As if to test my resolve someone sent me a screen shot of Ola cabs who purportedly were now offering a boat service to get around the city. Look at the way humor works in the social media world. Venkatesh Krishna who tweets as @VenkatTweetz modified the Ola screen shot and suggested that a boat service would be more effective instead. That screenshot seemed to have gone viral. So there was no reason to suspect that it was someone’s idea of a joke.
RD Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) is an influencer in Bollywood even today. Reality shows dedicate episodes to him, channels organize special RD Music shows, his songs are part of recent movies like Aisha, Tamanchey, Race, etc, TV serials are using cover versions of his songs, not to mention the remixes of his songs. Yet the same RD had long spells towards the end when he was without work. Success and failure perhaps have to be measured beyond the life span of an artiste.
His caricatures always made a statement. Indira Gandhi was always shown with her nose in the air. Sanjay Gandhi was the "enfant terrible" in the pram wheeled by his mother. When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, Laxman was worried. After all if politicians did everything right, the satirists and cartoonists would be jobless. He said much to his relief very soon that Rajiv Gandhi did not disappoint the cartoonist. And Laxman remained a part of our lives.
