Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Kher, koi baat nahin

Is that a miffed Anupam Kher comedian Russell Peters is embracing or is that just a lets-pretend moment between two stars with impeccable comic timing? Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

A mammoth win

Catsticks is one of the more important independent films to have emerged this year, going by the all-around critical acclaim it's garnered in festivals across the world. The film follows the journey of a motley crew of drug addicts whose paths cross over the course of one night.

It's been directed by Ronny Sen, who now has another feather in his cap. Catsticks has been awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival in the US. It's one of the highest accolades at the event, and it is a matter of some pride that an Indian film has been awarded with it. Our congratulations to the entire team.

Picture this

The World Cup is the flavour of the season right now, and England is where it's being held this year. Before the tournament started, all the team captains posed for a photo with Queen Elizabeth.

It was a routine photograph, except that someone replaced the painting in the background with one that Majnu Bhai, Anil Kapoor's character in the 2007 film Welcome, made in the movie.

This elicited a response from the actor, who tweeted, "Majnu Bhai's art has travelled far and wide. This is literally priceless!"

Nothing shocking about this news

Comedian Rohan Joshi recently spoke up about dealing with anxiety issues on Humans of Bombay. Covering Joshi's story, a daily termed it as a "shocking" revelation, while mental health is only a topic that is largely left out of popular discourse. Addressing newspapers to stop using shock and awe language for a topic that needs to be normalised, Joshi took to Instagram to make a few pertinent points.

"Right now the conversation around mental health happens at a very privileged level. The reason I'm okay is because of so so so many levels of privilege. From a supportive family, to money, to access to good mental health practitioners, to being fortunate enough to have the tools and the language to even express how I feel in a way that's coherent and productive. Waayyy too many people don't. And some of these changes are going to be generational. So. We've all got our work cut out [sic]," he wrote. And we hope that this leads to more conversation related to the accessibility and affordability of mental health resources.

Planting a hug

Trees are being cut left, right and centre in the city, what with non-stop development projects and the imminent monsoon season. But 3,527 is a horrifyingly large number of trees being felled, especially if it's in just one suburb, Thane.

In order to stop this injustice, a group of women recently took inspiration from the Chipko movement and stood hugging trees so that they are not chopped down. It's sad to see citizens taking up a cause that the authorities should really be more mindful about.

Serious business between comedians

When videos go viral, fame may not always go in favour of those featured in them. Avadhesh Dubey, a toy seller in Surat, became an overnight sensation when a video of him selling toys with his unique brand of humour was uploaded. And no, that didn't give him his own YouTube channel but led to his arrest by the RPF for illegally selling toys in a train, following which he was fined '3,500 and sent to 10-day judicial custody. The development sparked an interesting debate between two Mumbai-based comedians.

"Laws always practised to perfection to keep the poor in fear [sic]," tweeted Kunal Kamra, to which Azeem Banatwalla responded, "What is the argument here...Rich aren't punished for crimes so poor also shouldn't be?" We leave the rest to you.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates