"Margin Call" Movie is released

"Margin Call" is the latest movie on the perils of excesses unleashed on Wall Street. I am just awaiting the movie which has the fascinating actor Kevin Spacey ("The American Beauty"). Normally, such movies run for four days in multiplexes like Inox because non-finance audiences don't warm up to them. I always admire the script-writing skills of the Western writers in getting under the skin of th...e Street Pros in bringing pulsating movie plots out. Over the years and especially during our growing up phases, you just remember "Wall Street" as the old classic that gives you the goosebumps. Later, I have collected DVDs and seen movies of many more Wall Street theme movies. And for connoisseurs of this genre, only Hollywood made the best movies almost every decade. Bollywood makes once in a while but not that consistent. ("Rocket Singh"? "Game"?). In no particular order, dear friends, I recommend: "The Inside Job" (Oscar-winning documentary), "Wall Street-Money never sleeps", "Pursuit of Happyness", "Boiler Room", "Other People's Money", "The Bonfire of Vanities" (Tom Wolfe book), "Barbarians at the Gate" (Another thriller book on the RJR Nabrisco fiasco), "Rogue Trader" (On the life of Nick Leeson), "Trading Places" (again a book), "Rollover", "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" (another thriller book), "The Bank" (where a Financial mathematician writes an algorithm to predict stock market fluctuations), "Capitalism: A Love Story" (a documentary by the venerable Michael Moore), "Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street" (a documentary again), "Nova: A Trillion Dollar Bet" (covering the holy trio of Fisher, Black and Merton and their modern finance theories), "Dealers", "Working Girll", and "The Corporation" (again based on a famous book by the same name. I just tried to give an illustrative list of what are must-haves in every finance professional's library. I will be happy to take additions to the list...

KBC Prize Winnings - How should they be invested?

So Susheel Kumar has won the KBC quiz lottery of Rs.3.50 crs. (Rs.1.50 crs. goes as taxes) and I saw a lot of excitement yesterday as we watched the golden moments amongst my own family members as if someone from our own tribe has won a big amount. I suddenly find lot of web content on how to invest that pot of money. Typical of Wealth Managers to track down a dollar millionaire instantly. Most im...portant thing is to have the mental maturity to handle such sudden riches. I remember a journalist friend of mine Aruna whose sister was a banker at Canara Bank; her sister won the KBC quiz prize money of Rs.18 lacs in the post-liberalisation new years of low inflation. She quit her bank job the next Monday after banking the KBC cheque and has never worked since. She bought a few pieces of real estate and blue-chip stocks and is happily living off dividends and rentals. She realised that replacing her earning capacity with the investments is the first thing she has to do. She handled the small pot of money quite well. The bigger the money you get through windfalls, the bigger is the risk of outliving that money due to unwise counsel. Thats why they say, a Fool and his money are soon parted. The biggest thing, I repeat, is our attitude to money and the mature way we handle them. You need not be a Rockfeller or a Cornelius Vanderbilt to act like one. What you get in a lottery when you are earning less than Rs.10,000 pm is just pure luck but still you gotta treat it as hard-earned money- don't think the money is to last forever. Thats when it stays. Rules of money haven't changed over the last several millennia... Money, like time, can either be spent or invested.

"Mogudu" Movie Review

"Mogudu" is supposed to be a bible on how to be a good husband and all that by director Krishna Vamshi who is so creative that he doesn't take feedback from anybody while making the movie -maybe not even from his wife Ramyakrishna. If only he had listened to her, (and I don't know that)the movie would have turned out better - its the crappiest movie we have seen this year. Only Music is good l,... you have elderly starcast like Rajendraprasad, Naresh and Roja in same screen shots. Then what went wrong? Lazy and over-confident plot with ridiculous twists - marriage that ends in divorce in a week, then the same couple land up in Mauritius and land into each other's arms, re-marry inspite of a third factor, and re-unite the estranged families, there is drama of some sorts happening all the time on different planets as far as the audience is concerned. On top of it, dialogues dull as Dyanora TV, inconsistent and over-emotional characterisation, comedy thats here and gone, and so many censorable phrases that censors decided to mute almost ten minutes. The most interactive part is the audience is able to second-guess all those cliched tongue-lashing lines. There is an expression in the movie which brings Gopichand and Tapsi together as lovers - "When was the last time you did something for the first time in your life?" If only the director and his large-hearted producer followed the only memorable line in the movie, the movie 'd have been different.Whats more obnoxious is the length - 150 mins of civic nonsense. This doesn't look as venerable as what the director has made in 20 or more previous movies. Jarring and boring.

Savings Rates de-regulated

Savings Deposit rates are finally de-regulated. Whatever makes the common man excited to see full-page ads announcing 6% rate of interest- Beware! This is the season of peaking interest rates. There will also now come a time when your savings rate will slip below 4% - to as low as 1% or 1.5%! In one stroke, RBI has made savings rate an effective tool of monetary policy. Had RBI done this when inflation and interest rates are plummeting, nobody would have noticed. Perfect illusions of the mind! I think whats coming next are - small savings deposit rate freeing and diesel price deregulation.

On Rajat Gupta

Some prominent Indians like Deepak Parekh and Shekar Gupta lament the culmination of events leading to the arrest of Rajat Gupta. Its both fun and sad to see icons of Global Indiana get smattered like this. The jury is out on whether Rajat Gupta has a legacy that will outlive his (mis)deeds. We live in interesting times where bits and titbits about us in all spheres of life will make us or mar us. No more black and white - its all grey shades of a personality. It may be unfair to judge a person by what is alleged until proved. Even Steve Jobs, as I am reading his biography has had his share of felonies - but we just extol him as a God-send. Ultimately, your Karma - good and bad will work to redeem what is going to be the way you will be remembered for. If you read the obit column of Economist magazine ( I have all the obits from 1853-2003) they make it out as dispassionate as purgatory - judgement in totality. Thats the way to form an opinion not go by media reports - which make capital out of a transitionary phase of a public figure. People like me are happy to carry our crosses the way we want to live and die.

7th Sense Movie Review

7th Sense was a little short of fireworks at the movie hall but was worth a watch. To be fair, "7th Sense" has an amazing plot that has even got Aamir Khan interested (who doesn't repeat his director ever - AR Murgadoss). The plot has got Martial Arts, unbelievable stunts, a cuter Shruti Hassan and a variation of two characters... for Suriya. As Bodi Dharma - a Hindu King who emigrates to China in the 6th Century, saves folks from disease and injury from enemies, becomes a monk with unlimited powers and then adapts himself to Chinese good- Suriya looks strikingly handsome. Thats the utlimate paisa vasool of the movie. As a junior circus artiste, second role, he looks ordinary until the science fiction of Murgadoss feeds and realises on celluloid this bizarre idea of imbibing the DNA code of BodiDharma for tackling the modern menace in the form of the villain - again from China. The story is one-dimensional and the screenplay doesn't sizzle you with excitement because the director doesn't use flashback technique well - the first 30 mins. which forms the soul of the film runs like a documentary - it could have been more effective. Second half shows some dramatic scenes but the plot is out by then. What makes the film watchable? Undoubtedly, Suriya and his maginificent stunts composed by Peter Hein. And a few (very few) relief moments from Shruti Hassan's improving screen presence. A few songs by Harris Jayaraj also come out good especially the one in Chinese backdrop. But what could have been better? Violence (which was needed for the plot) is too graphic. Nil Comedy (atleast I couldn't spot any but the Elephant joke). The movie could have been a tad more dramatic given the 7th Heaven expectations I had - but thats how movies turn out sometimes. Is it worth Aamir Khan betting his next movie on? Needs more fleshing out by dir Murgadoss. I googled Bodi Dharma after I saw the movie - and didn't find any stuff thats closer to whats projected on screen. The movie could be renamed - The Monk who smashes Ferraris. Unlike Bodi Dharma - who is zen-like and peace-loving. Watch it once but not ga-ga.

Happy Diwali!

Ralph Waldo Emerson, my all-time favorite essayist (ok, besides E.B.White) remarked in one book: "Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses." He could be referring to the week-long celebrations of Diwali-India's festival of big money which will begin literally from today. Ahmedabad wil...l be inactive till Nov.10. Mumbai will work with maximum "leavers". Rest of India will barter sweets, buy goodies and gifts, GoldLate-night card-playing will be on the cards. Priests with three mobile phones will charge their bonus-outstripping tariffs. More than twice GDP output of Greece and Portugal will go up in smoke in India in the form of crackers. Stockmarkets will celebrate Diwali and fair-looking men and fairies on CNBC, etc. will talk alongside their experts that Optimism is the only realism at this time of the year and dizzy levels of Sensex are round the corner.Eighty per cent of sugar, jaggery, kaala jamun, kova consumed in India will be amalgamated in orgy of sweets- liquid and solid. Pigeons and cats, dogs and sparrows will be moving helter-skelter thinking the sounds of fury is the sign of the world coming to an end. Meanwhile some 6000 screens all over the world and India will watch "Ra.One", "7th Sense" (and its Tamil Suriya Original) over the coming week. It aint getting bigger than this. India knows how to celebrate with style and I am throwing my hat in the ring from today. Happy Diwali to all in advance! Safe and Sure-fire!