Morgan Stanley's loss is HDFC's gain - An analysis of the MF deal

Morgan Stanley AMC's takeover by HDFC AMC reminds me of the famous quote by T.Rowe Price: "Change is the investor's only certainty." Here's a fund house which came to India way back in 1994 which collected for their maiden NFO (it was sold as an IPO) Morgan Stanley Growth Fund more money in that year than what Sri Lankan Government budget counted. Of course, it took several years of bad decision-making, lazy fund management and investor apathy before Morgan Stanley resurrected it's dented image in Mutual Funds by re-launching several new schemes and new fund management that's almost the talk of the town in atleast fixed-income investing. In all these years since 1994, Morgan Stanley's assets have touched a little short of Rs.3300 crores which includes it's legacy fund - the infamous Morgan Stanley Growth Fund which has a size of Rs.1300 crores apprx. Just when the fortunes of the fund house are about to look up, HDFC AMC has picked it up for a whopping Rs.170 crores almost paying half of whatever PAT it earned this year about Rs.328 crore - which is the highest in the industry. The nearest competitor to HDFC - Reliance AMC is sitting on a profit of around Rs.194 crores. Considering that, one wonders why HDFC bid in a hurry to stay at the top of the race. It could have easily pulled in some of the star fund managers like Ritesh Jain to garner a handsome lead in debt assets. 

What is curious is why Morgan Stanley exited the business after getting just 5 per cent for its equity assets. This year, Morgan Stanley is the second MNC after Fidelity to exit the fund management business and it could once again point to the disruptions in the business models thrown up by regulatory winds of change. The Indian Mutual Fund industry despite having a total fund base of  Rs.8.9 trillion or more (that's about Rs.9 lakh crores or roughly 9 per cent of India's GDP) is becoming a joke of sorts with no sense of direction. Of the 44 AMCs, less than 17 are making profits and most of them are to the tune of  Rs.50 crores or less and if you count the profit of all the AMCs this year including the likes of HDFC, Reliance, UTI and so on, it roughly comes to a total profit of Rs.750 crores. That is 0.08 per cent of the total AUM - no wonder, the industry is sinking despite projecting a brave face. Scratch the surface of the AUM and you will find most of the funds are in fixed-income or mostly liquid and ultra-short-term. If you start counting the treasury surpluses of the top corporations in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai, you can comfortably knock off almost 35 per cent of the total AUM - which may have already moved under the direct code - the new manna from heaven that SEBI has offered investors without realising how under-penetrated the MF industry is despite the industry struggling to re-invent itself well with the advent of new technologies and platforms. The MF Industry is offering the best of choices to the investors to minimise costs but struggling to attract the right kind of investors to meet the long-term financial planning goals. 

Look at Templeton Bluechip Fund which completed 20 years early this month. Since its inception in 1994, the fund has given a return of 53 times on its original investment but there are only 9000 folios which are staying invested since the fund was launched - of which more than 50 per cent are supposed to be inactive! Take HDFC Children's Gift Fund - it returned over 22 per cent compounded return since inception and could have been the perfect vehicle for planning for kid's education, it's corpus is still at Rs.320 crores. Take another plan aimed at Pension  - Templeton India Pension Builder Plan. Even though it returned a handsome 18 per cent plus return, not many investors nor advisors even know it exists in the fact sheet. On the contrary, hefty commissions and mighty incentives offered on Insurance Plans have made Unit-linked Insurance Plans much more lucrative to sell than the plans as mentioned above - despite having significantly lower expense ratios. More people are still sold insurance products but few come forward to buy mutual funds despite a stark need for sound investing in a country which boasts of 22 per cent plus savings rates. 

While the regulator has been blamed enough for the ills of the industry, one cannot blame them forever if the industry is not self-introspecting. I still fail to understand why the Industry's apex body is a self-regulator where a group of biggies decide what the rest of the industry should follow. I still do not understand whether there is uniformity in the alignment  of interests - of the twin goals of growth and profitability of the AUMs across the board. I still do not understand whether the mandatory spending requirement of minimum percentage on Investor Education is going towards the intended purpose. I still do not know whether funds are investing in talent in research, sales and product innovation in the requisite manner. I do not know whether the ecosystem of advisor-distributor-manufacturer is developing harmoniously and whether there's something amiss there. I do not know whether new entrants to MF Industry feel welcomed or threatened by the oligopolistic nature. I do not know whether Morgan Stanley will be the last to exit the MF Industry in India - at a time when other key markets like China and Brazil are seeing expansion in MF activity. 

As far as HDFC is concerned, it's a revival of the "Economic Moat" concept as it rakes in the Morgan Stanley assets to increase it's monopoly on the leading market share. It always had sticky asset managers on the equity front even if they are perennially optimistic about the market irrespective of the cycle performance. Now this will add to its dominant position by being able to hike its investment in technology (hiking its custody fees), reward its long-standing managers with higher carry (they will now get another scheme which will carry assets upwards of Rs.1000 crores) and increase its economies of scale in debt funds. Being an unequal merger (HDFC paid less to Morgan Stanley than what L&T Finance paid Fidelity on a comparable metric of % on equity assets), the benefits are more for HDFC than MS. And that's how realising early in Asset Management helps that some assets are more unequal than others. As for Morgan Stanley, and the guys like Fidelity, exit could have been less painful at a different time. Which again proves a costly rule in Private Equity - it is easier to sell a business than run it. 

Views are personal.

"Uyyaala Jampaala" Movie Review (Telugu)

Over 70 per cent of our population lives in rural India. In AP, we are more agrarian than many states. Proof:  take the massive human migration that happens around Sankranti season in AP: the cities look more deserted and the villages  mill with millions of city-dwellers binging on village talk, cock fights and family get-to-gethers. Isn't it ironical that Tollywood makes less than 10 per cent or even 5 per cent of the films based on village themes? For many years now, Telugu films are getting made only for the multiplexes. Last year, we made 256 films -  58 more films than in 2011 (and  35 films more than Hindi film industry) and yet  fewer than 13 films based on rural India. This year, SVSC came in Sankranti and then there was a vacuum until one or two small films came and went, hardly noticed. Until now, when "Uyyaala Jampaala" came. 

Produced by Ram Mohan Paruvu, UJ is refreshing, entertaining and evocative. Ram Mohan is an IIM grad and a sensible producer who is building a catalogue of memorable films irrespective of when they are released, even if in between star releases. "Ashta Chamma" and "Golconda    High School" were two of his acclaimed films which proved  families will flock if you offer a message with  a youthful flavor. "Uyyaala Jampaala", his latest breaks the mould and it is not a novel story. It has a classic three-act story of a boy and a girl born into relation, grow up fighting each other and eventually unite in happy ending after late realisation and triggers from a forced arranged marriage. What can possibly be ingenuine in this plot? The treatment, the straight narration with a momentary flashback, a mint-fresh starcast thats neither theatrical nor super-articulate giving them an unmatched natural advantage, motifs from rural backdrop that underpin the roots of our culture - simple friendships, grand-parent wisdom, village naivette, unalloyed emotions, sylvan scenery and bucholic charms. In less than two hours (I couldn't believe this included the interval), director Virinchi Varma takes us through a roller-coaster of emotions of what we go through on a daily basis with far greater impact than what some of the surreal madcap movies we see  with akimbo dances and adipose dialogues that only create noise pollution. 

Virinchi has used the dialect  closest to Bhimavaram-Kakinada belt in most of the characters including the hero who is at stellar ease with the slant. Avika Gour is the heroine who is well known to audiences as the cute girl in "Baalika Vadhu" dubbed in Telugu as "Chinnari Pelli Kooturu". She  is sharp and bright in the film even if she lacks the glamor rampant in commercial films. Raj Tarun is the hero who looks an underdog but walks away with most of the honours despite having an unusual and almost unremarkable personality. Its a credit to the director that if you infuse the right characterisation with the right lines, it doesn't require brute stardom to burn the screen with memories, you can create a stir with basic sensibilities and sincere emoting. Thats exactly what Raj Tarun achieved in UJ. Among others who created impact were Anita Choudhary and Ravi Varma, both playing powerful characters on opposite sides. They show that talent in serials is in huge supply that is untapped. Music by Sunny is impressive. Last heard in "Swaami Ra Ra", Sunny scored some soulful melodies with distinct instrumentation and vocal rhythms. Again hard to believe that a movie this short has just four songs. Virinchi uses the classic director's lag - the first song always starts late and the last song always finishes early - that's the only way to avoid the audiences getting restive. Seeing the film in good old Shanti theatre, I noticed that neither the smokers nor the leakers left their seats during even one song. The title song transports us to a magical world of romantic dreams minus the dirty drills and the foreign frills that today's movies mandate.

Cinematography by Vishwa has its highs and  lows - it captures the essence of village life, at times, it dullens the frames. Still, it delivers. Dialogues are apt and raise many laughs. After a long time, entertainment and comedy is enmeshed with the storyline - most of the funny one-liners come from the hero and his gang. There is subtle and refined humor lurking at every dialogue if you catch the lingo and the local idioms. In a film of this variety where the story draws you intensely with its rustic charm, the only weaknesses are those you didn't notice and they may be impertinent to the overall feel of the film. What is cliched is the use of stereotypes typical of patriarchial society that defines villages - too many symbols of even children playing wife and husband games etc. are bad examples in a society thats outgrowing those qualms. This is in bad taste and must be shunned in films even if it evokes sick laughter. There are also more examples of how the heroine feels disempowered till the end on asserting her love or her independence as a grown-up, such stereotyping does more harm than good to the society because in cinema, the medium is the message and we must be careful in projecting the right messages. It's the same stereotype that Srikant Addala used in SVSC - where a girl grows up in household with the sole objective of marrying the eldest son. Here, Avika is culturally weak and traditional and closer to her regressive picturisation in the mega TV serial that propelled her to stardom. Despite these blemishes, the director and the producer pull off a surprise family-clean entertainer that will rake it in well till the big releases. It may even be a giant-killer if the audiences bless it. It certainly has a repeat viewing quotient because of arresting simplicity despite state-of-the-art references to skype and facebook etc. We need more of such films to resonate with what majority Indians live like. Good returns for co-producers D Suresh and Nagarjuna Akkineni for partaking in the sweat equity of Ram Mohan Paruvu. 

My rating: 4 out of 5 for a clean fare that lingers on with freshness.

How Tollywood fared in 2013 - An analysis by Sriram Karri

Your intrepid film critic has been quoted in the New York Times for views on how Tollywood is faring. Written by Sriram Karri. Of course, much has been said but only few quotes taken. Good analysis and interesting views on the shifts happening in the Telugu film industry.

Please read the article from the link below:

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/

"Dhoom-3" Movie Review (Hindi)

If I tell you that the first shot of the film is a young boy helping his father resusciate the Great Indian Circus facing liquidation from a banker who has invoked the equivalent of Sarfesi Act and that young boy grows up to restore the pride of his father in making the Great Indian Circus a must-go in Chicago, does it tell you where it all leads up? The young boy becomes Aamir Khan who targets the bank - Western Bank of Chicago - the bank that made his father Jackie Shroff bow out with his life and commits heist whenever he wants. Thats the bone of "Dhoom-3" for you - a kind of Dr Jekyll and Hyde in Aamir Khan - who just exchanged one kind of stardom with another for this role of double shades, in more ways than one, which you will realise as you watch. 

Shot entirely in Chicago, the film revolves around Aamir Khan from the start to finish in all the 172 minutes of sometimes breezy and sometimes agonising frames of stylish stunts on BMW motor bikes that vroom ahead with 360 degree turns, over-turns and even amphibian dexterity like the cars in James Bond films. The franchisee stamina is tested to a point of some fatigue which doesn't find much relief in most characters including the so-called-hero Abhishek Bachchan and his flunkie Uday Chopra. Infact, Abhishek should try to relinquish his second-most well-known job as a hapless cop (after baby-sitting) for someone else to add verve and vigor. He looks singularly boring and needs to move on as much as the predictable Uday Chopra who could have been booked under Nirbhaya Act routinely for the number of women he leches on as a cop in this film.

Katrina Kaif is the romantic centrepiece of this testerone-filled story who performs stunning acrobatics in her role as a circus troupe artist. She sustains the lightest and the emotional scenes of the film well with Aamir Khan. Aamir Khan is the deserving reason to watch the film but most of the time you feel you are being taken for a ride because of the ludicrous plot with gaping holes in the script and the storyline. This is where I like to ask Vijay Prakash Acharya what he had in mind when he narrated the story to YRF films or Aamir Saheb. When a banker comes knocking on the doors of the Great Indian Circus because of payment default, what is wrong with it? Is asking for your loan back an act of cruelty that makes you turn so spiteful that you hit on my bank anytime and run with the heist? What were Abhishek and Uday - cops in India doing in Chicago? Why were they called when there is abundant local talent? With so many heists happening on just one bank, why are so many people clueless about the modus operandi and the man behind the act when he leaves so many clues? Is the 27 minute flashback at the outset required to justify the villainy of Aamir Khan? If so, will all villains get so much footage to explain their motives ? Why does every heist of Aamir Khan end with dollar notes falling  on the street people of Chicago like autumn leaves? Why doesn't he just take that money and run? Or, why doesn't it add up to the per capita income of Chicago? 

When you walk out of the film, you realise this is a film where everyone is reverential about Aamir Khan playing a villain and one must project him in as much good light as possible because the character he is playing can otherwise do no wrong under normal circumstances. This is an opportunity lost for Aamir Khan, methinks because thats not how the legends of Hollywood think or down south, some of the hero villains like NTR, Rajkumar, Rajnikanth did? If you are playing a villain, make even the best villains feel sorry by the menace in your character, don't pussy-foot around and don't think of your star image. While Aamir excels in his role, he could have outshined more than just giving a sheepish smile and a cunning eye to outwit police. The film could have also been shorter sans some repetitive stunts, most of whom are clearly graphics. The warning at the outset could have been aptly worded: Please do not try these stunts at home as they are unreal and designed by graphics. In the second half, there is an extended chase between Aamir and Abhishek where both of them hurl weapons and counter-weapons at each other on speeding bikes. It was hilarious and reminds one of the Astras and counter-astras used in mythological films on chariots. If every successive villain in the next editon of "Dhoom" thinks like Aamir Khan in giving a justification to character, the franchise will become an innocent version of Amul Dairy. Music by Pritham lacks melody and background score by somebody else heightens the drama. Unless you are a vroom Dhoom fan and do not enjoy speeds which optimise the fuel, this film lacks in substance and variety but delivers in style, speed and thrills and yes, the surprise that Aamir Khan throws at you at the beginning, the interval and the end. I would still rate it 2.5 out of 5 for the effort and Aamir. 

"Venkatadri Express" Telugu film Review

There are not many films in Tollywood which build muscle in storyline but "Venkatadri Express" is a novel attempt in that direction. Directed by a debutant Merlapati Gandhi, the film had created some buzz in trade circles because Gandhi has some award-winning short films to his credit. "Venkatadri Express" is the name of the train that leaves Hyderabad for Tirupati. Gandhi who is the all-in-one for story-screenplay-dialogues-director has selected that train as the backdrop and the entire story is weaved into one incredible train journey of a family who alight from Hyderabad for a journey that is supposed to be a joy ride and a happy one.

It becomes a happy one for all the family members - a father Nagineedu, his wife, sons and their families including the bridegroom Brahmaji who is about to tie the knot. Except for one of the sons Sandeep (Sandeep Kishan) who misses the train because of an errand run by his mother (to get the "thaali bottu") and some silly diversions at the station. These diversions, these "Rudraveena" type distractions are what enrages Sandeep's Father time and again. Sandeep's father, Nagineedu, is one of those modern-day curiosities who keeps a statistical count of such "mistakes" committed by everyone in the family - from toddlers to wife to sons and their spouses. Before embarking on the marriage party on Venkatadri Express, Sandeep is at 99 not out in terms of number of mistakes, so all he has to do to be kicked out of his house is one more. Be that as it may, and back to the story, Sandeep misses the train but somehow makes it in time to catch the train just before Tirupati in one of the incredible chases with some remote help (and pose as if he is sleep-walking from another compartment where he his berth lies). What really happened in the time since he missed the train? Why were there blood stains on his shirt? Who is the guy in the family compartment who is joined at the hip with Sandeep? How did he make it back just in time? Will Brahmaji's marriage happen? 

These are the questions that must egg you on to watch this reasonably engrossing movie made with a bevy of characters of low-key fame but thoroughly entertertaining except in the second half when it becomes predictable. Merlapati Gandhi has roped in a good starcast that pull off fireworks all except one - Nagineedu who gave the most unconvincing characterisation yet seen in his career as a father who is stuck on old-world discipline in new blood - he appears a cross between a "Bommarillu" Prakash Raj and an ancient Gummadi and has been quite a bore. Even in the end, his characterisation lacks the consistency check and closure in climax. Sandeep Kishan pulls his role with ease and style, he is lucky to have got a script that could have pulled in more eyeballs with a bigger star. A new girl Ratul Priti looks cute and over-exposed at the same time. Brahmaji gets an important role after a long time that registers good votes at places. The real draw of the film is the under-appreciated comedy tracks that are enmeshed with the main storyline of a moving train, mainly highlighted by Sudhir ("Oye" fame) and Taagubotu Ramesh. Sudhir will get accolades for a role of a lifetime while Ramesh gets the giggles with his trademark acting. A few others, kid and MS Narayana too get the occasional laughs. Undoubtedly, getting a script like this to deliver so much on entertainment and comedy is a coup because the storyline walks on a razor edge between a running story and the heart of the flashback of how the hero and the heroine get into an incredible chase. 

Music by Ramana Gogula is good not great. His BGM seems to enthrall more than his songs. As a music director, he had given some good hits in his checkered career but in this film, coming after a gap, one can feel something amiss in his disctinct style.  Chota K Naidu, the cinematographer has given a fantastic feel to the whole experience of a moving train and the images that move the narrative. A few songs have been shot with great passion and creativity which leave haunting imagery in primary colors. Without Naidu's support for a film which has untested director, the film might have slipped into shoddiness. Duration wise, I still felt that its a miracle to pack so much into one film in 127 minutes and yet achieve a poetic end in climax (I am not giving away much nowadays you see). While the director tied most of the scenes with logic, he slipped on the side of taking short-cuts to exalt comedy. There are scenes where a ticket collector loses his marbles in throwing out freeboarders; instead of throwing them out, he discusses Telugu literature. There are only two chains in a compartment to stop a train for the hero to hop into it but both are used creatively - preventing its real use; one is used to cradle a baby  and the other like a gym rope. Also, the film despite an original story and treatment resembles loosely many plots of films like "Jab We Met", "Bommarillu", "Ala Modalaindi" in terms of twists and hairpin bending twists. But it is definitely worth a watch, whatever be the shortcomings. It gives clean, family-clean entertainment and some uproarious laughter and delivers on most counts for a debutant director. My rating: 3.5./5.

US-Iran Deal- when foes become friends

Having worked in a few multinational banks since 2002, and being at the receiving end of being forced to cut short business wherever "sanction" countries like Iran and Iraq and Syria are involved, I am delighted at the announcement of the deal between Iran and a group of international powers to freeze important parts of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for a temporary relaxation of sanctions.

The US-Iranian deal on allowing Iran to continue with its nuclear ambitions on a limited scale is one of the most epochal moments in world history and it must be lauded for what it entails - it ends Iran's international isolation, its alienation from the international banking  and will restart commercial transactions between American companies and Iranian entities. The landmark deal has raised eyebrows even in Israel because for decades, Israel and Iran were bitter foes because of irreconcilable differences in culture, religion and identity. 

This is surprising because, way back in 1943, President Roosevelt told a British Ambassador: "Persian Oil is yours; we share the oil of Iraq and Kuwait. As for Saudi Arabian oil, it's ours.". Historically, Iran was always a beligerant nation and fiercely independent in asserting itself as a regional hegemon, creating a bipolarity and sometimes tripolarity with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I read a book by Robert Keacy in 2010 about "Iran: The Devil we know" which outlines how the country has become more liberal, less Islamist (by way of endorsing Shia regime) and built the largest ballistic missile inventory in the region. It naturally had clear ambitions to build nuclear weapons, which the US tried to thwart firing all the salvos in its range of socio-politico-economic foreign policy to check Iran. 

But nothing worked. On the contrary, instability in the region grew even as Iran, despite the international ostracisation welded itself into one voice as a nation. Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya,Syria, Egypt, some say, the Arab Spring that led rebellions against extreme Islamic fundamentalism could have been a hotbed of religious and political uprisings of the Shia. Clearly, the Iranian model of re-asserting cultural supremacy and neo-liberal religious reforms have definitely dented the gambit played by US interests in middleeast region. US tried to sell more arms to the Arab countries, orient all nations ex-Iran into a powerful force called Gulf-Cooperation-Council (GCC) to become a powerful deterrant against Iran. In turn, Iran has always criticised the GCC for its pro-US slant, had territorial disputes with UAE over three islands in the Persian Gulf and even laid claim over Bahrain that it was once part of the Persian empire. 

The US had built more bridges with the GCC countries ostracising Iran  with all the sanctions possible which intensified in 2012. The alignment of interests between the US and GCC were quite understandable: the GCC countries and Iran control over 55 per cent of the world's total oil production and 41 per cent of the world's total gas reserves. US has a lot to gain being an ally to GCC than Iran. Moreover, the Arab economies are a major buyer of arms from US. All the ruling regimes of the GCC countries, to add further, were all Sunni  - and the Shia Iran had to be checked so that its influence among the region's Shia minorities doesn't grow.

To a large extent, the ostracisation had an impact on Iran's economy - its currency fell and because of the steep sanctions  - which bar banking transactions - Iran suffered. But Iran retaliated. In 2012, there was another move by the cartographers in US to even re-name the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf, that didn't work. Iran was happy that didn't name (there are few countries in the world which have seas, gulfs and oceans named after them). US intensified the sanctions impact by freezing all Iranian government assets in US territories. Iran retaliated again, this time threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz  - the little "mouth" of the Persian Gulf through which 85 per cent of all the oil the world consumes passes through. It has never carried out the threat. 

As this intensified, and Iran's oil exports faltered - the main stay of their economy, Iran never cowed down on the military front and diversified its efforts to reach out to others including BRIC nations like India and China. Iran is alleged to have continued supplying WMD and even biological weapons to countries like Syria and threatened to use them in any conflicts escalated by Israel. What must have changed US views towards adopting a lenient stance against Iran is the new-found love of China towards Iran and old-world love of India, which always had historic ties with Iran, from the times of the Persian empire.

China, while engaging with the Arab world, deepened its ties with Iran, Syria and Turkey. China is now Iran's biggest trading partner and has been supplying arms, including missiles and aircraft, to Iran since 1981. It is also important that for China, Iran is the only energy supplier in the Gulf  for its gargantuan economy that it can reach through pipelines as well as sea routes, ensuring a diversification of supply lines in the even of a blockade or disruption in its energy supplies. Besides, in the strategic rivalry with the US, Iran is a potential ally. Which is why, China, while supporting the sanctions on Iran, it is unlikely to stop dealings with Iran. Given this and the fact that India and Russia have also been continuing trade with Iran for oil supplies (there was a window of exports and imports carried on via a select conduit offered by Indian oil companies and to some extent, by State Bank of India). 

Besides, after the march of democratic movements which are eroding the bastions of conservative Islamist traditoins in many countries across the GCC and MENA regions, it appears that this move to cosy up to Iran is driven by compulsions of foreign policy to move from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific Ocean regions. Because thats where the action is. It proves one thing though: In politics increasingly dictated by economics and win-win foreign policy, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends either. The event is still a small leap of faith in taming a country that has a civilzation older than the most-powerful country in the world today but it will have benign consequences going forward for the region (in cooling off oil prices) and the world. 

India, for its part played with lot of caution on Iranian front even though culturally it is closest to the Persian Empire with links dating back thousands of years. Persian was a language spoken at Moghul Courts, trade ties were always on, and were normal since 1950 but fully formalised under PV Narasimha Rao's regime  since 1993 and strengthened under the Vajpayee regime . India has done  two joint naval exercises  with Iran in 2003 and 2006, trained their army personal in combat aircraft etc. and offered to build ports for them. Both of us dread the radical regimes of Talibans calling the shots in Pakistan and elsewhere. Both are aspiring nuclear powers although differences remain in being the signatory to NPT. With the clouds eased out on sanctions, India should revive the $7 billion gas pipeline that got stalled due to US opposition, distrust of Pakistan and doubts on viability. If US and Iran could bury their differences and move on, India and Pakistan can also move on in life. I am not an expert in foreign policy but thought this little piece will drive home again why the world is going to only get better and better with countries softening their stance against each other.

“Varna” (Telugu) Dubbed from “Irandam Ulagam” (Tamil)

“Varna” is one of the most hyped films with visual effects created by the same team that worked for “Avatar”. It had everything going for it – a producer with deep-pockets (PVP) who is on a cyclical high, a director Sri Raghava (Selvaraghavan in Tamil) who gave great family entertainers like “Aadavariki Maatalu Ardhaale Vere” and “7/G Brindavan Colony” and a great looking pair- the blue-eyed Arya and the sweet-and-sensuous Anushka Shetty. Harris Jayaraj scores music and the lad who created “Kolaveridi” composed the BGM score for the film. With that kind of a team, there were huge expectations and even the trailer kissed a surge of optimism. Is the film worth the hype? Alas, No. Then what went wrong? It’s the script and the characterization again, stupid. Basics of entertainment were missing – no comedy, no romance that sticks and no entertainment value despite an extra-ordinary theme of love and other human emotions having inter-galactic appeal. Director has combined atleast two fairy tales with one half-hearted romance in modern times and then connects the two stories towards the later half.  The duration – 160 minutes – made it hard to concentrate a story involving two planets and the same lead pair – Arya and Anushka.

The story is all a flashback narration by the earthly hero Arya who is sinking in an ocean. He is a good Samaritan who falls in love with Anushka, a doctor. On the other planet, many light years away, a Goddess of love rules and is worshipped by all but the planet is effectively resident evil – wrong doers seized control of the planet where love is absent, women are ill-treated and shephearded as slaves and none of the human emotions abound. The goddess there sows the seeds of embryonic love between another Anushka and another Arya who is the son of the king. A few twists later, the earthly Arya is transposed to the other world where he eventually plays cupid between the two, culminating the wish of the Goddess of love. The  narration moves in tandem, and toggles between earth and the other planet – which looks like a supernova in color scheming but exotic and splendid in landscape and sky. Visually, the director transports us into a surreal planet full of mythical birds and beasts and flora that captures all the colors your eyeballs can absorb. A few fights here and there but most of the film moves slower than Telangana bill, the first half takes you to wit’s end to elaborate the love track between the lead pair in both the planets and only the three songs by Harris Jayaraj spruce it up.

Post-interval, the movie picks up  tempo but fails to elevate the characters or add to the story that was revealed at the outset in the form of a short animation film about the fight between evil and good. However, there are some beautiful moments in the film which leave you dazed and tranced – the snowy surroundings on the other planet where love and sometimes hate envelops the three characters on a mission ( shot in Georgia), the serene characterization of the Goddess of love, and the transformative powers of human emotions on machine-like men. All the best scenes get amply highlighted by the mesmerizing background music of Aniruddh. He will be a sought-after BGM composer after this film.  There are  big takeaways – how love drives a man to superior machismo than even a thousand military training camps and the emotions of kindness and human affections  are what makes our planet so unique in the universe. I do not know whether the message in all its subtlety will reach a wider audience because the multiplex I went to on day one was half-empty so do not know whether there is that much of nerve and verve to attract bigger audiences. It is slow, smooth but lacking in intensity of emotions – the very emotions humans can teach other beings. For most part, Anushka is shown as the one who sulks but in varied costumes. She gets a meaty role in two characters but it could have been etched better to make her characters evocative. She still carries the film on her shoulder, her costumes, her Xena-like warrior movements and swordly fights and her feminine grace light the screen. Arya as the earthly lover did better justice than the other-worldly warrior. Technically, the film looks stylish and defining in VFX for Indian Cinema. It might have cost more dollars than the marketing budget of a Hollywood animation film but if only some entertainment, comedy and ripened romance be uploaded into  this mix, “Varna” would have been a different tale. Audiences will forget a movie’s furniture pieces fast- the VFX, et al but never forget the lines, the chemistry of the love pair and the entertainment quotient. For that let down alone, and not for anything else, the film’s rating deserves 2.5/5 but not more.

Post-script: The themes of inter-planetary movement of human beings is explored by Indians also as much as Hollywood directors. Imagination must run wild to explore a start-trek kind of experience because thought can travel faster than light. There is nothing wrong with that because Hindu Astronomy recognizes that there are 24 earths in the universe which are similar to our own. Recently, we read somewhere that Russians have researched a possibility of the netherworlds lying under the earth’s crust which leads  to the worlds like Naga loka etc. talked about by fiction writers like Amish Tripathi. There are also ways and means defined in our own ancient books about many worlds that can be experienced once human beings go outside their sensory range – like experiencing the body in several realms, travelling in astral light etc. Cinema lends itself perfectly to such possibilities being explored. But where movies like “Avatar” click and movies like “Baba” and “Varna” fail is in deliverance on emotions and mass value. Hopefully, these lessons will be learnt well before deep-pocketed producers look for the exit door of the film industry.

"Masala" Telugu Film Review

Masala is a ridiculous film with retrograde humour imported from Bollywood's hit film "Bol Bacchan". Infact, its a remake of the same film made by Rohit Shetty. In Telugu, quite a few big names got associated with the remake - Suresh Productions, Victory Venkatesh (plays Ajay Devgn), Ram (plays Abhishek Bacchan) and the female leads, played by Anjali and Shahzad Pudamjee. Directed by K Vijaybhaskar, who was the titular head in most of the hit films enriched by the vigorous penmanship of Trivikram Srinivas. 

The story is set in a village called Bhimarajapuram where Venkatesh is the chieftain who settles disputes and lords over the village folk. Posani Krishna Murali is the antagonist to Venkatesh. Into this village enter Ram and his sister Anjali, who lose their house and savings in a court dispute. Ram tells one lie after another to win the trust of Venkatesh, that he has a lookalike brother, a mother who has a lookalike and so on. The drift of the story is all stretching this absurdity further and making Venkatesh a joker in the pack led to believe all the drivel that Ram and his gang dish out. A comedy of errors is what unfolds as  the story moves in garrulous overtones of cheap drama with just a few good laughs and a banal ending. 

Venkatesh provides the good laughs in the film with his Butler English. Infact, that is the only saving grace of the film and but for that, most of the plot is crass and unequal to the standards of Telugu film comedy seen in recent times. Telugu film comedy is far superior to the levels of no-brainer comedy imported by the remake of the Hindi film and its an insult to the audience. Anjali, who looked so bright and promising in SVSC has a forgettable role in the film. Ram who plays the twin shades of a Gay metrosexual and an innocent youth carries off well. 

Venkatesh, despite a frivolous role that doesn't elevate his stature or earmark his career with the portrayal as a village don. He pulls off a fiery performance despite the shortfalls in the characterisation. He has the best lines in the film and what he speaks in English should make this film a brand ambassador for Russell's Spoken English. Here are some of the best lines which are the only paisa vasool in the film. "Today, I want everybody down to earth." "It is not hell, it is pine apple." "Let's give her a supervise (surprise)." "What a family hysteria." (history). "I want one night stand with your family." "I suspect all religions." (respect). "Take my sarees." (sorrys). "Please pest control yourself." "Shut up in the mouth and get out of the house.". "Without interest, I trust you." "Honesty is the best mutual policy," (you mean, mutual fund or insurance policy?) "Bloody burgar take him to jail." "You are my brother in law please become my sister's umbrella." "Cat under my hand, searching the whole motherland". "This is not normal marriage sir, this is pot exchange marriage." And finally, he says,"Watch the climax in my IMAX". Jayaprakash Reddy is the only other character who fires salvos and heightens the impact of Venkatesh's faulty one-liners ("My English better than the British!") by riposting as "Horrible Sir Horrible Sir! or "Bull Shit Sir Bull Shit Sir!). 

Music by SS Thaman is average and could have been better. Duration of the film is 140 minutes and but for the dialogues by Venkatesh, it would have been a tastless comedy. 2.5 out of 5.

"Goliyon ki Rasleela - Ram-Leela" (Hindi Film Review)

I thought I came for the wrong movie when I saw the long title preceding the words Ram Leela. Then the portent came in the censor certificate about the duration of the film - 154 minutes. Then came a warning that this film is an adaptation from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". That means the film must end in a tragedy, I thought. It did end in a tragedy with Ranvir Singh and Deepika Padukone, the Rajasthani equivalents of Romeo and Juliet, shooting each other down in a climax at point blank range. The climax itself justifies the title - Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. Because in that epic shot which already wears out the audience after a dozen songs and 153 minutes, Ram (Ranvir) and Leela (Deepika) kiss for one last time before releasing the trigger on their magazine. First time, Sanjay Leela Bhansali takes the credit for allowing two lovers, darlings of the masses, take each others' lives instead of shooting at their own temples. In short, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has attempted a lavish re-interpretation of Romeo and Juliet with extravagant paraphernalia and bizarre theatrics but lost the plot that could connect with the mood of the times. The film is great in performances, visual effects, scale and grandeur but fails in characterisation, emotions, depth and consistency.

The story is faithful to the bard's original story. Instead of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, this is the story of a couple caught between Raanjadas and Sannades, in one village of Rajasthan where the police turn a nelson's eye to the biggest arms bazaar. It is more anarchic than Obama's country where everyone, even toddlers, carry guns and shoot at will. Ram goes to the other side for a holi party and gets smitten by Leela in one helluva dance. They connect instantly and the love develops between the two even as Leela's mother, the gang-leader of Sannades, played by Supriya Pathak Kapur, rushes her marriage with an archaeologist.  Leela returns to Ram's place, her love grows stronger and the enemity grows stronger between the Raanjada's and the Sannade's. Unlike in Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet's cousin Tybalt is mistakenly killed by Romeo, in "GKRR", Ram's brother is mistakenly shot dead by Leela's brother and the exchange leads to another death, Leela's brother. That shot, a high-octane sequence builds up into the best action sequence of the film with intensity and suspense. After that, the elopement of Ram with Leela, the subsequent return and then the fateful ending after much macabre killings. A few cinematic changes by Sanjay Leela Bhansali to nativise the story here - a signed written order by Leela to annihilate every single Raanjada and instead of drinking poison, they consummate their love again with kisses and bullets before taking their own lives, at a time when remorse and regret returns to the warring people on both sides. In the end, Ramleela is celebrated with the burning of Ravan's effigy by both the sides, but alas, the lead pair is gone.

To be fair, the film has some electrifying moments  - the passion between Deepika and Ranvir sets the screen ablaze, the dialogues by the warring factions on both sides, especially by Supriya Pathak and Abhimanyu Singh as well as by Ranvir Singh are outstanding. Characterisation of the three of them is exceptional. Supriya Pathak had the best lines in the film and this is one of her best performances. Ranvir Singh, looks a maginificent hulk in his chivalrous avatar as the energetic Rajput; he strikes great balance as a hate-disperser and a love-monger. Whether he removes his shirt or turban, he oozes out machismo and animal magnetism. Would he be the talent that can maneuvre competition from Kapurs and Khans? Likely. Deepika is lissome and beautiful as ever, looking better in traditional costumes and royal frills. Her dancing skills looked prim and proper but curtailed by the energy of Ranvir. Of all the starcast, her accent looked more out-of-place, however. She is clearly not marwari-conversant unlike the rest of the cast. 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has got good support from screenplay writer Siddharth-Garima who also wrote crisp dialogues in local dialect. Another experiment: Sanjay Leela Bhansali scored music himself. Almost all the songs sound alike except one modern tempo beat, with rhytms and soundscapes resonating the Rajasthani hills and villages - too much of folk music from titles to end-titles. I wonder if this is all straight-lifted out of Sanjay's repertoire of folk tunes tucked away in rural hinterlands because except for Monty who scored for "Saawariya", it has been Ismail Durbaar mostly. Surely, Sanjay's background score is richer than his songs scored, which are too many and farcical. Despite the talent and its harvest, the film doesn't have enough substance or emotions to sustain a modern audience. I wonder why Sanjay had to pick Shakespeare to make a point or two about a love story between a cracker of a lead pair. He didn't start films with an intent to revive Shakespeare like Vishal Bharadwaj. On the contrary, Sanjay had a touch of an artist who can take cinematic experience to new highs with his ensemble of opulent story-telling and grandiose backdrops. But by picking a tragedy once again, after "Devdas", he had wasted Eros's money and audience's time. It was not worth 154 minutes of macabre hate and love. In the original story of Romeo and Juliet, the two families agreed that Romeo and Juliet should be buried together. On the grave were these words as per the play: "There was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and Romeo." The message of the bard that one can be unreasonable in both love and hate was driven to death by countless film-makers around the world and in India. The audience knows it but doesn't want the tragedy to repeat in the movies - at least subsequent debacles at the box office of film-makers who attempted a studious reprise of the sad ending of the lovers show that this doesn't work anymore. Poor Sanjay! Wish someone told you at Eros. Cannot rate this above-average for all the effort. 2.5 out of 5. 

Say "Chess" please

Chess is not a continuous game that can resonate with the masses in India or the rest of the world. It is a discreet game where two players trained to put a poker face and an impenetrable facade play with thirty-two pieces in two colors that even TV manufacturers are no longer interested in making. Excitement happens on the board where the players are moving pieces in tandem but it is not the same excitement for the crowds who can sometimes read a book or clean their bowels in between two moves. It is, therefore, quite audacious of Madam Jayalalitha to  take the lead, outbid the Russians and  host the FIDE World Championship Match between Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. This will make even the busy upcoming December concert-season seem like a passing cloud as the first match got played yesterday amidst unprecedented glitz and glamor (with the likes of AR Rahman, Shobhana and Veena Gayatri performing for the opening ceremony). 

From the buildup to the match so far, Chess fans are in for a fabulous fare with a youthful Carlsen,  challenging the hegemony of Anand who has been holding the crown since 2007, having won it five times since 2000. Anand is 43, Carlsen 22, a situation almost similar to the great duels in the game, between Anand and Karpov, between Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky. 

Anand is probably, India's best-known sportsman after Sachin Tendulkar, even though chess is played in more countries than cricket. He is a Padma Vibhushan, the first Indian sportsman to be conferred that honor and is one of the richest too with brand endorsements running into crores of rupees. As NIIT brand ambassador, he is responsible for most kids contacting chess at an early age. Since 2002, the NIIT MindChampion' Academy has fostered 15,600 chess clubs. It covers 1.5 million students with video tutorials, instructional software, multi-lingual approach and online matches, teaching children not just chess strategies but the fundamentals of analysis and logical thinking. I had interacted with one of the kids my wife taught a few years back, the kid and his brother not only play chess exceptionally well, they are also shining in academic performance. As Anand himself says, "Chess forces players to think spatially and keep stepping back to look at the big picture. You have to plan strategy, think ahead, engage in abstract reasoning and, you need to work your way into your opponent's head. This is quite remarkable for Anand despite plonking a critical mass of his wealth in a vast suburb in Spain. After Bobby Fisher, Anand takes the credit for firing the imagination of millions of young people the world over to take up a game, originally invented by the Indians, but masterfully pivoted by the Russians. 

Today, promising chess players have begun to emerge from China, Armenia, Norway and Israel etc. Anand's adversary, Magnus Carlsen is from Norway and is already the highest ranked player - the most basic being 2200 for an International Master. He has been a GrandMaster at the age of thirteen, the third youngest in history. In a televised demonstration of his abilities, Carlsen once played ten opponents simultaneously in speed chess - with his back turned to the boards. That is something even Anand attempted in a game which he termed as blitz. Playing at this level, both Carlsen and Anand will have to remember and instantly and automatically refer to thousands of games stored in memory. According to one researcher, a champion will have to remember 50,000 to 100,000 chunks of games and openings about the game. This is itself staggering and belies the magnificence of what a human brain is capable of remembering. It is probably more challenging than writing an equivalent of ten statistical tests of an Actuary examination - considered the world's toughest computational challenge.

The difficulty of remembering so many games and the repertoires of strategies to counter the openings and its precise unfolding is what takes a toll on the players. I have three apps on my Ipad which combine an equivalent of 20,000 games. I have never been able to beat the App because I do not have such long-term memory with instant recall. Even if my brain is not exactly filled with sawdust, the task of recalling a Chigorin's Defence or a Dutch defence and then playing stonewall variation or Flank openings requires a monumental memory. I read somewhere that the exact number of combinations and permutations from any one move in Chess Game can be as high as 10 raised to the power of 120, that is, 1 followed by 120 zeroes! Thats why I surmise after the smashing first match between Garry Kasparov and IBM Deep Blue (the supercomputer wired with algorithms on chess games) which Kasparov won, Deep Blue beat the former hollow second time onwards. Nobody since then had the temerity to take on a computer in a well-publicised match because this is one game where the human brain, arguably, has lost it to the mega memory machines that man invented.  So a computer can beat a human brain because it is programmed to outplay and has the counter-intuitive arsenel in the form of powerful algorithms to navigate the variations of play available compared to just a lakh or so of chunks of information in a human brain. If you allow me to make a detour here, I must also say that the days of human dominance on some games like this are already numbered after that fateful day on May 11, 1997 when Deep Blue defeated the reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. Today, games like checkers, Othello, poker, bridge, backgammon, scrabble and even Sudoku can by played by computers with algorithms that will overwhelm any human player, however dexterous and intuitive. The short answer to that is that the more iterative and complex a game is, lending itself to a playing mixture of memory of millions of legal moves and rational responses, the more easy it is for Artificial Intelligence experts to build a machine that trounces Man.

For the record, there are several books written about the inside stories of the memorable campaigns by the famed IBM team that prepared to defeat the greatest chess player of all time. But it took about 12 years, an equivalent of an exile in Ramayana to outclass a champion. Kasparov's fall came quite soon after that debacle and Anand became the new world chess champion in 2000, the first time. Unlike now, Anand also didn't declare his "seconds" for three championships. So it is understandable why Carlsen is reluctant to reveal the seconds. There is a rumor that Garry Kasparov himself may be plotting against Anand this time, helping out Carlsen. As it is, taking seconds is itself a reassuring step in the direction of winning. Anand has picked Sasikiran and two foreigners, usually, some of them must have been remarkable adversaries to Anand in some of the Linares tournaments. Carlsen, looks nervous and has the burden of beating Anand, who at forty-three looks more composed than ever because Anand has never played with an insecurity of losing. He always played with a passion for the game. 

But this part of it, the sensationalism in the build-up to the games, and the posturing pre-and-post matches is what makes Chess a better package than watching two super-computers play with nothing embedded but silicon chips. Back then, Kasparov and Karpov used to psyche each other out with little help from Western media. Probably, the most sensational of all matches must have got played by both of them under the burdensome purview of Cold War, more between them than the US and Soviet Union. Boris Spassky, another Soviet great, was stunned by Bobby Fisher in 1972 and the latter became to Chess what Bruce Lee was to Karate - the most enigmatic player but obsessed with chess. According to the script for the movie "Searching for Bobby Fisher", Bobby Fisher was in awe of himself and the game. He designed a new chess clock, designed a new chess board game with eighty squares in it (usually it has sixty four), became anti-semitic and later on became a recluse till he became a nervous wreck. He was, however, brilliant and was renowned for being envisioned on the direction of the game within few moves. 

Anand has no such qualms, he had led a balanced life, grounded by wife Aruna and parents, never lost his composure or became a boor in the game like a Kasparov. He wrote a book "My Best Games " which captures forty of his best chess games, maintains a hearty touch with India's leading sportspersons, almost like Sachin Tendulkar and puts in enormous efforts for any big match. Twelve hour days are a routine it seems in Anand's book and his team of seconds vouch for the same. Anand also tried to give back to the game with all these mentoring programs for kids. He has been an outlier that won respect from advesaries like Kramnick, Karpov, Kasparov and even Carlsen. He still takes those five deep breaths before every game and plays with a straight face without getting mean looks. This time, a lot of forces are aligning themselves together to thwart Anand's march into one more championship crown. There will be distractions, I know; another legend cricketer's swan song, elections in five states, etc. but let nothing take the credit away from one of India's Urban legends in Chess. He has brought the game back to India and has shown the world that with right training, focus and hardwork, rewards can come in Chess too. Carlsen will play hard and mask his tricks but whatever be the outcome, this should turn out to be a vodka-kick to chess fans. May the best player win.

ANR and the Art of Living

My piece on ANR as an inspiration for healthy living.

http://www.news4andhra.com/details?contentId=1861

"Shahid" (Hindi) Film Review

                            

"Shahid" is a gutsy film made way back in 2012 and showcased at major international festivals in Toronto, etc. like "LunchBox". It's quite surprising that the film found no takers until Anurag Kashyap and Ronnie Screwala (UTV) lent their producer's label. Director Hansal Mehta must be congratulated for making an impactful film on the tragic life and times of Shahid Azmi. 

The story is well-written by Director Hansal Mehta and comprehensively nuanced. Shahid Azmi (played by Raj Kumar of "Kai Po Che" fame) is a tale of a muslim caught in suspicion of terrorist-nexus. He actually joins a camp in Kashmir but runs away from the brutality of the camp. Lands in a prison, meets inspiring leaders from Kashmir of liberal background who wean him away from jihadi influence in the jaiil.Shahid is inspired by Kay Kay Menon, one of the Kashmiri leaders, to study so the years will fly. He gets an informal education in liberal arts in the prison walls. He comes out on bail with help of Kay Kay. He pursues law and becomes a lawyer starting off with low-end law firms bristling with under-paid colleagues and unethical practices - such as backing a wrong horse and without the right cause. Shahid decides to practise on his own, his first case is of a young and beautiful widow played by Prableen Sandhu who is fighting for custody of her property in a dispute of estate created by an intestate will. His next case is a case of a muslim booked under TADA for allowing a friend to use his laptop for terrorist activities.

 Shahid wins both cases, succeeds in wooing the beautiful widow and marrying her. Shahid's career zooms and is seen as a flag-bearer for the causes of exonerating innocent muslims from victimhood by the nexus of State-Police-Judiciary whenever a terrorist attack happens. From the Ghatkopar blasts of 1993 till the Taj Hotel attacks of 2008, Shahid Azmi succeeded in 17 acquittals by taking up cudgels for those who are wronged and not the wrong-doers. In the end, media attention, intolerance by adversaries at the growing stature and elements of society who sense a conspiracy and a criminal pattern in his battles abridge him forever. Three men call him to discuss a case at unearthly hours and shoot him to death. 

That's a long story in a blazing canvass of visuals limited to business-like expediency of court-matters which leave little to imagination. In 129  minutes, director Hansal Mehta shows us a credible real-life character played with alacrity and poise by Raj Kumar as Shahid. Raj Kumar plays the role perfect giving us a feel of an ordinary lad who grows in stature, outgrowing the frustrations of being discriminated against as a minority, navigating the labrynths of law to keep the right people out of clutches. Raj Kumar shows all the shades  - composure, mental agility, frustration, impulsiveness and opportunism. His poker face can hide a billion thoughts crossing his mind but the emotions can only come out as per the director's cut and the camera's angles. All other characters play their part well especially Kay Kay Menon and Prableen Sandhu. One wonders why we don't see Kay Kay often in films - as a consumer of cinema, we have a right to know why a versatile actor like Kay Kay gets the miss.

The film is taut and runs on a razor's edge at times raising meaningful debate about the rights of minorities caught up in the web of law where the needle of suspicion constantly points to them. The film shows the Indian judiciary in rare, authentic light as being reasonable, fair and diligent in its ruminations. The scenes of cross-examination are brilliant and the arguments by Shahid before the denouement is given by the judge are epiphanous. The only flaw in the film is the slow intro and the choice of cases - the angst of the police and of competent adversaries to Shahid was not skilfully handled. Could there have been a Type-I error (in Statistics, an acquittal that was "costly")? What was the impact of TADA on genuine cases? Who could have killed Shahid Azmi and what were the motives? Some questions linger on, even after the viewing. Nehru's ideals for minority protection have become an axiom for many politicians. His ideals were founded on a golden principle of assertiveness- that in any country where the majority is another religion, that need not assert itself but the minorities need a voice because they may feel apprehensive of fighting for their rights. This has greater relevance in matters of court - because the assertiveness of a majority can suffocate a minority struggling to find a voice, let alone raise it. To that end, "Shahild" is a bold experiment which needs to be widely watched. Even if it provokes your sensibilities to the rights provided by law, it is worth a view. My rating 4.25/5.

International Herald Tribune is dead, Long Live International New York Times

I have been seduced into reading IHT by a former boss at BNP Paribas who was one of its most conservative readers for over 30 years. In the eight months that I worked, amongst many memories and a pink slip and some wonderful colleagues, I think knowing about an elegant newspaper called International Herald Tribune has been a late revelation of sorts for me as well as happiness unlimited as my love for language grew. IHT had an elegant first page, a nose for a story in every news, a bench of the best English prose-writers of the world, journalists and columnists who wanted to, as the adage goes, literally write literature in a hurry, unlike many other newspapers in the world. The headlines beamed life livelier than the story sometimes and suggest a mastery over a language - they were businesslike but conveyed the essence for the global travellier - the target audience the paper never failed to satisfy all through its 126 years of existence. If it was a corporate result, the headline says,"Phone Sales help Sony post profit in quarter." Or, a headline on China,"Murky future for China's family firms." Or, a breakthrough in stopping blackouts in America," Data Tools to keep lights on." The Tribune always had presented news that was readable, racy and vivid without an apology for longer headlines too if that conveyed the essence better: "Virtual Desktops, freed of clutter, follow wherever you go." LIkewise, you can say the paper had high-quality editorial standards which made it a symbol of the thinking global citizens even if the paper had its origins in Paris - but has become more American over the last few decades. 

But when it started, it was the local newspaper in Paris for the Anglo-Saxons but now it is the finest international newspaper for English-speakers everywhere and you can no longer tell it is based in Paris at all. But what a transformation for a paper all through the 126 years, it traded hands and changed names several times in its course of history, and Publishing houses vied for it as it was a Kohinoor Diamond. It must be in the eyes of the many discerning readers because the founding editor, James Gordon Bennett Jr. proudly used to say, "Our readers are prepared to pay for the kind of journalism we do, and they feel an incredible amount of loyalty towards us." It used to be "New York Herald", then it moved from Bennett to New York Sun, then the title changed to "New York Herald Tribune", then a famous American ambassador to Britain acquired it in 1966 who brokered a deal with The Washington Post to enhance investment in the paper. All through those years, NYHT staved off competition from European newspapers including from the global edition of New York Times (the paper that gobbled it up today). NYT surrendered as the circulation of New York Herald soared and bought out the remaining stake of the American owner and thus was born International Herald Tribune, as a joint venture between the Washington Post-New York Times. So, IHT was effectively born circa 1967 and the name clung on despite the full ownership returning to NYT in 1991. The name became a darling for the global class of English-readers even as the newspaper stuck to its twin values of innovation and editorial quality - the best in breed and always at the biting edge of the times. 

The paper was flashed as a status symbol even in Hollywood movies and European movies as it became a cult reading standard. It was used in a movable feast of visuals atleast for two minutes in one Jean Luc Goddard film (the director who first used the technique of "jump cut"). At one time, in Paris, some of the most famous Americans breathed fire into the English language and all of them endorsed IHT: Ernest Hemingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Getrude Stein, and even ace humorist Art Buchwald who sprang up much later in the 1950s. In fact, Art Buchwald quipped on the length of the title of the newspaper itself: "International Herald Tribune?  By the time you've finished pronouncing it you've missed the plane!" The paper was always objective, even when the hegemony of Americans became more and more pronounced, during the two world wars, during the Vietnam War and the many battles that they keep fighting. You should see the reportage of the newspaper on the day Nirbhaya's Rape case verdict came- it was exemplary, concise yet comprehensive.

Unlike the NYT, IHT always maintained a balance between depth and length, while remaining stylish. It was never more than 22-24 pages and wore lightly on the laps and palms of the executives who live in between terminals. At one time, the paper had staff from 25 different nationalities and got distributed to 186 countries by facsimile transmission (a unique first for the paper). In India, we were lucky that at least a Hyderabad-based owner, Deccan Chronicle group have been distributing this paper for the last several years, atleast since 2004 I think.  NYT did a reader survey way back in 2003, whether it should drop the words IHT as a brand and instead label it as "The New York Times International" as they have already started sub-titling it as "the global edition of New York Times". "No" was the answer from both advertisers and readers. But it took ten years more for the personality of the paper to be gradually changed by NYT management, introduce veteran columnists like Paul Krugman, James Saft, Roger Cohen, and Joe Nocera and eventually cannibalise the personality of the paper to re-launch New York Times on a global scale. It is still a development that may not resonate with IHT's affectionate readers who are used to seeing a Gothic three-feet masthead called "International Herald Tribune" with the "T" made to look like a gothic version of the bird "Owl" which was believed by the founder Bennett to bring good luck. I find that the masthead of "International New York Times" retains the gothic style and that fills me with hope and nostalgia. IHT always recognised its readers not just as moneymaking tycoons and billion-dollar traders, it covered so many features everyday in science, health, sports, arts, letters and surveyed the worlds of business and finance like they were real people. I trust the NYT to make INYT retain the editorial fragrance and the bewitching reporting standards of the IHT. Even though I haven't read all the 126 year old newspaper issues of IHT, I cherish them since I begun reading it since 2001. I hope even if IHT folded up, India will welcome INYT with folded hands.