Nikki’s voice
PEOPLE
India Abroad
March 30, 2012
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has never been one to back down from a fight — even if it is a ‘blood sport’ as politics in her state often is. She endured several personal slurs on the road to becoming SC’s first woman and first Indian American governor, and she has
tackled them through her memoir Can’t Is Not an Option. According to an advance copy
acquired by Politico, the governor has denied the charges of infidelity leveled by political blogger
and former staffer Will Folks and lobbyist Larry Marchant, who was working for one of her
rivals in the governor’s race. ‘Once again, I was being forced into the humiliating position of
having to deny being unfaithful to my husband,’ she writes. ‘It was a lie, it was ugly, it was sexist,
and it was crowding out all the issues the people really cared about in the campaign.’ The book
— in which Haley speaks of her childhood and her accomplishments — is scheduled to be pub-
lished April 3.
Oscar tryst
Daniel Dubiecki Jon Landau Johnny Depp MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS GONZALO FUENTES/REU TERS
Bruce Beresford MIKE CASSESE/REU TERS
Earlier this month, we told you about Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow shooting her next film, Zero Dark Thirty, in India. Turns out she’s not the
only Hollywood biggie heading there. According to
Mumbai Mirror, Jon Landau, the producer of Titanic
and Avatar, visited Mumbai with his Oscar trophy to
promote the 3D version of Titanic, while Daniel
Dubiecki, producer of the Academy Award-nominated
Up In The Air, was there in search of Bollywood
alliances. ‘We’re crossing cinematic borders, and we’d like
India to be part of that movement,’ he told the Mirror. ‘I
am looking at the potential of animation films here. I am
looking at financial collaborations as well. I’m looking at
Indian stories that can be told from a global point of
view.’ The latter sentiment also plays true for Oscar-nom-
inated filmmaker Bruce Beresford ( Tender Mercies and
Driving Miss Daisy), who visited India this month to lay
the groundwork for his next film, Birth Of A Nation. The
film will underscore then Indian prime minister Indira
Gandhi’s leadership during the 1971 Bangladesh libera-
tion war. And the list doesn’t end there. If the buzz is to
be believed, Johnny Depp will soon follow in their foot-
steps. He is expected to head to India at the end of the
year to promote The Lone Ranger.
Nikki Haley
Sailen Manna
Farewell to a legend
COUR TES Y: FACEBOOK. COM/SAILENMANNA
In case you missed it, The Economist recently carried an obituary of an Indian soccer giant. Yes, you read
that right. But that’s because the man in
question, Sailen Manna, was no ordinary
mortal. Under his captaincy, India won
its first soccer gold medal at the 1951
Asian Games. And Manna was the rock
in defense that gave France a big fright in
1948 at the London Olympics. For most
of his career, Manna and his colleagues
played barefoot against booted rivals who
used the spiked footwear for more than
just dribbling. The soccer soldiers of then
newly Independent India could not
afford boots. But, The Economist noted,
Manna did not say that at Buckingham
Palace when to Princess Margaret asked
him why they played without boots. It
was easier to control the ball barefoot, is
what Manna said. And he died February
27 at 87 with his pride intact. He donat-
ed his Asian Games medal to the govern-
ment, and gave off other memorabilia for
charity. The Economist noted, ‘Memories
were his wealth, he told interviewers in
his old age.’
PARESH GANDHI
Lessons Fareed learns
Fareed Zakaria has tied up his positions at CNN, where he hosts Fareed
Zakaria GPS, and Time, where
he is editor-at-large, with a new
quarterly series of television spe-
cials in the former and feature
articles for the latter. Global
Lessons looks for solutions to the
most pressing issues central to
the 2012 election: Health care,
immigration, jobs and
energy. ‘We Americans need to
recognize that there are many
areas where we could learn a lot
from what other countries are
doing. America’s best companies
routinely benchmark to global
standards. What we’re trying to
do in this series is just that — look around the world and ask,
“What can we learn?” In the process, we also found areas where
we could teach the rest of the world a thing or two.’ Zakaria
says. The first special, Global Lessons: The GPS Road Map for
Saving Health Care, was aired March 18, while the companion
article for Time hit the stands March 17.
PARESH GANDHI
