A real-life Bollywood tragedy becomes a political farce
A fallen star. A villainous girlfriend. An outspoken heroine. Inept cops. Three-letter agencies. It’s a blockbuster
WHAT STORY should top the news? That covid-19 cases are rising by nearly 100,000 a day? That the economy shrank by a shocking 23.9% last quarter? Or perhaps that an increasingly bellicose China is massing troops on the border? No! Even with the darkest prospects in decades looming over India’s 1.3bn people, the spotlights of its main TV news channels have in recent weeks focused instead on the private lives of a clutch of Bollywood stars.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Covid? What covid?”
Asia September 19th 2020
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- As Bangladesh’s relations with India weaken, ties with China strengthen
- A real-life Bollywood tragedy becomes a political farce
From the September 19th 2020 edition
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