Tulu film ‘Paddayi’ removed from Amazon Prime, viewers ask why

Controversy

The movie was uploaded on Amazon Prime Video in September 2019 under the Kannada category.

Geetika Mantri

On August 23, the Twitter account of Cinema Rare posted about 2018 Tulu film Paddayi, which is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Abhaya Simha and that it was available to watch on Mubi India. A user responded to the tweet saying that the film was available on Amazon Prime Video (APV) also. This unravelled a series of responses that revealed how the film apparently was taken off APV. Abhaya responded to this thread saying that APV had told him that the platform did not want a Tulu film at the time and so, the film was removed. Speaking to TNM, he confirmed that the film was uploaded on APV in September 2019, and from at least April this year it has been removed. “The film was uploaded to APV through an agent. At some point though, the agent informed us that APV’s policies had changed and it was not taking films in languages like Tulu and Konkani, but only in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam etc. There is not an official communication, but this was told to us verbally by the agent,” Abhaya told TNM. Hi. I am the director of the film. Thank you for your support to our film. We were told that Amazon didn't wanted a Tulu film for now. That's why it was removed. We didn't have a choice. — Abhaya Simha (@abhayaftii) August 26, 2020 However, one user named Puneet Sapaliga revealed that they wrote to APV about the film being ‘missing’ from APV on April 30. APV said that the availability of content on the platform depends on the content owners (producers or director) who provide the license to stream the titles on APV. Availability is also based on geographical limitations. pic.twitter.com/6tCtgMSv1l — Puneet Sapaliga പുനീത് സപലിഗ (@puneet_sapaliga) August 26, 2020 Puneet said in another tweet that when the film was available on APV, it was categorised under the Kannada section though it was a Tulu film. Puneet had written to APV for getting it properly categorised as well, as per his tweet. Another user named Avinash Shetty also said that though they tried to get APV to “search and identify the difference between Tulu and KAN in a live conversation. They were convinced too.” I remember you had followed up with @PrimeVideoIN for categorising it correctly under Tuḷu language. Unfortunately, they didn't get it corrected. Anyways we had tried our best to promote the movie on Social media & it did get good response. — Puneet Sapaliga പുനീത് സപലിഗ (@puneet_sapaliga) August 26, 2020 Several people then said that it was disappointing conduct on APV’s part. Thank you for your response sir. It was very unfortunate what had happened. 'Paddayi' was a great movie and we hope you come out with many more such Tulu movies and take Coastalwood to new heights. We wish you the best.  — Avinash Shetty (@AShetty56) August 26, 2020 When a Tulu film was extremely doing well in it's viewship, @PrimeVideoIN suddenly drops the film from it's platform and says it didn't want the Tulu film. So well Tuluvas too should start 'not wanting' @amazon and its subsidiaries from now on. https://t.co/1RyASOA71u — Mahi Mulki (@Mahimulki) August 26, 2020 Hello @PrimeVideoIN @amazonIN - this is deeply disappointing... Is there any rational behind this?.. Tulu is national language of Dakshina Kannada/Udupi and we hold this language dear and close to our heart. Could you bring it back please ?. — Mur@li (@_Murali) August 26, 2020 However, Abhaya is not particularly cross with APV for this decision. “At the end of the day, they (APV) are running a business and they have to make decisions based on certain things. Yes, other cinema such as Tulu and Konkani is not as widely recognised in the mainstream but it’s a systematic problem. I don’t think trigger happy responses like uninstalling APV are the solution to that.” TNM reached out to APV for a comment on the issue, but the OTT platform did not wish to comment. In an email response, APV said, “Thank you for reaching out to us. We don’t wish to comment on this query.” Paddayi, which stars Mohan Sheni, Bindu Rakshidi, Chandrahas Ulla, Gopinath Bhat, Avinash Rai, Sadashiv Ninasam, Srinidhi Achar and Prabhakar Kapikad, won the Best Feature Film in Tulu at the 65th National Film Awards and the Karnataka State Film Award for Third Best Film. 

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Trump set to announce purchase of 150M rapid coronavirus tests

The move would represent a significant expansion of the nation's coronavirus testing.

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Scrap bus in Bengaluru converted into mobile toilet by KSRTC

CIvic

The toilet facility is equipped to generate power through solar panels.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation on Thursday unveiled a mobile toilet in Bengaluru. The toilet has been set up with three Indian toilets and two western toilets, equipped with sanitary napkins, an incinerator and napkin vending machine. KSRTC noted that a scrap bus was converted into the ‘Sthree Toilet’ at a cost of Rs 12 lakh. The facility was paid for by the Bengaluru International Airport Authority as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). The toilet bus is equipped to generate its own power through solar panels, as well as solar sensor lights, hand washing, facilities for baby feeding and diaper changing.  Laxmana S Savadi, Deputy Chief Minister who holds the transport portfolio, inaugurated the “Sthree Toilet'' at Kempegowda Bus Station at Majestic. Shivayogi C Kalasad, IAS, managing director of KSRTC, Ram Niwas Sepat, IPS, director (Security and Vigilance) KSRTC and Venkatesh T, KAS, director (Personnel and Environment) were also present.   The Deputy Chief Minister mentioned that KSRTC is implementing initiatives of the Swachh Bharat Mission. He also directed officials to make use of scrap buses for other useful initiatives, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The toilet facility will be stationed at Terminal 1 entrance at Sangam Theater of the Majestic Bus Stand. KSRTC had earlier modified its buses to turn them into mobile fever clinics in various districts at the onset of the pandemic.   Recently, the transport body had set up a Covid Care Center along with Rotary Club in its Basaveshwara Bus Station in Peenya, along with other private players including watch company Titan, which was the major financial contributor.  At present, the facility has 200 beds for asymptomatic patients as well as coronavirus patients with mild symptoms. In other initiatives, it had used its own workshops to manufacture masks for its entire staff. 

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CBI told to reopen case into mysterious death of Karnataka IAS officer in 2017

Crime

At the time of death Tewari was posted in Bengaluru as the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Commissioner.

Soumya Chatterjee

File image

In a fresh development in the mysterious death of a Karnataka-cadre IAS officer Anurag Tewari in Lucknow three years ago, the trial court has directed for a fresh probe in the case. The special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court in Lucknow has ordered a Superintendent of Police-rank officer to reopen the case and establish if the death was by murder. Along with this, the CBI court has also rejected the CBI’s closure report in the case. The 2008 batch IAS officer was found dead in Lucknow under mysterious circumstances in 2017 in the wee hours of May 17. He was found dead near a guesthouse in which he was staying in Lucknow’s Hazratganj.  Mayank, Anurag's brother told TNM that the family is happy with the verdict. "The CBI was trying to hush up the case for some reason. We are convinced that he was murdered. While his phone was found unlocked, the CBI has claimed that they have failed to open his iPad to gather evidence." At the time of death Tewari was posted in Bengaluru as Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Commissioner. A Special Investigative Team which was formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the case had reportedly found that there was no CCTV footage of him walking out of the guesthouse. There was also no record of anyone having visited him during the intervening nights of May 16 and 17. Lucknow Development Authority’s Vice Chairman, Prabhu Narayan Singh, who was Anurag’s batch mate and also an IAS officer was sharing the same room in the guesthouse. The postmortem report then had said that he died of asphyxiation but the cause for lack of oxygen remains was not known. Soon after the death, Anurag’s family members had demanded a CBI probe as they claimed that he had proof of large scale corruption in his department which included evidence against even the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. They had sought a CBI probe then only and had even written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mayank had also said that Anurag was not paid salary for the previous five months and was on the verge of resigning from the service. The probe had also revealed that Anurag only had Rs 10,000 in his bank account. The case was officially transferred to the CBI in June.

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State election commission, Karnataka govt disagree on dates for BBMP elections

Polls

While the state election commission wants to hold elections in December, the government wants to defer the elections to 2021.

TNM Staff

Representation photo

The five-year term of the current council in Bengaluru’s civic body -- the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), comes to an end on September 10. The polls, which would have been conducted in the last week of September or early October, have now been deferred due to the ongoing pandemic.  On Wednesday, the Karnataka State Election Commission held a meeting to discuss the issue of conducting the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections. According to Karnataka State Election Commissioner  Basavaraj, the department wants to conduct the elections in December this year.  However, a source in the state election commission says that the state government wants to defer the elections to 2021. On March 2, the state government notified the delimitation of the 198 wards within BBMP limits. This now means that fresh electoral rolls must be conducted and the Urban Development Department must furnish information to the state election commission regarding the new wards and their respective boundaries.  “The Urban Development Department is yet to furnish information. However, we have requested the government to do it immediately and we do not want to defer the elections to 2021. Once the new electoral rolls are prepared, we will announce the dates for the new elections,” an official with the Karnataka State Election Commission said.  According to  sources in the Urban Development Department, the state government is not keen on holding elections until the Assembly sub-committee submits its report regarding restructuring the BBMP. “There has to be something to show for the ruling party. The revamp of BBMP is what the government is looking at. Besides, the state government is involved in efforts to contain the pandemic and holding an election at this point may not seem wise. But the state election commission is adamant and we have to facilitate this,” the source added.  However, the state government has to appoint a senior administrator, who will be in charge of affairs until elections can be held again. The administrator will assume charge after the council’s term ends. The BBMP on Wednesday began door-to-door surveys to get electoral information in order to create fresh electoral rolls. According to BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, the information would be provided to the state election commission before November this year. 

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Bengaluru police bust an interstate drug racket, seize 204 kgs of marijuana

Crime

The Central Crime Branch sleuths said that the trio was involved in distribution of marijuana across the state.

TNM Staff

In the early hours of Thursday, the Bengaluru police busted an inter-state ring of drug peddlers and seized 204 kilograms of marijuana worth Rs 1 crore. The Central Crime Branch sleuths arrested three men -- Samir alias Abdul Baari (37), a resident of Mysuru, Kaiser Pasha alias Zakir (41), also a resident of Mysuru and Ismail alias Sharif (38), a resident of Chikkaballapura in connection with the case.  Based on a tip off, the sleuths apprehended the trio on Thursday and upon investigation it was revealed that Samir used to transport marijuana from a nondescript village in Andhra Pradesh named Tuni. The marijuana was loaded in trucks and transported to various states from this village.  Large haul of drugs seized by CCB Anti Narcotics Wing.. 3 drug peddlers arrested..204 kgs of Cannabis(Ganja) seized.. accused supplied drugs in Blore, Ramnagar, Mysore, Chikkaballapur..further investigation on.. @CPBlr pic.twitter.com/XwBUVxCGJ3 — Sandeep Patil IPS (@ips_patil) August 27, 2020 The trucks would arrive in Devanahalli and the sacks of marijuana were unloaded into smaller cars, which were then transported to different parts of the state. “They transported the marijuana via cars to various parts of the state including Mysuru, Ramanagara, Chikkamagaluru and Mangaluru,” the CCB said.  In addition, the CCB said that the trio were allegedly involved in transporting marijuana to Tamil Nadu and Kerala too. In the early hours of Thursday the CCB allegedly caught the trio while they were unloading the sacks from the truck into an Indica car. The 204 kgs of marijuana has been seized also with the truck, the car and three mobile phones.  “We have registered a case against the trio at the Devanahalli Police Stations under relevant sections of the IPC and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,” the CCB said in a statement.  On Wednesday, the Narcotics Control Bureau issued a statement that actors and musicians from Karnataka were under its scanner for allegedly buying MDMA or ecstasy. On August 21, the Bengaluru Zonal Unit of the NCB seized 145 MDMA pills, commonly known as ecstasy, and Rs 2,20,500 from Royal Suites Hotel Apartment. The team also seized 96 pills of MDMA and 180 LSD blots from Nikoo Homes in Bengaluru. The primary supplier was then apprehended from Doddagubbi, where 270 MDMA pills were seized. The NCB’ statement on Wednesday comes in the wake of these arrests.

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RJ to actor to Insta hit: Meet Aiyyo Shraddha, whose comedy sketches are now viral

Comedy

Shraddha has been regularly posting sketch comedy videos on Instagram that she writes, acts and shoots in five languages — Tulu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and English.

Nikhita Venugopal

Instagram

Shraddha, known better by her nickname Aiyyo Shraddha, considers herself a late bloomer. Growing up in a Mangalorean family living in Mumbai, she kept her head down and focussed on her schooling. Board exams? High marks. Engineering degree? Good grades. High-profile IT job after graduating? Check. Though Shraddha had always wanted to be a performer, the idea of venturing out, doing something that wasn’t expected of her, seemed completely far-fetched.  “When this is your track record, you don’t just turn around and say, ‘I want to be a radio jockey,’” she said in an interview with TNM.  Since switching careers, Shraddha, who now lives in Bengaluru, has inhabited several different avatars as a performer — she was a familiar voice in the mornings on Fever 104 FM as RJ Shraddha for nine years, she’s hosted dance reality shows on Colors Kannada, where she now works as the head of non-fiction programming and she’s played Vasu, the hilarious owner of a women’s PG on Amazon Prime’s Pushpavalli. This year, she’s turned her attention to a new creative outlet.  Since February, she’s been regularly posting sketch comedy videos on Instagram that she writes, acts and shoots in five languages — Tulu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and English. With over 157,000 followers and growing, Shraddha has posted videos on the stress of online classes for teachers, conversations between resident associations and common complaints from frustrated employees in lockdown.  “It feels nice to get the comic timing right in all these languages,” she said. “I’m really liking my zone.”         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Shraddha (@aiyyoshraddha) on Aug 8, 2020 at 5:30am PDT Radio, television and more When Shraddha decided to pursue a career in radio, she knew she needed to stand out to potential employers. A simple resume and interview wasn’t going to cut it. So, in 2008, she created a flyer for herself, a mic surrounded by catchphrases and a message explaining why she would be the best person for the role.  My resume. Sent Date : 29/02/ 2008. I am so grateful. Thank you for tuning in and making my dream come true. The warmest hug to you! pic.twitter.com/sbTfO38da8 — Aiyyo Shraddha (@AiyyoShraddha) July 14, 2017 It was a bold move, and it led to a call from Fever 104 FM. “I think Fever just wanted to humour me,” she said. But they liked her enthusiasm and gave her a chance (along with a solid amount of training, Shraddha recalls). That led to a long stint on the station, and more importantly, a place to hone her content creation skills, in editing, structuring, timing and more. “If there is something good about the video content I do, I give all that credit to radio,” she said.   But Shraddha also had an interest in visual comedy. In early 2016, she posted a humorous Facebook video on Karnataka’s Averakaayi Parishe, the annual broad beans festival. To her surprise, the video went viral and caught the attention of Viacom18’s Colors Kannada. The channel brought her in to host a dance reality show, and later to work as a creative director for a range of programs, from comedy shows to game shows to reality competitions and more.  In 2017, Shraddha was back in front of the camera for comedian Sumukhi Suresh’s comedy-drama series Pushpavalli. Shraddha ended up improvising her audition for Sumukhi and director Debbie Rao, and was given the role of Vasu, the feisty, loud-mouth warden for a women’s PG in Bengaluru. And on the sets of the series in Mumbai, she learnt even more about putting together a show. “Pushpavalli gave me the confidence as an actor like nothing else did,” she said.  Shraddha was finally able to express herself as a performer in many more ways than one. “Then the pandemic happened and I suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands,” she said.  Aiyyo Shraddha on Instagram   Shraddha had begun posting videos to Instagram in September last year, but in February, as the country — along with comedy clubs and television shoots — started to lockdown amidst the coronavirus pandemic, she began to focus on creating content for the platform. Her first video was in Tulu, her mother tongue, and the reaction was instantaneous among the community around the world. Her father received the videos as a Whatsapp forward and was thrilled to see his daughter’s new expression of comedy. Her father’s excitement only spurred Shraddha to make more videos. “It was the equivalent of featuring on the merit list for board results,” she recalls.  For her many videos — made in five languages — Shraddha finds inspiration from seemingly mundane corners of her life. Some sketches, particularly the ones in Tulu, are inspired by her family and relatives, so much so that some have recognised themselves or others in her videos.  “They are funny without trying to be funny!” she said.          View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Shraddha (@aiyyoshraddha) on May 22, 2020 at 7:11am PDT There are Kannada rant sessions over tea, as well as discussions among resident associations, led by the no-nonsense Mrs Kulkarni, on how to hold festival celebrations in the apartment building, and the know-it-all Malathi akka commenting on various renditions of Tulu songs.  “I like to keep my mind open like a trap. I’m going for a walk in the morning… and there are people behind me who are chatting. I’m listening to them! I’m completely shamelessly eavesdropping. And I keep it in my head,” she said. On a Whatsapp group with friends, she found out that bankers did not get any time off during the lockdown. That led to a video on various employee complaints related to the lockdown.  Along with developing characters like Malathi akka and Mrs Kulkarni, Shraddha recently added a new member to her cast — Reena Dalal, “India’s biggest makaan (property) matcher,” a parody on the Netflix hit series Indian Matchmaker. (“Face is very important, Reena. It has to face east.”) And while her other videos have relied on her improvisation skills over several days, this is the first time she’s sat down and scripted a video for Instagram, and she’s planning more in the series.         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Shraddha (@aiyyoshraddha) on Jul 9, 2020 at 5:45am PDT However, unlike other comedians making similar social media content, Shraddha stays away from commenting on current affairs or politics. She prefers to stick to slice-of-life moments that come from real-life experiences. “You don’t want to say something you only half believe in,” she said.  Being a successful comedian in India is challenging work, but Shraddha has found that the biggest challenge is really herself. She is determined to take her time on each of her videos to create quality content, rather than sticking to a schedule that would force her to churn out substandard work. At the same time, staying focussed and creative is not always the easiest task. “When it’s your passion, it’s so easy to drift away,” she said. “For me, now, to not lose momentum is key.” And Shraddha still isn’t done with finding new ways to perform. When the pandemic allows comedy clubs to open again, she is looking to try out open mic nights, and perhaps pursue more filming opportunities. “If you’re a performer, there are so many different openings. So many ways of creative expression you can be a part of, and I want to try everything.”

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