Movie drought ends today

Finally, "Marocharitra" releases today ending the drought of big banner movies for the summer after the intermediate exams ended recently. Would be watching shortly to update on the review...And then over to "Varudu"! Talking about "Varudu", the audio has few great numbers but generally retains a repetitive tonality of Mani Sharma's earlier output.  "Aidu Rojula Pelli" may become popular but looks dangerously close to that School prayer song composed by AR Rehman in "Merupu Kalalu".  But Mani's music grows on you after the movie's release.

Book review: “Don’t sprint the Marathon” by V Raghunathan

This is one breeze of a book – in just under 170 pages, V Raghunathan, author of Games Indian Play has written a timely book for everybody wagging about reforming Indian Educational System. This one is a delightful read which exhorts parents to let children be childlike, creative, spontaneous and happily wanton in their pursuit of things in the years of growing up because V Raghunathan says life is not a sprint, a hundred meters race but a marathon with lots of ups and downs, curves and alleys and zig-zagging turns which require stamina, patience, hardwork, understanding  and passion rather than short-termism, strength, roteful understanding, and exam-oriented competitiveness. He says children must be allowed to discover themselves  and be intrinsically curious, follow their passions and follow their mojo  - this alone makes them grow up as adults with dynamism, interesting personality and sure-fire accomplishments. Parenting geared toward sprint coaching will be dangerous and short-term because in the long-run, life is a great leveller. In driving home these points, he underlines many inter-related concepts which beautifully summarise the wisdom of approaching life like a marathon indeed instead of  as a sprint. He draws many examples to illustrate how late-starters and not-so-lucky nor prodigious nor even smart alecks have made it big in the world of business, or any other field of endeavor. Examples include N R Narayana Murthy, Dr K Anji Reddy,  G M Rao, Ila Bhatt, Ashwini Nachappa and others. What I like about the book is that enormous lifetime wisdom of the author has been capsuled in concise chapters, each well-illustrated and leading to the next chapter with a thought-provoking missive. The language is also amply elegant while accessible to anybody with a 2000 word vocabulary, probably less.

The book should be compulsory reading for all educators, parents and pupils and seriously anyone who thinks that the passport to sprinting ahead is to  grab admissions into the best school, college or job as starters. In reading the book, the style of the author works to your advantage; its interesting, anecdotal and not really didactic, but  drawing plenty from personal experience and knowledge. Having read the author’s previous books and also well acquainted with his own career – which has many interesting twists  - Graduate at 17, Professor at IIM-A,  Multiple stints in corporate world in  Asset Management, Banking, and now  with GMR, besides hectic lecturing, authorship, Masterly Writer on Financial Literacy, and one of the country’s biggest collector of locks, I can safely say Raghu is well qualified to talk about Outliers who make it in life never mind, lack of pedigree, initial push, luck or precocious academic dazzle. I have  met him a couple of times in the last two decades, every time, I crossed his path, he went in a different direction creating a blaze, whether it is in First India Mutual Fund, ING Bank, IIM-A or CSR.  In this smashing book which will  not leave you untouched or uninspired, Raghu has delivered greatest value  - if only that can be perceived by today’s generation and all those who believe in life after a rat-race.  Read and Get Inspired! 

For more about Raghu, visit : www.vraghunathan.com

Why do they increase the costs of Film?

A bird tells me that the collections of Leader have dwindled after the release of  Yeh Maaya Chesaave. And producers are worried about the chances of recovery of more than Rs.18 crores gone in the film. One basic thumb rule that smart investors in films make is:  What's the ratio of film exposed (negative)  to the final reel output? It should be 1: 6 and exceptionally, 1:4.  Sekhar has made Leader  using 450,000 feet of negatives which means it has costed about Rs.1.125 crores for the film print itself. That's a humungous waste and probably exceeds all the unfinished output of Sekhar's previous and future films. When such a high fixed cost is incurred (film negative is paid for upfront), it badly affects the economics of the film for the producer. A frugal and well-planned director doesn't consume more than 1/4th of the film output by way of negatives. This is becoming the bane of modern film-makers and a nightmare for film producers. Bapu's Sundarakanda used up 87000 feet, Vara Mullapudi shot Vishaka Express with 67000 feet, and Krishna Vamsee used up more than a lakh feet just to give an idea of what some of the sensible directors do. This cost is virtually irrecoverable for AVM. We'll look at more such dynamics of film-making in days to come... 

Businessworld's The Marketing Whitebook 2010-2011

This is a book you can't finish, like a dictionary, but need it at arm's length if you are in the business of getting a portion of somebody's wallet share. The Marketing Whitebook 2010-2011 from the Businessworld magazine is here, anchored by some insightful essays by leading lights on de-mystifying the macrocosm called India in all its segments, layers and spending patterns. The only disappointment for me has been the thinning of section on Banking & Financial Services including Mutual Funds which is usually quite detailed. This time, the recession seems to have made the publishers pull the section out. Insurance, that darling of commissions industry, is there tucked away safely.

IPL Vs. Films in Tollywood

If you can't beat' em, join them! An old adage seems to drive a change that seemed impossible before - multiplexes screening ultra-limited-overs cricket. But for Varudu and a few other non-descript movies, Tollywood is bracing for an over-crowded summer while leaving the next few weeks over for IPL - 3 cricket. This means more trouble for Tollywood movies which are reeling under hopeless losses despite heightened creativity. Last year, out of 121 or so movies made, less than a dozen are acclaimed hits. The entire film industry seems to grope around at crawling pace - no multi-starrers, herd-like mentality in coming up with themes (One Ready movie will lead to ten Namo Venkatesa's), burgeoning budgets, astronomical film footage exposed before screening, inability to diversify and build studio films (like Navatha Arts, Bhargav Art productions, Vijaya Productions), and whimsical heroes (Mahesh Babu), heroines (Charmi?) and comedians who quote a third of the movie's budgets besides general all-round apathy for small film producers. Tollywood is at an inflection point (which we will discuss later) and the IPL season is just an excuse for Tollywood to mull over where its going.

Finally, an E-Book Reader which works in India

I am not a big fan of Kindle or E-Books for reasons we'll know later, but over the last three days, I am smitten by this reading device called "Pi"  - India's first reading device with a battery life of 30 hours, which can download over a lakh books in pdf format. Ordered for just Rs.10,000, Pi is light and eminently readable, with USB port for importing files with even .jpeg, .doc, .txt extension as well as mp3 files (with earphones). As I begun downloading files and started my first E-Book experience, my Geek brother promptly pinpointed the gaps in Pi which a technologically-challenged person like me couldn't notice - no back-light, night-light, only B & W colors, were some of the drawbacks. But for now, this is just fine - the memory card also has 1 GB+ capacity. So, now I am one of the few (or am I the first) Hyderabadis to have an E-Book Reader. More later as I explore further...Right now, its E-books and in a few hours whether Oscars night belongs to Avatar movie or not.

Who are the 3 Idiots? Not Chetan Bhagat!

After the infamous run-in with the producers of the movie 3 Idiots, many would have written off Chetan Bhagat - the writer of the story that inspired the movie ("Five Point Someone")... Not only is Chetan Bhagat bracing himself for the next novel after "The 2 States of My Marriage" but he is laughing all the way to the bank. Sources from his publishers tell that after the successful release of 3 Idiots, Chetan Bhagat's books are in terrific demand, more than they can cope with. Already, he is the undisputed paperback king of India, but after this movie's release, even in Hyderabad, there's demand for 22000 copies  of Five Point Someone against 5000 copies available in various bookshops. The shortfall continues across pan-India. Whatever happened to the short-selling    by the author, Chetan (www.chetanbhagat.com) also made  neat capital out of the movie.  

"50 Economics Ideas you really need to know" by Edmund Conway

Economics has of late become a popular topic for discussion, thanks to a series of apocalyptic crashes and news flows dominating our daily lives from crude oil to subsidies to budget, TARP, warts and all.In this book, m       Edmund Conway, economics editor of the Daily Telegraph, introduces and explains the central concepts of economics in a series of 50 accessible and engaging essays. The essays range from discussion on theories such as Adam Smith's "invisible hand" and the law of supply and demand, linkages between wealth and happiness and the shape of current thinking on economics. It takes some interesting topics and gives a crystalline glimpse on topics that influence every aspect of our lives from buying a house to what you ate for breakfast this morning - Which country will be the world's leading economy in 10 years' time? What exactly is a credit crunch? Irrespective of what you do for a living, this is one book that's sure to come handy when you are set among people conversing on the land prices, international airports, entertainment economy, or why subsidies won't go away.

Paid Reviews?

There's lot of buzz in some websites and blogs that Tollywood producers pay cash to websites for giving favorable reviews in order to promote their films. A three-star or a four-star rating will make a world of difference - this is similar to the stock market operations. In stock market, operators identify some stocks with potential which can be buzzed up to new highs, later on cashing on the higher price levels to start offloading the stakes to realise huge profits. This is fine as long as the fundamentals support stock prices, or else, all hell breaks loose. Ditto, for movies which buzz. If there's no content, no movie can outrun the buzz. A four-star rating on a popular website can sustain only if the movie has some stuff and content. Its a close call for a blogger or a web journalist or a reviewer to choose between instant riches vs. credible success. Sooner or later, you will be found out -whichever way you are leaning towards or against.

Good website for Bollywood? What about Tollywood?

Is there a website you can zero in on all the block-busters right from Sholay to Maine Pyar Kiya, from Ghajini to Guide, from 3 Idiots to DDLJ? Go to http://www.boxofficeindia.com/ for a low-down on all block-busters. They may not be inflation-adjusted, but they give a way out of the maze of figures thrown in by media reports - whether MNIK (My Name is Khan) is Rs.150 crs. or 64 crs. Its a good site to compare apples vs. oranges and oranges vs. mangoes. But dismally, there's no credible website which tracks down the prolific Tollywood and its numerous releases - speculation and hearsay dominate Tollywood more than reality check. Its grown appreciably in the last many years but now comes an inflection point for more transparency so that we grow bigger and brighter. Any suggestions? One guy who I admire is Allu Sirish (brother of Allu Arjun). His take on Tollywood is different and enjoins the important thread between creativity and commercial viability. Check his views at : http://www.allusirish.in/

"Discover the Diamond in You" by Arindam Chaudhuri

Arindam Chaudhuri, one of those shameless self-promoters who forays into everything from politicking to Bollywood to B-School management apart from writing Alternative Budgets and Full Page Advertorials in all ABC certified newspapers (Who's financing them? Who's Reading them?), is out with a new book - Discover the Diamond in You (A pot-pourri of success literature in rapid text).But due to paucity of time, he says he composes the whole book on SMS.(We can make out). So, it reads very short and tweet-like and should be done away with in less than an hour, including Introduction by mind-alike Shah Rukh Khan. If you have never been exposed to any self-help book, and if your vocabulary is below 350 words, this book will suffice, I mean, do. Read it, if you, like me, are getting a foot pedicure and a shampooing of the hair simultaneously, and have some time to kill.

Watching a Movie in Multiplex vs. Air-Cooled Theatre

I watched a movie in Sandhya 70mm (RTC X'Roads) after many years, on first day first show for "Ye Maaya Chesaave". Couldn't relish it more. The shrieks, the whistles, the flowers, the paper tributes, and the shouts of joy and ecstasy to see different characters and the hero and the heroine make their appearance on the screen, and the response to stunts - that atmosphere is not there in multiplex screens - where everybody including me is afraid to even cough or sneeze. Form is good in multiplex screens, but the soul of cinema-watching still lies with the regular theatres. Can we have the best of both worlds? Happens rarely when multiplex audience gets bolder - afterall, you are not watching in your private theatre, and the audience are not robots.