4 DECCAN HERALD B Sunday, December 23, 2012

Metro

Film review

DABANGG 2 Hindi (U/A) Director: Arbaaz KhanCast: Salman Khan, SonakshiSinha, Vinod Khanna

‘Thank God for him’ waswhat I overheard whenSalman Khan as ChulbulRobin Hood Pandey was donewith the first set of goons inDabangg 2 in the first fiveminutes of the film. The view-er had more to offer: ‘If wehave more such cops like him,gang-rapes like the one in Del-hi would stop immediately.’Murmurs of accent wereheard all round. The thin linebetween reel and real mergedand the relationship boundand sealed with Sallu bhai.

This time too, ChulbulPandey every few minutestook on goons and thrashedthem to bits, while sharinggreat chemistry with Rajjoji(Sonakshi Sinha, in a slimmerand more attractive avatar)and a better relationship withhis stepfather PrajapatiPandey (Vinod Khanna). Theplotline remained straightfor-ward and simple, keeping inmind the fact that Chulbulhad to be in every scene; comeout the victor in every fight se-quence and ultimately defeatthe main villain ThakurBachcha (Prakash Raj, whospecialises as a baddie and haswon the maximum awards forbeing a great villain!).

There isn’t much in Da-

bangg 2, unlike its first partwhere the character ofPandeyji had to be built fromscratch, as being a lovable,corrupt cop who really istough with the villains andwho has some great oneliners.The sequel only had to rein-force his character, which itdoes with aplomb.

The compulsions to cater tomasses remain in place withsome seriously funny dia-logues, a couple of item num-bers (one each with Malaika,and Kareena in the rather ob-scene ‘Favicol’ song); one ro-mantic number and a titletrack – keeping the originaltune and ‘Hurr Dabangg, Da-bangg’ chorus and dance stepsin place.

Credit must be given to Ar-baaz Khan for paying due at-tention to supporting actors,especially Chulbul’s sidekickslike Tiwari and Sharmaji asalso his senior SP Mathur.Sonakshi too gets her fairshare of screen space, as aspunky woman who holds herown with her husband.

Figures are already out andcounting. Dabangg had col-lected Rs 80.87 crore in thefirst week. This one hasopened with Rs 20 crore onday one - the biggest openingfor a non-holiday film so far. Ifanything, Dabangg 2 has onlygone on to prove that sequelscan do better business thantheir predecessors. Manjulaa

With Salman in every scene,Dabangg 2 fares better

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�Above Average

BANGALORE: City’s Chin-naswamy Stadium has beenturned into a virtual securi-ty fortress, for the first ofTwenty-20 between India–Pakistan cricket series to beheld on December 25,Christmas Day.

The elite Reponse CounterTerrorism Team Garuda Forcehas taken over the securityarrangement at the City’s crick-eting amphitheatre. Accordingto Police Commissioner B GJyothi Prakash Mirji, men inkhaki would ensure utmost se-curity thwarting any untowardincident happening on that day.

The security would be led byfour deputy commissioners ofpolice, 27 assistant commis-sioners, 90 police inspectors,270 sub-inspectors, 240 assis-tant sub-inspectors, 1,750 headconstables and police consta-bles along with 10 platoons ofCity Armed Reserve and 12 pla-toons of Karnataka State Re-serve Police, apart from theelite Garuda force of counter-terrorism.

Mirji said that groups oppos-ing the cricket match have beenwarned against creating anynuisance at the venue on theday. “They can protest peace-fully elsewhere. We haven’t tak-en anybody into preventive cus-

tody yet. But if we deem it fit,we will also do that. We willspare none who try to disruptthe match,” he added.

The police have also de-ployed extensive CCTV cam-eras to monitor the securityarrangements at the stadium.

“Besides the stadium, and itsentrances, all major roads lead-ing to the stadium and aroundit have been put under CCTVwatch,” he added.

The City police, in co-ordi-nation with Pakistani authori-ties, have taken special precau-

tion for the security arrange-ment for the Pakistani cricketteam.

A detailed dos’ and don’ts forspectators has been issued forthose coming for the match.The traffic two-ways onQueen’s Road has been blocked

on December 25 from 11 am to12 midnight.

ParkingParking in and around the sta-dium – Queen’s Road, on MGRoad from Anil Kumble Circleto Queen’s Circle, Link Road,Raj Bhavan Road, CentralStreet, Cubbon Road, MadrasBank Road, Museum Road,Kasturba Road and CubbonPark – has also been banned.Special parking facilities for ve-hicles of spectators have beenarranged at Shivajinagar BusStand, Sri Kanteerava Stadiumand in front of Army School,Kamaraja Road.

All gates of the stadium willbe opened for public at 2 pmand all of them, including VIPs,would be let in only after a thor-ough security check. Specta-tors are required to come tothe stadium a little early andco-operate with the police inensuring security.

Only ticket holders will be al-lowed through the barricades.A police outpost at Gate No 1for the convenience of specta-tors will be operational.

The police have also bannedall items into the stadium in-cluding water bottles, cameras,food items and any lethal or ex-plosive material. DH News Service

Stadium turns a fortressT-20 match between India-Pakistan on December 25

VIGIL: Security personnel scan the premises of Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. DH PHOTO

Savita’s husband unhappyover delay in report Irish govt asksPraveen to waittill Jan or Feb LONDON: Praveen Halap-panavar, husband of Savita,the Indian dentist who diedafter being denied an abor-tion in Ireland, is “not at allhappy” with the authorities’failure to deliver a prelimi-nary probe report on hiswife’s death before Christ-mas, and has been told towait till the “end of January,possibly February.”

Praveen and his solicitorGerard O’Donnell met Minis-ter for Health James Reilly inAthlone on Wednesday night,at the request of the minister,according to the Irish Times.

They had been assured lastmonth that they would receivea preliminary report “beforeChristmas” from the HealthService Executive (HSE) in-quiry into the death ofPraveen’s 31-year-old wifeSavita on October 28, at Gal-way University Hospital.

O’Donnell said when he andhis client had set out forAthlone on Wednesdayevening they had been expect-ing to receive the report on ini-tial findings of Arulkumaran,an expert at St George’s, theUniversity of London’s Health-care Institutions, who headsthe panel set up by Ireland’s

Savita Halappanavar

health authorities to probe intothe case.

“We had expected to be pe-rusing a document of somekind. Instead what we got wasa sort of verbal report. Praveenindicated he was not at all hap-py with that and the ministertook that on board. The realityis we were to receive a reportand the reality is we have re-ceived nothing. We are nowbeing told it will be at the endof January, possibly February,”he said.

“Under the European Con-vention of Human Rights adeath such as this should beinvestigated promptly. We didtell the minister that if thereare any further delays we willdraw a line in the sand, and sitdown with the counsel abouttaking the case to Europe,” headded.

They decided they wouldnot take a case to Europe untilthe HSE inquiry had conclud-ed.PTI

‘Oil import gobbles up34 per cent of India’sbudgetary spending’BANGALORE: A huge portionof the country’s total budgetaryexpenditure, 34 per cent, goesto fund the country’s crude oilimport, said Dr E V RamanaReddy, Secretary, Rural Devel-opment and Panchayat Raj onSaturday. This called for in-creasing the biofuel produc-tion, he said.

Reddy was speaking after in-augurating the second anniver-sary meeting of the KarnatakaState Biofuel DevelopmentBoard (KSBDB) in the city.

“In the current financial yearalone, the union governmenthad kept aside Rs 3.75 lakhcrore for oil import. But wehave already crossed the limitand spent Rs 4 lakh crore, withthree more months to go forthe financial year,” he said.

He called upon the otherstates to emulate Karnataka inbiofuel production, where overthree lakh farmers have takenup plantation of biofuel yield-ing crops and produce organicfuel under governmentschemes.

He said programmes under-taken by KSBDB like BaraduBangara, Hasiru Honnu andHombelaku to promote plantand tree varieties necessary forbiofuel production had re-

ceived a good response. “As of now, the USA and the

Gulf countries decide theprices of the fuel we use. Manya time, the rise in fuel prices isartificial and created by suchcountries, depending on theirneeds. We need to be efficientin the production of bio-energyand solar energy to achieveself-sufficiency,” he said.

Y B Ramakrishna, ExecutiveChairman, KSBDB, said biofu-el information centres wouldbe extended to all districts inthe next few weeks and thatthere were plans to set up bio-fuel parks in each revenue di-vision, like the one in Hassan.

Students from differentparts of the State who had doneinteresting research projectson future biofuel needs werefelicitated.DH News Service

Only international passport holderscan apply for Haj-2013

»The Haj Committee,Mumbai, has decided that

only international passportholders with validity up toMarch 31, 2014, should applyfor Haj-2013, reports DHNS.

All those who want to per-form the Haj-2013 yatra,should get their passportsready before the Haj an-nouncements-2013, whichare likely to be made in Feb-ruary next year. They should

also ensure that their pass-ports contain at least twoblank visa pages adjacent toeach other, the committeestated.

It is mandatory for all theapplicants to have a bank ac-count having an IFS code.

Existing passport holdersare advised to check the valid-ity of their passports and havethem renewed at least uptoMarch 3, 2014.

Rangaswamyto continueas Bangalorevarsity VC BANGALORE, DHNS: Banga-lore University acting Vice-Chancellor N Rangaswamy,whose tenure as Dean of Fac-ulty of Arts ended on Decem-ber 21, will, however continuein the post of VC.

According to KarnatakaState Universities (KSU) Act,when the vice-chancellor’s postis vacant, until the appoint-ment of next VC, the seniormost dean will be appointed asacting VC. As per this provi-sion, Prof Rangaswamy was ap-pointed as acting VC after for-mer VC N Prabhu Dev resignedfrom his post. Rangaswamy’sdeanship ended on December21 and the next senior dean isProf Mohan Kumar. However,an order dated December 21,from the Governor’s office,Rangaswamy will continue asacting VC. The Governor, whois also chancellor of the varsitysaid: “I, H R Bharadwaj, Gov-ernor of Karnataka and Chan-cellor of universities in Karnata-ka, hereby direct that NRangaswamy, acting vice chan-cellor, Bangalore Universityshall continue to act as vicechancellor, Bangalore Univer-sity, until further orders.” As perKSU Act, the post should havebeen taken over by the next sen-ior dean as Rangaswamy’s termhas come to an end.

Salman Khan in Dabangg 2.

Sunday, December 23, 2012 B DECCAN HERALD 4A

Twoarrested for robbingformerMiss India.P4BMetro »

BANGALORE, DHNS: Moviesare serious business. More so,watching them at film festivalswhen one needs to go that ex-tra distance to understand andappreciate the films.

Comprising mostly arthouse cinema, they need con-centrated engagement, lestone loses their cinematic sig-nificance as also the aestheticartistry behind the accoladedworks.

However, in an effort to pro-vide an element of fun, as alsoensure a bit of effort on thepart of audience at watchingserious cinema and be reward-ed in the process, Goethe-In-stitut/Max Mueller BhavanBangalore, which is participat-ing in Biffes 2012 with a pack-age of eight award-winningGerman films under the Coun-try in Focus section, has comeup with a novel competition -Watch & Win. This not onlymakes it imperative that all theGerman films on show arewatched and receive necessarywider audience appreciationand participation, but also en-sure a full house.

As programme co-ordinator

Maureen Gonsalves and Insti-tute director ChristophBertrams point out, it’s a dou-ble deal and a win-win situa-tion for both the German filmsas also audiences.

According to them, excitingprizes await audiences whowatch a movie and participatein the contest. While thebumper ticket prize will be adream trip to Germany, forothers there are Goethe good-ie bags. However, mere watch-ing wouldn’t do. One needs tokeenly watch the film and rec-ollect it from one’s recess ifthey need to make a game of itat the competition. For, it in-volves matching the photo of afilm, besides answering ques-tions correctly. Also, audiencesneed to fill out a form and sub-mit the same. The deadline ismidday, December 28.

Among the German filmsbeing showcased at the festivalinclude Shores of Hope, Lore,Barbara, Napola, Calm At Sea,Home For The Weekend, TheRiver Used To Be A Man,Cracks In The Shell and Re-membrance. Audiences or par-ticipants in the competition

need to name their favouritefilm from among the Germanfilms screened and describe itin no more than 10 words.

Winners will be informeddirectly and the results postedon the Institut homepage andFacebook. Prizes must be col-

lected from Goethe-Institut,Bangalore. For participating,visit the Max Mueller Bhavansite.

WatchGermanfilmstowinatripforDeutschland

A still from Sagar Sangamam.

BANGALORE: That the aver-age movie-goer is capable ofdemanding more than justentertainment is somethingmany directors will tell you,and the Bangalore Interna-tional Film Festival (Biffes)has carefully weaved a goodselection of movies to feedthe minds of the varied au-dience.

“Cinema is education, edu-cation is cinema,” the organis-ers had said at the inaugural.And in line with that promise,a host of films from varyingbackgroundshadthecrowdvy-ing for a seat. But for many ofthem, the attempts were invain.

For the 12.30 pm screeningof ‘Lessons in Forgetting’, al-most as many people who wereinside the hall had to be deniedentry and the situation was thesame for many other movies atothercentres.Amidall therushto catch movies like Michelan-gelo Antonini’s ‘Blow up’,

Sakari Kirjavainen’s ‘Silence’,‘The City of Life and Death’ etal, people were also subjectedto a movie like ‘Prasad’.

Produced by Ashok Khenyand starring Arjun Sarja, themovie epitomised what BiffesArtistic Director H N Narahari

Rao had feared. “...It was diffi-cult to put things together injust three months,” he had ad-mitted on the inaugural day.And the selection of ‘Prasad’could have been the result ofsuch limitations.

‘Prasad’, seating for whichinitially came as a relief forpeople who had waited in longqueues, was a disaster.

Kheny’s introduction to themovie that it is a movie thattouched his heart and re-formed him was so long thatthe audience ‘applauded’ be-fore he concluded — forcinghim to conclude.

And the movie was muchlike its producer’s speech. Notso charming, dragged and al-most completely failing to

‘touch the heart’. It, however,managed to tickle one toomany ribs and pain a fewheads.

A host of people left the hallbefore the interval, even as Ar-jun Sarja, who was receivedwith a lot of enthusiasm, wasin the front row. And manyothers could not preventthemselves from passing com-ments. The story revolvingaround a dumb and deaf boyhas dealt with the issue loosely.With a background score thatcan never strike the rightchord, Arjun’s attempt at writ-ing the dialogues were theonly thing more disappointingthan the script.

The fifth edition of Biffes,was otherwise a hit on Satur-day, ending with the screeningof K Vishwanath’s ‘SagaraSangamam,’ Kamal Haasandancing on the ring of the wellto ‘thakita thadhimi thand-hana...’ at the Freedom Park.DH News Service

When the not-so-charming sneaked inBar timingsrelaxed forrevellersBANGALORE: New Year rev-ellers have a reason to cheerthis year. The City policehave relaxed the closinghours for bars, pubs andrestaurants by an hour onDecember 31. The closinghours have been extendedtill 1 am.

TheCityPoliceCommission-er B G Jyothiprakash Mirji onSaturday issued a general noobjections for all the bars andrestaurants situated in the Cityto keep them open from 12midnightofDecember31,2012upto 1 am on January 1, 2013.

The relaxation also appliesto all restaurants that do notserve liquor. However, pubsand bars that serve liquor haveto apply to the State Excise De-partment and get specific per-mission to stay open during theadditional hours on December31, police sources say.

While traffic regulations willbeinforceinmanyareas inandaroundtheMGRoad,revellers,

especially those living in theEastern parts, need not worryabout getting back to theirhome.

Metro serviceThe Bangalore Metro Rail Cor-poration Limited (BMRCL)has said that the NammaMetro train services along theReach 1 (MG Road to Baiyap-panahalli) will operate upto 2am on the New Year Day.

“Theextensionoftheserviceis to facilitate the party crowd,which will be in large numbersonMG RoadandBrigadeRoadon the New Year eve,” said asenior official from the BMR-CL. The Metro train servicesusually end at 10 pm every day.

Besides, the Metro trainservice will be extended tillmidnight on December 24 and25 in view of Christmas eve cel-ebrations and T20 cricketmatch between India and Pak-istan,respectively,saidtheBM-RCL.DH News Service

Property taxdefaulters tofacemusicBANGALORE, DHNS: The Pa-like has resumed beatingdrumsinfrontofthepropertiesof tax-defaulters.

The financially ailing Palikeon Friday, launched the exten-sive tax recovery drive by beat-ingdrumsinfrontofapropertybelonging to Subbaiah Shettyin Subhash Nagar ward.

The amount to be recoveredfrom Shetty is about Rs 1.52crore. A similar act was carriedoutinfrontofNonaEnterpriseson Srinivasa Temple Road inGandhiNagarward.Thefirm’sdues to the Palike run up to Rs6.7 lakh. The BBMP haswarnedpropertytaxdefaultersthat it would continue with itsdrive every day.

Toavoidhumiliation, tax-de-faulters should pay taxes at theearliest, BBMP CommissionerSiddaiah has said.

BusmowsdowntwoBANGALORE: Two membersof a family were killed on thespot when a BMTC bus mowedthem down near BannerghattaCircle, Saturday evening. Thedead are Yogesh, 35, and hissister-in-law,Kumuda,35,bothresidents of Jangalpalya onBannerghatta Road.

Yogesh owned a printingpress while Kumuda was ahomemaker. They had gone toattend a parents’ meeting at aschool. They were returninghome on a two-wheeler whena speeding bus came on thewrong side and rammed theirbike.

They were tossed up in air,and came under the wheels ofthe bus. The police have arrest-ed the bus driver.

ElectrocutedRaghavendra,a23-year-old ca-ble operator, was electrocutedin Sriranga Layout Fridaynight.Raghavendra,alongwithhistwoassociates,wasdrawingcable wire for new connectionswhen he accidentally came incontact with a high tensionwire and was electrocuted.DH News Service

They made a fortunefaking documentsBANGALORE, DHNS: The Citypolice have arrested a gang ofcheats involvedincreatingfakeproperty documents and con-ning banks by availing hugeloans. In few instances, theyeven tried to sell off the prop-erties using fake documents.

According to Hebbal police,22 cases have been registeredagainst the gang’s kingpin, Ra-makrishna Reddy. The gangmight have laid its hand onproperty worth more than Rs10 crore and availed loan to thetune of Rs three crore on thebasis of forged documents, po-lice said. Suguna, 40, andBharathKumar,47,arethetwoother arrested.

Reddy used to identify peo-

ple in need of money and plan-ning to secure bank loans. Helater approached them in theguise of helping them and pro-cured the original documentssaying that he will get themloans. He used to forge docu-ments and obtain loans frombanks on the strength of suchdocuments.

In 2005, Reddy sold a site inYelahanka to Venkatesh for Rs10 lakh in spite of there being adocument that showed that hehad gifted the site to his wife.He cheated Leelavathi ofJayangar similarly. He availedloan for Rs 10 lakh from StateBank of Mysore and sold thehouse to another person for Rs10 lakh, police added.

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