World Cup 2011 victory for Incredible India!

India 2.0 finally gets to see India 2.0 lift the World Cup in 2011 after 28 years of wait...It was the best of  times - when India already holds centrestage to the game of cricket  straddling the best of Advertising Monies, Cash-rich cricketing body, eyeball for popping out eyeball attention, passions for a whole nation...Now it will the rule the world as a Benign superpower, already known for sportsmanship, non-controversial play, and spectacular passion. Now, I can tell that I have watched India's greatest cricketing victory in color and HDTV screens befitting the new resurgent India  - not on Dyanora B&W TV. Its a sign of how a nation of 1.21 Billion people are taking on the world  - and this world cup win is going to make India shift the earth's axis by a few more degrees  - and that will stay for many more decades to come.

Warrren Buffett in India Today

Warren Buffett may not be second-richest man on the planet but he has enough Ekalavya followers in India from RaamDeo Agarwal to Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and from Nilesh Shah to Prashant Jain. Not surprising his visit beginning today is generating blitzkreig publicity. Whatever he says - markets will gyrate in India interpreting madly like Wall Street. I hear people are getting re-born again to get themselves insured with Berkshire Insurance, some are buying hatchbacks to get new cars insured by Berkshire Insurance to grab a seat to hear the Sage of Omaha speak.
The demand for Buffett's books has always been good in India and I hear that sales of "The Collected Essays of Warren Buffett" has hit a four-year high in the last one month from publishers - a sign that Billionaires in India invited by the CII are ready to hear them so they can cut loose with their cheque books. But I guess many of them may be unfamiliar with Warren Buffett's methods of rewarding shareholders and transparency. Now, Buffett is going to talk about Charity (which already began at home for him and Gates) to Indian Billionaires. But I guess this is going to be a signature event - Indian Billionaires have made it big only in the last two decades after unshackling of the license Raj system. Its only now they are smelling the coffee - so to talk about pledging billions is not going to appeal to many. They will say they are generating employment already which has lifted many out of poverty. Besides, we have Tatas and Birlas used to doing philanthrophy in their own way - unassumingly and consistently. We must remember that Gates and Buffett have been icons of American capitalism who started pledging their billions only in the late nineties after decades of unbridled expansion and ambition. Indian businessesmen, on the other hand, do charity when they are growing as well - so this talk about cajoling them to pledge their millions is not impressive. At the end of Buffett's visit, I will not be surprised if a few more billion dollar deals are announced.
What is important, however, is that Buffett may be pleasantly surprised by the verve and vibrancy in the corridors of Indian Business, Polity and Parliament - if they keep their best foot forward as always happen. Buffett is himself a rank opportunist and he may not give anything away before he takes away more from India. In his annual letter to shareholders in 2011, I read that he was hopeful there will be no major catastrophe that will eat into his Reinsurance profits - and bingo, you had Japan catgastrophe which will nibble away some of the profits in Munich Re and other companies. He has never taken any exposure to India so far in underwriting of risk - so he and Ajit Jain, colleague are meeting IRDA chief J Harinarayan to assess whether Risk in India is profitable. Ask Indian businessmen on Risk, they can talk to Buffett on profiting from Risks here till the cows come home.

"Inside Job": Award-winning documentary on how Wall Street brought the world down to the Road

Now that the sub-prime crisis is well behind us, and we are not really looking forward to the next one sooner, public memory is as short-sighted as ever. In order to jog the public memory about the crisis that rattled governments, public and societies equally the world over, you have choices - of reading about the books that brought the worst crisis since '30s. In no pecking order of importance, you can read the books like "13 Bankers", "Too Big to Fail", "Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown", "Sub-prime Solution", "Fool's Gold", "The End of WalStreet as we know it", "Faultlines", "BlackSwan", "Crisis Economics", "A Colossal Failure of Common sense" or any other Wiley classics or Penguin books coming still by dime a dozen. I suggest a more time-saving choice - grab a seat to watch Charles Ferguson's "INSIDE JOB" which won the Oscar for the best documentary. The man has written, directed and produced a pulsatingly educative documentary which will break the glass ceiling of understanding the real issues that brought the world economies to a grinding halt during those years of 2007-2010 from US to Iceland to Greece to UK. Charles Ferguson gives in one hour forty eight minutes all the dope and lowdown that has led to the crisis of 2008 and gives a crisp background of the years leading to the fat years before greed, chicanery, and blatant selfishness of a few "bad" men of Wall Street colluding with Washington led to blood on the streets. The documentary is as gripping any movie because it uses narration and interview technique to give an overview of the nexus between few big banks and Government, between Academic Economists and their linkages with Hedge Funds, between Rating Agencies and the Ratees, between Fed and Other Bankers. Truth is tougher to tell and even tougher to swallow and they say pride goes before the fall  - but watching this documentary brought out the hard truth that Wall  Street and some of the biggest names riding on its masthead do not have the grace to accept what price the world has paid for their follies - in the testimony, in their brazen pursuit of profits and the shameless lack of guilt for taking compensation even when investor's monies have vaporised. The documentary shows during the narration that the following people have declined to give interviews for the film (which should tell all) - Goldman Sach's  Henry Paulson, Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Timothy Geitner, Glenn Hubbard and Ben Bernanke. Don't miss the film - INSIDE JOB - its more than a documentary.

Katha -Screenplay-Darsakatvam-Appalraju - Telugu Movie Review

KSDA by Ram Gopal Varma is an epic commentary on Tollywood's ways and means and can rattle many heads. Apart from taking potshots at himself, Varma gives exaggerated insinuations at  everybody who is somebody  - nobrain.com (idle brain), gurram awards (nandi awards), kanishka-babu (anushka-nag affair), ANR-Chiru-Allu-NTR everyone. Movie jibes at every star, how movies are made, canned or distributed, how ganging happens- with perversive humor. It is RGV's take on the creative crisis in Tollywood and almost entertains with comedy gang but washing dirty linen is not fun watching. It felt longer and definitely not RGV's best ( I suspect it is directed by his friend called "Appalraju"). No  wonder, idlebrain.com didn't even cover the film. First half is more fun.

Gaganam - Telugu Movie Review

Saw "Gaganam" expecting to watch another " Ragadam"  - item songs with six heroines, lewd jokes and crass commercial stunts, and visa-on-arrival location songs. Surprise, surprise - nothing of that sort in Nagarjuna's new movie, not one song. Its clean, wholesome fare with low-tension hijack drama and high comedy performances. No heavy emotion, in-your-face dialogues and pacy direction. Radhamohan delivers high-quality again, though with logic gaps. Eight-hundred calorie consuming Nag gives knock-out performance. Highly watchable.

Ala Modalaindi - Telugu Movie Review

"Ala Modalaindi" is a cute, refreshing and evocative love story made for gen-next with enough nuggets of wisdom from elders as  well as youngsters on managing life and relationships. Nandini Reddy makes a silent but successful debt - her screenplay, characterisation and direction stand out - without fuss. Cast is cool, and Nitya Menon is a star to watch. Rohini yesterday's teenybopper gives a "wow" mom performance. Though slow, movie will cut ice with all audiences. Naani looks good. Music by Kalyan Mallik is pleasant.

Golconda High School - Telugu Movie Review

GHS is worth the wait - its a movie you will like anyways - if you love your school memories. Mohan Krishna delivers an honest movie based on Harimohan Paruvu's novel "The Men Within"  and drives home a point thats missed out by parents who push their wards into academics even postpone their vacations or clubs which withdraw game courts for real estate profits. "Follow your heart, love your game or hobby and focus and fame will automatically follow" is the message of the movie. Sumanth suits the subdued role. A good experiment in a season of story-starved hits. Immensely watchable, five songs, no fights, no manhood-proving dialogues, no skin show and only thirteen reels. Is industry listening?