WEEDING OUT THE STUPID
Bollywood. Home of the Stars and center of the Indian movie universe. With athletic, muscled heroes;dusky, pouting heroines; endless dance routines; throbbing bhangra music; and more colors than an explosion at a Sherwin-Williams factory, the Bollywood bandwagon is a Mecca for Asian cinemaphiles.

Alas, it suffers from one of the same maladies that its poorer cousin, Hollywood, suffers from; namely that some people take it far too seriously.

Take the new blockbuster, Krrish. This ersatz Superman, played by Hrithik Roshan, can leap tall Taj's in a single bound, and has super powers other than the ability to sing and dance. The film's director, Rakesh Roshan, says that "Yes, he (Krrish) has superpowers and he's different from Superman, Spiderman and Batman..." I think he means that he doesn't wear Spandex.

But already, some fans have taken to heart the notion that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" - and in this case, imitation ends up as a form of flattening. At least two people have ended up injured after abortive attempts to fly; a feat that they apparantly thought was eminently possible.

Roshan has been out and about reminding people that Krrish cannot fly, that all the actions in the movie use stunt doubles, and that anyone stupid enough to think they can fly deserves to be weeded out of the gene pool. Well, he hasn't actually said that latter comment, but he damn well should.

One idiot is an 11-year-old boy, who might be expected to be one clove less than a full bulb of garlic, but the other is a 24-year-old man, who clearly is at the same mental level as the boy, although with a smaller brain.

Tragically, both lived and may therefore go on to infect the world with more Stupids. Unless, of course, they spill boiling hot coffee on their genitalia and end up sterile.