Shakuntala Devi R.I.P

One of the many, many books written by the legendary Shakuntala Devi. I have a good collection of her books - including those gifted by my dad as part of my growing up years. We were made to attend one of her public programs of Memory Unlimited and numbers to the right of "Pi". For us and those in the 80s, Shakuntala Devi was a brainiac phenomenon that deserved to be widely feted in modern times. She was the original App in Mathematics before the world knew how Apps worked. I hope her legacy lives on and every child in India imbibes her fondness for Mathematics. I hope we make a film based on her life almost like that on Srinivas Ramanujam. According to Mint Columnist Dilip D'Souza, Shakuntala Devi's personal life was also interesting - she had a homosexual husband, her marriage ended in 1979 and she wrote a book on that too: "The World of Homosexuals". Her last book which is pictured here is : "In the wonderland of numbers". R.I.P.

"Badshah" film review (Telugu)

Badshah" heralds the second big season of Tollywood with a swooshing sound of big-scale entertainment in the school of direction of Sreenu Vaitla and his style of family values - atleast four villains and seven side-kicks, a bigger family of character actors, a hero who is never bigamous, a heroine who falls for the hero easily only to be beguiled, an epic, almost explosive spraying of comedy scenes usually inter-linked with the story by the one and only Brahmanandam. This pattern of film-making has been remarkably patented by Sreenu Vaitla especially from the film "Ready" till "Dookudu". Each time, the under-currents were the same only the backdrop changed.  

In "Badshah", he tries to salvage NTR Jr.'s chequered career so far to give him a new cut-out which may go down well with his fans. He lets him keep the reel name his grandfather gave him - N.T.Rama Rao and weaves plenty of screenplay twists to make a career-high for him although it appears tedious at times. 

160 minutes should be an editor's delight but hardly a viewer's delight. Since the editors must have gone napping and Sreenu Vaitla makes films in the conventional three-act format, he cannot get to the main point without moving linearly from the previous watermarks in the frames he releases for us to make a sense of all the drama and melodrama. He needs something different everytime to make audiences drool over his largely endearing universal brand of entertainment, so this time he gives NTR switch into two variations: One, as a police officer who infiltrates a mafia from Italy to Macau and later, as a wedding planner in India who spoils the party for his lover about to marry someone else. Lot of characters get thrown in to pad up the whole storyline till the end - collapsing all the elements and the emotional highs and lows Sreenu Vaitla wants us to experience including some meaningless and boring stunts - the worst in NTR's films. 

Is the film watchable? For a large part yes and thats because of the devastating comedy scenes between MS Narayana and NTR and Kajol in the first half and later, between Brahmanandam and Nazar and MS Narayana in the second half. If you thought "Dookudu" was the ultimate in Brahmanandam comedy, seriously, watch "Badshah". Brahmanandam steals the thunder yet again in one of his most boisterous performances till date. MS Narayana, Vennela Kishore and Nazar too add to the outstanding comedy track in the film which are the sole highlight of the film. Kajol Agarwal is fading out fast and probably getting burnt out with her ho-hum expressions. NTR Jr. gets his best shot at dialogue delivery in just one or two scenes and excels in dance sequences. His Telangana accent is better than the slick expressions as a Mafia Don. Like many heroes hungry for box-office success in the past, NTR Jr. pulls out all the stops to make himself count amongst the contenders for the top slot. He ropes in the best comedy duo Brahmi and MSN to sizzle with their rapturous chemistry, a vintage medley of old NTR clubsongs (, and some splendid locations to give audience the variety even though the story itself is not that novel and an in-form SS Thaman to score trendy music (though forgettable). He even ropes in two stars and a superstar to bring him  luck - Actors Siddharth and Navdeep in brief roles and Mahesh Babu to give the commentary. Sreenu Vaitla does a clean job in his KV Reddy style of film-making  - a rollercoaster ride of emotions but lags at a lot of places. Writers Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat give some memorable lines. Sreenu Vaitla should know that every director who relies on excessive screenplay and comedy without variety hits a glass ceiling one day. It happened with great directors of comedy genre like Jandhyala, EVV, Krishna Reddy, Siva Nageshwar Rao and Mouli. "Badshah" may be a paisa vasool film for now but if Sreenu Vaitla doesn't re-invent himself, he is a few films away from becoming ad nauseum. NTR Jr. should relax if this film becomes a hit for all the sweat equity - it is not his sweat but so what it nudges him to better days still. I rate it 3.5 on 5 for the hilarity of Brahmanandam.

Railway Budget 2013

Congress got to present its first Railway Budget in a while. It looks neat given the constraints. I am not too keyed up about the cosmetic announcements like new trains and wi-fi facilities in select trains (as long as I dont travel in them). But I notice a distinct change in reformist measures:


One, Operating Ratio is lowered from 96% to 88% which means this will ease off the fiscal deficit for FY 2014. Its a sign of increasing efficiency and rationalising unnecessary expenditure.

Two, for the first time, freight traffic is linked to fuel price hikes. This means you can't rule out future price hikes as and when fuel prices go up. Its a courageous decisionn that will again bear out favorably on deficit concerns.

Lastly, some steps are taken to increase financial management best practices in the 1.4 million odd workforce organisation, ensure those who retire midlife get recouped materially and improve the safety record of Railways overal. These are all welcome changes and must be appreciated despite our continuing cynicism aggainst a corrupt regime.

The British have laid 95 per cent of the Railway lines we use in the country - and for many years, Railway Budgets (including Congress) became titular exercises filling the pink paper stories. After a long time, I find some steam in the engines. Look beneath and there are strategic gems as well here and there: Arunachal Pradesh is being reined into Railroad network in order to thwart the ambitious Chinese staking claim on its sovereignity. Also, we should not infer too much from this thing called Railway Budget. The total expenditure is to the tune of Rs.140,000 crores, while our GDP is around Rs.80 lac crores - so Railway Budget is just 1.6/80 = 2 per cent or less than 10 per cent of our GDP.As I keep saying, the Congress may be a bunch of rogues but every tough economic decision are taken by them first before others can take credit. Over now to the Economic Survey 2013 - for the first time, penned by Raghuram Rajan, the masterly author of "Faultlines" arguably, the best book on the Crisis. See you tomorrow.

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!

"Mirchi" Telugu Film Review

“Mirchi” is a home production of Prabhas – produced by his brother Pramod. Directed by K.Siva, a writer who debuts with this film. “Mirchi” starts off like a conventional masala film with predictable fare and storyline but later unfolds a full-blooded family drama with a happy ending. It seems Prabhas has selected the right script after the disastrous “Rebel” which took megalomania to new heights.




The story begins in Milan, Italy where Prabhas rescues Richa Gangopadhyay from a gang of “roadies”. Prabhas falls in love with Richa but she is unsure how it turns out as her family back home in Palnadu is a bevy of factionists who live off blood smirks and bloody revenges – starting with her brother Subba Raju. Prabhas befriends Subba Raju who lives in Hyderabad living as a tenant of Brahmanandam. He changes Subba Raju and then moves to Palnadu to change the rest of the gang. Pretty average story. What liberates the movie is “dude” Prabhas with his altered body language and swashbuckling dressing to get new following. Dialogues by Director Koratla Siva are better than many mass films till date. The film has some good entertainment in the first half with Brahmanandam who is settling in as a comedy star tagging alongside hero - he knows what her is upto but not the gang, that’s his characterization lately. Prabhas is opting for family hero image with good mass following – he has the looks, the macho body and the original six pack and the cool looks. Anushka shines better than Richa Gangopadhyay even if she makes a surprising entry in second half – in flashback. It’s the second half that drags with lazy editing - 158 minutes is too much for a film of this sort.



Right from the times of NTR to Krishna to Chiranjeevi, the mass-hero space is up for grabs for anyone who can muck up the maximum adulation from masses and sometimes classes. Prabhas, like a few other superstars, has got the original mass appeal and a faithful fan base thanks to his uncle Krishnam Raju. Now, he just needs to innovate for more innovative scripts like Mahesh Babu and keep up the tempo. If NTR Jr. also joins the gang, they became the worthy trio with dynastic charishma and good face value (without plastic surgery and thirty one stitches that simian superstars get themselves into). They don’t need props like heroines and comedy gang to make 50-day runners. All they need is to invest in solid stories and make clean entertainers. The rest can be turned into gold from their stardust. Music by DSP is average. 3 out of 5 – not a super film but watchable for clean entertainment.

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.