New Delhi: A new history was born when Draupadi Murmu was elected as the fifteenth President of the country. Draupadi Murmu is the second woman and the first tribal woman to hold the office of President. Murmu secured more than 50 percent of the total value of votes at the end of the third round of counting of votes in the presidential election. States including Kerala and Karnataka were counted in this round.
With this, out of a total of 3219 votes, Murmu got 2161 votes (vote value — 5,77,777) and Yashwant Sinha got 1058 votes (vote value — 2,61,062). Murmu got the lead in the second round as well. When the votes of the first ten states were counted, Murmu got 809 votes. Its value is 1,05,299. Yashwant Sinha also got 329 votes. Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Modi informed that its value is 44,276.
From a remote village in Odisha’s most backward district, Mayurbhanj, she reaches the status of the first citizen of the world’s largest democracy.
Many may not remember that Draupadi Murmu was considered for the same position five years ago. It was when Pranab Mukherjee’s term ended. Murmu, then the Governor of Jharkhand, was on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presidential list. But eventually, RSS spokesperson Ram Nath Kovind shifted to the top priority. Governor Murmu had sent back bills to amend the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and the Santal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act. The tribals of Jharkhand strongly opposed the amendments brought by the previous BJP government to these laws. These attitudes made Murmu a powerful tribal leader.
Murmu, who belongs to the Santhal community, was a teacher before entering state politics. Graduated from Ramadevi College, Bhubaneswar. She was MLA from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj on BJP ticket in 2000 and 2009. In 2000, she became the Minister in charge of Commerce, Transport, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry in the BJP-BJD coalition government. In 2009, when the BJD alliance broke up, they were able to win even when the BJP lost.
Before becoming an MLA, she was a councilor in Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat in 1997. She also served as the Vice President of BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha. In 2015, she was sworn in as the first woman governor of Jharkhand. Having lost her husband Shyam Charan Murmu and two sons, Murmu has faced many tragedies in her personal life. Only one daughter is with them now.
Rome: Italian Prime Minister Mario Drahi resigned in Italy. The resignation was due to failure to prove the majority in the motion of no confidence.
With this, the stage is set for new elections in Italy. The President’s Office announced on Thursday that it had accepted the Prime Minister’s resignation.
The no-confidence motion was voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. The allies abstained from voting for Drahi. With this, the government fell.
The main party in the coalition, the left-wing Five Star Movement, has announced that it will no longer be part of the government. The Lega Party and Forsa Party have taken the stand of no alliance. International media reported that general elections will be held in Italy in September and October.
The prime minister has resigned amid strong protests in the country on issues including inflation and fuel price hike. Drahi, the former head of the European Central Bank, became the prime minister of Italy in 2021.
Chennai: Private train service for Sabarimala pilgrimage begins. The service is operated by Bharat Gaurav Train which is a part of the Central Government scheme.
S Ravi Shankar, project officer of South Star Rail, which runs Bharat Gaurav private trains, said that the service will be run on August 18, September 17, October 20, November 17, December 1, and 15.
The service is from Chennai to Chingavanam railway station. Loco Pilot and the guard will be the same as Railways. The Bharat Gaurav train, which runs with all the infrastructure of the railways, will cost 20 percent more than a Tatkal ticket. Apart from Sabarimala, Bharat Gaurav will also serve pilgrimage centers like Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj in August. The Karnataka government has also announced a special subsidy for this. Karnataka is the first state to announce a subsidy for traveling by private train service. In this service named Kashi Yatra, 30,000 passengers will get a subsidy of Rs.5,000 each, officials said.
Thiruvananthapuram: The deadline for submission of applications for Plus One admission has been extended. The High Court extended the deadline after considering the plea of CBSE students. Applications for admission can be submitted online till tomorrow.
The deadline to apply for Plus One admission was till 1.30 today. The students again approached the court demanding an extension of admission as the CBSE Class 10th result was not out.
The court, which had heard the petition earlier, had suggested extending the date for filing the petition till today. The Education Department had informed that the extension of the deadline for online applications will be decided according to the court’s position. Around four and a half lakh students have applied for Plus One admission so far. The education department estimates that 30,000 more applications will be received when the CBSE results come out
Kollam: The court has granted bail to all seven accused in the case of stripping the underwear of girls appearing for the NEET exam in Kollam Ayur. The Kadaikal Judicial First Class Magistrate Court granted bail to the two teachers who were in charge of the examination. The police decided to continue the investigation in the case vigorously. Information regarding the examination criteria will be sought from the National Testing Agency. The list of those to be interrogated will be prepared soon.
Meanwhile, last day, the female students who appeared for the NEET exam in Kollam Aayur were stripped of their underwear and wrote the exam. Then the students were under a lot of stress. Then many people came against the action. The Human Rights Commission also intervened in the matter.
•ONE WORD: A pathetic experiment film of Abrid Shine.
•STORY IDEA:
Locals and the police arrest Apurnananthan for stealing the god’s idol. The case is taken to the court and Apurnananthan executes the case on his own. Later on in the court proceedings some unexpected events take place and the rest of the story portrays some fantasy events.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
MAHAVEERYAR is directed by Abrid Shine. The story for the film is written by M. Mukundan and Abrid Shine also wrote the screenplay for the film. The movie is produced by Nivin Pauly, P.S Shamnas and Abrid Shine under the production companies of Pauly Jr. Pictures and Indian Movie Makers. The movie comes under the genre of fantasy comedy drama with a time travel concept and with a duration of two hours and twenty minutes the movie is currently running in theatres.
First of all I didn’t like this, the storyline was absurd and the screenplay was less engaging. The making of the director Abrid Shine was ok but the way he had written the story and the screenplay was pathetic. The climax was completely irritating and I felt the movie was making fun of the Indian judiciary and law. The courtroom procedures exhibited in the film were embarrassing. I was wondering how Abrid Shine could come up with such thinking, in the film the final verdict led by the judge in the court and it’s further event was shown in a senseless way. All those scenes are still annoying me, it is one of the worst climaxes I had ever watched in my life. Moreover, I felt the movie was humiliating the honorable court and law of this county, I agree it’s a fantasy concept but the movie had crossed all the limits and boundaries and ended as absurd.
The first half was offering a nice experience, and the situational comedies crammed with the courtroom hearing were giving a good engaging experience. How the movie is entering into the main plot was told solidly, the monarchy rule and the present laws of the court made a proper connection for the ongoing situations. The interval block was surprising and it was promising for a reasonable second half but sadly the second half of the movie entirely went upside down. I felt the second half dragged, the viewing experience was getting boring and the scenes to the next circumstances felt stretched. The engaging mood created in the first half was not seen in the second half, here the half-baked screenplay was creating issues for a pleasant watch. The fantasy theme that the film was trying to convey was agreeable but the methods which the characters used in the film to do a certain thing were shown in a senseless and annoying way. Those scenes were insanely shot and destroyed the whole impression of the film.
I was shocked by Abrid Shine’s courage to make the film as he felt his mind and imagination were beyond and it crossed all the boundaries. He was one of my favorite directors but now it’s questionable, the whole experience he had given through Mahaveeryar is depressing my mind. I can’t and won’t agree with his thinking, for a normal audience the climax of this film will surely provoke. Some may say that he had shown the guts to make a shocking climax or some may even say that it is a kind of climax that our industry has never seen, for those people I feel pity. I can strongly imply that the entire climax of this film is a mockery and thinking of absurdness. So nothing more to say, the script and the concept of Mahaveeryar didn’t impress me, it had rather irritated and provoked me to a greater extent. So thanks to Abrid Shine for giving the worst unforgettable cinematic experience.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The movie has the casting of Nivin Pauly, Asif Ali, Shanvi Srivastava, Lal, Siddique, Lalu Alex, Krishna Prasad, Sudheer Karamana, Pramod Velliyanad, Mallika Sukumaran, Vijay Menon, Sudheer Paravoor, Padmaraj Ratheesh, Major Ravi, Kalabhavan Prajod and many more.
Nivin Pauly as Apoornnananthan was brilliant, his performance looked authentic throughout and his way of performing was legitimate. How he had gotten into the character, how he acted and how he maintained the mannerism of his character was flawless. I was shocked by seeing his characteristic qualities, he was performing with the right attitude and various tones and changes in behavior were apprehended rightly by Nivin Pauly. His dialogue delivery went with the proper flow, the timing was also exact according to the various incidents. The outlook of Nivin Pauly was different, his dressing and the props he used matched the shades of character, he had given his best and the overall performance was impressive. Asif Ali as Veerabhadran delivered a shining performance, his way of personality and his dressing matched the satire of the character. The intense look and the keen dialogue delivery were also fine. Lalu Alex did a notable performance as the public prosecutor and Vijay Menon also did a plausible performance as the lawyer. Siddique as the judge was ok, the things and the verdict he made as a judge is unacceptable but he performed decently. Lal as the king was not having much to do and the overall performance was reasonable. Shanvi Srivastava did a satisfying performance, the climax portion and her emotional acting were impressive. Also, she looked attractive and cute in the role. Mallika Sukumaran, Padmaraj Ratheesh, Major Ravi, Sudheer Paravoor, Krishna Prasad, Sudheesh Karama, Kalabhavan Prajod and Pramod Velliyanad did complete justice to their respective supporting roles.
•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
The musical composition for the film is tuned by Ishaan Chhabra which includes the background score. The film consisted of three songs and the songs were good to hear. All the songs were giving a unique feel and the songs perfectly matched for the scenarios in the songs. Among the songs “Varanavilley” was melodious, the vocals of Anwesha was taking my mind into a pleasant mood. The meaningful lyrics, tune of the song, the sounds of the instruments used and the magical voice of Anwesha is forcing my mind to listen again and again. The song “Thakaramale Samayamale Unaru” sung by K. S Harishankar and Anand Sreeraj was nice, a revolutionary mood was given by the song and the powerful lyrics of B.K. Harinarayanan made the song strong. The song “Radhe Radhe” was superb, it felt like new, and the vocals and sounds of the old traditional musical instruments were made to draw attention. The background score was fair and for the courtroom scenes, it blended with the right tunes. For the emotional scene also the background score made a good sync.
•TECHNICAL DIVISION:
The team behind the camera had done a spectacular job to make this movie unique. The cinematography, production design, art department, editing, lighting, graphics and VFX and every technical work in the film had done a massive hard work, a good teamwork was able to see. The cinematography of
Chandru Selvaraj was amazing, his visuals had the power to grab our attention. The various shots he used and the types of composition and the lighting techniques were extraordinary. The lighting methods for the indoor scenes, especially the courtroom scene, looked vibrant. The camera work was implemented according to the genre, and the visuals by the cinematographer fitted the concept of time travel and fantasies. The closeup shots placed for capturing the acting skills of the central characters look nice, it helped to showcase their natural acting. The old medieval period and its visuals were attractive, those atmospheres lifted to give extra attention to the film. All the courtroom scenes are important and it plays a crucial role in the film so how the cinematographer apprehended those visuals was a significant task. Here the cinematographer knows the importance of those and he composed the shots, frames and visuals cleverly and as a viewer, I was able to connect and engage with the courtroom visuals. The editing of Manoj was sharp and with clean neat cuts, he had trimmed the duration of the film to a smooth level, and never felt dragged. The transition of the film was cool and the shift from reality to fantasy was synced well with this transition of scenes. The colour grading of the film was excellent, the colour grading was perfectly given according to the type of scene and in the viewing, it was matched for the situations. The production design was precise, the set, locations and the plans were effectively worked out. The work of the art department also needs special mention because they had given and constructed the right sets for all the situations. The fantasy areas in the film and the medieval old times were crammed with the right set and materials, it looked exact and fitted those occasions. So I was impressed by the technicality of the film, every work maintained the right standard and their efforts made the cinematic experience of Mahaveeryar special.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude the film ‘Mahaveeryar’ had given me a disastrous cinematic experience and I won’t recommend this movie to anyone. The direction of Abrid Shine was ok but the story and the screenplay were a big disappointment. The first half was watchable with good situational comedies but the second half was boring and less engaging. Sadly the endless climax was irritating and the pathetic ending spoiled a decent fantasy concept. So better to watch ‘Mahaveeryar’ at your own risk, for me it’s like one of the worst nightmares, a highly dissatisfying horrible experience.
Colombo: Ranil Wickremesinghe is the President of Sri Lanka. Ranil Wickramasinghe was elected as the President by securing 134 votes. SLPP rebel leader Dallas Alahaperuma and Janata Vimukti Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake were in the fray against Ranil. The presidential election started at 10 am. It is the first time in Sri Lanka’s 44-year history that the president is elected through popular voting and not through parliamentary voting. The election was held with the aim of getting the country out of the uncertainties created by the financial crisis. In the 225-member house, the support of 113 people is required to win. Ranil won the support of 134 MPs in the polls. Meanwhile, 2 MPs abstained from voting. The protestors burnt the effigy of the Acting President in front of the President’s Office stating that they would not accept Renil Wickremesinghe. But Renil Wickremesinghe, who was the prime minister for six times, had the upper hand from the beginning.
Kolkata: Seven people died after consuming spurious liquor in West Bengal’s Howrah district. It is reported that more than 20 people have been admitted to the hospital.
Many of those undergoing treatment are in critical condition. Hospital authorities say that the death toll is likely to rise further. They consumed alcohol last night.
Many people experience nausea and vomiting shortly after consuming alcohol. Many of them died at home. About 20 people have been admitted to the hospital in critical condition, according to hospital sources. It is reported that prohibited liquor is being sold in the area. The police have started an investigation into the incident. No further details have been released.
New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has stepped up vigilance as two people have been diagnosed with Monkeypox in Kerala. The Ministry of Health has directed that all arrivals from abroad be monitored. The Ministry of Health has also asked to ensure a monitoring system at the airports.
Health Minister Veena George said that the system for diagnosis of monkeypox disease will be made available in the labs of the state. There are 28 government labs in the state that can conduct covid RTPCR tests. The minister said that in the first phase, tests will be made available immediately from NIV Pune to NIV Alappuzha and tests will be started.
New Delhi: The central government has formed a committee to investigate the incident of the student taking off her undergarment during the NEET examination. A three-member inquiry committee was constituted by the National Testing Agency. The Ministry of Education has asked the National Testing Agency to find out all the facts about the incident from the concerned persons present at the examination center. It is suggested to submit the report within 4 weeks.
The central government formed the inquiry committee against the backdrop of widespread protests over the humiliation of a female student during the NEET examination. The inquiry committee was formed by the National Testing Agency as per the instructions of the Central Government. This is as per the instructions of the Union Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education has asked the National Testing Agency to find out all the facts about the incident from those concerned who were present at the examination center at the time. A three-member fact-finding committee comprising NTA senior director Sadhana Parasar has been directed to submit its report within 4 weeks. Meanwhile, the National Child Rights Commission sought an explanation from the District Collector regarding the incident of insulting the girl student. The National Commission for Child Rights has asked the DGP to conduct a detailed investigation and submit a report within three days. The National Commission for Women also demanded that an FIR be registered against the culprits and that further action be taken.
