Page 64 - 31OCT2018E

• Deepika highlights theStack VIOLATIONS AGAINST

acid attack survivor TIGERS REMAIN UNTAMED
THE OTHER WOMAN
research, the intriguing science of tiger ecology, its
By Daniel Silva; Harper Collins The new book brings together decades-long
Deepika Padukone will be playing the conservation and the politics around it
role of an acid attack survivor in Meghna In an isolated village in the mountains of Andalusia, a mysterious THROUGH HIS seminal book The Rise and Fall of
French woman begins to work on a dangerous memoir. It is the story
Gulzar’s next directorial venture, which • India gets first of a man, she once loved in the Beirut of old, and a the Emerald Tigers, renowned conservation biolo-
the actor will also be producing. The ‘Miss Trans Queen’ child taken from her in treason’s name. The woman gist Raghu Chundawat shares his findings from
32-year-old will play the role of Laxmi Veena Sendre from is the keeper of the Kremlin’s most closely guarded the only long-term ecological research project
Agarwal in the yet to be titled film. Chhattisgarh has been secret. Long ago, the KGB inserted a mole into the on tigers undertaken in India till date. Set to of-
“When I heard this story, I was deeply chosen as India’s first ‘Miss heart of the West — a mole who stands on the door- fend many, Chundawat doesn’t make generalised
moved as it’s not just one of violence Trans Queen’. Veena de- step of ultimate power. Only one man can unravel the allegations but puts forth figures and names of
but of strength and courage, hope and feated Namita Ammu of conspiracy — Gabriel Allon — the legendary art re- people he holds responsible. He also exposes a
victory. It made such an impact on me, Tamil Nadu to claim the title storer and assassin who serves as the chief of Israel’s system plagued by the habit of repeating mis-
that personally and creatively, I needed at the national-level beauty vaunted secret intelligence service. Gabriel has bat- takes, where, despite reaching out to the top
tled the dark forces of the new Russia before, at great
offices, including the Chief Minister, bureaucrats
to go beyond and so the decision to turn contest organised in Mumbai personal cost. Now he and the Russians will engage and institutions, he couldn’t stop deaths of the
producer,” Padukone said. In 2005, while on Sunday. Sendre, a former in a final epic showdown, with the fate of the post-war global order free-ranging tigers he once helped revive. “I had a
Miss Chhattisgarh, belongs
Agarwal was waiting at a bus stop in to Mandir Hasaud village in hanging in the balance. front-row seat for the tiger’s extinction in Panna,”
Delhi, she was attacked by an assailant, a Raipur. She said since child- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- he writes.
man twice her age, known to her family and hood she felt ‘different’ from The book shows how a
a suitor whose advances she had declined. others. “Nobody wanted to be TIME IS A KILLER sordid leadership and key
The film showcases Agarwal’s journey after my friend, everybody made By Michel Bussi; Hachette institutions indulged in cov-
her attack spanning 10 years. A significant fun of me,” she said. Sendre It is the summer of 1989 and 15-year-old Clotilde is on a holiday with er-ups through imaginary
census, creating fake pug-
part of the story is the game-changing public left her studies when she her parents in Corsica. On a twisty mountain road, their car comes marks, giving a free-run to
interest litigation in the Supreme Court that was in 5th standard, but was off at a curve and plunges into a ravine. Only Clotilde survives. poachers and reprimand-
back with books a few years
inspired the amendment on acid laws in 2013. later, she said. She then spoke Twenty-seven years later, she returns to Corsica with her husband ing whistle-blowers — in
Gulzar said in spite of regulation on the sale of with her mother about doing and their sulky teenage daughter. Clotilde wants the the process misleading
acid and changes in legislation regarding acid something different in her trip to do two things to help exorcise her past and to even Parliament and the
attacks, the ground reality is still very grim. “Acid life. She has participated in build a bridge between her and her daughter. But in Supreme Court. It reveals
violence is a very prevalent danger even today. various ramp walks during the very place where she spent that summer all those many misdeeds swept
Medical treatment, compensation, rehabilitation Lucknow and Bengaluru years ago, she receives a letter from her mother as under the carpet by reck-
and inclusion of acid attack survivors are still fashion weeks. Her victory is if she were still alive. As fragments of memory come less authorities. It explains
almost everything one
back, Clotilde begins to question the past and yet it
very real challenges,” she said. The Raazi being seen as a big fillip to the all seems impossible — she saw the corpses of her needs to know about tigers,
trangender community in the
director added that Deepika is confident that country. mother, her father, her brother. She has lived with conservation and politics. Foremost, it outlines
Padukone will do justice to the character. their ghosts. But then who sent this letter and why? that much of what went wrong still continues at
---------------------------------------------------------- the peril of our national animal.
Chundawat closely studied the Panna tigers
SHAHRYAR: A LIFE IN POETRY and their prey, from 1996 to 2006 — meticulously
By Rakhshanda Jalil; HarperCollins recording their space use, movements, feeding
• STONE GOES FOR MCCARTNEY’S TRACK DIFFICULT TO BE A One of the most important voices in contemporary Indian poetry, and reproductive behaviours — in the dry tropical
forests of Madhya Pradesh. With support from the
OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR EMMA STONE TO APPEAR IN THE BEATLE LEGEND’S VIDEO Shahryar (1936-2012) casts a mesmeric spell since the publication national park management, he oversaw a spec-
Emma Stone will appear in a new music WOMAN IN INDIA’ of his very first collection, Ism-e Azam, in 1965. In a career spanning tacular revival of Panna’s tiger population.
video for Beatle legend Paul McCartney. five decades, it is interesting how Shahryar always managed to However, by 2002-03, the fortunes of Panna’s
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the remain topical and his poetry could always be called ‘the call of the tigers, and Chundawat’s research, nosedived
Oscar-winning actor was addressing a Q&A time’. This ability to remain relevant and to always have something when the park management changed. Monitoring
panel with the Child Mind Institute, where to say consistently over a period of time is a singular privileges and access to the park were curtailed,
she opened up about her battle with anxi- quality. This book locates Shahryar’s considerable and subsequently, poaching and poisoning of
ety, a condition she has been struggling with body of work in the trajectory of contemporary Indian tigers spiked. When Chundawat blew the whistle
from the age of seven. When moderator Dr writings and evaluates his extraordinary contribution on the alarming decline, he faced backlash from
Harold S Koplewicz asked Stone, “What’s to not merely modern Urdu poetry but, more signifi- the state wildlife authorities.
next?” And before the “La La Land” star had a cantly, modern Indian poetry. In this biography, writer, In this immensely informative work, Chunda-
chance to answer, Koplewicz added, “besides critic and literary historian Rakhshanda Jalil has bril- wat presents not just his research, but also an
a video with Paul McCartney?” To this Stone liantly captured different aspects of Shahryar’s life, insider’s account of the politics and administra-
responded: “I don’t think you’re supposed his works in the backdrop of taraqqi pasand versus tive apathy plaguing Indian wildlife conservation.
to announce that.” The actor also said she is Soha Ali Khan jadeed parast , his unique yet simple style of poetry He discusses the larger threats to Indian wildlife
• Singing success Legendary appearance working on the “Zombieland” follow-up. (In an interview) and also his brief tryst with films. — and the possible solutions.

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