This one is for Rattan Kumar

When Rattan Kumar appeared as a child actor in the super-hit movie “Boot Polish” he was around 12.  Shortly after, his family moved to Pakistan where he acted in several movies.  For the last several years Rattan (Ratan) Kumar (Nazeer Hussain Rizvi; Nazir Rizvi)  was living in San Jose, with his children.  He died last night, leaving the South Asian film landscape a little less colorful.

[Will post his picture I took over six years ago, at his home in San Jose.]

[We are with the Balochs, but unfortunately Baloch media outlets don't have much credibility--they are known to make up stories.  These outlets have a simple strategy: make up a story and then keep copy pasting it at different web sites, until the story starts getting a life of its own.  In this propaganda warfare the Baloch media outlets are now aided by rightwing Hindu nationalists.  And that's all there is to it. Consider this story about 44 people abducted from the Dasht area. In order to make the story look credible the story-teller even came up with names. But if you try to verify the alleged abductions from a different source, you will NOT find any such verification. Go ahead and call someone in Quetta, or Nushki, or Kharan.  You will not be able to independently verify this story.  Pathetic!We sympathize with the Balochs, but unfortunately Baloch media outlets don't have much credibility--they are known to cook up stories.  These outlets have a simple strategy: make up a story and then keep copy pasting it at different web sites, until the story starts getting a life of its own.  In this propaganda warfare the Baloch media outlets are now aided by rightwing Hindu nationalists.  And that's all there is to it. Consider this story about 44 people abducted from the Dasht area. In order to make the story look credible the story-teller even came up with names. But if you try to verify the alleged abductions from a different source, you will not find any such verification. Go ahead and call someone in Quetta, or Nushki, or Kharan.  You will not be able to independently verify this story.  pathetic!We sympathize with the Balochs, but unfortunately Baloch media outlets don't have much credibility--they are known to cook up stories.  These outlets have a simple strategy: make up a story and then keep copy pasting it at different web sites, until the story starts getting a life of its own.  In this propaganda warfare the Baloch media outlets are now aided by rightwing Hindu nationalists.  And that's all there is to it. Consider this story about 44 people abducted from the Dasht area. In order to make the story look credible the story-teller even came up with names. But if you try to verify the alleged abductions from a different source, you will not find any such verification. Go ahead and call someone in Quetta, or Nushki, or Kharan.  You will not be able to independently verify this story.  pathetic!We sympathize with the Balochs, but unfortunately Baloch media outlets don't have much credibility--they are known to cook up stories.  These outlets have a simple strategy: make up a story and then keep copy pasting it at different web sites, until the story starts getting a life of its own.  In this propaganda warfare the Baloch media outlets are now aided by rightwing Hindu nationalists.  And that's all there is to it. Consider this story about 44 people abducted from the Dasht area. In order to make the story look credible the story-teller even came up with names. But if you try to verify the alleged abductions from a different source, you will not find any such verification. Go ahead and call someone in Quetta, or Nushki, or Kharan.  You will not be able to independently verify this story.  pathetic!We sympathize with the Balochs, but unfortunately Baloch media outlets don't have much credibility--they are known to cook up stories.  These outlets have a simple strategy: make up a story and then keep copy pasting it at different web sites, until the story starts getting a life of its own.  In this propaganda warfare the Baloch media outlets are now aided by rightwing Hindu nationalists.  And that's all there is to it. Consider this story about 44 people abducted from the Dasht area. In order to make the story look credible the story-teller even came up with names. But if you try to verify the alleged abductions from a different source, you will not find any such verification. Go ahead and call someone in Quetta, or Nushki, or Kharan.  You will not be able to independently verify this story.  pathetic!