brainwashing articles

These are the only ones that I found. There are more, less direct ones, like one about amisha patel being a bookworm, one about da venus code, which was supposed to be a report on the transition of venus a few months ago, and another one about the interpretation of the code by some wierd guy... all of this in a span of a few months, in inappropriate places. Like the amisha Patel article came in a page where they print all the latest gosspip about the film industry, and that's like the first page most people reading BT turn to. Do this ever a matter of a few months, and suddenly a very mediocre book gets so damn popular, that people ae swearing by it, and calling you stupid for saying that there are books better than da code.

bloody brainwashing TOI. its has the biggest circulation in the world...

you subtly get the message across that actors are reading these books... and people will read them too. It happened with amisha patel too, but i am unable to find that article
as yet
An actor by default!
ARYAA NAIQUE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 11:13:40 PM ]

Ritesh Deshmukh, in person, comes across as a simple guy with a ready sense of humour. A very down to earth person he admits he enjoys making other people laugh. In town recently, dressed in denims and a cool cotton shirt he seems ready to take on the summer. A welcoming smile and a twinkle in his eye complete the picture. When asked to describe himself in three words he promptly says "Patient!" then after a few moments of thinking hard and much creasing his forehead he adds, "I guess I'm also a simple and level headed guy."


He has created quite a standing for himself in the industry with five films already out and six more to come. He seems to have had it all a little easy. So did he always want to be an actor? "I became an actor by default," he justifies adding, "I always enjoyed watching films, but had never really thought about getting into them. If I wasn't an actor, I would have probably been an architect. I'm still trying to practice architecture as a profession."

He says the film industry changed his way of thinking. Says he, "Like I said, I have always been very level headed. I always weigh things, but I tend to weigh out the negatives first and make a decision based on that."

Ram Gopal Varma, he says, is one person who has had a huge impact on him. "Ram Gopal Varma's way of thinking impresses me. I find just being with him very inspiring." His idol in the industry seems to be Shah Rukh Khan. "I wish I could have done some of the roles he did, but I'm not sure I would have been able to do justice to them. It is after all the actor who immortalises the role," says the young actor.

How does he go about tackling his roles, without the support of any formal training? To this he states, "It is upto the actor to give his best and that is exactly what I do. I do the best to my understanding and ability and hope it is good enough."

Apart from his new found passion for acting, like any youngster, he likes cricket, carrom and pool. He also enjoys interacting with people and reading. It is fiction that holds his interest and his latest favourites, like most other people, are the Da Vinci Code and the Alchemist. He also like travelling. In India he thinks, Goa is the most beautiful place as it doesn't jump at you, letting you be yourself. He also likes making trips to New York.

This was a frontpage headline in BT. very recently. I am wondering about its purpose.

Tracking Da Code...

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2005 11:45:45 PM ]

21-year-old student Neha Sharma is very excited about her trip to Paris this summer, which will be followed by a quick trip to London and Rome. "I am going on a Da Vinci Code tour!" she excitedly reveals.

32-year-old web designer Mehul Shah too is equally gung-ho about his upcoming holiday, as it will set him on the trail of Dan Brown's lead characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Nuveu. "I had no notions of Paris other than the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. The book gave me ideas of what I would want to check out this time."

Neha and Mehul aren't the only ones planning this kind of a vacation. Dan Brown's successful novel is opening up a niche market for Europe-wide tours that retrace the entire course of the Da Vinci Code.

For many a visitor, touring the cities mentioned in the Da Vinci Code offers a novel angle through which to approach already well-known destinations. And city tour operators claim that they are inundated with inquiries about such tours.

"There are many who hope to figure out whether the facts in the book add up to Brown's astonishing claims and see whether they can get cracking on the similar codes," says Mahim-based tour operator Nitish Nagrani, who reveals that they get around 11-to-15 queries every week.

Who's afraid of Dan Brown?
SUNAINA KUMAR

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2005 11:55:04 PM ]

...Not India at least. Because, unlike the West, India has always venerated the sacred feminine. Delhi Times on why the bestselling author, now facing the ire of the Vatican, would have had no 'mythology' problems in apna desh...

Even as the Vatican launches a crusade to ban Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code , fans of the book are outraged. The book deals extensively with Mary Magdalene, her 'marriage' to Christ and a child with him. It also promotes the Holy Grail as a quest for the lost sacred feminine and undermines the patriarchal roots of Christianity. Delhi Times on why India can understand Da Vinci's code -- and Dan Brown -- so easily...

Was this report about the conclave or the book?
Brown and the red hats

[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2005 03:57:05 PM ]

The Pope is dead. The papal bedroom has been sealed, his ring destroyed. The world mourns. Cardinals have arrived from across the globe to huddle in conclave (from the Latin ‘con clave’, literally ‘locked in with a key’) and choose the next
Pope. But wait a minute, why does this all seem like deja vu? Oh right, because I’d read it all in Angels & Demons, the Dan Brown book that preceded the record-smashing Da Vinci Code.

Let’s just hope life doesn’t imitate the book too closely. Because as the conclave gets underway in the book, it becomes apparent a time bomb is ticking away inside Vatican City, powerful enough to blow both the city and the assembled cardinals into oblivion. Then the four frontrunners in the papal race are all kidnapped and start turning up dead in various parts of Rome, with mysterious brands on their chests...

Of course, the real-life papal election is unlikely to be anywhere near as eventful as Brown’s imagination. But re-reading Angels & Demons right now
can give you goose pimples, especially if you’ve just been seeing pictures of the faithful grieving for John Paul II. The Church rituals are elaborately described, there’s a fresh perspective on ancient traditions and, if nothing else, it’s a great guidebook to the wonders of Rome.

Acolytes of Dan Brown will find the book interesting for at least two more reasons. One, it marks the debut of the character who also stars in Da Vinci Code—the enigmatic, ruggedly handsome, 40-something symbologist Robert Langdon. (For some reason, whenever I read about Langdon, a picture of George Clooney flashes in my mind. I guess it’ll stay that way till I see Tom Hanks in the movie). Also, as you flip through the book, you can almost see Brown perfecting the formula that worked so spectacularly in Da Vinci Code.

Both books follow almost exactly the same format. A gruesome murder to kick off proceedings, an ancient, secret society, a breakneck trail of tantalising clues involving ancient, priceless artefacts.

So why did Angels stay relatively unknown, while Code became a monster hit? Maybe because the central theme of Angels isn’t as controversial. In Angels, Brown postulates that science and religion don’t have to be enemies, that ‘physics is God’s natural law’. As ideas go, it’s certainly intriguing, but for sheer shock value, it’s hardly in the same league as being told that the Church hijacked the teachings of Jesus Christ, and that the Holy Grail is actually the remains of Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus married and had children with.

The next Langdon novel is reportedly set in Washington and features the Freemasons, another secret society with which Brown is visibly fascinated. But the publishing industry clearly isn’t about to let go of the Code so easily. Having tasted blood, it’s sunk its fangs into the book and will not go till every last drop of lucre is extracted. Hence OUP’s new book

Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code by Bart D Ehrman which aims to separate fact from fantasy and show up the gaffes.