Makara Sankranti and its Significance in India

Happy Makara Sankranti to all my Telugu friends, Happy Pongal to my Tamil friends. May you all have the best of the harvest in the coming year - of meeting your personal and family goals, and successes and joys. Even though all in my family get our status and livelihood from service economy activities - Sankranti is one festival we treasure coming together. There is something of this agricultura...l festival thats pure joy and bliss to us - something thats closer to our family roots and rich heritage and culture. Love the Rangoli, the kites, the sonorous sounds of Haridasu, the salutation to the only God who goes "live" - Sun God - for a bountiful year of crops, the assortment of dishes for Sankranti, the sweet dishes, the Bommala Koluvu, the Kanuma and the Bhogi festivals, the usage of cowdung with both hands as an anti-pollutant, the reverberations on top of the terraces with mike boxes and latest songs amidst "Kaate" and "other sirens", the new clothes, the exhibition or fairs and site seeing with the biggest gang of cousins and elders and brothers-in-law, the new movies, the works... Except for the last two generations, my family has always been agrarian in its pursuit of economic activities - but Sankranti is an annual reminder of where we come from and where we finally belong to. We may be a remittance economy and a tertiary superpower, but Sankranti is a pure lifestyle-charging festival thats a package of many worlds in three days. No wonder, Andhra Pradesh which comes alphabetically first in every listing - never mind the boos for the time being- sees a bird-migration of sorts where folks everywhere go back to their villages for 3 days. In Hyderabad alone, it is rare to see a "bird migration" of almost a crore. I hope and pray nothing in the world can take away the pleasures of celebrating this unique lifestyle festival with a God that we see everyday - Sun. And to top it all with the movies. The Sun transits every month into a new Zodiac sign but its transit into the Northern hemisphere is always an auspicious beginning and a special moment in a year - a sign of things waiting to get into momentum mode, to get serious, to wake up and smell the coffee. I hope the same momentum is gathered and seen by everybody who believes in this festival and even by those who do not believe in this festival.

"Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows" Movie Review

"Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows". Rarely do you find an English film running in metros in 3rd or 4th week. Mind-blowing film about the ace detective and his famed Dr Watson by Guy Ritchie. Director must be someone who has soaked up on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works and he shows his knack and craft in bringing the story set in 1891 when France and Germany go to Wa...r and one of the fiercest adversaries of Sherlock Holmes - Professor Moriarty - is nailed and polished off. The film has got impeccable performances by the Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Dr Watson), Jared Harris (Prof.Moriarty) and others and probably the best mind-blowing action sequences with a new edge. I am sure these will be the new norm to copy by Indian film-makers. There must be about six or seven of them - and those sequences will make movies like "Matrix" look amateurish. 129 minutes of high-octane action adventures and mind-blowing mind antics by Holmes and his Doctor. Excellent BGM and period costumes and some of othe best one-liners written in proper old-world British style. You get the laughs heartily. Even if you are not a detective film buff, one or two viewings of this film will take you closer to Mensa IQ Club memberships. How I wonder these Warner Brothers continue to get scripts out of the closet into pulsating movies!

"Bodyguard" Telugu Movie Review

“Bodyguard” is the last of the films made under the same title in every language in South India and also in Hindi. Venkatesh plays the role of “Bodyguard” in Telugu – bodyguard to Trisha Krishnan. The movie’s main weakness is lack of depth in the storyline itself – not much romance can spring up between a bodyguard and his subject, so a romance gets built up out of thin air – Trisha (Her name is “Keerthi” for the third time in this Venky-Trisha combo) keeps calling Venky as a mystery caller and makes him pine for her. The story then goes through the twist in the last half-hour which is the most convincing part of the film. Venky seems to have changed the rules of bodyguard a bit - to induct more of his brand of humor and get more sympathy which is commonplace. I have watched both Hindi and Telugu versions now and can say but for some more humor introduced through Venumadhav, the Hindi version was better because of Salman Khan’s diginified performance – he had the body and the stoic stature. Even Kareena’s characterization was more consistent and justified. In the Telugu version, Trisha’s character is weakly etched and lacks justification at the point where she falls in love with her bodyguard. Venkatesh, is no doubt, a fine performer always but this role doesn’t suit him and however much he tried with his tired looks and trite melodrama, he looks more like a homeguard than bodyguard. Somewhere, he has failed to improvise on his performance over the last several years – goes for minimum risk family fare. He should take more risks at this stage of career or invest heavily into better storylines which families will anyway come to watch because he has the niche – in that sense, the movie’s cleanliness and family-friendliness is intact. (Unlike the other movie “Businessman” which caters to the under-30 segment with its adult fare).


There is a scene after interval where Venky and Ali sneek into the ladies ‘ hostel with lady attires. Only difference, unlike Ali (who can dress to kill like a lady), Venky doesn’t take his moustache off but still creates a laugh riot with a “Dookudu” number. The impact would have been magnified if he has taken off his moustache. That’s what I call risk-appetite - which is missing. Nag, Balakrishna, Pawan, Mahesh, NTR, even Chiranjeevi experimented with their face and removed moustache even if for one scene but not Venkatesh. Not that it would make a difference but I feel its high time for Venkatesh to think of something dramatic to re-invent himself. If he is doing “Swami Vivekananda” role, why couldn’t he be clean-shaven for a fleeting pause?



Forget this excursion, but back to the movie, “Bodyguard” is barely watchable because the story lacks depth and variety without a scope for getting more bang for bucks –and appears long because you can feel some sequences were inserted only for Venky flavor. But it will get the votes for better songs (atleast three melody numbers), clean family fare, and some good laughs. There are some needless stunts which drag on with excessive slow-motion and threading work – the make the movie that bit unbearably long. The pace and the plot was such that I went snoozing a couple of times. I may have missed Nagarjuna movies often in the last five years, but family always insist we watch a Venky film – afterall Venky gave so many Sankranti hits in his career except some famous duds like “Devi Puthrudu”. My family said they felt they have seen this movie before – it was that old, not that it is a remake of Hindi film but a rehash of Venky films itself. Venky has more potential and talent and a better personaility than plots like this. Even if the movie makes money - which I am sure it will because of the mutual exclusivity of the audience it caters to than the other Sankranti blockbuster "Businessman" - I hope Venky takes bold steps to re-launch himself and take more risks.

"Businessman" Movie Review

“Businessman” has opened to unprecedented fanfare and release with some 1600 prints and 134 theatres in Hyderabad alone. Being a Mahesh Babu-Puri Jagannath combination, its naturally on the cusp of heightened expectations. To a very large extent, the movie delivers with extra-ordinary entertainment in the first half and almost into the second half just on the basis of terrific screenplay, dialogues and maverick story-telling ability of Puri Jagannath with the magical screen presence of Mahesh Babu shows his natural knack of being an angry young man under tight leash and delivers a stylish performance with uninhibited looks, surprising close chemistry with Kajal (heroine) and dances that show him in better light than in recent times.


Most of the improved trappings of “Dookudu” in terms of better eye-contact, body language and finesse are what makes this movie mostly watchable except some portions of the second half which drag and sometimes bore. Fans will be delighted to hear so many mouthful and height-of-manhood dialogues in one movie – if there’s a soundtrack of dialogues – I probably will buy one – Puri’s pen shows sharpness and wit – this movie will probably have more one-liners than all his previous movies and don’t get misled by the cheesy advertorials of the hero vowing to make Mumbai piss in its pants – there are much more. Kajal is perhaps shown in more skimpy clothing and this is her boldest look after “Dhada” (Nag Chaitanya). Atleast two songs are well-choreographed and well worth – “Saarosthara” and “Chaavve”.

Even though the first half is under-fed on graphic violence, Puri compensates well in second half – the violence of “Pokiri” fame and even a liplock with Kajal. What mars the movie is this violence in the second half and the flimsy grounds on which the hero justifies it saying that since we kill so many mammals and amphibians daily - even this is justifiable - is ridiculous. Mahesh has shown so much restraint and responsibility in filtering out violence in “Dookudu” embraces it with both hands and plenty of guns in this movie – this can put anybody out of mind. The other bane in the movie is lack of a single-card Villain of the piece. Who is it? Not Prakash Raj. Not Nazar. Not Shinde. Not Subbaraju.

Nobody successfully contests Mahesh as a villain for too long – and nobody gets the lines or attention that’s worth their salt. And comedy – none of it in the second half. Most of the comedy, if you notice it, is in the first half and comes as fleeting in bits during the way the romance gets built up between the hero and his muse. Story-wise, there are many shades that resemble most of Puri’s films even though he gives a new extra-constitutional, legalistic license to create arson and loot by the hero who acts like a Robinhood- a law unto himself – in a bid to correct corrupt politicians and ill-bred criminal elements in the system. No Brahmanandam, No Ali (surprise) and No Jeeva – no comedy track at all but still the movie sustains very well until the 9th reel *(out of the 14 reels). With so much analysis for and against the movie, is the movie good to watch? It is mostly watchable– because of the narrative speed and story-telling of Puri Jagannath and Mahesh’s magical presence. Music by Thaman is good in BGM and atleast three songs. Some experiments in the movie are breaking a pattern – like no song till 30 minutes of the movie, no formal comedian, no villain of identifiable length – will have to see whether the fans lap it.

Film Production Costs and Satellite Rights of Movies

"Businessman" is releasing on 13th and "Bodyguard" on 14th. Good for both. But there's a new twist in "Businessman". For the first time, it seems, the satellite rights of "Businessman" are sold on a revolving basis instead of being sold for a longish period of 5 yrs or so. This time, Puri Jaganadh, the maverick director who worked non-stop for 77 days schedule of the movie has done what smart Bollywood producers are doing. He bought the satellite rights of the movie for a whopping Rs.7.7 crs - Rs.5 crores as his remuneration for the movie (Wow!) and Rs.2.7 crs. as "Eduru Katnam" making it an unheard of figure for satellite rights for any Tollywood movie. For the first round of limited period - MAA TV gets the rights. Interesting times for Tollywood producers and directors - satellite rights are fetching good monies.


"Sri Rama Rajyam" has fetched its benevolent producer Saibabu Rs.4.50 crs. and so on. In times of yore, you had none of this - I remember once "Shankarabharanam" producer Edida Nageswar Rao was flying with me - and he told me that most of his classics were sold to SunTV for a song - as long as Rs.5 lacs or so. Times have changed and even Directors are thinking like a "Businessman"!

The onus shifts to Satellite TVs to make money - MAA TV holds the rights of almost all the top ten all-time grossers of Tollywood in the last five years, Gemini and Zee come up with occasional movies which get the eyeballs still, while ETV goes for the ever-green mix of vintage movies with high family entertainment. I was once educated by a Respected Media Advisor on how TV Channels like MAA TV made huge money by betting on movies which nobody guessed would become "multi-baggers" like "Pokiri" and "Simham" - that is what I call scientific betting. But when the stakes get higher like Rs.4 crs to Rs.7 crs. it becomes difficult to make money unless you show the movie atleast 20 times within the period the rights are bought for - say, five years and so on.

There is another game in this whole buying - and most often, it appears to me, the smart producers and directors will create a story to pump-prime the winning bid. They will say, "this movie cost us Rs.40 crs." It will not always be true. OR, it will be hopelessly true sometimes. For example, in "Srirama Rajyam" movie, the opening shot of the movie shows Rama and Sita ushered in at Ayodhya with flowers. That shot - remember? Originally, Bapu Uncle wanted rich quality flowers costing Rs.5000/- for them. Producer SaiBabu wass not available on the shot and the Production Controller said "Sorry Sir, that is not possible because we dont have sanction beyond Rs.500/- for this shot." Bapu Uncle said, "Okay, whatever, let us have it for Rs.500/-". When the director and the producer were reviewing the shots, Producer Saibabu wanted a richer look for the shot and asked Bapu uncle why costlier flowers were not used. Bapu uncle said, "Your man didn't allow us to buy costly flowers so we made do with flowers worth only Rs.500/-only. But we can digitise the effect to reflect higher quality." Saibabu gave a go-ahead. The final bill - from what should have been Rs.5000/- for flowers came as a shock to Saibabu - it was Rs.5.96 lacs!

Whose fault is it? Not Bapu Uncle - he is known for strict budgeting and cost control. It was the mistake of the Production Controller who should have checked with Executive Producer or the Main producer for not cutting corners with a crucial scene like that. Fifteen or more of such special effects, and you will easily incur a few crores more. Thats how film costs go up - but as I said not all costs are genuine - they could be marketing ploys to cough up higher satellite revenues. Thats the main point of this story - not to poke fun at anybody.

Sankranti and Tollywood Movies

Tollywood movies this Sankranti are likely setting the tone for what to expect in 2012. Two reclusive Babus are releasing movies whose titles start with "B" and have the same music director. The same Babus are later starting work on a multi-starrer to be produced by Dil Raju. How the fans of each other behave now will cast a shadow on the way the multi-starrer later is received. The situation is ...so upbeat between the movies - "Businessman" and "Bodyguard" that "Nippu" that Ravi Teja's movie got postponed beyond Sankranti. The only movie with village backdrop is Nandamuri Tarakaratna's "Nandeeswarudu" but I am not sure it will grab the eyeballs between two reclusive Superstars. Sankranti is not for the fainthearted and only established heroes test their appeal at the Box-Office for this season - the rest try their luck during "safe periods" - December, Diwali-Dasera and Summer holidays after EAMCET when chances of assured student audiences abound. Since we come from Village background, my family revels in Sankranti season - we watch all movies in those 3 days - back-to-back almost - and have usually found the Sankranti winner is usually a Surprise packet - the "Pandem Kodi" is actually the one you haven't bet on. But for those who feel happy about it, Mahesh Babu has beaten the record of Allari Naresh in getting a movie out within just 100 days of his previous movie "Dookudu". I hope 2012 brings out more such welcome developments where stars act in more movies, take on experimental films, co-star in multi-starrers, and take Tollywood to greater heights. Last year, we had dubbed movies like "Rangam" usher in the Sun's transit into the Northern Hemisphere. This year, its Telugu all the way - hope the year will be the best for Tollywood.

Most Volatile Asset-Class in 2011?

Which is the most volatile asset-class in India? Not Gold/G-secs/Art. Not Equities even at 25pc.volatility or minus 24pc in 2011. Not Real Estate. Easy- Its Indian Cricket. You can lift world cup, trump team no.11, get trounced by teams below in 1 yr.