We are considered pious but we live as prostitutes: Sadhvi's letter that nailed Ram Rahim

Read the full text of the letter anonymously written by the sadhvi who had been raped by Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. This letter led to conviction of Ram Rahim 15 years later.

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been boastful of his political connections and absolute power. He used to tell his followers that he was the most powerful and equal to God.
Ram Rahim unleashed a reign of terror at the Dera Sacha Sauda. But, a letter, written anonymously by a sadhvi , brought the Dera empire of Gurmeet Ram Rahim down.

Fifteen years after the letter was written, addressed to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted by a CBI court. Ram Rahim is currently lodged in the Rohtak jail in Haryana.

Here is the full text of the letter under whose the mighty godman of Dera Sacha Sauda crumbled and lost his empire:

To,
Honourable Prime Minister
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Government of India)

Subject: Request for probe into rape of hundreds of girls by Dera chief (Ram Rahim)

I am a girl hailing from Punjab and I have been serving as a sadhvi at Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa (Haryana) for the last five years. There are hundreds of other girls, who serve for 16-18 hours a day at the Dera. We are being physically exploited here. Dera Maharaj Gurmeet Singh rapes girls at the Dera. I am a graduate girl. My family members are blind followers of Maharaj (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh). I became a sadhvi at my family's bidding.

Two years after I became a sadhvi, Maharaj Gurmeet Singh's close woman-disciple Gurjot told me one night around 10 pm that I had been summoned to 'Gufa' (residence of Gurmeet Ram Rahim). As I was going there for the first time, I was elated that God himself had sent out for me. When I went upstairs, I saw Maharaj sitting on the bed holding a remote control in hand and watching a blue film on TV. Beside his pillow on the bed, lay a revolver. Seeing all this, I was stunned, felt dizziness, and felt as if the earth has moved from beneath my feet. I wondered what at all was happening here.
I had never imagined that Maharaj would be such a person. Maharaj switched off the TV and seated me beside him. He offered me water and said that he had called me because he considered me very dear to him. This was my first day (experience).

Maharaj took me in his arms and said that he loved me from the core of his heart. He also said that he wanted to make love with me. He told me that at the time of becoming his disciple, I had dedicated my wealth, body and soul to him and he had accepted my offering. By this logic, your body is mine now.

When I objected he said, "There is no doubt that I am God." When I asked if God also indulges in such acts, he shot back:

1. Sri Krishna too was God and he had 360 gopis (milkmaids) with whom he staged Prem Lila (love drama). Even then people regarded him as God. This is not a new thing.

2. I can kill you with this revolver and cremate you here. The members of your family are my devoted followers and they have such blind faith in me that they are my slaves. You know it very well that your family members cannot go against me.

3. I have considerable influence in the governments. The chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana, and central Ministers touch my feet. Politicians seek my support and take money from me. They cannot take any action against me. We will get your family members dismissed from government jobs. I will get them killed and wouldn't leave any evidence behind. You know it very well that I had got Dera manager Fakir Chand killed earlier. No one knows anything about him till date. Neither there is any evidence of the murder. By money power, I can buy politicians, police and justice.

Thus, he raped me. For the past three months, my turn comes every 25-30 days. Now, I realise that he has been raping other girls staying with him.

Around 35-40 women living at the Dera are over 35-40 years old and past the marriageable age. They have compromised with their lives at the Dera. Most of the girls are educated and have secured BA, MA, BEd degrees. But they are living a life of hell at the Dera because their family members are fanatic followers. We wear white clothes, cover heads with scarf, forbidden to look at men and keep a distance of 5-10 feet from men as per Maharaj's commands.

We appear like devis (pious women), but our situation is that of prostitutes. I tried once to tell my family members that all was not well at the Dera. But, they got angry with me saying that if God's company is not worth enjoying then which place would be. It seems your mind has become corrupt, recite the name of satguru (the real teacher), they told me.  I am helpless. I have to obey every command of the Maharaj.

No girl is permitted to talk to another. As per the commands of the Maharaj, girls are not permitted to talk to their families even over telephone. If a girl talks about the reality of the Dera, she is punished under the commands of the Maharaj. Just a few days ago, a Bathinda girl spoke about the wrongdoings of the Maharaj, she was thrashed by women-disciples. She is still bed-ridden at her home due to this assault. Her father has left his service as a sevadar (servant of Dera). She is not telling anyone anything for the fear of Maharaj.

Similarly, a girl from Kurukshetra district has also left the Dera and went back home. When she narrated her sufferings at the Dera to her family, her brother who worked as a sevadar, gave up his job. When a Sangrur girl left the Dera, went home and narrated the wrongdoings at the Dera to the people, the Dera's armed sewadar hooligans visited the girl's home and threatened to kill her. They warned her not to tell anyone anything about the Dera.

Similarly, girls from Mansa, Ferozepur, Patiala and Ludhiana districts (of Punjab) have gone back home and are keeping mum as they have threat to their lives. Same is the fate of girls from Sirsa, Hissar, Fatehabad, Hanumangarh and Meerut who are not uttering a word due to muscle power of the Dera goondas.

If I reveal my name (and) my address, my family and I will be killed. I can't keep quiet and I also don't want to die, but I want to expose the reality (of Dera). If a probe is conducted by the press or some government agency, 40 to 45 girls - living in utmost fear at the Dera -, if they are convinced, are willing to tell the truth.

Our medical examination should be conducted so that our guardians and the people would know whether we are still celibate disciples or not. If we are no longer virgins, it should be probed as to who violated our chastity. The truth will then come out that Maharaj Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Sacha Sauda has ruined our lives.

(Source: India Today)

The evolution of the Japanese animation industry

In recent years, Japanese animation has become popular around the world. Industry veteran Yamaguchi Yasuo, who has been involved in anime production for half a century, traces the history of Japanese animation, from its birth to today, on Nippon.com. Read on: 

The Dawn of Japanese Anime
Japan began producing animation in 1917—still the age of silent films—through trial-and-error drawing and cutout animation techniques, based on animated shorts from France and the United States. People started talking about the high quality of Japanese “manga films.” But Japanese anime were costlier to produce than Western animations and were overshadowed by the popularity of Disney cartoons. They faced an uphill battle from the start.

One of the things that helped them find their niche was anime production for public relations and publicity campaigns by public institutions. Domestic anime production was beginning to develop a small but solid foundation when Tokyo and the surrounding area suffered catastrophic damage in the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923. The anime industry was forced to start over from scratch.
The industry continued to struggle, unable to respond adequately to successive innovations, including the appearance of the first talkies in 1929 and color film in 1932. During this period, Ōfuji Noburō won international acclaim for Bagudajō no tōzoku (The Thief of Baguda Castle), which he made by cutting and pasting chiyogami (Japanese colored paper). His film is remembered as the first to make its presence felt outside Japan.

Many other promising anime artists appeared one after another, but with war approaching, goods were in extremely short supply as the national mood turned militaristic. Even film was not easy to get hold of. It was in this context that the first full-length theatrical film in the history of Japanese anime was released. Momotarō: Umi no shinpei (Momotarō’s Divine Sea Warriors, B&W, 74 minutes), produced by the navy, came out just before the end of the war. This was a propagandistic film designed to lift morale and commitment to the war effort.

Soon after the war ended, the General Headquarters of the Allied occupation (GHQ) brought together 100 anime artists in the bombed-out ruins of Tokyo to form the Shin Nihon Dōgasha, or New Japan Animation Company. The aim was to make it easier to spread occupation policies by having the artists produce anime in praise of democracy. However, many of the artists were fiercely independent and territorial, and the company was riven by disagreements from the outset. The project strayed off course, and eventually disbanded. Even GHQ threw in the towel. It seemed the switch from militarism to democracy was not going to be so easy.

The Start of Tōei Dōga (Now Tōei Animation)
It was during these years, as Japan began to recover from the disastrous war, that Ōkawa Hiroshi, president of the Tōei film company, saw Disney’s Snow White (1937). He was overwhelmed by the gorgeous color of the film. In 1956, he built a modern studio—a white-walled palace with air conditioning, as people called it—and founded Tōei Dōga (now Tōei Animation). His ambition: to become “the Disney of the East.”

Tōei Dōga’s first full-length film, Hakujaden, was released in October 1958.
It was based on a Chinese tale. Miyazaki Hayao, who saw the f
ilm during a break from studying for his college entrance exams,
was astonished by its quality. © Tōei

Tōei Dōga chose Hakujaden (The Legend of the White Snake) as their first film. They sent a research team to the United States and invited several experts to travel to Japan as mentors. As a result, they were able to master the Disney system of “assembly-line production.” They hired a team of new employees who honed their skills while they produced the film under the supervision of veteran animators like Mori Yasuji and Daikuhara Akira.

With jobs hard to come by in the postwar Japan, the new company was able to attract an outstanding team of young talent happy to work for relatively low starting salaries. It was a typical labor-intensive company. However, as the government’s drive to double people’s incomes started to take effect, wages shot up and the company soon found itself in the red. Attendances at the World Masterpiece Fairy Tale Anime Series, a “manga festival” held every year during the springtime school holidays (and, in later years, during the summer vacation as well), were falling. The company’s financial future was uncertain. The labor movement was also gaining momentum, bringing frequent labor disputes and labor-management clashes. Takahata Isao and Miyazaki Hayao, now with Studio Ghibli, began their careers at Tōei Dōga (Takahata entered the company in 1959, Miyazaki in 1963). Both were active members of the labor union, Takahata serving as vice-chairman and Miyazaki as secretary-general.

Tetsuwan Atomu: The First Japanese Television Anime
On January 1, 1963, Fuji Television broadcast a 30-minute animated television series called Tetsuwan Atomu (better known in English as Astro Boy). The show became a surprise hit, starting an anime boom and a period of intense competition for TV audiences. The success marked the beginning of a new kind of anime industry.

The low franchise fees paid to the studio for Tetsuwan Atomu (created by Tezuka Osamu, the president of Mushi Production) meant that the company needed to come up with a way to drastically cut production costs. They ruthlessly cut the number of drawings, trimmed the number of lines in each image to the bare minimum, and took to using more still images. They worked to make the storylines quicker and devised clever ways of simulating movement, from sound effects to the dialogue.

The company offset its losses with copyright income—licensing the rights for the Atom character to their corporate sponsor, confectionary maker Meiji Seika, who used the character on a popular brand of chocolates. When the company still posted a loss, Tezuka decided to invest his own income from manga publishing. It was a generous gesture typical of the man they called the “god of manga.”

The Wilderness Years and the Appearance of a Blockbuster
Merchandising became entrenched as part of the basic business model for all the television anime that followed. The most popular genre dealt with science fiction and space, followed by shows about girls with magical powers. In 1968, the popular baseball-themed Kyojin no hoshi (Star of the Giants) began, followed in 1969 by the first episode of the family drama Sazae-san, which continues to this day as the longest-running series in anime history. But not every series could be a winner, and with a glut on the market competition intensified.

At Tōei Dōga, which continued to run a deficit due to high production costs, labor-management relations deteriorated, leading to a lockout and layoffs in the summer of 1972. Mushi Production went bankrupt in 1973 (although the labor union later took over from Tezuka, the founder, and has led the company until the present day). The anime industry went into recession. Behind this recession were larger economic issues, such as the Nixon Shock in 1971 and the 1973 oil crisis.

When an animated television series ended, the staff was disbanded. Tōei’s seniority-based employment system fell apart, and they switched to a system of performance-based pay. They were required to change to a corporate style that was more compatible with the shrewd programming policies of television stations.

Amidst the recessionary mood of these bleak years, a new work appeared that challenged the idea of anime as simply children’s entertainment. Uchū senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato), released as a TV series in 1974 and a feature film in 1977, became a social phenomenon, tremendously popular with millions of young adults.

The Proliferation of “Japanimation” Fans
Meanwhile, Japanese television anime began to become popular among young people overseas. In some countries, adults rejected it, calling it “Japanimation” and criticizing it as cheap, violent, and sexually explicit. When Kyandi kyandi (Candy Candy) was broadcast in France, young girls were glued to the television screen. Some parents resented this, claiming their children were being corrupted by a strange culture from the Orient. Nevertheless, the anime fan base continues to grow around the world, mostly among young people. Some fans even wonder, “Why can’t our country create works that surpass Japanimation?” Today, “Japanimation” means something quite different from the negative connotations it used to have.

Although the number of television anime gradually recovered after the collapse of the bubble economy in 1992 and the economic slump of the 1990s, the industry as a whole has never recovered the pomp of its golden years. A slump in advertising revenue, dwindling birthrates, and the popularity of alternative forms of entertainment like video games and cell phones have led to sluggish prime time ratings and a decline in the number of anime since the peak in 2006. Although there are fewer anime on the main commercial stations today, other channels have remained anime-friendly: TV Tokyo chief among them, followed by local and regional stations, satellite channels, and other communication systems. Unfortunately, these smaller channels tend to have smaller budgets than the main stations, with predictable consequences for production costs.

The Japanese anime industry is at a turning point. The reality is that many anime production companies are struggling, and have become little more than subcontractors for television stations. The need to improve the status of these companies is foremost among the many issues that need to be addressed if the industry is to continue to develop new talent for the future.

Remembering Ram Chander Chhatrapati, the journo who was killed for allegedly exposing Ram Rahim

Ram Chander Chhatrapati was killed on October 23, 2002, allegedly by Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep, who were allegedly Sacha Sauda supporters.

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula today pronounced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case.

With the news flashing all over, a name, which a very few people might have heard before is flowing on social media. Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who ran a local daily Poora Sacch, was the journalist who exposed the rapes of two women at Dera headquarters in Sirsa in 2002.

Months after Chhatrapati published an anonymous letter giving details about how women were sexually harassed by the godman at Sirsa ashram, was shot from point-blank range right outside his house on October 24, 2002.

Chhatrapati in his newspaper had addressed the anonymous letter to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and heads of several other institutions including the Chief Juctice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Ram Chander Chhatrapati 

Ram Chander Chhatrapati highlighted the ‘deeds’ of Ram Rahim in the article. The letter, reportedly written by a woman follower of Baba Ram Rahim, narrated how the Dera chief sexually exploited his women followers at the ashram.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court took note of the letter and directed the then district and sessions judge in Sirsa to order a probe into the matter.

It was after Chhatrapati’s report, that a case was raised against Ram Rahim on December 12, 2002, under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insult to the modesty of woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to an Indian Express report, during a resumed hearing in the Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case in 2011, the CBI had dropped a follower of Dera as a witness.

Chhatrapati was killed on October 23, 2002, allegedly by Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep, who used to work as carpenters.

According to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim had ordered the killing of Chhatrapati for publishing news about illegal activities in Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa. The CBI also alleged that a scooter and pistol were provided to Nirmal and Kuldeep by Krishan Lal. The pistol is registered in the name of Lal.

(Source: inUth)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Kabir Khan, Karan Johar top Nepotism Index

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Kabir Khan and Karan Johar score highest among Bollywood directors on the nepotism index

Ever since film actor Kangana Ranaut drew attention to nepotism in Bollywood earlier this year, the issue has continued to attract attention. Hardly any interview with a Bollywood celebrity is complete these days without that customary question on nepotism.

In an attempt to quantify the extent of nepotism in the industry, and to measure how nepotism varies across production houses, Mint has developed a Nepotism Index, based on the share of insiders (those with Bollywood family connections) cast as leads. As the chart below shows, nepotism is prevalent across production houses, with Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Ltd leading the charts. The production houses of Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment Ltd) follow close behind.

Nadiadwala Grandson scores the highest on the Nepotism Index

The Nepotism Index has been constructed by taking into account the percentage of Bollywood insiders who played the lead roles (male and female lead) in films produced by these ten major production houses over the last five years (2012-16).

27.03

T-Series

10

20

30

40

46.15

Nadiadwala Grandson

44.44

Ajay Devgan Films

42.86

Red Chillies Entertainment

40

Balaji Motion Pictures

36.84

Yash Raj Films

36.11

Dharma Productions

33.33

Fox Star Studios

29.17

Excel Entertainment

29.09

UTV

27.03

T-Series

Source: Official websites of production houses, Mint research Get the data Created with Datawrapper

The analysis of production houses is based on data for 10 large film production houses in the country, which cumulatively accounted for an overwhelming majority of super-hit films over the past five years. Data from Bollywoodhungama.com was used to arrive at the top 10 revenue-grosser in each year from 2012 to 2016. Once the top production houses were identified, data on leads for the past five years was sourced from the official websites of the production houses.

UTV scores low on the Nepotism Index partly because it co-produces many movies with independent producers and directors. Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd has a low score thanks to its subsidiary, Y-films, which has produced films such as Mere Dad in Maruti and Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge targeted at a younger audience. T-Series Pvt. Ltd appears to be the least nepotistic among the top producers.

The Nepotism Index only serves as a rough gauge of the power of connections in Bollywood. Even though some Bollywood dynasts may have been initially selected for a film role because of their connections, some of them may have flourished in the industry because they have delivered hits, and are seen as bankable stars by producers. Also, stars such as Shah Rukh Khan are technically ‘outsiders’, and have been considered as such in this analysis. But today they wield as much clout as any Bollywood insider.

Given that directors have as much say, if not more, in the casting of leads, it also makes sense to look at the Nepotism Index for leading film directors of Bollywood. The directors considered for the analysis include both big-budget film directors who work for the top production houses, as well as directors such as Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bharadwaj who lead smaller production houses of their own, and have won critical acclaim for some of their films in recent years.

The analysis shows that Sanjay Leela Bhansali, known for making big-budget films, scores highest on the Nepotism Index. He is followed closely by Kabir Khan (of Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Bhaijaan fame) and Karan Johar, whom Ranaut had criticized for promoting nepotism when she was interviewed by Johar on his talk show Koffee with Karan.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali scores highest on the Nepotism Index for directors

The Nepotism Index has been constructed by taking into account the share (%) of insiders (those with family connections in Bollywood) who played the lead roles (male and female) in the last five films directed by the following top ten directors

23.08

Farah Khan

20

40

60

62.5

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

57.14

Kabir Khan

54.55

Karan Johar

54.55

Zoya Akhtar

45.45

Rohit Shetty

44.44

Rajkumar Hirani

33.33

Vishal Bhardwaj

28.57

Anurag Kashyap

28.57

Imtiaz Ali

23.08

Farah Khan

Source: Official websites of production houses and directors, Mint research Get the data Created with Datawrapper

Directors of big-budget films seem to prefer working with insiders or established stars. Their low risk appetite in experimenting with new actors perhaps stems partly from the higher financial stakes involved. In contrast, directors such as Bharadwaj and Kashyap, who typically produce and direct relatively small-budget films, seem to be more comfortable in casting outsiders as their leads.

Kashyap, who has launched actors without Bollywood family connections such as Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Richa Chadda, has among the lowest scores on the Nepotism Index. Only Imtiaz Ali and Farah Khan have scores equal to or lower than him.

There is also a gender aspect to this issue. Male lead actors, who typically play the central, pivotal characters, are more likely to be insiders. With the exception of Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar, most of the other male leads—Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, for instance—come from families with connections to Bollywood. In contrast, the secondary nature of their roles in Bollywood films makes it relatively easier for female outsiders.

Ajay Devgan's production house is the most nepotistic when it comes to male actors

The chart below shows the share (%) of insiders for male leads in Bollywood films produced over the period 2012-16 by these ten production houses

30.77

Excel Entertainment

50

100

100

Ajay Devgan Films

60

Nadiadwala Grandson

52.63

Balaji Motion Pictures

47.62

Dharma Productions

42.11

T-Series

38.46

Yash Raj Films

38.10

Fox Star Studios

37.93

UTV

33.33

Red Chillies Entertainment

30.77

Excel Entertainment

Source: Websites of production houses, Mint research Get the data Created with Datawrapper

Shah Rukh Khan's production house is most likely to cast Bollywood insiders as female leads

The chart below shows the share (%) of insiders who played female leads in Bollywood films produced over the period 2012-16 by these ten production houses

11.11

T-Series

20

40

50

Red Chillies Entertainment

33.33

Yash Raj Films

28.57

Ajay Devgan Films

27.27

Nadiadwala Grandson

27.27

Excel Entertainment

26.67

Fox Star Studios

25

Balaji Motion Pictures

20

Dharma Productions

19.23

UTV

11.11

T-Series

Source: Websites of production houses, Mint research Get the data Created with Datawrapper

The median share of insiders cast as male leads by the top production houses over the past five years is as high as 40%. For female leads, the median share is relatively lower at 27%.

One important caveat to note is that all industry connections are not exactly equal even though they have been treated as such in the analysis for the sake of simplicity. Both Shreyas Talpade and Kareena Kapoor have been considered as insiders in this analysis. However, Talpade’s level of access, which comes from his two aunts who are actors, cannot be compared to Kapoor’s privilege. Ranveer Singh may appear to be an outsider, but he happens to be Sonam Kapoor’s cousin. Many consider Deepika Padukone, with her familiarity with industry figures, to be as much of an insider as someone from a Bollywood family. Both Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan, son of a renowned Hindi poet, have been considered as outsiders in the analysis, though they are privileged.

That said the broad trends seem to suggest that producers and directors of big-budget films are more likely to be nepotistic. Relying on Bollywood dynasties does not seem to have hurt their top lines, at least so far.

(Source: Live Mint)