The people like Pankuj Kapur love to remain in the news for right reasons .He is a fascinating and highly-talented actor .It’s ironical that Bollywood has never been kind to tremendous potential of actors who don’t fit in its stereotypical mould .The actors like Pankuj Kapur , who love to experiment with newer methods , being on road less-travelled , often get marginalised in glamorous world of Bolywood.

The fate of such unique artists is to remain unsung with financial problems crippling their domestic lives.One still remembers impeccable performances of Pankuj Kapur in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron , Roja,Karamchand and Ek Ruka Hua Faisala,to name a few.All those who had seen him in Ek Doctor Ki Maut would find it impossible to dilute the charm of this man.One hopes he continues to delight his viewers with unparallel and breath-taking performances .

Lastly,let me also talk about his better half Supriya Pathak,a brilliant actor,who like a true ‘ardhangini’ provided Kapur a qualitative extension to his histrionics.

Amitabh is not just a real superstar but also a very good actor.I beg to differ with those who say that he is not a good actor or lacks versatility.

It depends lot on director how he comes to use the potential and to what extent he comes to add new dimensions in it.The problem with Amitabh is that for a very long period he had to work with mediocre directors,who were solely interested in ”dhishum dhishum”(fights) and ”pyar mohabbat”(romance) type orientations.He got few opportunities to show his true potential.

I don’t think there is dearth of movies that,to an extent,have done justice to his acting sensibilities.He is a terrific actor and for that U need to watch Reshma Aur Shera, Deewar, Anand,Sharaabi, Abhimaan,Mai Azaad Hu,Sarkar,Dev,Black,Cheeni Kum and Nishabd,to name a few, to witness various shades of his acting,his versatility.

Kamal Hassan who is hailed as great actor for his versatility in South is a flop actor in the whole northern belt(read mainstream belt).Flop in a sense that his versatility failed to leave a desired impact on Hindi viewers because few directors had the ability to present his versatility in presentable way in the Hindi belt or rightly the ’national belt’ for the southern actors.That’s why barring films like Sadma,Ek Duje Ke Liye and Hindustani we have not seen anybody daring explore his versatility for Hindi viewers.

In nutshell,whether an actor is great or not has lot do with what type of directors he had to wok with.An actor may have great acting skills but we need a proper platform to add new dimensions in his acting skills.It’s really unfortunate that Amitabh had to spend a lot of his time with less talented directors. However,it’s a remarkable achievement that he managed to leave an indelible impression on the hearts and minds of viewers even via movies made by mediocre directors.His ‘flop’ movies managed to pulled huge crowd to the theaters more than the hit movies released at the same time!! That’s is perhaps unparalleled.

Asian countries, especially Japan, are newly enamored with the wonders of science.Scientific innovations have great ability to untangle the painful complexities of human life but it seems that’s not researchers’ primary aim.Instead of pursuing humanitarian goals, science has become a tool for maintaining the rapid tempo of business globalization.In countries like India, scientific research has a vast but untapped potential for raising the living standards of the lower classes.

Asian scientists, however, see the Indian marketplace as a battleground for big brands, which are offering innovative products at attractive prices. It’s unfortunate that Asian governments have no agenda that includes bringing a change in the quality of life to the vast segment of humanity living below the poverty line.There is great need to revive interest in scientific projects that really make a difference in people’s lives.

In a recent survey conducted that only few thousands of students out of lakhs of engineering students go in for research projects.Only one percent of student graduating from IIT and IISc in B tech enroll themselves for M Tech and merely two percent M Tech students opt for PhD.According to report submitted by US study the research output in China has increased more than 25 times in comparison with India’s progression and the scientific papers of Chinese scientists published in quality journals increased by over 104 times.On the other hand,the Indian scientific research publishing increased only by 2.3 times.China spends about 1.3 per cent of its GDP on R&D while India spends about US$ 5 billion on R&D every year only that is 0.9 per cent of the GNP.

It’s really sad that for most of them good salary prospects is the real guiding factor for choosing engineering or medicine fields.No wonder we are nowhere during nominations for Nobel Prize.

The Indians lack right mindset.No doubt,the Indian cricket team has improved considerably but it still not able to develop a proper mindset.We still don’t know what are the elements that are involved in the making of team.It’s still under the awe of ”stars”.It’s still the culmination of various types of egos rather than being meeting point of brilliant minds.

First of all we need to have a better mechanism,better set of rules.They need to be honestly translated into action.However,it’s easier said than done.It’s not that easy to rope in better changes unless we become truly interested in game alone.

In India politics is mixed with cricket.Many players are more politicians than cricketers.

In other teams,there are only players!!Unless that remains the case we are bound to remain a mediocre team happy with number game !!We find the same thing in Indian movie world..No actors.We have just superstars !!

I am of the opinion that Obama is already basking in the glory of success. This award should be used to bring in limelight the deserving souls who need genuine attention for their tremendous contribution. It’s a meaningless and absurd gesture to award this to someone who is at the helm of global politics!

Zimbabwe’s Morgan Tsvangirai, Chinese dissident Hu Jia, Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba who has campaigned for a peaceful solution to the almost 50-year-old conflict in her country, and Afghan doctor and women’s rights activist Sima Samar, Vietnamese Buddhist monk and democracy advocate Thich Quang Do, Chechen human rights lawyer Lidiya Yusupova, and Russian activist Svetlana Gannushkina and the Cluster Munitions Coalition or the humanitarian organization Handicap International could have been honured.

I hope there are many names in the list who are unknown figure for many of us.Shouldn’t have they been given chance to bask in the glory of success?

Let’s have a look at what others have said in this regard.I am presenting the other side of coin-the people who are terribly upset.

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Peter Beinart, no stranger to good analysis, deftly captures the gestalt of problems with Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

I like Barack Obama as much as the next liberal, but this is a farce. He’s done nothing to deserve the prize. Sure, he’s given some lovely speeches and launched some initiatives on Iran, Israeli-Palestinian peace, climate change and nuclear disarmament — that might, if he’s really lucky and really good, make the world a more safe, more just, more peaceful world. But there’s absolutely no way to know if he’ll succeed, and by giving him the Nobel Prize as a kind of “atta boy,” the Nobel Committee is actually just highlighting the gap that conservatives have long highlighted: between Obamamania as global hype and Obama’s actual accomplishments

Obama will survive this award. The damage to the Nobel Committee itself will be greater. They’ve clearly fallen in love with celebrity, and with the idea of shaping the course of history in other words, they’ve fallen in love with an absurdly grandiose conception of their role. The Nobel Prize Committee should be in the business of conferring celebrity on unknown human rights and peace activists toiling in the most god-forsaken parts of the world; the people who really need the attention (and even the money).

It should be in the business of angering powerful tyrants by giving their victims a moment in the sun. Choosing Barack Obama, who practically orbits the sun already, accomplishes the exact opposite of that. Let’s hope Obama eventually deserves this award. And let’s hope the Nobel Committee’s decision meets with such a deafening chorus of chortles and jeers that it never does something this stupid again.

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Financial Times: What Did Obama Do to Win the Nobel Peace Prize?

I am a genuine admirer of Obama. And I am very pleased that George W Bush is no longer president. But I doubt that I am alone in wondering whether this award is slightly premature. It is hard to point to a single place where Obama’s efforts have actually brought about peace - Gaza, Iran, Sri Lanka? The peace prize committee say that he is being rewarded for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy.” But while it is OK to give school children prizes for “effort” - my kids get them all the time - I think international statesmen should probably be held to a higher standard.

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London Times: Absurd Decision on Obama Makes a Mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

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The Guardian: Barack Obama’s Nobel Prize: Why Now?

Indeed, the reasoning behind the awarding of the prize to previous American presidents has been easier to discern. Teddy Roosevelt opened the court of arbitration in the Hague and helped mediate a peace treaty between Russia and Japan; Woodrow Wilson was the founder of the League of Nations. Jimmy Carter won his prize for his “untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts”.

Which is what makes the awarding of this year’s prize to a president who has been in office for a mere nine months an odd departure. It is as if the prize committee had been persuaded to give the award on the future delivery of promises.

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And A Very Interesting Remark:

But next year let’s give it to Miss World. Every year Miss World comes on and says I want world peace and the world free of nuclear weapons.It’s a hope, an aspiration. This is a Nobel Peace Prize for not being George Bush.

Sky News foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall

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