A selection of the best news reports, analysis and opinions published by ThePrint this week.
Bollywood’s Royals: Brave heroes on screen, spineless zeroes
After calling out Sanju for being dishonest in portraying Sanjay Dutt as a gullible victim, Shekhar Gupta raises a larger question — why do India’s biggest, most talented and successful film-makers cow down before power? In this scathing must-read take on the industry, ThePrint Editor-in-Chief delves into why the Mumbai industry produces some of the most supine superstars, with even those standing up to power quickly falling back in line.
Cutesy for Sanju to hurl ‘ma-behen ki’ at journalists. But it can’t rewrite evil 1993 plot
As it tries to blame journalists for Sanjay Dutt’s travails and attempts to re-write history, Sanju forgets how evil the 1993 plot was. In this must-read piece, ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta writes that while nobody really sends a thank you card to the media, the biopic’s attempts to “blame journalists for Dutt’s travails is shockingly and arrogantly dishonest”.
Brand IIT is the collateral damage in the shameful trolling of Sushma Swaraj
In Sushma Swaraj’s online trolling over the issuance of passport to an inter-faith couple, it is brand IIT that is the collateral damage, given the troll in this case is a Mukesh Gupta whose Twitter handle claims he is a B.Tech from IIT, Delhi. Raghav Pandey writes if the description on the handle is indeed true “then it is a slap in the face for all the values that IITs have stood for”.
A single WhatsApp rumour has killed 29 people in India and nobody cares
WhatsApp rumours about ‘child abductors’ have led to more lynchings, killing 29 people so far. In this piece Shivam Vij says there is little outrage over the issue since there is no political angle – Hindu-Muslim, caste, India-Pakistan, BJP-Congress, jihad or Naxalism, RSS or Kashmir, statements and counter-statements by politicians – in these killings.
The awkwardness of being Arjun Tendulkar
What it must be like to be Arjun Tendulkar. In the context of the possibility of him making his national debut on 17 July, Anand Vasu opines that if he succeeds, he will be celebrated but in case he fails, he will face a situation no 18 year old should have to put up with.
Arvind Kejriwal govt has not rejected a single tree-cutting request since 2015
In this investigative piece, Apurva Vishwanath crunches some data to find the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has not rejected a single tree-cutting request since 2015. She reports that as per records, more than 17,115 trees have been felled in three years.
The Indian Air Force is losing fighter jets faster than they can be bought
As the first stage of a lengthy procurement process for fighter jets for the Indian Air Force ended Friday, Ratnadeep Choudhary recounts there have been 29 accidents involving IAF aircrafts that were reported between 2014 and July 2017. This shows the Indian Air Force seems to be losing fighter jets faster that they can be bought, he says. Do read the piece for figures and details of these accidents.