Bollywood is a great replica machine often plagiarising Hollywood and giving blockbusters a masala makeover. Pensionable actors prance around as lead actors and scantily sari clad women perform Michael Jackson style dances. But then almost all of India is a big Bollywood set. Life, religion, education, commerce, law and even politics are one great theatre mimicking western civilisation with chutney twists. And so it is with Indian democracy, a proper Bollywood performance.
There are a few regional states in India undergoing elections through phased timetable. It is pure entertainment with family feuds, dynasties, castism and communalism, the stuff of medieval Kingdoms albeit without the bloody massacres and palace murders. The first election is in Punjab on 30 January. Punjabis in the west are fixated too. The results will be announced in March.
(...)
If anyone has got confused with the plot, not to worry. It's all about which family dynasty will rule. Indian elections, like Bollywood films, are 'fantastical' dramas that make little sense. Like Bollywood films, the script is passed around the regional States and nationally in India, albeit different families and communal fissures. A proper chutney democracy. There are political dynasties in most democracies including UK and USA, but few where leadership is monopolised by families. America eat your heart out. Full story...
Don't miss:
There are a few regional states in India undergoing elections through phased timetable. It is pure entertainment with family feuds, dynasties, castism and communalism, the stuff of medieval Kingdoms albeit without the bloody massacres and palace murders. The first election is in Punjab on 30 January. Punjabis in the west are fixated too. The results will be announced in March.
(...)
If anyone has got confused with the plot, not to worry. It's all about which family dynasty will rule. Indian elections, like Bollywood films, are 'fantastical' dramas that make little sense. Like Bollywood films, the script is passed around the regional States and nationally in India, albeit different families and communal fissures. A proper chutney democracy. There are political dynasties in most democracies including UK and USA, but few where leadership is monopolised by families. America eat your heart out. Full story...
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