Lungi Dance On Mint Street

Chennai Express reaches Mint Street

If the above statement is seen in isolation one may be forgiven for thinking that Shah Rukh Khan has become the new Governor of Reserve Bank of India. But this is how a popular newspaper, of the pink press kind, gushed in its headline to announce the arrival of Raghuram Rajan.

His entry into Mint Street had a filmi flavour. Expressions like 'blockbuster opening on first day first show', 'century on debut', 'Rockstar Rajan' were some of the superlatives bandied about by the press and twitterati. Graphic and morph artists had a field day showing him either as James Bond or knight in shining armour.

They would like us to believe that we have a new baazigar (with killer looks) on the block, who after an illustrious stint at Karan Johar's home country (United States) has returned to swades to rescue us from the chakravyuh of falling rupee and flight of FIIs from bourses. This is also compounded by the fact that there was no love lost between them and Rajan's predecessor. Everyone was going ga ga about his athletic skills and good looks. The fact that he also happens to be a financial expert and academician got totally eclipsed.

And look at the way they swooned over his dialogue baazi. His first speech had the 'yes we can' air and the Sensex/forex driven amoral class lapped it up like Rajani fans. As an aside one was reminded of Justice Katju's illustrious statement (90% of Indians are fools) and wondered whether he was being economical on that count! Anyway one can safely say that Rajan's honeymoon is well begun.

However, the din and euphoria unwittingly overlooked some harsh measures announced by Rajan, which may not find favour among the crony capitalists (who dominate our entrepreneurial space) sitting pretty on bad loans, most of them taken from PSU banks. He has warned that "Promoters do not have a divine right to stay in charge regardless of how badly they mismanage an enterprise, nor do they have the right to use the banking system to recapitalize their failed ventures."

I just hope he really means it and it is not some speechwriter's flourish to sex up his inaugural address. Once that happens then surely this honeymoon will end with a louder bang than it began.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat