Bollywood lives and dies in hope

mumbai: the expected has happened. abu salem was released by the uae on friday since india had failed to provide any proof of his identity. with the news of his release, cynicism, apathy, gloom and impotent rage began surging through the corridors of the demoralised mumbai film industry. even more tragically, no one in the government or the police gave a damn.the maharashtra government has recently succeeded in deluding the world that by arresting just a few people from the film industry, they have got the underworld by the jugular. if they want the world to believe that they have broken the backbone of international organised crime, then they are either being naive or dishonest. and if they don't have the guts to own up to this after mishandling the abu salem affair, when will they? at a recent conference in italy, un secretary general kofi annan had said: ''our efforts to combat organised criminal gangs have remained, until now, very fragmented and our weapons are obsolete.'' when will our leaders have the decency to tell us things as they are? the history of nations is littered with examples of disasters resulting from leaders not articulating the truth. our leaders must first themselves face this fact after the uae debacle and then tell the people that india is singularly incapable with its present rotten infrastructure to deal with organised crime. the criminal is swifter and our colossal security system cannot keep pace with him. his resolve to get away from you is stronger than your will to get him. in this war against organised crime, abu salem has won and the security system of the nation has lost. only when we face this blunt fact, can we hope to make a new beginning. let us come to terms with reality as it exists and not see things as we want them to be or hope them to be. someone once said: as long as we live in a world where a 17th century philosophy of sovereignty is reinforced with an 18th century judicial model, defended by a 19th century concept of law enforcement that is still trying to come to terms with the 20th century technology, the 21st century will belong to transnational criminals. to fight international crime, we need international solutions. is india ready for this challenge? the answer is a resounding no. but then man lives in hope and dies in hope. (mahesh bhatt is a filmmaker)