Yesterday, we commenced on Phase II of the drive, this time taking the street art concept to Lower Parel, opposite Phoenix Mills and simultaneously pulling off the cause of education-through-art with The Alphabet Project at the Mahim end of the same road. I was waiting to collate all the photographs that are still appearing across the net, to write the post about it.

Then earlier this evening, we discovered that a different sort of vandalism had happened. Movie posters of Aladin, Canvas and Gair have turned up, pasted over the paintings, less than 24 hours later. I’m rusty on the legalities of these movie advertisements that appear all over the city. All I can say is that Wall Project was a BMC initiative and certainly not meant to be a backdrop for the marketing of Bollywood.

As outrage spreads across Twitter, even as I write, Ritesh Deshmukh and Sujoy Ghosh have been notified and have both issued apologies. But an apology I say, is not enough. It is enough of effort getting past the apathy of citizens to drive forward something like The Wall Project. Asking people to come out of their houses on a Sunday and spend a searingly hot day painting a rough wall for free is not an easy task. So much for the so-called indifference of this city, the numbers of people that turned out are testimony to the fact that Mumbaikers do indeed care. But after such an episode, would a citizen want to take the initiative?

My guess is that this will boil down to #wallproject becoming a popular Twitter topic for a few days; there will be a few media mentions about the outrage of social media users after a citizen drive and a clean-up PR effort with apologies by the people in the limelight. At some level, I expect some poor poster-paster will get yelled at or even lose his job. Is the onus of this to be laid on him? No, I say, the onus of this must be borne by the people who well understand the power of advertising and publicity, the people with the moolah, the people who have the most to gain from publicity, of any sort. Blaming the poster company or the person who put up the posters is not enough; the responsibility lies with the people who gain from the effort of the publicity. I say turn that idea around and make sure that the negative publicity hurts right where it should. Every person who stands to gain from the movies’ good collections holds responsibility for the end result and hence must bear the consequences of such an action.

See the before and after pictures courtesy @wanderblah

ALADIN

CANVAS

GAIR

LONDON DREAMS

If this is our city and its state is our concern, we have the right to stay outraged. I say, boycott the movies Aladin, Canvas, Gair and London Dreams, whose posters vandalize a community drive. Commissioning those posters not only hurts the sentiments of those whose painted walls have been covered, it cocks-a-snook at the Mumbaiker while saying,

To hell with your sensibilities. Advertising my movie is more important. I don’t care if a citizen effort that managed to raise such civic consciousness so successfully, is scuttled.

If you participated in The Wall Project or know someone who did, add value to that effort by passing this message on. If you are a blogger or a Twitter user, re-tweet this, blog about it, link to other posts about this. If you are reading this at all, you probably have access to the internet and a mobile phone. Use them to pass on the message. Spread the outrage, it needs to be felt.

Gone are the days when moms looked like moms. Now its mom who look like their kids elder siblings. Tube tops, off shoulders, capris, backless are the latest fashion trends for the moms in the city. So on this Mothers Day lets meet some of the hottest moms who have flaunted themselves in many front pages.

Looking at Mallaika Arora Khan, you wouldn’t guess she is a mother of a four-year old (Arhaan). This photogenic model has appeared in numerous advertisements, item numbers and now is all set for her full fledged film role in Shaadi Ke After Effects starring her hubby, Arbaaz Khan.

A mother of four-year old daughter Nysa, Kajol Ajay Devgan may not be tall, fair or conventionally beautiful, but all that is forgotten by her sheer screen presence and charisma.

Madhuri Dixit made her comeback with Aaja Nachle after a five-year gap to take care of sons, Arin and Ryan. The film might not have rocked, but we still love Mads for her amazing ek do theen hip shakes.

This is one Dream Girl who looks dreamier as she gets older. In fact, Hema Malini can give her own daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol, tough competition! Infact seeing her in Coffee with karan, she seemed like a pretty chilled our sexy mom :)

Mother and grandmother, Dimple Kapadia continues to turn heads. Daughters Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna can barely hold a candle to their gorgeous mom.

Last but not the least the utmost super sexy and super cool among all of them. She has always been ‘different from all’, the lively, smart Sushmita Sen has chosen to walk the path of motherhood slightly dofferent, a path less travelled by otehrs. She and her adopted daughter pretty much make a sexy duo.