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Wat Buddha Iceland tests
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The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1
CrashCourse
Published on Jan 26, 2012
Crash Course World History is now available on DVD! Visit http://store.dftba.com/
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In which John
Green investigates the dawn of human civilization. John looks into how
people gave up hunting and gathering to become agriculturalists, and how
that change has influenced the world we live in today. Also, there are
some jokes about cheeseburgers.
Additional reading:
NIsa by Marjorie Shostak: https://goo.gl/hAPr5H
First Farmers by Peter Bellwood: https://goo.gl/JqgHLW
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Caption authors (French)
E Dhooge
adaleiz
Caption authors (Croatian)
Isauce Now
Luka Cvitković
Caption author (Serbian)
Luka Ristic
Caption author (Norwegian)
Sandy Tree
Caption author (Dutch)
Martijn van der Horst
Caption author (Vietnamese)
Dung Vũ
Caption author (Portuguese (Brazil))
Gustavo Guimarães
Caption author (Esperanto)
Black9
Caption author (Hungarian)
Csenge Kilián
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Top 10 Chinese Cartoon Characters
by Peter Wang · September 18, 2012
There are lots of Chinese animation characters. Some of them have left
deep impressions on all Chinese teenagers and kids. Here Chinawhisper
picks the top 10 classic Chinese cartoon characters. Now let’s take a
look at these colourful cartoon images:
1. Nasreddin 阿凡提
In China almost every person knows Afanti or 阿凡提, the Uyghur name of
Nasreddin. The Uyghurs do not believe Afanti lived in Anatolia but was
from Eastern Turkistan. Nasreddin 14-episode animation series named The
Story of Afanti was produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio from 1979
to 1989; it became one of the most popular animations in China. The
leading role Afanti is a humorous man who has a strong hatred of evil
practices, he uses his wisdom to uphold justice for the poor people and
punish the greedy and stupid rich man Bayi and the king.
2. The Calabash Brothers 葫芦兄弟
The calabash brothers were the leading role of the popular 13-episod
animation Balabash Brothers during the 1980s. The seven calabash
brothers have superior abilities; they fight against the demons one
after another in order to save their loved ones. Balabash Brothers is
one of the country’s original classic works. Since its broadcast in
1986, it has been popular among children.
3. Nezha 哪吒,
According to the Chinese fantasy novel Fengshen Bang, Nezha was a
student of the immortal Taiyi Zhenren who reconstructed his body with
lotus leaves and blossoms and trained him into a warrior deity. In
another classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, he fought together
with his faster against the Monkey King and later helped him defeat
demons on the Road to the West. His great popularity came with the
popular 1979 animated film Prince Nezha Conquers the Dragon King. The
plot centres on Nezha’s fight against Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the
Eastern China Sea.
4. Pi Pilu and Lu Xixi 皮皮鲁、鲁西西
Pipilu
and Luxixi are twin brother and sister from Pi Pilu’s Story Series,
written by renowned Chinese fairy tale writer Zheng Yuanjie. They are
known among the children for many interesting things they experienced.
They have two good friends, Shuke and Beita, who are perhaps the two
most popular rats in China. Shuke and Beita are extremely smart and they
know the language of human being … …
5. The Monkey King 美猴王
Monkey King, is a leading character in the classical Chinese fantasy
novel Journey to the West. He is born from a stone with super power. He
was trapped under a mountain by the Buddha for his rebelling against
heaven court, and later was saved by the monk Xuanzang on a journey to
retrieve Buddhist sutras from India. There are many TV and films about
the Monkey King. Havoc in Heaven produced in the 1960s is the most
famous one.
6. Chen Xiang 沉香
Chen Xiang is a cartoon
character in Chinese ancient folklore, he becomes widely known to
Chinese in animated feature film Lotus Lantern . Chen Xiang was the son
of a fairy who was imprisoned by Erlang Shen beneath Mount Hua for
falling in love with an ordinary person. Chen Xiang then descended to
the mortal world carrying his mother’s lotus lantern. With his
perseverance and courage, he finally defeated Erlang Shen and saved his
mother.
7. Sergeant Black Cat 黑猫警长
Sergeant Black Cat is a
famous cartoon character in animated TV series of the same title. In
the animation, the witty, brave and handsome Sergeant Black Cat led his
sergeants to crack a series of cases which threatened the forest safety,
helping various animals in the forest live a peaceful life. It was very
popular among post-80s Chinese children.
8. Sanmao 三毛
San
Mao is the main character of Chinese animation TV series Wanderings of.
San Mao. He was a very poor orphan and wandered and begged in old
Shanghai in the 1930s. The story depicts his rough fate and various
sufferings, and his humour wandering experiences in the process of
looking for happiness and warmth in this metropolis city.
9. Ma Liang 马良
Maliang is a legendary character in a Chinese folklore story. He lived a
village and could not go to school due to the poor status of his
family. But he loved painting very much. One day, he got a brush with
magical power and can turn anything he drew into reality under his hand.
This info soon reached the emperor who imprisoned Ma Liang and forced
him to draw a Money Tree. He followed his order but he also drew a giant
ocean around it. After the emperor sailed across the sea with his
followers, Ma Liang soon wielded his brush and drew lots of winds; soon
the emperor’s ships sank into the water. This story was adapted into a
Chinese animated stop-motion film called Ma Liang and his Magic Brush
(Chinese: 神笔马良) in 1954.
10. Pleasant Goat and Grey Wolf 喜羊羊与灰太狼
Pleasant Goat and Grey Wolf are perhaps the most popular cartoon
characters in today’s China. They are the main characters in the carton
TV series Pleasant Goat And Big Big Wolf , which tells about how a group
of goats living on the grassland fight against a clumsy wolf with
various clever methods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
INDONESIA: Was the most Muslim country on earth once Hindu and Buddhist?
The Nomadic Professor
Published on Feb 18, 2017
By 1800, the vast majority of what is today Indonesia professed
Islam–and much of Indonesia’s ancient Hindu and Buddhist history had
been all but forgotten, its monumental architecture in ruins in the
jungle.
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Visit nomadicprofessor.com
Category
People & Blogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
Traditional Irish Music Compilation: Instrumental Irish Music for Dancing - Pub Drinking Music.
Live Better Media
Published on Feb 11, 2016
Irish music traditional instrumental compilation with fiddle, violin,
guitar, flute., country, folk acoustic compilation of celtic gaelic
ballads. BEST OF WORLD MUSIC ► https://goo.gl/89dlwx
Live Better Media is a place where you can find all kind of music:
relaxing music, motivational and epic, happy or sad music, and much
more.
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Music
http://freemusicarchive.org/
http://freemusicarchive.org/
licensed under a Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
http://creativecommons.org/
Category
Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
Italian Music Instrumental: Traditional Music From Italy - Folk
Live Better Media
Published on Feb 11, 2016
Italian music instrumental - Traditional music from Italy. BEST OF WORLD MUSIC ► https://goo.gl/89dlwx
Live Better Media is a place where you can find all kind of music:
relaxing music, motivational and epic, happy or sad music, and much
more.
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Category
Music
For many years, animation received minimal recognition as a
significant form of cinematic and artistic expression. A seemingly
irrevocable process of marginalization and dismissal has been arrested,
however, by the enduring presence of animation festivals worldwide, the
rise of animation studies in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, and the exponential rise in animation production in all
sectors of media, culture, and the arts. Animation is now at the heart
of cinema, from the traditional neoclassicism of Pixar Animation to
high-end effects movies such as Avatar (2009); indeed, some argue
that all cinema is a form of animation. Animation has been most
associated, of course, with the American animated cartoon. Following the
pioneering work of J. Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay, Walt Disney
developed the form through his “Silly Symphonies,” and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937), the first full-length, Technicolor, sound-synchronized,
marquee-headlining, animated feature. Narrative, esthetic, and cultural
challenges to Disney’s emergent classical style followed in cartoons by
the Fleischer, Warner Brothers, MGM, and UPA studios, soon inventive
models of comic mayhem and social satire. A different kind of
experimental tradition emerged in Europe through auteurs such as Émile
Cohl, Lotte Reiniger, Oskar Fischinger, Ladislaw Starewich, and Norman
McLaren, employing different techniques and materials, but it also
informed the productions of studios such as those in Zagreb and Prague,
or Halas and Batchelor and W. E. Larkins in the United Kingdom.
Animation afforded practitioners the opportunity to develop distinctive
approaches, exploring color, shape, form, and motion for its own sake,
or advancing fresh approaches to narrative and sociocultural
representation. Strong indigenous traditions of animation were present,
too, in Japan, Russia, and China, and almost uniformly across eastern
and western Europe. Pixar Animation and Dreamworks have moved animation
into the forefront of mainstream feature film entertainment, with
high-quality franchises such as Toy Story (1995–2010) and Shrek (2001–2010), but independent works such as Persepolis (2007) and Waltz with Bashir
(2008) have also achieved breakthrough crossover success.
Animé—especially the films of Hayao Miyazaki—enjoys international
appeal. Most major blockbuster movies employ spectacular animated visual
effects, and The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy
remain important staples of the TV schedules. The whole history of
global animation practice is coming under fresh scrutiny. This
developing literature properly reflects the different strands of
activity and thinking about animation as a process, an art, a craft, a
representational idiom, and a site addressing ideas and issues, most
specifically memory and emotion.
The following texts offer broad overviews of animation in a variety
of ways, partly operating as quasi-histories, partly as introductory,
informative, and often richly illustrated works, and partly as
commentaries on production that suggest other kinds of more developed
reading and investigation. McCall 1998 is a useful catalogue; Beck 1994 collects the fifty greatest cartoons; Beckerman 2003 offers a view of animation as a craft, fully extended in Furniss 2008; Faber and Walters 2003 provides an update of the experimental tradition championed in Russett and Starr 1988; Kanfer 1997 looks at animation through the filter of business and industry; and Wiedemann 2004 collates the imagery of global animation as art.
Beck, Jerry. The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Atlanta: Turner, 1994.
Beck,
one of the most knowledgeable figures about American animated cartoons,
and convener of the “Cartoon Brew” website, ballots animation-invested
experts and practitioners to name the fifty greatest cartoons. The
criteria by which cartoons are evaluated are “originality,” “artistry,”
“animation,” “music,” “humor,” “personality,” and “concept.” Number one
is Chuck Jones’s What’s Opera, Doc? (1957).
Beckerman, Howard. Animation: The Whole Story. Rev. ed. New York: Allworth, 2003.
A
practitioner perspective on the development of the form, offering a
view of the history of animation in relation to its technical and craft
orientation before offering insights on drawing, creating characters,
visual storytelling, direction, and traditional approaches to 2D
animation.
Faber, Liz, and Helen Walters. Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films since 1940. London: Laurence King, 2003.
An
invaluable compendium of innovative independent animated shorts made
since 1940, with short introductory pieces and high-quality illustrative
images. The book includes a DVD of examples based on the thematic
categories of form, sound, words, and character, and embraces the
anticipated canon of experimental filmmakers, and less celebrated
figures including John Stehura, Jules Engel, Karl Sims, and Stan
Vanderbeek.
Furniss, Maureen. The Animation Bible. New York: Abrams, 2008.
Maureen
Furniss, a leading figure in animation studies, has produced some key
texts in the research, scholarship, and pedagogy of animation. The Animation Bible
constitutes a summation of her expertise and outlook, drawing together
contemporary production examples not only to exemplify different models
of practice but also to offer a theoretical and critical commentary on
style, technique, and creative methodologies.
Kanfer, Stefan. Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story. New York: Scribner, 1997.
An
engaging overview of the history of the American animated cartoon, set
within an industry and business context, often described by veteran
animators themselves. Though journalistic in tone, the book is often
insightful about the relationship between the commercial infrastructure
and the eventual production outcomes of competing studios.
McCall, Douglas L. Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998.
Divided
into three sections, the book provides data on 180 feature animations,
films that include animated credits and interludes, and information on
more than 1,500 shorts. It also has material on key animation studios. A
range of these kinds of texts are found in the bibliography, and they
tend to be more authoritative than information of this sort on the
Internet.
Russett, Robert, and Cecile Starr, eds. Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art. New York: Da Capo, 1988.
One
of the most significant yet neglected books in animation studies,
offering an account of experimental animation as the “origin of a new
art,” taking up the work of abstract filmmakers, and focusing on
nonobjective, nonlinear shorts. The book includes analyses of work both
in the European and in the American experimental tradition, constantly
drawing attention to the deployment of new technologies.
Wiedemann, Julius, ed. Animation NOW! London: Taschen, 2004.
A
comprehensive pictorial overview of animation practices worldwide, with
an accompanying DVD, with short introductions about featured
filmmakers, studios, universities, and colleges. The book adds
credibility to the status and quality of the visual imagery drawn from
animated films, by aligning it with Taschen’s overall strategy in
producing publications dedicated to the primacy of the image in its own
right.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUnccUuAMGU
Animated Classics of Japanese Literature: The Priest of Mt. Kouya
20C History Project
Published on Jul 2, 2015
Part of a 1986 Japanese TV series called “Animated Classics of Japanese
Literature,” this half-hour segment is adapted from a story by Kyoka
Izumi. This is one of the few stories in the series to have
supernatural overtones. A traveling Buddhist monk takes a treacherous
mountain route despite warnings and must contend with
snakes, leeches and, finally, a mysterious beautiful woman who puts him
up for the night in her farmhouse, where he soon learns the fate of
previous travelers who’ve stopped there. Has echoes of a famous Greek
myth.
Category
Film & Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
So Sorry | ‘War’ Natak Main Kar Natak
SoSorry
Published on Apr 9, 2018
In almost a month, Karnataka will go to polls with the Congress looking
to retain the state. Meanwhile, the BJP and JDS have drawn the battle
lines to take the fight to Rahul Gandhi and CM Siddaramaiah. However,
the Congress has a secret trump card in this triangular cockfight! but,
will their secret card help them cross the finishing line and retain
power? Let’s wait and see!
__
About Channel:
So Sorry is an exclusive Politoons series by India Today Group. It is
India’s first politoons series and an initiative by India Today Group
which focuses exclusively on the most trending and controversial news
from all over India.
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/sosorryp…
Category
Comedy
http://www.indiewire.com/…/the-25-best-animated-films-of-t…/
The 25 Best Animated Films Of The 21st Century So Far
The 25 Best Animated Films Of The 21st Century So Far
The Playlist Staff
Mar 19, 2015 1:50 pm
Surprisingly, of all the many, many names we were called over our
ranking of The 50 Best Films Of The Decade So Far, “anti-animation,
hegemonic live-action crypto-fascists” wasn’t one, despite the fact we
didn’t feature any animated movies on that list. We were a touch
disappointed, to be honest, as we had a snappy comeback at the ready: we
were already in the planning stages of an all-animation feature, so we
felt justified in separating the live action picks from their
hand-drawn, computer generated, stop motion and claymation brethren. So
here is that list: the time frame is extended this time to include any
animated film in any style (bar rotoscoping, which we excluded because
of its reliance on live-action filming first) from 2000 till now.
The last fifteen years have seen the animation industry undergo huge
upheavals, from the titanic union of old-school giant Disney with
beloved game-changer Pixar, to the rise to international and
Oscar-winning glory of the extraordinary Studio Ghibli (and its imminent
dissolution), to the massive leap in quality made by the likes of
DreamWorks and other up-and-comers. All these factors combine to provide
a mainstream and arthouse filmmaking landscape that’s friendlier toward
a more diverse range of animation styles and subjects than ever before.
The sheer breadth of choice we have, and the extremely subjective
nature of the beast (one viewer’s pretty is another viewer’s twee) means
that we’re fully confident that this ranking will inspire its fair
share of rage/accusations of bias as well. But like many of the films
listed below have taught us, we’re going to be brave, follow our dreams
and find inner reserves of strength and goodness to face whatever life
and the commenters throw at us, as we take you on this trip through our
25 favorite animated features of the 21st century. And if you want more
of the best films since 2000, you can check out our feature on the best
horror movies of the 21st century here.
[Lilo & Stitch] 25. “Lilo & Stitch” (2002)
The late ’90s and early ’00s were a bleak time for Disney animation:
that pre-“Frozen” era paid almost nothing off at the box office, in
large part because films like “Brother Bear” and “Home On The Range”
were extremely poor. But the major shining light (along with “The
Emperor’s New Groove,” which is admirably Chuck Jones-esque) was “Lilo
& Stitch.” It’s a riff on “E.T.” on the surface —eccentric young
girl befriends intergalactic runaway— but directors Chris Sanders and
Dean DeBlois (who’d go on to make “How To Train Your Dragon”) make it
sing through specificity: the delirious mischief of the adorably
psychotic Stitch, the gorgeously realized Hawaiian setting, and the
surprising pathos of Lilo and her older sister, who are being
investigated by social services. It perhaps doesn’t stand with the early
’90s late golden age of Disney, but it’s a wonderfully weird and
enormously satisfying film.
[Winnie The Pooh] 24. “Winnie the Pooh” (2011)
Every generation feels a sense that the children of today are missing
out on some vital part of childhood due to the technological
advancements of modern life (right back to the first Neolithic Dad who
shook his head sadly at his son’s use of those new-fangled bronze
tools). But Disney’s hand-animated “Winnie the Pooh” from directors Don
Hall and Stephen J Anderson evokes simpler times with charm and wit and
even —gasp!— suggests the pleasures of reading, with the characters
interacting with text on the page in a continually inventive way. It’s
admittedly for very young children, and some adults who grew up with
previous Disney Pooh films were apparently disappointed that this wasn’t
quite as, well, Disneyfied. But this is a short, calm, gently screwy
homage to one of the sweetest and best-loved children’s characters of
all time that respects Pooh’s original source material —AA Milne’s
wonderful books.
[Rango Depp] 23. “Rango” (2011)
Even when
the original “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies weren’t working, they
were still admirably weird. So it’s unsurprising in retrospect than when
director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp reteamed for an animated
picture, they produced one of the odder animated movies ever made by a
studio. Melding “Chinatown” with any one of a number of classic
Westerns, but with animals and a slightly deranged high-on-peyote vibe,
it sees Depp’s Hunter Thompson-ish chameleon become mistaken for a hero
by a town suffering from drought. Rehearsed with the actors in costume
(an absolute rarity in the animation world) before being brought to
stunning life by Industrial Light & Magic, the VFX company’s sole
animated feature to date, it’s a reminder of the oddball vision that
Verbinski could bring without blockbuster bloat, and while it barely
even qualifies as a kids’ movie, it still proves an enormously
entertaining trip.
[A Town Called Panic] 22. “A Town Called Panic” (2009)
Based on a gently surreal French-language TV show and bearing the
distinction of being the first stop-motion animation ever to be shown in
Cannes, “A Town Called Panic” from Belgians Stéphane Aubier and Vincent
Patar is the absurd story of Cowboy (a plastic toy cowboy), Indian (a
plastic toy Indian) and Horse (a plastic toy you get the idea) who live
together in a house in the country and get into inexplicable scrapes. An
attempt to celebrate Horse’s birthday goes awry when an internet order
for 50 bricks accidentally is mistaken for 50 million bricks, and so
they build big walls which are stolen by malicious sea creatures, so
they go track them down through a terrains snowy, airborne, subterranean
and forested… the plot makes zero sense and the story can feel as jerky
as the charmingly crude animation. But it’s also invested with a
totally lunatic energy that’s less about grand narrative arcs than the
momentary interactions and weirdnesses that cram every single bonkers
scene.
[Millennium Actress] 21. “Millennium Actress” (2001)
Though he directed only four complete features and sadly passed away in
2010 aged only 46, Satoshi Kon established himself as one of anime’s
most important and original filmmakers. We could have easily (and nearly
did) include “Tokyo Godfathers” or “Paprika” (the latter said by many
to have inspired Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”), but we’d say that his
masterpiece was his second feature, 2001’s “Millennium Actress.” Far
more mature than most animated features, whether Japanese or American,
this film has a fascinating concept, as an elderly retired movie star
brings a documentary crew through her memories, switching genres and
form as she tells her story through her cinematic roles. Fans of
clear-cut narrative are likely to be left disappointed, but there’s a
fascinating and rich puzzle box to untangle, grappling successfully with
Kon’s favorite themes of the nature of reality and the power of art.
[Monster House]
20. “Monster House” (2006)
Easily the best of Robert Zemeckis’ performance-capture films, partly
due to only being creepy when it’s trying to be and partly by not being
directed by Zemeckis (Gil Kenan had the gig instead), “Monster House” is
the rare film to pull off both ‘Burtonesque’ and ‘Amblin-esque’ in a
successful manner, and does so with a heap of heart and scares in the
process. Co-written by “Community” creator Dan Harmon and his friend Rob
Schrab, it’s the tale of three adventurous pre-teens investigating a
spooky local home. Working where “The Polar Express” didn’t by stylizing
the characters further, it makes its young protagonists believably and
likably childlike in a way that few films bother with, leading to both
great gags ( “It’s the uvula!” “So it’s a girl house?”) and pathos more
effective than most. There are better looking films here, but few that
are as much fun.
[How To Train Your Dragon] 19. “How To Train Your Dragon” (2010)
Its films vary in quality from the nearly great (“Kung Fu Panda,” the
original “Shrek”) to the surprisingly entertaining (“Madagascar 3” —no,
seriously!) to the essentially worthless (later “Shrek” sequels, “Shark
Tale”), but whatever the turnout, DreamWorks Animation has almost always
been seen as second fiddle to Pixar. The exception being “How To Train
Your Dragon,” a thrilling adventure tale that combines a
boy-and-his-dog, “E.T”-ish central relationship between a young Viking
and his dragon pal with stunning, 3D-enabled flying sequences,
world-building and the company’s most painterly visuals (created with
aid of cinematography legend Roger Deakins). So often DreamWorks falls
back on pop-culture gags or celebrity casting, but this (and to a lesser
extent its sequel) is where they let the story lead the way, and the
result is an absolute triumph.
[Finding Nemo] 18. “Finding Nemo” (2003)
Given Pixar’s mixed track record with sequels, it’s hard not to be
apprehensive about next year’s “Finding Dory,” the belated follow-up to
one of the studio’s most beloved achievements, 2003’s “Finding Nemo.”
After all, the original was something close to a miracle. The story of
the over-protective father (Albert Brooks) whose worst nightmare comes
true when his son is taken across the ocean is a dizzyingly colorful,
enormously funny story full of incredibly memorable characters and
arguably Pixar’s best-ever voice cast (Brooks and co-lead Ellen
DeGeneres are perfect, but we also get Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney,
Stephen Root, Geoffrey Rush and Eric Bana). But at its heart, it packs
as big an emotional punch as anything the studio’s made, gradually
shortening the gulf between a loving but destructively neurotic father
and his adventurous but vulnerable son. If the sequel’s even half as
good as this, it should still be a classic.
[Monsters Inc] 17. “Monsters Inc.” (2001)
After two great “Toy Story” movies and the middlingly-received
(somewhat unfairly) “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters Inc.” was the film that
suggested that Pixar would be far more than the house that Buzz built.
Like “Toy Story,” this film takes up an irresistible childhood conceit
—the story behind the monsters under every child’s bed or in the closet—
and filled it with two of the company’s most lovable characters in
Billy Crystal’s eyeball-on-legs Mike Wasowski and John Goodman’s fuzzy
blue Sully, who accidentally let a supposedly-deadly child, the utterly
adorable Boo, into their monster’s paradise. The film’s not as
narratively perfect as some of the later Pixar pics (the Yeti diversion
is dead air), but it’s still gorgeously designed, has a giant heart and
proves utterly satisfying. Decent-but-unnecessary prequel “Monsters
University” paled in comparison, which is a testament to the strength of
the original.
[Lotso Toy Story 3] 16. “Toy Story 3” (2010)
Coming a full decade after the the beloved “Toy Story 2” (and seeming
like the final word on ‘Toy Story’ features… until “Toy Story 4“), “Toy
Story 3” is one of the best animated films of the century, which
demonstrates Pixar’s high bar. Rather than going for a victory lap, the
creative team of John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and director Lee Unkrich
switched things up the third time out, allowing time to have passed and
for Andy to be heading to college. The adventures that ensue are
remarkable: there’s genuine peril at times, quite a bit of darkness and
some pretty deep soul-searching that makes it even more affecting to
adults than its predecessors. Because these films were never really
about plastic playthings —they were about childhood, a state you can
really only appreciate after it has concluded and someone new is playing
with your old toys.
[Other Mother Coraline]
15. “Coraline” (2009)
There’s more quality coming out of more animation houses these days,
thanks in part to Portland’s Laika, a stop-motion studio who broke out
with the sublime “Coraline.” Based on a book by geek idol Neil Gaiman
and directed by “The Nightmare Before Christmas” helmer Henry Selick,
the film focuses on the titular girl (Dakota Fanning) who escapes from
her neglectful parents into another world that turns out to be more
sinister than she planned. The picture is gorgeously designed (with a
use of 3D that’s still among the best ever, flat in the ‘real world’ and
expansive in the fantasy one, “Wizard of Oz”-style), smart, soulful,
atmospheric, rich, funny, exciting and strange, and it’s only aged like a
fine wine in the last half-decade. “Paranorman” and “The Boxtrolls” are
both worth checking out, but Laika’s first hour remains their finest so
far.
[The Lego Movie ] 14. “The Lego Movie” (2014)
On paper,
it seemed to be a nightmarish corporate synergy-fest (it isn’t just
based on a toy, but includes toy versions of superheroe!). In practice,
“The Lego Movie” is a sly, subversive, giddy joy, with Phil Lord and
Chris Miller topping their previous animated pic “Cloudy With Chance Of
Meatballs” (which some of us are very grumpy isn’t in this list…).
Spoofing ‘chosen one’ narratives as Chris Pratt’s Emmett is picked out
as the last great hope against the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell),
it’s a deeply silly, meta-tastic action-comedy that still finds room for
a surprising degree of pathos, not least in its secret late-game
live-action gambit. Capturing a childish sense of play in a way that few
had done outside of “Toy Story” but filtering it through a millennial
mash-up mentality, it must figure as one of the most glorious mainstream
surprises in recent memory.
[Ratatouille] 13. “Ratatouille” (2007)
“Ratatouille” is something of an oddity among the Pixar canon, less
because of its production history (“The Incredibles” helmer Brad Bird
completely retooled the film late in production, which is par for the
course at the studio), and more because it plays so much older than many
of the rest of their films. Set in the world of fine cuisine, the
picture targets and celebrates critics, is relatively slow paced, and
draws from influences as diverse as Lubitsch and Proust. It’s auteurist,
borderline-arthouse animation somehow went on to make hundreds of
millions of dollars worldwide. Bird’s tale about a rat (played perfectly
by Patton Oswalt) with a refined palate and culinary dreams works as a
talking animal picture, a romantic comedy, a love-letter to Paris (those
cityscapes!) and to food, and could only have been made by Pixar. Some
of their other films might have had a broader appeal, but “Ratatouille”
is truly refined.
[chicken run] 12. “Chicken Run” (2000)
On
the whole, Aardman Animation’s features didn’t quite match up to its
Oscar-winning “Wallace & Gromit” shorts (though the feature
adventure of the latter is a joy and nearly made this list). We say “on
the whole” because “Chicken Run,” the studio’s first full-length effort
is tremendous, a more charming and inventive film than most with budgets
many times the size. Following a group of hens who enlist the help of
cocky rooster Red (a pre-decline Mel Gibson) to escape their farm when
they learn they’re destined to be turned into pies, it brilliantly and
evocatively channels WW2 POW movies like “The Great Escape” with a very
British eccentric charm. Encompassing the immaculate design, classic
physical comedy and thrilling action that characterized the Aardman
shorts, it’s also more narratively well-rounded, with a finale as
rousing as anything else on this list. Fingers crossed Aardman returns
to this kind of form soon.
[Persepolis] 11. “Persepolis” (2007)
The Cannes Jury Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated “Persepolis” predated
the also-Cannes-and-Oscar nominated “Waltz with Bashir” by a year, but
taken together, both represent the emergence, or maybe just the more
mainstream acceptance, of another function of animation: to tell
grown-up stories of autobiography so personal and/or painfully political
that somehow they almost beg to be drawn rather than filmed. Marjane
Satrapi’s film is a poignant, funny, touching and occasionally
horrifying account of her childhood growing up in Tehran during the
Islamic rebellion, told in simple, stark, black and white images, but
it’s her eye for offbeat, humanizing detail (much of which came from her
self-penned comic strip) that marked Satrapi out as a filmmaker of
promise. And since then she’s made good on as such, becoming one of the
liveliest and most playfully eccentric filmmakers on the international
scene, though she has yet to match her debut for sheer impact and
importance.
[Wall-E]
10. “Wall-E” (2008)
Perhaps some of
the vitriol poured on “Chappie” came because we already have a lovable
(and critically approved) robot-with-a-personality in our cinematic
lexicon (not talking about Johnny Five). Pixar’s “Wall-E,” a fairly
scathing environmental message wrapped up in the tale of a lonely trash
robot and the fragments of a neglected civilization that only he
cherishes, was an audacious undertaking. With much less dialogue than
the wisecrackery of previous outings and a near-mute protagonist, it
remains one of the studio’s most formally austere and outright satirical
films. And yet Andrew Stanton‘s film is warm and funny, relying on the
stunning expressiveness of Wall-E’s design (his playing with the ball
and bat is a perfect example of the immaculate physics at work
throughout) to tell with glimmering originality a story that ultimately
employs every old-school trope in the book: an unlikely hero fights to
win the hand of his lady love, and in so doing saves humanity from
itself.
[The Wind Rises] 9. “The Wind Rises” (2013)
Hayao
Miyazaki has retired before (he’d suggested he was done with filmmaking
as early as a decade ago), but with Studio Ghibli supposedly winding
down, “The Wind Rises” definitely seems like it could be the anime
master’s swan song. The film certainly seems like a defining statement: a
(mostly) fantasy-free melodrama about real-life airplane designer Jiro
Horikoshi, it’s a moving portrait of the end of an era in Japan, an
examination of way that progress, technology, and even art can be
corrupted, a love-letter to the director’s beloved aviation, and more
than anything else an autobiographical portrait of the artist as an
obsessed young man. Anyone dismissing this as a cartoon doesn’t have
their head screwed on properly. As gorgeous as anything the director
ever made, it also, despite being relatively realistic, could only ever
have worked as animation. If it truly is Miyazaki’s last film, he’ll be
painfully missed.
[Waltz with Bashir] 8. “Waltz with Bashir” (2008)
A strong case for just how dexterous animation can be, Ari Folman‘s
film masterfully hybridizes personal essay, documentary and
hallucinatory imagery, all in service of a bold examination of one
soldier’s experience of the 1982 Lebanon War that’s just the right
amount of stylized cool to hook you into its harrowing insights. Human
rights and issue films are unfortunately a dime a dozen these days, so
it’s no small feat that Folman was able to transcend those narrow
confines by making ‘Waltz’ utterly cinematic. The animation —a mix of
Adobe Flash cutouts with classic animation—adds to the surreal nature of
Folman’s manifested memories of a traumatic time in his young life. Max
Richter’s haunting score and a mix of era-appropriate songs (PiL’s
“This is Not a Love Song” is a highlight) also add to its overall power.
It’s effective, educational and emotive because it’s entertaining.
[Fantastic Mr. Fox ] 7. “Fantastic Mr Fox” (2009)
Stop motion animation and Wes Anderson proved to be a
peanut-butter-and-jelly-like combination in this sweet yet acidic
adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s book. We wouldn’t argue it’s the auteur’s
best film, but in many ways it’s most representative of his reputation
as a capital A “artist.” After all, aren’t all his hyper controlled
cinematic dioramas a form of live action animation? Beyond just
appreciating its place in Anderson’s legacy, ‘Fox’ is beautiful to look
at and one of his funniest films to date. Adapting a children’s story
allows for his more broad, even goofy humor to rise to the surface in
pleasing ways (the highlight comes when the antagonistic farmers are
introduced in snappy vignette cutaways). The visuals harken back to
Rankin/Bass, proving that old fashioned methods can feel new when done
well. We love this film most because it’s for everyone, but still has
rough edges and consequences.
[Tale of Princess Kaguya] 6. “The Tale Of Princess Kaguya” (2013)
It didn’t get as much attention as “The Wind Rises,” but “The Tale Of
Princess Kaguya,” the swansong for Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli co-founder
and “Grave Of The Fireflies” director Isao Takahata, is an even more
elegiac, beautifully bittersweet goodbye from one of the medium’s
masters. A fable based loosely on the traditional tale of the Bamboo
Cutter and animated in a stunning, painterly fashion, the film sees the
discovery of the title character inside a bamboo shoot by her humble
parents. She’s elevated to wealth and courted by endless suitors, but
nothing can change the sense that her time on Earth will be brief.
Simple in both expression and story but yet still incredibly rich (there
are strong feminist and environmental themes at work along with the
meditations on mortality), it’s a delicate, pastoral film that serves as
both a definitive summing up of Takahata’s career and a deeply poignant
goodbye.
[The Triplets Of Belleville]
5. “The Triplets of Belleville” (2003)
78 minutes of pure French bliss. Sylvain Chomet’s script (with hardly
any audible dialogue) is made up of seemingly random left turns that not
only keep you guessing but miraculously gel into a magical, unique
whole. The labor-intensive, beautifully old school, painterly animation
is a marvel to behold, bringing to life this bizarre story of an
adorable task-mistress mother whose cyclist son is kidnapped by the
mafia and used for nefarious gambling schemes. She joins up with the
titular singing triplets who aid her in the rescue, adding to the
overall infectious musical joy infused in the entire film. It’s a
totally original narrative, directed by Chomet with a perfect grasp on
the material. While it’s still a cult item (despite being up for 2
Oscars in 2003), the film is more than accessible for any audience.
[It’s Such A Beautiful Day] 4. “It’s Such A Beautiful Day” (2012)
He’s far from a household name (though recently contributing one of the
best couch sequences to “The Simpsons“ in the show’s 25-year-history
has helped), but animation fans have long been singing the praises of
Austin’s Don Herzfeldt, particularly after “It’s Such A Beautiful Day.”
Combining the 2011, 23-minute short film of the same name with two
earlier shorts “Everything Will Be Ok” and “I Am So Proud Of You,” it’s a
haunting, ultimately strangely life-affirming trilogy in Herzfeldt’s
trademark stick-figure, line-drawing style (though embellished with an
increasingly heady collection of effects) that take in satire,
ultraviolence, and in the staggering final segment mental illness and
identity. Oblique and strangely accessible, bleak and transcendent,
simple and endlessly re-watchable, it’s a stone-cold masterpiece that
confirms that Herzfeldt is a major filmmaker.
[Up] 3. “Up” (2009)
So are we giving third place to “Up” in its entirety, or are we
granting that spot thanks to that 4-minute montage of Carl & Ellie’s
married life that reduces us to emotional rubble? Does it even matter?
Taking a helicopter or flying-house view, “Up” is not the most
satisfying narrative that Pixar has ever created, but it is the
apotheosis of the studio’s alchemical ability with character creation
and relationships. With this film, Pete Docter and Bob Petersen gave us
simply one of the greatest grief movies ever made hidden within a tale
full of whimsy, colored balloons, lisping boy scouts and hilarious
talking dogs. So while it has as much to say about the generation gap as
the average Ozu film, and the fact that it begins with the most
affecting animated death since the demise of Bambi’s mother, by its
conclusion “Up” is nothing less than a joyous affirmation of life at any
age and at any height above sea level.
[The Incredibles] 2. “The Incredibles” (2004)
Director Brad Bird’s best film to date is a blistering amalgam of
imagined comic book mythology, family melodrama and gorgeous computer
generated animation. It came at the very end of Pixar’s first great wave
of titles, right before the studio misstepped with “Cars” and then got
back on track with “Ratatouille” (thanks to Bird again, natch). In fact,
this still feels like the animation juggernaut’s finest hour and
probably its most complete film, full of legitimately thrilling action
set pieces and easily relatable character drama (good for adults and
kids), and tapping incisively into the culture’s superhero obsession
before it got watered down to its current level of ubiquity. Masterfully
designed (check the ’50s-style suburban conformity of the home and
office locations), cleverly scripted so that A and B storylines
constantly complement and enhance each other, and boasting a valuable
anti-cape message that Madonna would have done well to heed, “The
Incredibles” is not just an all-time great animated film, but is an
all-time great superhero movie, period.
[Spirited Away] 1. “Spirited Away” (2001)
If the great strength of animation is its facility for total immersion
in worlds only bounded by the limits of a filmmaker’s imagination,
there’s really no other choice for our number one spot than the dazzling
“Spirited Away” from Hayao Miyazaki, curator of one of the most
comprehensive and beautiful cinematic imaginations in existence.
Starting out as a “be careful what you wish for” cautionary tale as a
young girl ventures excitedly into a magical realm after her parents are
turned into pigs, the film becomes more peculiar, more fanciful and
more ambiguous as it goes on, becoming the polar opposite of the kind of
patronising simplification and moral black-and-whites that mar the
family film genre elsewhere. Grotesque, scary, thrilling, beautiful and
very alien to anyone raised on Western animation, “Spirited Away” is,
due to its Oscar success and wider U.S. promotion, for many people the
first Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli film they saw, and so should occupy a
very special place in our hearts as the shining portal into the
fantastical, beyond-ken world of Ghibli. Make that multitudes of worlds.
Honorable Mentions: So the longlist for this feature ran to more than
100 titles, and passions ran high about simply too many to list here,
but there are a few that it physically pained us to exclude, especially
when they happened to be from smaller studios or independent filmmakers
who could do with the shine. So the lovely, serene “The Secret of Kells”
from Irish animation house Cartoon Saloon; its follow-up, the also
Oscar-nominated “Song of the Sea“; the independently funded, witty,
melting pot mish-mash of ’20s jazz, Indian mythology and flash animation
“Sita Sings the Blues” from director Nina Paley; and “Mary and Max”
from Australian director Adam Elliott and featuring the voice of the
late lamented Philip Seymour Hoffman are all strongly recommended.
And other higher profile but no less beloved films that hovered very
near the top of the list included: “The Pirates!,” “Ernest &
Celestine,” “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit,” “Cloudy with
a Chance of Meatballs,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Brave,” “Ghost in the
Shell 2: Innocence,” “The Illusionist,” “Paranorman,” “The Boxtrolls,”
“Tokyo Godfathers,” “Paprika,” “Ponyo,” “Shrek,” “Wolf Children,” “The
Adventures of Tintin,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “The Girl Who Leapt through
Time,” “Evangelion: You Are Not Alone,” “Dead Leaves,” “The Secret World
of Arriety,” “Frankenweenie,” “Tangled,” “The Emperor’s New Groove” and
“Wreck-it Ralph” —we could go on forever, so we won’t.
As we
said, we ummed and aahed about including rotoscoped films before
deciding that they didn’t quite qualify, which isn’t to underestimate
the artistry of Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” or “A Scanner Darkly.”
And in case you’re wondering, no we didn’t forget about “Frozen,” which
is a good film, but on aggregate we don’t see quite what all the fuss
is about. Express your outrage about its no-show and anything else
that’s on your mind in the comments section below. Or, you know, let it
go.
— Jessica Kiang, Oliver Lyttelton, Erik McClanahan
‘No force can stop me from becoming PM’
After her surprise
anointment as the UNPA’s prime ministerial candidate, BSP supremo
Mayawati’s confidence levels havereached a new high. She told Editor Prabhu Chawla that she is destined to become the country’s prime minister. An exclusive interview:
Q. Finally a Original
Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the Great Prabuddha Bharath which is
one of the top most communities of the world’s daughter’s name has been
finalised for prime minister. How did this happen?
A. Apart from
being a Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the Great Prabuddha
Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the world ’s
daughter, I am also the daughter of this country. Don’t forget that Prabuddha Bharat’s
highest populated state has given me four chances to be CM. I have
worked not just for the Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the
Great Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the
world but for all sections of the society. I am born in Prabuddha Bharath so I am not just Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the Great Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the world ki beti but also Prabuddha Bharath ki beti.
Q. You said there was a
conspiracy against a Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the
Great Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the
world ’s daughter becoming PM.
A. Everyone saw
it. And they (my political rivals) have seen what a good government I
have given in UP, so they are scared that if the BSP forms a government
at the Centre and Mayawati becomes PM, they will have to wait for a long
time to come back to power at the Centre.
That is why they
thought it is better we don’t let her come to power at all. Moreover,
the BJP and the Congress I think are alike—whether at the Centre or at
the state, their governments have economic policies that make rich
industrialists richer and the poor poorer. So they know that once they
are removed from power, all their rich industrialist friends will suffer
while the poor, the farmers and small industrialists will benefit,
and they don’t want that. Therefore they tampered the fraud EVMs to
gobble the Master Key just to stop me from becoming the PM. These EVMs
software and its source code are kept secret from the voters in this
country to negated the Universal Adult Franchise. The ex CJI Sathasivam
had committed a grave error of judgement by ordering that the EVMs could
be replaced in a phased manner which itself is a clear proof that the
EVMs could be tampered. The ex CEC Sampath suggested for replacement of
the EVMs in a phased manner as it cost Rs 1600 crore at that time and
now it is more than a lakh crore while the Ballot papers are very much
cheaper. After dissolving the Central government that gobbled the
Mastery Key by tampering the fraud EVMs and go for fresh polls with
Ballot papers, the BJP will just get 0.1% votes.
Q. So they won’t let you become the PM?
A. This kind of
question was raised even when the BSP was improving in UP and there was a
chance that I could become chief minister. But I did become UP chief
minister, and I think a day will come when the wishes of the oppressed,
the poor, the downtrodden and beloved Dr Ambedkar will come true. One
day, this section will get political power. If I can become UP chief
minister, then I think a day will surely come when the dreams of our
people will come true.
Q. Will the dream be realised through Mayawati?
A. Definitely, it will come true.
Q. So you think that your becoming PM is only a matter of time. Nothing can stop you now.
A. A movement has begun. When the time comes, no one can stop. No one could stop me from becoming the chief minister of UP.
Q. Will you be able to run the government? Can you rule Prabuddha Bharath?
A. This question was also raised in UP before I became chief minister. But from Independence till today, if you compare all the sarkars to my government and ask the aam janta of UP, they will tell you that Mayawati is the best. So if I can give UP-which is Prabuddha Bharath’s largest state—the best sarkar, why can’t I do the same at the Centre?
Q. Do you have an agenda for governance?
A. Of course I have.
Q. But until now you were limited to UP and you didn’t even meet leaders of other parties.
A. I did meet other leaders, but I also had to run my party. I did both.
Q. If you do become the
PM, what is your agenda for governance? What are your views on
privatisation and economic reforms that Manmohan Singh started?
A. Our sarkar’s economic agenda will benefit the country’s poor and weaker sections. It will benefit all sections of the society.
Q. You are talking like Indira Gandhi, “Gareebi hatao, desh bachao“.
A. My party is
not against privatisation. Like we have done in UP, at the Centre too we
will see that the country’s Scheduled Castes have the benefits of
reservations. When a government office is privatised, reservation rights
should be protected as I have done in UP. Apart from the Scheduled
Castes, we will take care of the minorities, Backward Classes and also
the economically poor among the upper castes. I have written to the
Centre about reservation in government jobs for the economically poor
among upper castes.
Q. Should there be foreign investment in retail?
A. There are different castes and religions in India, lots of poor and jobless, so we will take all this into account.
Q. Should there be FDI in retail?
A. The interests of the small shopkeepers must be protected.
Q. So you are not against FDI in retail?
A. No I am not.
Q. What about the nuclear deal?
A. The Congress
is claiming that because of this deal we will get cheap electricity.
This is wrong. Whatever electricity we get will be much more expensive
and it will take 10-15 years to get it. And the output will be
only 8-10 per cent more than what we are getting. It will be so
expensive that neither the poor nor the small industrialists will be
able to use it.
Q. So will you cancel the nuclear deal?
A. When my government is formed, we will rethink this deal and examine if it’s in the nation’s interests or not. We are told that America has put conditions on India, like if they attack Iran, India will have to offer support. Such conditions are meant to make Prabuddha Bharath a slave.
Q. Before opposing this deal, you must have read it.
A. We do not agree with this deal. We will rethink it.
Q. But the Left is totally opposed to America and they are supporting you.
A. Whenever we
do a deal with any country, we must first take into account the
country’s interests. When my party comes to power at the Centre, we will
take into account all sections of the society while making
policies.
Q. Opposition parties claim that your politics is caste-based. Does this suit a prime minister?
A. The people who make such allegations are the ones who areindulging in caste politics. The BSP has finished jaativaad in this country and wants to bring together all sections of the society. The charge
that the BSP is jaativaadi is false.
Q. Maybe this is because you are now being promoted as the leader of UNPA.
A. I am the leader of BSP. The UNPA is different, the Left is separate. They all have their own leaders.
Q. But they are promoting you as the PM, no one else.
A. I welcome this suggestion and I am grateful.
Q. But other leaders of the UNPA like Chandrababu Naidu and Chautala belong to forward castes. How does behen Mayawati fit into all this?
A. The Left
parties and other members of the UNPA have realised that Mayawati in UP
has included all sections of the society in the BSP’s way of thinking.
Along with the backward sections and the minorities, it
has also sent upper castes to Parliament and the state assembly and given them posts in the ministry. They don’t see her as jaativaadi but as one who takes all sections of the society together.
Q. Well you do have the
slogan. But these leaders first went to Mulayam. When that did not work
out, they came after you in the hope that by sailing in your boat they
too will get somewhere. And then, they will leave you too?
A. The names
that you have mentioned did at first go to Mulayam, and you say that
they will leave me too. But in the UPA and NDA too, there are many
allies who are attracted to the BSP. And there will be a time
when they too will join us.
Q. So there will be some attempt to break parties.
A. I am against breaking any party, but those who come on their own are welcome.
Q. But you will still
need the Congress or the BJP to become PM. How will a Original
Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that isthe Great Prabuddha Bharath which is
one of the top most communities of the world ki beti become PM without their help?
A. With Lok
Sabha elections a few months away, I am sure that the BJP and Congress,
along with their allies, will not get more than 200 seats together. The
rest will be 340. So I will not need the BJP or the Congress.
Q. Their company will come to you?
A. No, I will not need their company. They will come to me on their own.
Q. On one side is the
“Note Gate” and on the other side there is terrorism. But there seems to
be ittle desire to fight terrorism.
A. I think the way wads of money were placed in Parliament and MPs are being bought over, this should be condemned.
Q. What about terrorism?
A.
The state governments should get together and plan and strategise to
counter it. The borders of our country are not strengthened.
Q. Who do you blame for the rise in terrorism? Is it minority appeasement, weak governance or the lack of a strong law?
A. We should not link terrorism with politics, but the states and the Centre should sit and strategise how to contain it.
Q. For this we need a strong law. But POTA has been removed. Even you are against POTA.
A. No. I think that central and state governments should make strict laws. Not POTA, but there can be other strict laws.
Q. Like MCOCA in Maharashtra? Gujarat wanted to make a strong law but was not allowed.
A. In UP too we have passed a law but the Centre has not okayed it.
Q. So would you say the Centre is weak in formulating laws?
A. Yes. Also,
our borders are weak. After all, the terrorists enter our country from
across the borders. So it’s up to the central government to make the
borders strong and make a law along with the states.
Q. A law like POTA?
A. Not necessarily but a strong law.
Q. Our Muslim brothers
say they are against terrorism as much as the rest of us, yet they say
that to appease the Muslim vote we won’t make a strong law.
A. If a person commits a wrong, you should not punish the entire community.
Q. Should Mohd Afzal be hanged? The Supreme Court has said he should be.
A. This is for the courts and the government to decide.
Q. But in the name of terrorism, politics is being played.
A. That’s not good.
Q. Will you do anything to stop this?
A. When I become PM, we will try and create such a situation that there will be no terror incidents.
Q. How will you ensure this? Will you make a strong law?
A. Maybe there will be no need to make a strong law. There will be such an environment that there will be no need for it.
Q. The terrorists will feel scared of you and not come out?
A. (laughs)
Q. The word supremo is
often used for you. It evokes dictatorship more than democracy. It is
used for Bal Thackeray and Jayalalithaa.
A. That title I didn’t give myself. You keep calling me that, so ask yourself.
Q. But do you work like a dictator?
A. No, I believe in democracy and take everyone’s views into account.
Q. It is often said
that how a Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the Great
Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the world ki beti could collect so much money and have so many houses.
A. The CBI has given a false affidavit to the court. When my lawyer presents my case, the truth will come out.
Q. But charges are being laid against you
A. This is all because of political pressure, whether it is the UPA or the NDA. It is all politics.
Q. There was so much
bonhomie between you and Sonia. She came and wished you on your
birthday. What happened between the two sisters suddenly?
A. Milna julna alag cheez hai and politics is separate.
Q. And now Amar Singh is in the central government indirectly. Are you feeling threatened?
A.
I am not but I can say for sure that the Congress will be feeling
threatened that if not today then tomorrow he will do something against
them.
Q. Have you gone soft on Amar Singh?
A. No I have
not. The UP assembly results threw them out of the government and
installed me. So if the people of UP have already killed them then why
should I bother to do anything? Mare huey ko kyon maarna?
Q. You had earlier made charges of corruption against them and said you will send them to jail. Have you forgiven them?
A. No.
Q. Or is it that you did not find anything?
A. Whatever the
charges of corruption against them, the cases are going on in the
Supreme Court. Why should I come in the middle of that? And why should I
feel scared of weak people?
Q. But Amar Singh and Mulayam have been reborn. They have become more powerful.
A. They are now more dead than ever.
Q. They sit and eat with the PM and meet Sonia every day.
A. Dining is not everything. The way this government has been saved, they will get no political gains out of this.
Q. There is talk of pressing ahead with the cases against you. Don’t you think they must have made some sort of a deal?
A. Whenever there has been a political attack against me, via the CBI or others, I have emerged stronger.
Q. So you are ready to fight?
A. Absolutely.
Q. So how do you keep so fit? Do you exercise?
A. I don’t. I just keep busy with my work.
Q. No gym or personal trainer?
A. I don’t get the time for exercise, I just do my work.
Q. Do you control your diet?
A. I eat what I get.
Q. I have seen you for
the last 15 years and there is an image makeover. Was this part of a
plan to ready yourself for chief ministership and prime ministership?
A. I have done nothing. All this has happened naturally. I keep busy with my work and that is my exercise.
Q. What hobbies do you have?
A. All 24 hours
of the day, I think about the movement I am associated with and how to
take my party forward. How to help the backward and weaker sections of
our country. I keep making plans for them and that keeps me busy.
Q. Weaving conspiracies?
A. No, plans.
Q. But politics is like conspiracy. How to get to power etc
A. No, I don’t need to. My party is different from others; it is both a mission and a movement.
Q. In the end, it is politics only-how to get power.
A. I agree with
Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar, who said that if any section of the society wants
to solve its problems, it has to get political power.
Q. So to fulfill
Babasaheb’s dream, this Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the
Great Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the
world ki beti is readying her political arsenal.
A. Not just Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is the Great Prabuddha Bharath which is one of the top most communities of the world ki beti but Prabuddha Bharath ki beti. I will fulfill Babasaheb’s dream, and those who believe in Babasaheb are working to make this possible.
Q. I will ask you five
questions and you must answer them in one line. Who do you think is your
biggest enemy? I am not taking Amar Singh or Mulayam’s name.
A. I am against discrimination and untouchability and jaativaad.
Q. And your best friend? The one who will put you in power?
A. The day our society that is divided on caste lines becomes one.
Q. I am asking about individuals. There have been 14 prime ministers in India. Who do you like the best?
A. If I liked any one then I would not have felt the need to form my own party.
Q. The worst?
A. They are all the same.
Q. Do you watch films?
A. No, I don’t. I barely get the time. I do watch the news though.
Q. Do you have a favourite heroine?
A. Well, I don’t watch movies, so how will I have a favourite heroine?
Q. Your favourite food? You do eat, right?
A. (laughs) Yes, otherwise how will I stay alive. Green vegetables, daal…
Q. Which is your favourite tourist spot?
A. Whenever I travel, I am so busy that I don’t have the time to do any sightseeing.
Q. If you got a chance, where would you like to go? After all, even Jawaharlal Nehru took a holiday sometimes.
A. I like natural surroundings. I am very fond of nature.
Q. Whom do you see as a political villain in the country today?
A. (laughs)
Q. Is it Amar Singh or anyone other?
A. There is no shortage of such people in the country today.
Q. You don’t want to take a name?
A. Well you have taken the name yourself, so I don’t need to.