"Zindagi NaMilegi Dubara" is uber cool with rich subtexts - 3 friends roadmap into Spain for bachelor's party and find their mojo through conversations that change their views of life- Not new places but new eyes, not dejavu but new experiences. Zoya Akhtar's direction, Javed's poetry, Farhan's growing screen presence, Hritik Roshan and Abhay Deol's quibbles, Katrina's GQ,Shankar E Loy's music - all enchant. Lovely.
July 24, 2011
On Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and Google+ - Views by Prof.Sree
I keep making shorthand notes of almost every lecture I listen to. Here's a summary of Prof.Sree Sreenivasan's talk at Manthan last week, point-wise. My own twitter id is @onlysridhar.Thought I will share with a wider audience before the next Manthan: • Facebook, twitter and other social media are increasingly used to impact social changes and bring revolutions as examples of Egypt, Syria, Libya prove.
• Facebook now has 750million users and is the third-most populous “country” in the world.
• India is 4th in FB usage next to US, Indonesia and maybe UK.
• The reason Indonesia is ahead of India is because politicians, bureaucrats and influential members of the society there have been early adapters of FB leading to a spectacular rise in following.
• In India, Mumbai and Bengaluru rule the roost and Hyderabad has yet to catch up big-time.
• It means Hyderabadis are not spending time online so much despite the fact that the India headquarters of FB is in Hyderabad.
• Twitter has about 100 million users although active users could be less than 50 million.
• Twitter’s founders also may not have had an idea about the unleashing of its potential.
• Every day about 200 million tweets are put out on twitter by its users worldwide.
• In order to document the social commentary that happens on twitter every second through its tweets, the Library of US Congress – the largest library in the world – now creates an archive of every tweet out of twitter users worldwide. This is done to serve as an archaeological reference for future generations of how generations of today think, feel and react. It will serve the same historical relevance as relics of the past from places such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro serve up now and then.
• The funny thing with social media such as Facebook is that productivity goes down as more and more folks spend time on these sites. You plan to use for 23 mins, you end up spending 23 hrs. You plan for 10 mins, you use up 10 hrs. It will be a challenge to maintain a balance between online networking and your work-life balance.
• There are social and family pressures building up because of this obsession with FB and other sites. But the damages are mostly self-created; you have to find that balance between online and offline mode.
• Even though you have more friends online, it doesn’t mean you should not maintain personal touch with your friends outside of online social media. Never lose touch with physical world.
• What is good about FB and others is that the feedback is instant and immediate.
• However, we have to realize that 99 per cent of the stuff that’s put on your walls never gets read really.
• Linked in is another site that’s growing for serious-minded people. Linked-in maps is the latest sensation which helps you manage your career, not just talk about it.
• Google + has come at a time when FB has monopoly and promises to address the privacy issues and puts your social circuits in compartmentalized circles. It will be difficult to dislodge FB with just 10 million users so far. But Google+ made two unsuccessful attempts with buzz and orkut earlier and will not easily give up.
• There are many sites which track what are called private conversations between folks on FB. For example, “What the Facebook” is one such site which gives exactly what you want to search on FB. You can search for “women who are shaving the legs”. And it will search for all the women who talked about “shaving their legs”. It will do a live search of live searches.
• How does one become socially more influential and enhance one’s social image?
• Sree offers some tips. You may find some on FB- @sreetips or on twitter @sree.
• Some tips are commonsense-driven: Make your posts subscribe to any of these attributes:
• Useful.Helpful.Relevant.Timely.Credible. Entertaining.Occasionally funny. Informative. Crisp. Insightful.
• If you have any of these attributes while you post, your posts will be well-read.
• Facebook now has 750million users and is the third-most populous “country” in the world.
• India is 4th in FB usage next to US, Indonesia and maybe UK.
• The reason Indonesia is ahead of India is because politicians, bureaucrats and influential members of the society there have been early adapters of FB leading to a spectacular rise in following.
• In India, Mumbai and Bengaluru rule the roost and Hyderabad has yet to catch up big-time.
• It means Hyderabadis are not spending time online so much despite the fact that the India headquarters of FB is in Hyderabad.
• Twitter has about 100 million users although active users could be less than 50 million.
• Twitter’s founders also may not have had an idea about the unleashing of its potential.
• Every day about 200 million tweets are put out on twitter by its users worldwide.
• In order to document the social commentary that happens on twitter every second through its tweets, the Library of US Congress – the largest library in the world – now creates an archive of every tweet out of twitter users worldwide. This is done to serve as an archaeological reference for future generations of how generations of today think, feel and react. It will serve the same historical relevance as relics of the past from places such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro serve up now and then.
• The funny thing with social media such as Facebook is that productivity goes down as more and more folks spend time on these sites. You plan to use for 23 mins, you end up spending 23 hrs. You plan for 10 mins, you use up 10 hrs. It will be a challenge to maintain a balance between online networking and your work-life balance.
• There are social and family pressures building up because of this obsession with FB and other sites. But the damages are mostly self-created; you have to find that balance between online and offline mode.
• Even though you have more friends online, it doesn’t mean you should not maintain personal touch with your friends outside of online social media. Never lose touch with physical world.
• What is good about FB and others is that the feedback is instant and immediate.
• However, we have to realize that 99 per cent of the stuff that’s put on your walls never gets read really.
• Linked in is another site that’s growing for serious-minded people. Linked-in maps is the latest sensation which helps you manage your career, not just talk about it.
• Google + has come at a time when FB has monopoly and promises to address the privacy issues and puts your social circuits in compartmentalized circles. It will be difficult to dislodge FB with just 10 million users so far. But Google+ made two unsuccessful attempts with buzz and orkut earlier and will not easily give up.
• There are many sites which track what are called private conversations between folks on FB. For example, “What the Facebook” is one such site which gives exactly what you want to search on FB. You can search for “women who are shaving the legs”. And it will search for all the women who talked about “shaving their legs”. It will do a live search of live searches.
• How does one become socially more influential and enhance one’s social image?
• Sree offers some tips. You may find some on FB- @sreetips or on twitter @sree.
• Some tips are commonsense-driven: Make your posts subscribe to any of these attributes:
• Useful.Helpful.Relevant.Timely.Credible. Entertaining.Occasionally funny. Informative. Crisp. Insightful.
• If you have any of these attributes while you post, your posts will be well-read.
"Singham" Movie Review: Hindi
Singham" starring Ajay Devgn sizzles like Tamil original ('Yamudu' in Telugu). Golmaal" dir Rohit Shetty embellishes this conceptual blockbuster with desi Goa-Maha flavor, good music and maxes up the output with rocking performances by Prakashraj, Ajay and stage artists. You can die of comedy created by Prakashraj. Kajal, not Kajol, gets cute debut. Another South plot gives lifeline to ageing six-pack Heroes. Watchable.
The Artist of Disappearance - New book by Anita Desai
Anita Desai is back with a new book-"The Artist of Disappearance" after seven year itch. This one is a lovely read- three novellas, one like a Ruskin 8ond memoir of an artist in making, one on a translator and one a travelogue. Delightful as ever and you will swallow it between dusk and dinner.
"Naanna" Movie Review
Naanna" is mesmerising with straight narration & crisp story-telling by Dir Vijay. No stunts, no items, no sleaze. Surprise, fully-clothed Anushka, mentally-challenged Vikram, angel-like baby Sara. Great performances by All. Comedian Santhanam draws out loudest laughs. 2nd half has few flaws in court scenes, though intriguing. GVPrakash scores good music. Dir hits it clear-You dont need IQ to bring up a child.
July 15, 2011
Afternoon Newspapers in Hyderabad
I always used to wonder after seeing those 125 page editions of foreign newspapers like FT, NYT and Times, London whether Indians will get enough to read in a day. Same is the feeling I used to get on picking copies of afternoon papers in Mumbai - like Mirror and Afternoon Despatch. When will Hyderabadis get quality reading material for the evening? Hyderabadis are not known for their readerly interests but entrpreneurs never give up if they get cheaper newsprint, good news editors and sassy connections. Hyderabad's evening newspaper, first in many years - "Post-Noon" paper arrived slightly after noon today . "Post-noon" looks meatier at 32 pages, full of gloss on everything under the sun. Far better than "Citizen's Evening". Remember that paper used to wrap tennis shoes and knitwear and made to look as if it was printed on blotting paper with handmade fonts? Postnoon has attempted more eclectic mix on day 1 from topics ranging from jaywalking to IT cos temping to AK Khan profile to why John Abraham doesnt dance at weddings. Its got all the snooze on Katie Holmes, Paris Hilton and some ho-hum news on upcoming movie releases and heroes. I have seen English newspapers come and go in Hyderabad and felt sorry many wound up sooner- "Newstime", "AP Times", "Asian Age" . A paper's stamina will be known after six months, atleast. I hope this paper lives long enough for citizens to read it on Hyd Metro trains on their way back from work. I still do not know why the earlier papers closed down because the content was quite pedgireed and hardly pedestrian. Atleast, nobody tried to do a "News of the World" misdeeds. Yet they closed down due to dwindling print runs and subscriber support and ads. But the ones that live on are those who chronicle the times of the city and amplify the megapolis' citizens' voices. They just don't map the GDP of the city but also its gross domestic happiness and unhappiness - thats why they are able to thrive. And they managged to get the pulse of the city-goer and make it more than a loo habit - some even atttempted to indoctrinate younger generation by selecting their paintings and doodles and dodo poetry. In this era of facebook and google+ and breaking-news, the editor of "post-noon" proclaims this will be an eveninger that will be more interactive and responsive and make the resident of Hyderabad a stakeholder in its development. I hope it lives to its promise half the time - and carries the spirit of indolence, fun, dignity and self-respect of a Hyderabadi after a day's work. Cheers and now over to the new morning daily tomorrow - The Hans India. As I see newsprint prices are going to be upbeat - they track the Canadian dollar which is doing better than the US Dollar that is likely to drop against India. As I said, the weekend is something to look forward to.
July 14, 2011
Who is the sick man of Europe?
Turkey has been called the "Sick Man of Europe". Right through Byzantine Rule and the Ottoman Empire reign, Turkey always wanted to belong to Europe, not Arab world. It is secular and shun Arabic script for the standard European letters. Its membership to EU is still pending and is one of the red-hot Emerging Markets. It may have the last laugh as the rest of the Europe compete with one another in "sickness".
July 5, 2011
BBuddha Hoga Teraa Baap
"BBuddha Hoga Tera Baap" (Hindi) is a light-hearted, slick film from Puri Jagannadh as a tribute to Sr.Bachan. He spares no effort in making capital out of every scene to project AB as the master of screen presence with oustanding one-liners. He ropes in half the Tollywood cast and tries to put sizzle back to ABCL and AB. Very Watchable.
Virodhi
"Virodhi" is an engaging film on the Naxal issue seen through the eyes of an honest journalist, earlier, a bystander to its core issues (just like all of us). Neelakantha directs a terrific screenplay with vivid performances by Ajay, Kamal Kamaraju, Srikanth and others. Well told without pontifications. SriSri song of "Akali Rajyam" repeat in the end - "Edi Needi, Edi Naadi, Edi Neeti, Edi Neti.." sums it up.
Vaadu Veedu
"Vaadu-Veedu" is mesmerising and entertaining film directed by Bala with a story set in village. He gets outstanding output from Aarya and Vishal - in the same way he did with Surya and Vikram in "Pithamagan". Concise Story-telling in its purest form and flawless characterisation (you will not forget even one character of 5 seconds)- Bala grips you every frame with metric tonnes of mass appeal dialogues
Badrinath
Badrinath" movie is one more of the silly season movies which tries to over-awe us with implausible plot, dizzy sets and Samurai stunts. Allu Arjun -the invincible warrior, protects Badrinath temple and serenades Tamanna (practically, top-less). In Devi 70mm, fans were debating whether they should mount a 150 kg flower gardland on their hero's cut-out after night show. That said it all. Ram Charan can relax.
Tollywood Vs. Bollywood
I would have consumed about 3500 Tollywood movies since childhood. That speaks why I get so imbecile sometimes. Here's a snapshot on what I feel is right comparison with Bollywood - the o- nly other film industry which we should look shoulder-to-shoulder. I am a big,fat,overgrown kid embracing Tollywood cinema and have no hesitation in extolling Tollywood till the cows come home. Here's my version of why Tollywood scores over Bollywood. 1.Tollywood makes more films than Bollywood.
2.Tollywood is a confluence of best practices of South from Kollywood, Malayalam and Kannada industries.
3. The percentage of non-Telugus watching Telugu movies has increased dramatically.
4.There was a time Tollywood used to copy Bollywood plots - the trend has reversed in last decade.
5. Tollywood has exported more Directors (K Raghavendra Rao, K Vishwanath, Bapu, Puri Jagannadh, K Murli Mohan Rao, Tatineni Rama Rao, Ramgopla Varma, EVV Satyanarayana etc.), more producers (DRamanaidu, Allu Arvind,RGV, etc.), more heroines, few heroes, singers, many character actors than any. Now it has exported musical talent which should tell how Telugu tunes are such a hit – MM Kreem, Devi Sri Prasad besides Kollywood legends like Ilaya Raja and AR Rehman whose global appeal grew because of the germination of Tollywood plots. The best technicians in the country could be working for Tollywood at some time.
6. More comedy fares that have come in the last twenty years are all re-hashed versions of some Tollywood Plot.
7. The turnaround times of Tollywood films beat anybody in the world- because of tighter controls imposed by Studios, production values, daily shooting costs, remuneration (which sometimes is getting out-of-hand because of Star tantrums), scripting and storyboard details – you have movies made in 3 days and in 30 days also. The work culture amongst Tollywood is amongst the best – only one Technicians’s strike in the last 25 years should speak volumes about that. Efficiency and vitality is a hallmark of Tollywood. It still encourages and attracts new talent –in production, technical and acting departments
8. The interplay amongst best talent’s induction in Tollywood is a known facet – Hariprasad Chaurasia scoring music solo, Sivamani’s introduction first in Telugu film, Rehman’s initial learnings crystallized by Tollywood’s music directors, Best graphics done in Tollywood films right from “Maaya bazaar” films.
9. Today’s top twitterati – Big B, Sallu, Aamir, Shahrukh, RGV, Hrithik, etc. all follow Tollywood plots and releases – there is top vying for marking lien on successful Telugu films.
10. Despite the extraordinary harvest of talent in Tollywood which comes from gritty producers, honest actors and passionate technicians from directors to script-writers to fight-masters and music directors and singers who push themselves – the volume is only now growing. This still can’t beat Bollywood because of the hype but if some aspects are taken care of - you have a winning formula for PE Investors as well.
11. Afterall, unlike Bollywood, Tollywood has never seen any unholy nexus between the mafia and film fraternity. There are only recent rumours about drug-trafficking but still is a far cry from other industries. Unlike Kollywood where few producers call the shots, Tollywood is still relatively better than other film industries – though one can say it is also oligopolistic.
12. Funds like Cinema capital, Banks like IDBI, ING Vysya, UCO Bank, IndusInd Bank, and players like Walt Disney, UTV Software have entered distribution and production in Tollywood indicating the growing size
13. In content from mythological enactments to realistic portrayals, Tollywood is where people turn for inspiration – the idea is originated here although full potential is not encashed here.
14. The number of studios, media houses, animation companies, recording studios, and the stream of technicians who work grueling schedules here alongwith a continuous re-tooling of inter-generational talent bank amongst the top families of Tollywood augurs well for the industry.
15. More non-Telugus in India and Diaspora outside India now watch Telugu films despite their limited-class appeal and non-serious content – and circulate the itunes and pirate the content because of the sheer quality.
2.Tollywood is a confluence of best practices of South from Kollywood, Malayalam and Kannada industries.
3. The percentage of non-Telugus watching Telugu movies has increased dramatically.
4.There was a time Tollywood used to copy Bollywood plots - the trend has reversed in last decade.
5. Tollywood has exported more Directors (K Raghavendra Rao, K Vishwanath, Bapu, Puri Jagannadh, K Murli Mohan Rao, Tatineni Rama Rao, Ramgopla Varma, EVV Satyanarayana etc.), more producers (DRamanaidu, Allu Arvind,RGV, etc.), more heroines, few heroes, singers, many character actors than any. Now it has exported musical talent which should tell how Telugu tunes are such a hit – MM Kreem, Devi Sri Prasad besides Kollywood legends like Ilaya Raja and AR Rehman whose global appeal grew because of the germination of Tollywood plots. The best technicians in the country could be working for Tollywood at some time.
6. More comedy fares that have come in the last twenty years are all re-hashed versions of some Tollywood Plot.
7. The turnaround times of Tollywood films beat anybody in the world- because of tighter controls imposed by Studios, production values, daily shooting costs, remuneration (which sometimes is getting out-of-hand because of Star tantrums), scripting and storyboard details – you have movies made in 3 days and in 30 days also. The work culture amongst Tollywood is amongst the best – only one Technicians’s strike in the last 25 years should speak volumes about that. Efficiency and vitality is a hallmark of Tollywood. It still encourages and attracts new talent –in production, technical and acting departments
8. The interplay amongst best talent’s induction in Tollywood is a known facet – Hariprasad Chaurasia scoring music solo, Sivamani’s introduction first in Telugu film, Rehman’s initial learnings crystallized by Tollywood’s music directors, Best graphics done in Tollywood films right from “Maaya bazaar” films.
9. Today’s top twitterati – Big B, Sallu, Aamir, Shahrukh, RGV, Hrithik, etc. all follow Tollywood plots and releases – there is top vying for marking lien on successful Telugu films.
10. Despite the extraordinary harvest of talent in Tollywood which comes from gritty producers, honest actors and passionate technicians from directors to script-writers to fight-masters and music directors and singers who push themselves – the volume is only now growing. This still can’t beat Bollywood because of the hype but if some aspects are taken care of - you have a winning formula for PE Investors as well.
11. Afterall, unlike Bollywood, Tollywood has never seen any unholy nexus between the mafia and film fraternity. There are only recent rumours about drug-trafficking but still is a far cry from other industries. Unlike Kollywood where few producers call the shots, Tollywood is still relatively better than other film industries – though one can say it is also oligopolistic.
12. Funds like Cinema capital, Banks like IDBI, ING Vysya, UCO Bank, IndusInd Bank, and players like Walt Disney, UTV Software have entered distribution and production in Tollywood indicating the growing size
13. In content from mythological enactments to realistic portrayals, Tollywood is where people turn for inspiration – the idea is originated here although full potential is not encashed here.
14. The number of studios, media houses, animation companies, recording studios, and the stream of technicians who work grueling schedules here alongwith a continuous re-tooling of inter-generational talent bank amongst the top families of Tollywood augurs well for the industry.
15. More non-Telugus in India and Diaspora outside India now watch Telugu films despite their limited-class appeal and non-serious content – and circulate the itunes and pirate the content because of the sheer quality.
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