Happy Birthday, Abe Lincoln!

It is Lincoln's birthday today and the man who was the first one to be called Mr.President, created dollar and united the states of America was better known for values, integrity and leadership. Here is his most famous letter to his son's teacher, reproduced on his birthday. It is my favorite, like Kipling's "If" poem, never felt bored re-reading it. It can be administered for "girls" too, my girls!




Dear Teacher,



He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.



But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero.

That for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.

Steer him away from envy, if you can.

Teach him the secret of quiet laughter.



Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick.

Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books.

But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,

bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.



In the school teach him it is far honorable to fail than to cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas even if everyone tells him they are wrong.

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough.



Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon.

Teach him to listen to all men.

But teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.



Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad.

Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness.

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders but never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.



Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.

Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.



Let him have the courage to be impatient.

Let him have the patience to be brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.



This is a big order, but see what you can do.

He is such a fine fellow, my son!

BAFTA Awards - What a fine show!

• Bafta Awards was short, stylish and elegant - done with in two hours. No frills, no elaborate song-and-dance ballads, no dreary drags on stage - just an unbridled celebration of the best talent in Cinema with under-statedness. Stephen Fry was sheer class, sophisticated, positive without being too pointy and dignified. He made jokes on all the five films but the best was a mathematical one - sequel to "life of pi" is "life of pi.r^2". Good to see the right awards go to "Argo" (best film and best director)' "Lincoln" (best actor). Worth getting up in wee hours on Monday to watch jokes and puns by Stephen Cry ("I want to see "Lincoln" but I got spammed by invitations for "linked-in"!). Now, over to Oscars.

"Lincoln" Film Review (English)

"Lincoln" is a moving film about one of the noblest American Presidents in history. Its a film strictly based on the life of Abraham Lincoln but director Steven Spielberg has based it on a riveting book called "The Team of Rivals" which talks about those crucial second-term Presidency years of Lincoln where he had to garner the support of 22-odd Senators to get the crucial "Bill of Emancipation" passed in the Congress. The entire film focuses on this play where the Republicans egged on by President Lincoln use all the tricks of trade to persuade, incentivise, mollycoddle and even coerce some of the rival Senators to accede to the Bill which seeks to abolish slavery.



Daniel Day-Lewis has played the title role of Lincoln remarkably well. He looks the part exceptionally good - his gait, unique beard, unkempt hair, nonchalant looks, brooding shoulders, unsmiling yet sincere facial expressions and disarmingly slow but assertive Chicago accent (which today's President cheaply imitates). Spielberg has got limited screenplay opportunities to telescope the many-faceted personality of Lincoln, so he uses few frames to highlight them and these are inter-mixed with the story from the book above. And so you see some brief but poignant picture frames of Lincoln as a good husband (with a wife who "drove" him till the end), Lincoln as a born-story-teller (he never tries to win an argument with logic; he brings a story with an embedded message that does the trick), Lincoln welcomed his son's distractions at office and doted on them, Lincoln felt for the poor, kept his promises and never lost an opportunity to bring humor. Spielberg shows all these glimpses within the tight script of the story - and those images haunt you even if you haven't read a word about this man. Music by John Williams is apt and under-stated. Steven Spielberg's films have become so inseparable from John Williams' music that you see the duo's output as one unit. Credit must go to John Williams - after Walt Disney, he has got the maximum Oscar nominations - 46 times! (Disney got 52).



The greatness of Spielberg continues in the way the film starts off with Lincoln in the silhouette facing the troops in a Civil War station and the way it finishes with news of his assassination. No flashbacks, no room for over-dramatisation, no bawdy display of Americana just a mesmerising straight narrative with an elegant under-statedness. Starcast has some American greats as rival senators who stood out on screen. Set Design and Costume Design must deserve an award; re-creating a period setting like that before motors and moving images came is tough. What made such a fine film which got 12 Oscar nominations fare poorly at the BO is understandable. It got timed with the US elections, and then there was a more imaginative "Vampire Hunter" movie on Abe which got the wind out of Spielberg's film. A few more shots of the gory Civil War and a few more popular anecodotes about Lincoln might have made the film more dramatic to watch. But Spielberg being Spielberg, he wouldn't compromise on his adherence to an authentic story within a taut script. Hurrah! Anil Ambani's company is the co-producer of this proud film. It deserves 4.5 out of 5 and should be a universal audience film.