James Horner - The composer who revived interest in Classical Music through film scores

James Horner’s unnatural death in a plane crash has made the world of music-lovers sadder and poorer. The man has given us some of the most memorable original music scores, creating exhilarating instrumentations that blended the orchestral mastery with Afro-Celt rhythms which stood the test of time in every decade. Much, much before “Titanic”, his film scores in “Balto”, “Aliens” and “Braveheart” topped the charts. But undoubtedly, “Titanic” swelled his fame to near and far, from India to China and music-lovers poured their devotion and dollars to buy this soundtrack like never before. It is still rated the second-most-sold OST of all time. Released in 1997, “Titanic” soundtrack showcased what happens when you make John Williams pour out precise notes into the wild and imaginative soundscapes of Hans Zimmer - the soundtrack had that kind of eclectic mix - it hit the high notes of pure classical music, chorals and celtic sounds, sonorous instruments contrasted with the majestic pianos and percussions rarely used in puritan classical music. Many of the scores used in “Titanic” were re-invoked by the world’s leading Orchestras and composers and re-interpreted for years since 1997. “Back to The Titanic” was another re-introduction by the master composer himself after the stupendous success of the film’s OST. 

What differentiates James Horner from other composers is that he competes with the film director in energising the scenes that forces the director to re-think. Look at the shots of his films like “Braveheart”, “The Mask of Zorro”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “Troy” and “Avatar” and you will understand this obsession and orientation of James Horner to throw all his musical genius into the shots which heighten the director’s cut. This gives energy and impetus to the audiences making them connect better than with other composers. Hollywood’s greatest music composers of the modern era have each established their niche but James Horner is special because he listened to the director but added his own charms of re-interpreting the scene with maximum evocativeness and impact. That sets him apart as a populist composer and a clever composer who knows when to minimise classical overtures and when to highlight new repertoires of music. John Williams is hailed as the greatest music composer of our times - and he has got nominated for the Oscar atleast 45 times (the maximum number of times for any individual after Walt Disney); he has been magnificent in subjugating himself to a George Lucas or a Steven Spielberg in film scores but his box office success has been less consistent than James Horner, should you discount some of Spielberg's collaborations. James Horner rarely got nominated for the Oscars but the few times he got nominated, he went home with one and many of his films outside of “Titanic” and “Avatar” coasted home as blockbusters, perhaps insinuating that his music played a bigger role in the popularity of the film reaching the masses - “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “Braveheart”, “The Mask of Zorro” etc. There were other talented composers like Michael Kamen and Hans Zimmer but the world had room for only John Williams and James Horner for the top spot. As Hollywood became more success-led, and budgets soared, and music needed neo-classical and Eurasian sensibilities, John Williams lost out to James Horner and Hans Zimmer in getting diverse subjects from gladiatorial themes to animation projects. The new directors are moving on to new music directors and selecting more directors without the baggage of an orchestra conductor or the trappings of an old-world composer, for example, Steven Prince, Trent Reznor. Many of them appear to score unconventional music with new sounds without adherence to sheet music and classical notations but the modern movie world is once again moving away from pure Western Classical music. It takes the grasp of geniuses like James Horner (or John Williams) to get the grooves back to the basics of orchestral beauty blended with vibrant instruments rather than chasing new sounds with impure range of syncretic instruments and technobeats.

With James Horner’s untimely death, an era of music composers who were passionate and committed to resplendent classical music ends. The mantle still falls on the remaining legends like John Williams (who is still a nonpareil Maestro) and folks like Hans Zimmer and Michael Kamen. But James Horner was a trailblazer in fusing divine interpretations for earthly visuals whether it is Jake entering the Na’vi world in “Avatar” or Mel Gibson rising to avenge his enemy’s deeds or those unfathomable waters speaking through the ship moving at a pace that ensured its end in sight. All of us have different choices for James Horner’s top scores because he has collaborated with many directors attempting different flicks. His music will endure this age and forever -because it truly belongs to the ages. R.I.P James Horner. The broad message is clear - Don't save the best for the last, you may go to grave with your best song yet to say, "My heart will go on...". James Horner didn't do that - he may have had many scores uncomposed yet, but he almost died empty by giving his best to the world of music.

Here are my top 5:

Titanic
Braveheart
The Mask of Zorro
A Beautiful Mind
Avatar

‪#‎JamesHorner‬ ‪#‎Titanic‬ ‪#‎OST‬ ‪#‎ClassicalMusic‬ ‪#‎Avatar‬‪#‎HollywoodMusicScores‬ ‪#‎HollywoodMusicComposers‬ ‪#‎JohnWilliams‬‪#‎HansZimmer‬ ‪#‎MichaelKamen‬

Milk Wars in Hyderabad and the Winner is Consumer!

In the history of the real world economics as it plays out, the consumers rarely get to raise a toast to their own success. The history of business is all about mostly exploitation of consumers, in one way or the other. Which is why, I was intrigued to read the story in Times of India the other day about the ongoing milk wars in Hyderabad. The paper noted that price wars are escalating in Hyderabad because all the entrants that matter in Dairy Milk are now available as choices for Hyderabadi households. For starters, you have  Vijaya Dairy, Heritage, Maskati, Mustafa, Jersey, Tirumala. All of them were ruling the roost and dividing the cake with reasonably good margins until India's best-known and the only one to make it as one of the world's top 100 brands announced its ambitions to sizzle up the Hyderabad market - AMUL Dairy. "Asia's largest milk brand is now in Hyderabad" screamed the banner ads in January as I noticed after landing in Hyderabad from a holiday. Did it change Hyderabad forever? We will come back to it later. But more about more options as per the ToI article. Mother Dairy and Nandini Milk - the biggest brands in the West and Karnataka have also entered the fray in the heat of summer. The story talks about only price wars but they missed a unique angle which should have got highlighted - the disruption of the market by Amul and the brands it displaced from near monopoly - Jersey, Heritage and Maskati in different pockets. And the story of how the consumers of the twin cities have asked for better choices despite monopolistic practices by the producers and the distributors. That is something that should be celebrated and reported widely.

Here's how: It all started In January. Amul Milk enters Hyderabad. Releases ads across the media. Giving rich milk at Rs.38 per litre. This forced market leaders like Heritage and Jersey to drop prices to Rs.40 and Rs.38 respectively. Then followed a massive protest by distributors to block Amul milk. I remember we took an instant decision after I spotted the announcement to try Amul Milk, we were using Jersey Milk until then and many years before, Heritage milk. We had two toddlers at home and generally consume milk at an industrial level - with plenty of curds and buttermilk and byeproducts. The risk was on us but we wanted the switch to Amul and told our milkman. He refused first - then we threatened we will switch the agent. He relented. We got Amul Milk the very next day. And we observed the taste - it was distinctly yummy. The babies loved the change in taste, we noticed the thickness in curds and the quality of milk in beverages. And we never regretted the decision. Earlier, the milk from Jersey or Heritage used to deteriorate occasionally so we had to import set curds for  curdling. I have tried all the good brands -Maskati curd is my favorite followed by Jersey, Heritage and Tirumala. All of them are quite yummy but you can't keep buying ready-made curds - Amul milk had that extra thickness to curdle faster. Besides, what if the set curd cups of the brands had used harmful substances like MSG, and all that. I told my brother and friends and many took to it but some of my friends faced huge blockade by the vested dealers who got incentivised to maintain the status quo. Folks in Banjara Hills were not getting Amul Milk but those in Tarnaka were getting it on demand. It was very apparent that the dealers were cartelising the business and preventing a good brand from getting experienced by the consumer first-hand. 

But as more consumers got drunk in the goodness of Amul, the agents started running for cover and switched to Amul to hang on to their household consumers. Those who didn't lost out more - Amul announced a distinctly new bandwagon of distributors and outlets who sprang up in every pin code in Hyderabad. If you have not noticed an Amul  outlet, chances are you are still held in ransom by your distributor/home delivery boy. Of course, there is always an option of buying buffalo milk directly from your farmer friend but those options are not entirely fool-proof. In case of Amul, I read somwhere that they do an annual survey if the health and the trustworthiness of the brand is intact - year after year. The entire ecosystem of the farmers has been benefiting in a win-win way for decades since Dr Verghese Kurien shaped the best practices of Amul until his last breath. One of the story goes that at a collection centre not far from Anand, Gujarat, where the farmers assemble at 6 am to give their milk to organisers, an Amul truck lands promptly and puts a fat-measuring device in front of the farmer and the money is given at the end of the transaction. The model is also that Amul will buy all the milk from the farmers who come for the day - a practice that has been going on for decades before it gets collected and goes through more stages of milk processing and packaging. The most happening brand in Hyderabad has got the pull with consumers because of these best practices winning the support of a community of over 35 lakh farmers spread over 17000 village dairy cooperative societies - collated and processed closer to the final distribution point. Whereas in most other brands of milk, you do not know whether the milk is coming from buffaloes in Guntur, assembled in Suryapet and sold in Hyderabad. Plus the inconsistent quality checks. Otherwise, why would you notice Mother Dairy brand of milk which entered Hyderabad recently awash in controversies over Detergents mixed with milk? (Incidentally, this rumor from another family feeding milk to toddlers motivated me to write this piece, otherwise I am not getting paid to write for Amul, infact I pay Amul for buying my milk every day).

The lessons from Amul's entry into Hyderabad proves many things: 

One, you cannot prevent a strong brand from flying off the shelves just because you offer counter-incentives and commissions. You may not offer toxic products but whether it is milk or a mutual fund, if the consumer demands, you cannot deny it as a distributor without risking your own existence.

Two, the only way a brand can grow is to deliver the best quality, every time. Even a six-sigma error is going to cast its shadows. If you had to drop prices or raise commissions, maybe your product is an inferior choice. Conversely, if your brand is trustworthy, you may drop prices to capture mindshare but you have the pricing power to raise the prices as the customer gets used to your quality.

Three, a strong brand can get on first instance, predictable marketing and distribution responses but eventually, the bigger takeaway is the imitation game in upping the ante in quality. Either way, the consumer again wins. 

Four, the consumer is always the king or queen, on paper. It can really happen if the consumer demands good quality and punishes the bad quality producers. For years, Hyderabadis thought quality is what is offered to you, with blips here and there overlooked and under-scowled. It took a superior brand like Amul to disrupt the forces of competition and elevate the consumer to the status of calling the shots. 

Lastly, economics is not a dry and dismal science found in textbooks. Look around you, it is at play all the time. You may not get the jargon right all the time, like a monopoly, producer's cartel, price discrimination etc. but with alertness and observation, you can grasp the essence of its principles. Here, milk consumption has been effectively controlled for decades at prices dictated by a cartel of producers which includes a government player. But an emboldened consumer,  thanks to a strong-recall brand took the first call of disrupting the existing order creating unintended consequences for all other market players who took the consumer for granted. That is a news, utterly butterly delicious, in a dairy market that sees a daily consumption of 23 lakh litres.

Disclaimer: I consume Amul Milk but I am not incentivised by Amul or its agencies or distributors for its advocacy. This is only written in public interest of all consumers, especially of parents, with toddlers like me.

#Amul #AmulMilk #HyderabadDairyMilkProducers #DairyMilk #MilkbrandsinHyderabad

#ConsumerTheKing #ConsumerIsKIng #Hyderabad

Yoga's International Day!

Yoga is as old as the Adi Yogi - that Indian sage who designed a unique system of Sutras to streamline healthy and happy living  but the International Day of Yoga being celebrated on June 21 is a coup for the Indian Government when 175 sponsors supported the Indian Foreign Office’s proposal at the UN General Assembly through an acclamation. Instead of chiding the Indian Prime Minister for bull-dozing a blitzkreig of sorts - the sort that is matched only by Americans, Indians should feel elated that their gift to the world is being celebrated world-wide. As I was talking to Acharya Ram Vakkalanka, my batchmate and one of my closest buddies, he says there is a two-way shift towards Yoga and almost all countries have joined hands with Yoga practitioners to conduct camps this Sunday. The other push is coming from the Indian embassies worldwide to create awareness and practice or initiation sessions on Yoga Asans tomorrow at camps across. Either way, this is a welcome move. Dedicating a day to a thought about something is always a good idea. Talking about No-tobacco, or Anti-Cancer, or prevention of diabetes or breast cancer awareness - all these help kick up awareness and propel us towards taking counter-measures against illness or motivate us to become healthier. 

What I like about the world adopting today as “Yoga Day” is that a formal recognition that is overdue to one of the most beneficial systems of mind-body-spirit alignment known to mankind has come at last. It doesn’t take away any credit from the people who have pushed the frontiers of Yoga before and doesn’t entitle extra credit to the Man who used his machinery to get this status. It is just as symbolic as the other days that the world gave. The credit should come all the way down from Patanjali who created those 196 sutras but never once mentioned the world “Asana” to the great guru Krishnamacharya who taught over a 1000 Asanas and Kriyas to four disciples who winged out the technique of Yoga as the world practises today. Foremost among them are: BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Smt.Indira Devi and his son himself - TKV Deskichar. The beneficial effects of Yoga are proven by the life-span of these gurus. Krishnamacharya lived to 100, BKS Iyengar lived upto almost 98, Indra Devi to 102 and Pattabhi Jois to 94. Today, Yoga in whichever form it is practised in the world is a formidable way of life cutting across religions and cultures. My friend Acharya Ram told me last night that besides the commonly known G7 countries, Yoga is practised in countries like Lebanon, China, Turkey, Sudan, Israel, Russia and even in Pakistan. It is well spread out to Africa, Australia and South America too with Yoga centers everywhere. According to the documentary program on Discovery channel yesterday, there are over 250 million Yoga practitioners on the planet. 

The total Yoga Industry is worth $6 Billion annually and people in the West take it more seriously than in the country of its origin. If you have a World Aerobics Day or a World Cycling Day, Yoga definitely deserves more than an annual reminder to make it an integral part of life. The beauty of Yoga is that it grows slowly and works at multiple levels of mind, body and soul and then restores harmony and tranquility, apart from de-stressing you. Like a book that one should read, it has many pages and chapters, but whether you give up after few pages or read the first chapter and move on, or take many months, if not many years to read it finally - it is all upto the beginner of Yoga. It gives the flexibility and is there to return to it again and again. It has many aspects of turning focus inward before turning the focus on overall mental and physical health. Unlike the staccato nature of isotonic and isometric exercises or aerobics, Yoga has flourished because of the flexibility it gives to each one according to his or her body condition. An Asana is not a ritual that has to be done exactly same by every student, it is a pose that can be done as much as your body allows you - no hard rules. This gives Yoga practitioners slow and steady results in an injury-free manner. Today, thanks to this flexibility in Yoga, there are as many variants in the schools of Yoga as the number of Asanas. BKS Iyengar gave illustration for 196 Asanas, Pattabhi Jois gave us about 800 Asanas. Nobody knows the exact number of Asanas which have been originally developed after observing various non-human species and the way they deal with physical stress and relaxation. But according to my friend, Acharya Ram, the reference can be found in a text called “Shiva Samhita” which details a total of 8.4 lakh Asanas coinciding with the total unique number of species on this planet. But that would be unthinkable to ingrain in our daily lifestyle for health and happiness. About a dozen Asanas and a few Pranayams are all that is needed to stay healthy. 

Despite that, unlike Aerobics, Yoga has matured and moved beyond the original forms. You have different improvisations and schools of Yoga based on the intent of the Yoga Guru who wanted to give it a signature spin and personal branding - Ashtanga Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Zen Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Jewish Yoga, Pregnancy Yoga, Nada Yoga, Tantric Yoga, etc. Given so many forms, Yoga has already moved up in its evolution to take one of the top spots in the list of daily rituals that one must adopt. If you have ten minutes or two hours, you can flex your Yoga to fit the time available.  If you integrate all the spirit that is ordained in Patanjali aphorisms, it will work on your body and mind as mathematically as the law of gravity irrespective of whether you are a jew, a muslim, a christian or a Mongol. Those who see only the gross aspects of the origin of Yoga will shirk from it - but they cannot gainsay the benefits from Yoga. I feel sad for the narrow-minded people who denounce why there should be an International Yoga Day or whether one should do Yoga at all.  A few years back, the Pope made a sensational statement that “Yoga”  is the work of the devil , the Satan and should be discouraged. Some Muslims in India and liberals are objecting to Yoga as if it is a religious ritual. But broad-minded people from all regions in the world outside India are embracing Yoga like never before because of the overall beneficial effects it has on the cleansing of the internal organs of the body.  If there are limitations to Yoga, it is only in the limitations of your body not in the length and the “breath” of its practice.  Apart from modern gurus like Payal Gidwani Tiwari who trains Bollywood stars to Baba Ramdev, Yoga has some acclaimed Muslim-origin Gurus like Shameem Akhtar who has written many books on Yoga at workplace etc.

Having a day to Yoga also does many wonders  - like making the world realise where it all emanated from. In the drumbeats that followed to this day, there are reports, according to my friend Acharya Ram, that some sections of North America which lead the world in the regulation of Yoga by extensive licensing and enrolments have been talking of ways and means to “De-Indianise” the practice of Yoga, whatever that means-which goes beyond the three No’s : “No Sanskrit, No Chanting and NO Granola”. That has always been the case - take concepts from East and brand them as a Western Adaptation with a more fanciful re-introduction. A day like this gives India a cultural high to get the focus back to where it originated from - but doesn’t belong to. Once a science or a technique is gifted by a country or a religion, it becomes a universal tradition that is owned by the world. Yoga doesn't belong to Hinduism anymore than Vipassana Meditation belongs to Buddhism or Kung-Fu belongs to Shintoism.

I cannot end this piece on Yoga without a personal note - not that it lends some credence. I have taken to Yoga in my teens and left it in 1991 only to return to it again and again. I have dragged my father and mother to Yoga whenever I could and the little health we all have is because of Yoga. Over the years, I learnt Yoga from Gandhi Gyan Mandir, Krishnamacharya school, SSY,  and SVYASA, BengaluruDespite being over-weight, I could keep my body flexible thanks to Yoga, meditation and Kriya Yoga. Whenever I returned to Yoga, it gave me joy and happiness. I can still do 12 Surya Namaskars without a rant, arch my body perfectly in a Dhanurasana and strike a camel pose without discomfort. Yesterday, when I took my second Treadmill Test in a decade, I tested negative with all other parameters in control. The Cardiologist at Century Hospital told me,”Except for over-weight, whatever you are doing to keep your heart and body healthy is remarkable for a body frame that you have. What do you do - walk, cycle or swim?” I told the doctor, “I do Yoga whenever I can.” Of course, I will knock off these extra kids with a step up in metabolism and a step on the gas to rein in diets but Yoga kept me sane and happy for as long as I did it. My only regret is, despite the flexibility Yoga gave me, I have never been taught Yoga in School - we were trained in drills which were rigorous but less enjoyable. But thanks to initiatives like this, Yoga will now make entry into our lives much early where our bodies start malleable - in schools. As of now, 193 countries are celebrating Yoga today with spirited participation. Pakistan, as expectedly, chose not to practise Yoga. God save the world from such ostrich-headedness. Meanwhile, I have participated in Yoga today as a mark of appreciation for this endeavour. 

For those who like to know more about the depths of Yoga and the role it plays in overall mind-body development, look for lectures by my friend Acharya Ram who travels from Bermuda to Thailand, from Afghanistan to Mauritius at these links below. Ram stood first in Intermediate in MEC in our batch, finished his Chartered Accountancy in first attempt and his Cost Accountancy and Company Secretaryship examinations, became a top finance executive in North America before relinquishing all of it in pursuit of teaching Indian philosophy, culture and spirituality to the seekers worldwide. Yoga, he says has played a pivotal role in propelling him towards self-realisation and God-realisation. We need more such people to spread the message of salutary effects of Yoga and days like this really move the needle in that direction. Om Tat Sat!

www.aksharayoga.com

www.globalmindbody.org

#Yoga #InternationalYogaDay #UnitedNations #InternationalDays #WorldYogaDay #Patanjali #IndianPhilosophy #IndianYoga #India 

Lead By Maggi!

Lead was discovered by Humankind ages ago. But Indians discovered it only today in Maggi Noodles or what! Wow! If only the regulators woke up early and the consumers stand up, all the current and undiscovered elements of the periodical table may actually be found in abundance in food served outside home - restaurants, food courts, malls and marriage pandals. India is a foodie paradise, so as long as the GDP from food stuffs is high, all these clarion-calls and "march-against-Monsanto-and-Nestle" kind-of-movements that we saw today will remain a recurrent theme of the flash-in-the-pan kind. Raat Gayi to Baat Gayi! Until another discovery! Meanwhile, back to Bollywood stars endorsing toxins morphed as tasty foods. The only way to stop this menace of hazardous materials in food stuffs is to suspend eating of all processed foods and stick to food cooked at home. Or, incentivise Food Inspectors the way Excise and Customs Officers are - raid and raid till the rogues get straightened. And regulate the Food License Raj - from packaged water, paan, ghee and packaged milk to foods packed to kill. Sadly, there is no immediate solution in India for this phenomenon. We have to live with this because too much is at stake for the government that is more valuable than human lives.

Aarthi Agarwal - Another story of Expectations and Entrapment!

Aarthi Agarwal's death at age 31 is a tragic event for a heroine who had seen epic success and stardom in an industry which puts any premium for glamor in a heroine. I remember when her first film "Nuvu Naaku Nachaav" was released co-starred with Venkatesh, the press was gaga about the new glamor doll. Ironically, one of the reviewers mentioned, "Aarthi is the new Divyabharathi - the girl who died a mysterious death in the 90s." Those words sounded apocalyptic to me whenever Aarthi Agarwal's career graph peaked and dipped. For one of the longest periods since her first film became a cult romcom classic, Aarthi's career knew no bounds - she demanded star remuneration and was much sought-after glamor doll landing offers to play the leading lady paired with such stars like Venkatesh, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Udaykiran, Tarun, NTR Jr., Prabhas, Ravi Teja and Mahesh Babu. Her finest hour came when Megastar Chiranjeevi sought her as the lead heroine in "Indra". Tollywood fans rooted for this North-Indian girl with loose and lush black hair, pouting lips, outstanding screen presence and an over-cute plumpness. Fans did notice her BMI was on the heavier side but that didn't discourage them from watching her films umpteen times. Until the onset of girls like Trisha and Shriya at the cusp of the new millennium, Aarthi Agarwal ruled the tinsel town as the most famous heroine that the Post-liberalisation Telugu audience knew with co-stars like the who's who of Tollywood.

What is trend-setting about her is that she knew her limitations in acting but came to primarily ooze out glamor in a language hardly spoken at home, so her voice was dubbed by Savita Reddy, a convent-school-educated dubbing artiste who was to later dub her inimitable voice to several new girls on the block like Genelia, Asin, Trisha, Shriya and so on. Aarthi's success was well-handled by her father until some producers felt unease over her clash of dates and slippages in her screen magic - as slimmer and trendier females showed up on the horizon. In an industry that had narrow shelf-space for heroines, she couldn't step on the gas for selecting different scripts. One of the most famous rumors was she was dating co-star Tarun and was chasing him to marry her, something that never got established. As she slipped in ratings, she was acting with co-stars in the second rung of Tollywood, she was being asked for item songs - an area that bombed. Though some peppy numbers here and there kept her afloat, the era of rotund starlets doing item numbers was short-lived abridging her chances of success. She was soon paired with heroes as the second-lead heroine - a phase that most glamor girls went through at some time in their careers. Then came a spectacular launch of her younger sister Aditi Agarwal opposite Allu Arjun in the latter's mega debut "Gangotri". The timing of the film came when Aarthi's career was sliding and Aditi's was about to soar. But Alas! both tanked. Aarthi 's career had another sad twist - when she had to undergo a mysterious surgery that led to re-stitching her hair. Many thought she would not re-surface in Tollywood. Then came her last glorious shot - as a heroine to launch star comedian Sunil in "Andala Ramudu". The film was a raging hit that gave a new lease of life to Aarthi Agarwal. But the success was not repeated because there was no improvisation and age and competition was catching up.

With a realisation that Tollywood moved on to more options, Aarthi Agarwal settled down in life marrying a businessman in 2007 that didn't have a happy ending though. From the beginning, the public image of an actress who sees cult adulation could be dramatically different than what goes on in the mind. Very few heroines in modern era have successfully drawn the line with family members interfering in the career choices and personal choices whenever stress levels were unmanageable. The most successful examples in recent times are those of Jyothika Suriyaa, Kajal Devgn and Shalini Ajith. All of them quit careers when they either got married or got tired of acting and moved on in life with more fulfilling jobs of raising children or restoring domestic happiness. The trouble comes when even parents of heroines stop seeing their daughters as human beings but as golden-egg laying ducks. "Show me a hero and I will show you a tragedy" reads a famous line in Hollywood. It is so true of heroines driven by ambitious parents who neither dote on them nor nourish them but instead feed off them. What are the dining table conversations that parents have with children that makes them take such unnatural short-cuts to look good? If Aarthi Agarwal hadn't been forced to go in for liposuction, she would have still been alive, lived her own life to try something different in life. Those options are gone now! And another heroine's life leaves bare the cruel lessons from over-expectations. R.I.P Aarthi Agarwal. Your life took so many turns before life took you.

"Asura" (Telugu Movie Review)

"Asura" (Telugu)

Tollywood never tires of making cliched plots - each hero wants to prove he can dance, he can fight, he can romance and still look good in sentimental scenes while getting the laughs and the claps from audience for outrageous dialogues. But a door for bringing in fresh stories and credible treatment keeps getting pushed every now and then. Krishna Vijay is one such debut director who came up with a winning plot that has a slow pick up, a steady build-out, a dabanng of an interval block and a slithering climax that beats your imagination. Nara Rohit is the hero who at least tries something different in an industry where everybody wants to do formulaic action. "Asura" is a good story to begin with - about an honest and a large-hearted Jailor Dharma (Rohit) of Rajahmundry Central Jail whose job is to ensure the inmates spell no trouble in serving the sentence. He is a protege of a Superintendent who believes in the same sincerity and integrity. He is also in love with Priya Banerjee (a pretty faced debutante) and is about to marry her.

Life moves smoothly for the jailor until a notrious diamond smuggler Madhu enters Rajahmundry Jail as a convict who has to serve the last few days in prison before getting hanged. Dharma is wary of the criminal record of Madhu and allocates "D" block - the cell reserved for the most condemned criminals. Meanwhile, Madhu's petition to the President of India gets rejected and the day of hanging is round the corner. Three key personnel who have to oversee the operation goes right prepare for the D-day - the magistrate, the jailor and the hangman. The person to be hanged, Madhu, however is cool and jibes that he will go scot-free. Here comes a twist - where elements connected to the criminal outside of the prison cast their net on the three key personnel to ensure the hanging never takes place. And then the story, sorry will not give away anything, just builds up to an amazing crescendo and the climax that is a blinder. Will he get hanged? Will the jailor get suspended? Who has the last laugh? These questions linger on throughout the second half until the story comes to a smooth finish with a plot that is bigger than what is plotted inside the prison. 

At a time when the audience is getting vexed with boring plots and insipid story-telling, Krishna Vijay attempts something different that is going to be talked about for a while. How many heroes have the guts to play an unglamorous role of a Jailor? How many have the guts to cast a bevy of characters mostly from the TV Channel segment? And how many can finish off telling a good story with five songs and few stunts in all of 126 minutes? "Asura" needs to be applauded for making a good experiment decent enough to make it watchable except a bit of tardiness in the first half. The second half is racier than the first and all elements of screenplay, background score by Sai Karthik, and dialogues and editing uplift the experience to give us a new feel. If only more people think like the makers of this film, Tollywood's better days may not be far off.
The only thing that can be held against the director is the liberty taken in some procedures of hanging but in the spirit of the story that moves forward, they were quintessential for the main plot. Nara Rohit is getting fat but his brain is working smarter than most of the heroes in Tollywood who are herd-headed in the other direction. Sai Karthik scores good songs and impressive RR. Priya Banerjee is the new Bengali lass who does a good job. The villains look terrific and did a commendable job. 
It is the most thrilling film of the year and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

Rating: 3.5/5

"Dil Dhadakne Do" (Hindi Movie Review)

"Dil Dhadakne Do" is a non-tragic version of Titanic -  What happens when a dysfunctional family that never find time for each other land up in a cruise for ten days. And the problems that come from a lifetime of miscommunication and under-communication surface to the sea - until they get a life-saver, actuallly a life-boat to find happiness in a sea of unresolved puzzles. Zoya Akhtar weaves a story with too many characters and unwarranted adult scenes which make a not-so-perfect viewing in 165 minutes. Neither the audience nor the players in the movie have an escape route - because we are all at sea with a contrived tirade of pride and prejudice from a mechanical rich man's family led by Anil Kapoor. But for the stark message of the movie - Give love to your kids but also give them freedom to do what they want - and some remarkable performances by Anil Kapoor (father), Shefali Shah (mother), Priyanka Chopra (daughter) and Ranvir Singh (son), the movie crawls until a cameo performer Farhan Akhtar restores some sanity. 

Zoya's strength is her characterisation - each artist gets his or her arclight performance but her weakness in the movie is to get too many characters mess with the main storyline of the Mehra family, it dilutes the intensity of the story. By making the family pet-dog Pluto talk about the story and the stereotypes presented in it through the voice of Aamkir Khan, Zoya may have scored a self-goal because it makes the film a documentary with comments from Aamir's voice with the caustic pen of Javed Akhtar. For a long time, you feel you are watching another Raju Hiran's film where relentless commentary runs in the background with subtextual messages and chatty scenes. What redeems this monotony, occasionally, is the background score by Shankar Ehsaan Loy and associates - it is mostly chords, violin and piano. The songs are a saving grace but come few and far in between - it is either an aberration when you don't expect or a rarity when you desperately need it, spacing is bad. The Punjabi Song in the second half is the only song that stays despite another impressive album from the trio music direcors. Cinematography stands out because this is again a film that is promoting cruise tourism, sixteen years after the film "Titanic" swept the world. 

Despite a brutal portrayal of how the rich live, think and behave with one another, Zoya's characterisation shows gaps in understanding. Inconceivable that with so many friends invited on cruise, the son and daughter grow up with such emptiness and rudderlessness and without affection and understanding from parents. Neither do we find friends who can be sounding boards for each other. It is as if everybody is on their own trip of making it big and so full of themselves with never-ending vanity and disaffections. Whether such paradoxes in parenting exist in totality or is a figment of Zoya's fiction is unfathomable and surreal. Impossible that the mother loathes everything but has a stigma against divorce. Impractical for a rich kid to be forced into father's biusiness and not raise a moment of protest in so many years. Whether it resonates widely and whether it is credulous, one should ask the director and the story-writer - could there be greyness in some of the stereotypes that she typically shows as in her earlier films like ZNMD and LuckByChance. What she shows is a rich society that has taboos, doesn't talk turkey, traps their children in hopeless marriages and enslaves them in illiberal notions of misery while moving on in other aspects - that is the most incredulous aspect of the story - which is a surprise because Zoya invests well in her storylines with intelligence and plausible emotions. The fun part of the film is carried out by Ranvir Singh and Anushka Sharma in a sizzler of a romantic track that shows the chemistry between them. If only Zoya had a better editor and a story-writer with authentic sensibilities of the worlds being projected, and invested in entertainment, this film would have scored high. Now it is upto the audience to filter this low-emotion false imagery the way they want. Or, enjoy the beautiful visuals of Eurozone countries like Greece, Turkey and Spain on a cruise themselves - which is what the film anyway wants. Watchable but doesn't give you a high like "Zindagi Naa Milegi Doobaara". I would watch ZNMD or Titanic again anyday than this sober fare.

Rating: 3/5

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