setting it right
There has been a major uproar over a temple being vandalised in New Delhi, and one person who found himself caught in the middle of it all was Javed Akhtar.
There was a tweet in Hindi doing the rounds, attributed to him, which translated to, "Why is there such a hue and cry? Lifeless idols have been destroyed. Neither has anyone been killed nor has anyone been lynched." This caused a major uproar, except that it was fake post. Akhtar has clarified as much, and thus set the record straight in no uncertain terms.
Sabya gets a dressing down online
Wearing make-up is an individual choice that a woman makes. Some choose to keep it light. Others sometimes like to pile it on. Either way, it's the person's decision alone about how she wants to portray herself to the world. But Sabyasachi Mukherjee recently put up a controversial social media post where he claimed that those who are overdressed and caked with make-up are "wounded women" who require empathy.
This angered quite a few people on his timeline, including poet Harnidh Kaur and city-based artists like Priyanka Paul and Abhijit Khanna. Not just them, there was in fact a barrage of criticism that the designer faced in the comments section. Seems like this was one opinion he should have best kept to himself, though Sabya hadn't responded to any of the comments at the time of going to press.
Civic complaints now a tweet away
The monsoon brings with it the usual set of problems in Mumbai, and the grumblings of citizens goes on an overdrive in this period. But outside of mere venting, how does one actually air a grievance that will hopefully be met with the right response.
Dino Morea and Vishal Dadlani
Well, the answer is the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Twitter handle. The BMC recently made this foray online, and has been quite prompt so far in replying to aggrieved citizens. For example, a citizen posted about falling into an open manhole and saving himself in the nick of time. The civic body wasted no time in addressing the issue, and it's this sort of response that celebrities like Vishal Dadlani and Dino Morea have also lauded. Let's hope their commitment on social media flows onto their ground work as well.
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