| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 23-Dec-01 01:22 AM
What follows was sent by Krishna Shah of MN.
*********************
>An Indian Woman Weeping in Nepal's Village
>
>
> Kathmandu, December 17:How would you feel, when you hear- a
> woman leaves its native country for her husband; and, the
> husband leaves her suffering in the country; and, marries a new
> wife in a different country to climb the ladder of success;
> and, she is locked up by her in-laws, and she gets threatened
> and beaten up if she raises her voice crying for help to the
> outside world?
> And, how would you react if you are told she is the wife of the
> person, you have been taking as your National Hero. It is a
> true story of an Indian woman, Mrs. Ranju Jha, who feels like
> in heaven when she gets to see her husband once every two years
> for not more than a couple of days. Mrs. Jha was born in Bihar,
> India, and she has been living in her husband's home village,
> Bhardaha, which is in Saptari District with only hope she gets
> to see him more often.
> Yes, she is the wife of one of the most popular singers in the
> Bollywood Industry, Mr. Udit Narayan Jha, whose songs of
> "Lagaan", and "Gadar" just hit the top of the charts.
>
>
> Udit is the same person quite popular as the guy who has been
> playing the double role character to the media of Nepal and
> India. No wonder his songs were banned a decade ago in Nepal,
> and played back only after the exclusive interview published in
> the "Kamana" magazine, the largest selling film magazine in
> Nepal with a long battle to regain the hearts of the
> home-nation fans. He had mentioned that he was an Indian to the
> media of India that time, and he said "Kamana" that the
> reporters in India blackmailed him, and, when he told them that
> he did not care about them, they fabricated the reality
> claiming he was an Indian citizen.
>
> He said it again, not to local newspapers, but to the Hindustan
> Times, one of the leading daily newspapers in India, which
> reaches the doorsteps of millions of households every morning.
> He mentioned to the "Ravi Utsave", supplement of the Hindustan
> Times published in November 18, 2001 that he is an Indian, and
> he denied Mrs. Ranju Jha is his wife."
>
>
> Not to forget, according to the Kamana magazine, he said he has
> not bagged any Indian Award so far because of the Shiva Sena
> Leader, Mr. Bal Thakre. In his own words, " Everyone in India
> is very much scared of Bal Thakre, and he has ordered not to
> hand-over the prize to me because I am not an Indian, and so I
> have not received any National Award here in India."
> He, therefore, told the Hindustan Times that he was an Indian
> because he has been dying to bag the Indian National Award. In
> the interview he further talked about all the other awards he
> received. But he did not mention anything about the "Gorkha
> Dakshin Bahu", which he was honored with by the Late King
> Birendra. Obviously the most prestigious award for the Nepalese
> people "Gorkha Dakshin Bahu" can not be compared with the
> Indian National Award that he has been craving for so far.
>
>
> Not only he denied the charge of his first marriage; but also,
> he commented that his uncle's son and a girl had blackmailed
> him with some money, and when he rejected to pay them, they
> created a cloud of rumor in Nepal that Ranju is his wife.
>
>
> "Udit Narayan is an opportunist, fooling media playing
> double-role character to the media of Nepal and India. All his
> songs should be banned in Nepal," Parivartan Nepal, an
> Association of Artistes released a statement on December 12,
> 2001.
>
>
> "Udit's Nepali Passport and Citizenship Card should be
> immediately cancelled by His Majesty's Government, and take
> severe action on him," the senior artistes of Nepal put their
> opinion.
>
>
> It can no more be hidden the truth behind Udit's face. All his
> home fans have been betrayed; and, he has not left anything his
> fans should be proud of in the home country any longer.
>
> " The person who denies admitting his first wife, and is ready
> to change his nationality for just an award- do you think he
> would keep his relation up with Mrs. Deepa Jha for some bigger
> award", doubts the Hindu Weekly Newspaper in Nepal.
>
>
> "Now Udit Narayan Jha is an Indian"- People's Review, a popular
> weekly starts its article with mentioned headline.
>
>
> Many associations in the country including the newspapers are
> raising the same voice that he should be banned to step in the
> homeland, and that would be his worst punishment.
>
>
> "Where is Women's Rights Association?" questions Nepal
> Samacharpatra, one of the leading daily newspapers. A woman is
> being hidden and tortured for years from speaking to the
> outside world, and her husband gets freedom to walk with head
> standing.
>
>
> Or, is Women's Rights Association of Nepal not taking care of
> this case, because Ranju is Indian?
>
>
> And, the Indian Media has not raised any issues yet because
> they find Nepali, Udit better than the Indian village girl,
> Ranju.
>
>
|
| GP |
Posted
on 23-Dec-01 06:21 PM
BTW, Ashu who is another woman "Mrs. Deepa Jha" in Udit's life:
Ashu's posting had following quote:
" The person who denies admitting his first wife, and is ready
> to change his nationality for just an award- do you think he
> would keep his relation up with Mrs. Deepa Jha for some bigger
> award", doubts the Hindu Weekly Newspaper in Nepal.
|
| SP |
Posted
on 23-Dec-01 08:24 PM
The controversy about Udit's nationality often comes up. I don't know why it is such a big deal for Udit. If the citizenship is at issue, he could choose a legal path to become an India citizenshipofficially. Nepalis are Nepalis wherever they are and regardless of the citizenship of whichever country you choose to take. You remain a Nepali at heart. There are millions of Nepalis living in India who are Indian citizens yet they are Nepalis. The situation could be reverse for many people in Nepal who are of Indian origin. There is nothing wrong in taking up the citizenship of a country where you live and work for a long time. I think what irks the Nepalis most is Udit's reported claim that he was always an Indian. Well, if it is so, then one will have to take this as a story of a prodigal son who after being raised to what he is now, he simply forgot who the mother is. May be he'll come back one day if his conscience does not remain clouded forever. I know the press creates some controversy at times where even there is no issue but it is time that Udit cleared it what he meant once and for all without any ambiguity.
I still recall many years back when I first saw Udit at Gopal Yonjan's place. He was then a Radio Nepal singer. A humble Udit would do a "pau-lagi" to Gopal Yonjan. He would literally bend down to touch Gopal's feet at which Gopal, visibly embarassed, would gesture him to take a seat. Gopal then gave him a little talk on how we all Nepalis should aim high and high for Nepali music. Then both of them sat with the instruments to practice one of Gopal's compositions which was going to be sung by Udit in the Radio Nepal.
Over the years, many of us have changed the places of living and some have changed their citizenship for one reason or the other but mostly for a practical purpose. It is unfortunate that Udit's citizenship has been in question not because of others but himself. I understadn another Mumbai professional Ranji Gazmer, who is a high class musician by his own right, both in Nepal and India, is an Indian Nepali. I also know that Lous Banks, whose father played piano at Hotel Annapurna and Soaltee for a long time, is rated as a top class jazz musician not just only in India but also in Asia. Both Ranjit and Lous have always said they are proud to be a Nepali and I am sure they are proud to be Indians as well. In fact, when Louis was interviewed by an Indian magazine a few years back, he proudly said that his real name is Dambar Bahadur Budaprity. But of all, I remember my long lost chum Ramesh from Bhojpur with all the respect and admiration, who has ben living in Thailand for umpteen years and carved himself into the Thai society, but still says that he wakes up every morning dreaming of his village and the hills surrounding it and it will probably be the same for rest of his life. The whizzing sound of the vehicle on the road wakes him up in the morning, as he says, but he takes it as if it is the sound of a Dingla khola nearby his village back home. I know I strayed a bit here on my thoughts but I hope you will take it in a holiday spirit. I become a bit nostalgic during holiday time eventhough the Christmas is not the holidays my folks celebrate but holidays are meant for remembering the people and place you miss a lot.
So, back to the subject, Udit, choose between awards and the goodwill of millions of Nepalis. It is only you who can put rest to this controversy.
Happy holidays to you all!
|
| Pashu |
Posted
on 23-Dec-01 09:23 PM
Hi GP,
From what I understand Dipa is Udit's second wife. Dipa and Udit once played
lead roles together in a Nepali movie based on their love-story, I think.
My impression is that: Most singers/musicians in Nepal are extremely jealous of Udit's success. Paradoxially, they also want to possess him, in that they want more "maan and sammaaan" for the alleged role they played in Udit's success.
Moreover, they are stuck to the past, meaning: they cannot believe, let alone rejoice in the fact that one of them - Udit -- is now a mega-star in India, earning millions of rupees. Since they cannot use the Indian media against Udit, they try to stir up controversies in the Nepali media, playing up the
more-Nepali-than-thou card.
Last year, Udit apparently fell out with his long-time friend Mr. Pushkar Shrestha, editor of Kamana magazine, and Mr. Shrestha took his "badala" by 'shaigonging' Udit in the pages of his rag-sheet. Mr. Shrestha's report was high on emotions
and jealousy and anger, and short on analyses and verifiable facts. In fact, Shrestha's report told me -- a mere reader who does not know Udit -- more about Shrestha himself (i.e. what a khattam journalist he is) than about Udit's alleged "bad deeds". Of course, Nepalis who wanted to believe the worst about Udit lapped up the story with glee and joy.
You see, musicians/singers/film-magazine editors in Nepal have to dress up their jealousy by playing up their patriotic card all the time. And so, never-ending inane questions like: Is Udit a Nepali or is he not, keep them busy for months and
years.
Udit Narayan will never be misaken for a saint. He's a commercial singer, and that's that. If he mistreated his first wife, he should be punished to the full extent of the law, but that's about it.
Bu regardless of whether he was a Nepali before or now an Indian, he's a talented singer who's going to go where opportunities are. For many Nepalis -- reared on the dose of Panchayati natonalism -- this fact is hard to accept and digest.
If opportunities are few in Nepal (as indeed there are, for some professions!), then let more talented Nepalis go away, let them do their best in their chosen professions and, if some of them become "world-class", then we can all rejoice in their successes and make our collective "naak" much bigger with pride!!
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 23-Dec-01 09:27 PM
Oh, what the hell.
Guess what, mistakenly, I ended up posting the above under the name
"pashu" :-)
Then again, that's all right: Some nubile young things have complimented
me on my raw animal magnetism :-)
Oo la la
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| what the fk |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 04:31 AM
raw animal magnetism? i am sure they have u gorila chimpanze magnetism ashu. not just raw, you got it all raw as well as ripe animal magnetism dude. like we enjoy seeing monkey fooling around, we enjoy seeing you making a clown of yourself. :0)
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 05:41 AM
And to play upon an ad tag-line of Toyoto Motor Company: "Your enjoyment
is our enjoyment."
oohi
"bringing enjoyment to you in this X-mas season"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| sangam |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 09:47 AM
I don't think Udit and Deepa ever played in a film together. However, they have sang together for many films. One is "kusume rumal", in which Udit was a hero. Deepa Jha was Deepa Gahatraj before marriage.(just a fyi).
sangam.
|
| SK |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 01:27 PM
I am surprised that this Udit issue should feature so often in this forum. It smacks of double standards. Many of the participants of this forum would drop their Nepalese citizenship like a hot potato if they could, especially for a US one. This is of course if they have not already done so. I see no problems with Udit trying to dump his Nepalese citizenship, it is not all it is made out to be.
SK, still a Nepali, sucks.
|
| SIWALIK |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 02:43 PM
I do not mind if he takes Indian citizenship. If he could just tell us that without dillydallying, it would be better for his fans both in Nepal and India.
|
| Joey |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 09:09 PM
Siwalik,
How does his nationality make a difference? Nepalese seem to have no problems being fans of whole lot of Indian film stars - all of whom are Indian nationals.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 24-Dec-01 10:48 PM
Sangam,
I think you are right. Thanks for the correction and adding more to this.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| MyOpinion |
Posted
on 25-Dec-01 12:13 PM
I think Udit's nationality shouldn't be an issue.
If he thinks Indian nationality is fine for him, let it be so.
But what hurts is when he criticizes Nepal in Indian media. You can have foreign
nationality, and still love Nepal.He can be an Indian national, and still love Nepal,
and act to promote Nepal abroad.
What is great about this guy is his talent, and the way he stood up atop the
summit in Indian highly challenged Indian music field.
Yes, he has marriage problem, and he sounds brutal in his treatment of his first
wife.
But like someone said earlier, Udit bashing has mainly stemmed from Kamana group
which ,it seems, is expert in blackmailing artists who doesn't kowtow to them.
Whipping up patriotic frenzy is the handy mean for some immature artists like
Ashok Sharma and Prakash Saymi, and their fire is often stoked up by people like
Pushkar Shrestha.
Those who use nationalism to serve their personal enmity should be ashamed of
themselves.
Amen.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 25-Dec-01 07:53 PM
My Opinion wrote:
*********
But what hurts is when he criticizes Nepal in Indian media. You can have foreign
nationality, and still love Nepal.He can be an Indian national, and still love Nepal,
and act to promote Nepal abroad.
***************
Well, even if Udit Narayan criticizes Nepal in Indian media, well, why should we Nepalis be hurt? Why give him that much power to hurt us?
I mean, is Udit Narayan a representative of all Nepalis?
No.
Is our collective self-image/self-confidence/self-esteem as Nepalis dependent
on what Udit thinks of us?
No.
Is the world going to think any less of us because Udit apparently had some bad things to say about us?
No.
Do we need Udit's approval to be what we are or remain what we are in Nepal?
No.
Udit Narayan is a commercial, hindi-filmi singer. He's good at what he does, and that's it.
My fear is that we lump more problems on ourselves when we expect him to be MORE than just a singer -- like some spokesman, or some national icon or some cultural ambassador or some PR person for Nepal. Well, he's not any of that -- let's get that clear.
The problem with Pushkar Shrestha and the Kamana Group is that they wanted Udit to be everything and as long as Udit played the game, they pushed him to the skies as some Nepali hero. But when Udit showed his limitations ( in terms of personality, talents, time and so on), they were furious and they started
attacking Udit for being this or that or for not being this and that. Of course,
they dressed it all up in patriotic colors, thereby appearing more-Nepali-than-thou.
The WORST game any Nepali can play is: "I am more Nepali than you are because
of this and this." Remember "Hritik Roshan Kanda", in which actions of a few self-declared patriotic Nepalis led to mass hysteria, vandalism, destruction of property and deaths of innoent people last year.
oohi
"proud to be a Nepali, but greatly suspicious of patriotic/nationalistic arguments that are, by definition, high on emotions than on reason"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| kancha |
Posted
on 26-Dec-01 09:08 AM
samgam,
i think the couple had a leading role in the movie called PIRATI, part of which was filmed around dharan and dhankuta.
kancha
|
| joie de vivre |
Posted
on 26-Dec-01 12:18 PM
Ashu wrote:
>
>I mean, is Udit Narayan a representative of
>all Nepalis?
>No.
>
>Is our collective self-image/self-confidence/
>self-esteem as Nepalis dependent
>on what Udit thinks of us?
>No.
>
>Is the world going to think any less of us
>because Udit apparently had some bad things
>to say about us?
>No.
>
>Do we need Udit's approval to be what we are
>or remain what we are in Nepal?
>No.
>
>Udit Narayan is a commercial, hindi-filmi
>singer. He's good at what he does, and that'
>s it.
>
Couldn't agree with Ashu more. I am, however, surprised that Ashu deemed this topic important enough to post it here in the first place. I've never understood why people give so much importance to celebrities and put them up on a pedestal where, might I add, they don’t always belong. As Ashu said, the bottom line is, Udit Narayan is a commercial singer who’s good at what he does. Period.
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Dec-01 12:54 PM
Well, silver lining is that now we can be proud that the most famous Indian singer
was trained in Nepal.
He even got scholarship to study in India from Nepali government, and his first wife
lives in Nepal.
Who can say we are intolerant towards Indians? Haina?
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 26-Dec-01 10:47 PM
JDV wrote:
*************
Couldn't agree with Ashu more. I am, however, surprised that Ashu deemed this topic important enough to post it here in the first place.
****************
This topic is here to get interesting, provocative discussions going. I may have my own ideas about this and that, but it's always educational to learn of others' views and counter-views too. Hence, the quest goes on: pushing ideas and views in a PUBLIC space like this so that a variety of perspectives come into play.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| joie de vivre |
Posted
on 27-Dec-01 11:07 AM
>This topic is here to get interesting,
>provocative discussions going. I may have my
>own ideas about this and that, but it's
>always educational to learn of others' views
>and counter-views too. Hence, the quest goes
>on: pushing ideas and views in a PUBLIC
>space like this so that a variety of
>perspectives come into play.
Ashu,
The thought did occur to me almost as soon as I'd posted my first message though what fascinates people never ceases to amaze me (point in case, UN Jha and his rightful citizenship). I guess you’re just a bigger person than I am as I have no patience for such nonsense. But then again, maybe it does hold some sort of unconscious morbid fascination for me too, after all, I’m here commenting on it aren’t I?
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 27-Dec-01 11:19 PM
>Ashu,
>
>The thought did occur to me almost as soon
>as I'd posted my first message though what
>fascinates people never ceases to amaze me (
>point in case, UN Jha and his rightful
>citizenship).
Yes.
Even if we do not understand what fascinates people,
let there room for all kinds of fascination!!
> I guess you’re just a bigger
>person than I am
No.
The issue is NOT about who's bigger or who's smaller.
It's about having fun with all kinds of of ideas and thoughts
in a PUBLIC space like this. Some of us may respond to some
ideas; some of us may have nothing to do certain postings,
and that's life.
>as I have no patience for
>such nonsense.
That's fine.
> But then again, maybe it does
>hold some sort of unconscious morbid
>fascination for me too, after all, I’m here
>commenting on it aren’t I?
Guess so.
But keep on posting stuff here.
Your postings are enjoyable.
A very Happy New Year to you.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| anepalikt |
Posted
on 28-Dec-01 04:33 PM
Ashu tosh: Pashu, huh!... haha! Your comment about nubile young thangs was funny.
As for Udit Narayan Jha...never liked him. He is a wanna be! His voice sucks. And all the Nepali artists' associations crying foul, they are all jealous.
People are prone to be insecure for all sorts of reasons. I guess if the predominant perception of Nepalis in the miliue you are trying to succeed at
is that being one either means you are a Bahadur guarding someone's door or kancha washingtheir dishes or Sita bai at a Falklands road brothel, you are more likely to concoct a story about how you are not one.
Regardless, how weak. Poor man, you gotta feel sorry for him.
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