The Hindu Business Line : Drama in real and reel life

It may not be unfair to contrast the style of governance of Sonia with that of family-run corporates. Most of the time, the business family makes the decisions and then gets its Wharton-returned professional managers to fill in the spaces.

OVER the weekend, one was left wondering which was the bigger flop show: Sonia Gandhi's directorial venture in New Delhi or Mani Ratnam's Yuva. Any top credit rating agency would have turned down the mandate, as the two ventures were nothing to commend. They lacked aesthetic integrity and were a yawn even before they were thrown open for public viewing.

One has not been able to reconcile oneself to the spectacle of the country's Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, running round the corner to consult Sonia on everything.

Every adorable word in the dictionary has been used over the last few days to extol Sonia for staying away from power, with some comparing her detachment with that of an old man called Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji stepped out of the power game as none listened to him while in India 2004, no political move can be made without a reference being made to Sonia. She has created a brand name for herself and an awesome one at that.

It would have been more courageous or rather more decent for Sonia to be the prime minister of the country and employ the popular mandate given her rather than place orders on the prime minister and the Congress Party.

Sonia today is enjoying immense power while the flak, when it comes, will have to be faced by Dr Singh. The nation's first lady responded to an "inner voice," whose murmur she has not shared with the public. It would have made sense if she had pulled out of the exercise of political power by proxy and told Dr Singh to form the Union Cabinet and run the government. She should have refused to be Congress chairperson and been content with being a four-anna member of the Congress, like Gandhiji. That has, sadly, not happened.

By nature, Queen Bees are autocratic. In that sense, Indira Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee were a notch better for not shying away from wielding immense and corrosive political power and taking the knock for mistakes made. There is little merit in stepping away from power and still be seen hovering around the edges of power.

It all began in the evening when Dr Singh along with Sonia drove down to Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet the president, when Dr Singh should have gone on his own for an audience. The president made Dr Singh the prime minister even as Sonia looked on, and at the press conference that followed, the lady stepped back to offer the mike to Dr Singh.

Sonia and Dr Singh sat together to pick the names of the Cabinet members and followed it with private talks to decide on the portfolios. Quite a few of the politicians in the Union Cabinet, if not all, have a record of enhancing their private empires while serving the public cause. How can Sonia and Dr Singh agree on making ministers of politicians who have lost the recent general elections?

It may not be unfair to contrast the style of governance of Sonia with that of family-run Indian corporates. Most of the time, the business family or the seth makes the decisions that matter and then gets its Wharton-returned professional managers to fill in the spaces.

For Sonia, Dr Singh is just about her most trusted and willing chief executive. In 1991, Dr Singh was sought out by Narasimha Rao to head the Finance Ministry. In 2004, Dr Singh is giving many the impression of seeking power.

Disappointed with the political show, one thought of seeking relief in Mani Ratnam's Hindi movie, Yuva, which is a take-off on youth politics pushing aside the established and corrupt politician in Om Puri. Most critics having given three and four stars for the film and one could not miss it, being an admirer of Mani Ratnam.

One stood in the queue to buy two balcony tickets for Rs 70 each. For quite some time, one's wife, Rema, had been complaining that one had not taken her out and what better than a film from the genius called Mani Ratnam.

But needless romantic scenes set to some noise (music?) from A.R. Rehman and irrelevant fisticuffs soured the mood further. Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, Vivek Oberoi and Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgan and Esha Deol make love in turns and to break the monotonous talk of fighting for the poor by standing for elections. Om Puri betters them all as the slimy politician, and could easily walk into Dr Singh's Union Cabinet. Yuva does not need a film director in Mani Ratnam.

It is not in Sonia or Mani Ratnam to promise rainbows to the public.

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