When It's Better To Read A Milk Carton

Here's a cover story so vague, pointless and baseless, that its writer was too embarrassed to take a byline. (A cover story without a byline? Professional and reassuring). In "The Biggest Unofficial War in the City" the unnamed journalist insists that there are "fierce undercurrents" between actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. How have these "undercurrents" manifested themselves? The former "plotted" (plotted?) to ensure that the release of his films Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar was positioned so that Khan's home production Paheli " gets washed out". Both actors rubbish the rift, understandably, but what one would have expected from a cover story based on such allegations, is proof. There is none. The unnamed journalist's "sources"(apart from the Oracle, the keyhole, and the voice of God), are "chatterati", "spinmeisters", and "insiders." At the end of the article, which says nothing and is written by nobody, we are told, "It's the sort of stuff that makes movies more exciting than a three-hour trip to a multiplex." No, my friend, it's the kind of story that makes you weep for the sorry state of Indian journalism.