Frost/Nixon is a movie based on a series of interviews between Robert Frost and Richard Nixon right after his resignation from the presidency of the United States of America, the focal point being the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s involvement in the cover up. It is a dramatised version of the Frost Nixon interviews of 1977. It starts with Nixon’s resignation from the presidency of the United States of America. Nixon was pushed up against the wall with allegations, threats and the fear of being impeached, which eventually led to him being the first president to ever resign from office. Meanwhile, David Frost, a talk show host, is shown watching Nixon resign on television with the rest of the world. A few weeks later Frost discusses with his producer friend John Birt the possibility of an interview with Nixon.

“Richard Nixon: Why would I want to talk to David Frost?
Swifty Lazar: I've got half a million dollars.
Richard Nixon: Really?”

The movie touches on cheque book journalism, Frost even outbid a television channel to get the interview.

Frost realised that four hundred million people tuned into watch Nixon’s resignation speech. Frost saw the interviews as a way to be a part of history whereas Nixon looked at the interviews as a form of redemption. Journalism plays a key role in holding the powerful accountable; a news article can make or break careers. The power a journalist holds is immense which is aptly shown in the movie.

The movie is the story of a talk show host who went head to head with the former president of the United States of America. Over the first eleven recording sessions, each two and a half hours long, Frost is shown struggling to ask planned questions of Nixon for which he was prepared with in typical presidential fashion, all the right answers.

The brilliance of the movie is that even after everything Nixon did, they showed a human side to him and left you feeling sympathetic for a man who may or may not have deserved it. It gives you a perspective from Nixons point of view, and lets you understand what may have been going through his mind.

And although you do sympathise with the former president in the very end, if you had no idea what happens during the interview you’re left sitting on the edge of your seat hoping and praying that Robert Frost, a very easily likeable “talk show host” pulls one out of the hat and screws Nixon over. You can tell right from the start of the interviews why Nixon became president, they show how he turns the hardest hitting questions starting from the Vietnam War and the invasion of Cambodia into a justifiable cause. He manages to convince people that if they we’re in his place they would do no different. Nixon is able to take up much of the time during the sessions by giving lengthy monologues, preventing Frost from challenging him.

In the interest of artistic tension and drama, a fictional, crucial telephone call was introduced into the film because people who saw the actual interviews said they were almost boring, it is a commercial movie after all. The entire Nixon incident required this little bit of dramatisation, it made Nixon seem vulnerable and in many ways human.

“Richard Nixon: That's our tragedy, you and I Mr. Frost. No matter how high we get, they still look down at us.
David Frost: I really don't know what you're talking about.
Richard Nixon: Yes you do. Now come on. No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, it's still not enough. We still feel like the little man, the loser.”

The last interview should be given its due importance, up until the end Nixon has been giving all the right answers with not so much as a flinch but finally when Frost brings up a conversation between Nixon and Charles Colson, not previously known to his opponent, he pushes Nixon into a corner.

The gloves were off, resulting in Nixon admitting that he did unethical things, but defending himself with the statement, "When the President does it, it's not illegal!"

Nixon after a short break and a chance to self evaluate decided it was time to come clean, no more hiding behind diplomatic answers and lies. Nixon proceeds to admit to being involved in a cover up, and apologises to the American people for letting them down, ending his political career in the process.

It was in this scene where you start to see the human side of Nixon, where finally he’s not just the relentless politician who will stop at nothing for political gain but just a lonely old man.

Watergate became a mission for journalists and why wouldn’t it? Where there’s a scandal there’s always a journalist waiting to lap it up. This particular scandal dealt with the President of the United States of America and a massive cover up, it deserved the media attention it got.

Shortly before Frost returns to the UK, he and Caroline visit Nixon in his villa. Frost thanks Nixon for the interviews and gives him a pair of Italian shoes as a gift. Nixon, realizing he has lost, however, does graciously thank Frost in return and wishes him well in future endeavors. Nixon then asks to speak to Frost privately. Nixon asks if he had really called Frost before the final interview and if they had spoken about anything important. Frost replies that Nixon did indeed call and they talked about “cheeseburgers.”

Reston says that Nixon's lasting legacy was the suffix "Gate" being added to any political scandal. The epilogue tells the audience that Nixon wrote a biography about himself, but never escaped controversy, until his death in 1994.

The movie was tastefully done with respect to both Frost and Nixon, Excellent cast and direction, Truly a movie worth watching.

HYBRID CARS VS OUR WALLETS

Ah the Honda Civic, a car in which you can barely tell if the engine is on or not, it’s so quiet and the drive is smoother than a baby’s bottom (Not to be taken literally). A car you’d perhaps one day dream of owning because it costs a humble thirteen lakhs, but wait, you care about the environment and you’ve just heard that the Civic has a hybrid version(easier on the conscience and the environment). You inquire about the price, a whopping twenty one lakhs! Forget it, I’ll take the cheaper version and maybe try not wasting water while I’m brushing my teeth to help Mother Nature.

Sadly this is the scenario in our country, there are a lot of hybrid cars in the market but there are no takers. The Honda Civic, the Toyota Prius, Mahindra is launching a hybrid version of the Scorpio later this year, even Tata Motors is hopping on the hybrid bandwagon with a hybrid version of the Nano.

What is a hybrid car? A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. It combines an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors; in layman’s terms your car will have two engines running simultaneously, electric and petrol.

Hybrid vehicles can reduce air emissions of smog-forming pollutants by up to 90% and cut carbon dioxide emissions by half. A Hybrid car recharges its own batteries while the car is being driven; unlike most electric cars. In addition, hybrids can go faster than most electric cars.

There are 334,000 hybrid cars in Japan, about 290,271 in the United States and in reply India has a dismal 100 or so hybrid cars on the road. If hybrids are much better than regular cars in terms of fuel efficiency and carbon emission then what’s the problem? The problem is there’s a 100% import duty slap on the face. Basically that means you have to pay twice the cost of the petrol version to own a hybrid Civic. Honda saw poor demand for its Hybrid Civic; it was forced to offer a discount of as much as Rs 8 lakh per car just to clear stocks.

Why doesn’t the government offer any tax concession? Hybrid cars receive a favourable tax treatment in other countries as they consume less fossil fuel. The Honda Civic is currently being imported as a completely built unit (CBU) attracting an import duty of 104%.

There are close to 51 lakh petrol cars on Indian roads, consuming around 315 crore litre of petrol a year. Introduction of hybrid cars in the market can bring these numbers down. End of the day in India cheap works, in order to make it a viable option the price of hybrid cars has to be made cheaper.

“For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death”

Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990.