Amitabh Bachchan is a consummate chameleon. You got to hand it to him for seamlessly merging and adapting to the political atmosphere in the country. Once upon a time, he was very close to the Nehru-Gandhis during the high noon of the Congress party rule. Then, he hitched his wagon to the Samajwadi party a few years ago. And now that the BJP is dominating the political landscape of the country, he has converted to being a Modi devotee. What else can explain the shameful silence by this holier-than-though patriarch of the Hindi film industry, when he would not speak a word in support of the filmmakers right to make the movie that they want to make in relation to the raging controversy around the yet to be released movie Padmavati.

Yesterday was National Press Freedom day in India.  And PM Modi tweeted his admiration and support for the necessity of having a vibrant press in a democracy.  Well, it's good that the Prime Minister is so concerned about the state of our media.  I hope the irony is not completely lost on the honorable Prime Minister because he's always been contemptuous of the media.  Ever since he has assumed the office of the Prime Minister, he has not held a single press conference.  He never allows members of the press to ask any questions of him.  As far as he is concerned, it's been all a one-way communication, when he would get on his soapbox and deliver tired old cliches like a school headmaster in 'Mann Ki Baat'.

Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Remains Of The Day' is a work of luminous beauty. You never cease to be amazed by the sheer moral clarity of the prose. This 1989 Booker Prize-winning novel was made into a fine movie in 1993 by the renowned Merchant-Ivory production, receiving eight Academy Awards nominations. I saw the movie a few years ago, and now reading the book. As so often happens when you have seen the movie first before reading the book on which it is based on; I cannot get rid of the image and voice of Sir Anthony Hopkins as the extremely conscientious butler Mr. Stevens is meditating on his lifetime of dedicated service at the Darlington Hall, and reflecting what in the end has it all amounted to.