Union Budget - An Analysis of Pros and Cons

The highlight of the Budget 2015 is not the presentation itself by a Finance Minister who raised sky-high expectations. They may have been barely met as it always happens with most budgets - all stakeholders are seldom happy. The main thing that moved the needle in the budget has been that the NDA government tried to keep distractions to the minimum, kept the flames of hopes around big-bang reforms alive by building around the framework of fiscal policy while engaging on issues of unprecedented international interest - Agriculture, Subsidies and welfare for the poor, Income inequalities, Infrastructure development, and the Make-in-India theme. In that sense, the budget has certainly delivered - in setting the path of economic development in the direction of the right intent. But in dealing with the expectations from the market and the industry and the way it delivered in print, this year’s budget takes a leaf out of what the previous governments usually did over the last decade - keep it skinned to the bone, keep it light and keep minimum jazz in the budget - let the rest build outside the budget. That has been the credo of many Congress budgets and this year  is no exception. It is only the media, the journalists and the public at large who await the budget more than their own appraisal results and then, when the budget doesn’t deliver, raise holy hell on the outcome. 

The markets are the easiest ones to lick here. Thankfully, the bond markets and forex markets have taken their weekend break but the bazaar didn’t sleep and agonised over the outcome of the budget over the last few weeks - crept up within hours of the budget and then collapsed, then the shorts entered the market as the indices gyrated to the mezzanine interpretations of the semi-literate and the uneducated idiots on the Television who don’t understand the canons of taxation (which is why cigarettes, aereated drinks and drinking water got taxed more) from the canards of inflation and disinflation (Black money curbs are less inflationary than the creation of black money itself), or the contours of fiscal policy (did someone tell you that India has always been pro-cyclical in fiscal policy in the last ten yeas, so if you couldn’t raise excise duties last year it is because growth came to a grinding halt last year and if you had to raise excise duties this year, it is because indirect taxes have dwindled to single digits stupid, so if you don’t raise now, you will never be able to raise again from a lower base of Tax-to-GDP ratio and if you raised it now, you can bet on an economy to rebound which bolsters up taxes) or that fiscal responsibility can be a platitude  even if you adhere to fiscal deficit targets on paper so it is okay to have a lower target than a pious threshold of 3.6 per cent which is what the markets expected BJP government to accept but the MoF accepts 3.9 per cent of the GDP for the next year while keeping it at 4.1 per cent for the rest of this fiscal. In the end, however, Sensex finished higher and hopefully, more pundits will grasp the subtle nuances of the budget in the days to come and move on. Markets have seldom got it right on budget day - anyways, does it ever dawn to you that for the last several decades, ITC as a share is the best short on a budget day because tobacco bears the brunt of the indirect tax hikes and yet despite zombie adverts and gross warnings, smokers don’t give up. ITC after today’s carnage would have been the best buy of the season, but I am digressing here (and I don’t own ITC shares may I also disclaim but ITC after yesterday's fall would have been a perfect long to get back into).

The budget needs to be seen from the context of expectations and the efforts to move forward in many ways towards a better and resurgent India. Yes, it may have made TVs cheaper and non-economy fares costlier, it may have made cars and carbonated drinks costlier and the mobile phones and Yoga therapy sessions cheaper but understand the broad direction and the fact that fiscal policy framework is intact - the rest if it hasn’t come your way must be on its way.

1. Has it got any serious negatives? Not many, yes the taxes have to go up when India has a huge consumption base and Tax-to-GDP ratio is the best indicator of the same. Last year, they envisaged 10.8% Tax-To-GDP ratio which is hardly achieved because of tax buoyancy going down due to stalled growth and high inflation. So they raised indirect taxes, bulk of them on items which are bound to be price-inelastic (i.e., the buyer doesn’t stop buying at higher prices) like cinema, coke and cigarettes. Service tax has been raised from 12 per cent plus to 14 per cent but this subsumes the education cess earlier incurred with an irritation to use calculator. The logic is simple, India is 65 per cent Services economy in terms of contribution to GDP - so a higher service tax is a small price to get back tax buoyancy and in most cases, service tax is passed on to the consumer of service. If a service is competitive, the tax gets loaded to the consumer, if not, it gets bested - thats the difference between a service and a product. Similarly, increasing duties on cars etc. is good news because it will encourage foreign players to consider setting up ‘make in India’ plants to compete with domestic car players. Of course, the car prices have been depressed for a while and a surge in car sales will happen when the crude oil prices are plummeting. The good part of the budget, to summarise on this point, is that there are no serious negatives - General Tax Avoidance Rule  (GAAR) is deferred for another two years; exemptions on Long-Term Capital Gains in equity continue, disparity between tenure of bonds versus Debt Mutual Funds for the purpose of Long-Term Capital Gains remains giving incentives for investors to migrate to taxable and tax-free bonds in the secondary market and no further cesses except on diesel and petrol are considered. In many other areas, there is status quo - which is good news because it shows the commitment to business continuity and stability of policy framework.
2. Does it help the poor, promote growth, revive agriculture and infrastructure and help in generation of jobs? Yes, in many ways despite what the likes of Malayalam and Manish Tiwari talk about. The budget already made its intentions to build world-class low-cost homes in all slums in the urban regions which will involve corporates, now it plans to rationalise the benefits of contractual savings like pensions and insurance with linkages to more organised ways of defined contribution schemes with linkages to Health Insurance (Rs.12 premium per annum to get Rs.2 lacs Accidental Death Benefit Insurance) and National Pension Scheme. National Pension Scheme is counting upwards of Rs.73000 crores and getting low-income workers into the ambit of EPF and NPS is going to create efficiencies of scale and access to the best products in the long run. The tax offset upto Rs.4,44,520 of income is a booster to those who earn incomes of under Rs.40k per month. Yes, the middle-class hasn’t got a good deal in the incentives for savings but still access to higher medical insurance is a good initiative to fortify ourselves against unforeseen medical emergencies. Of course, we are disappointed that a fresh approach to looking at building nest eggs for the middle-classes could have been better. There are measures to ensure players to “make in India” with sops linked to investments and capex and there are measures that help set up start-ups, and encourage corporate investments etc. Of course, the corporate income tax reduction from the next financial year will also help in generating capex and employment opportunities for the poor. But there is a catch - the Bankruptcy laws are going to benefit entrepreneurs adopting an American model of capitalism - of hire and fire and re-surface after folding up. While we don’t know the progress of the various small corpus funds of Rs.50 crores set up in last year’s interim budget, this year the focus is better in infrastructure, disinvestment (which has never been part of the budget and anyways happening with a velocity of its own) and agriculture to foster growth and development. Subsidies are now going to be linked in the Aadhar, Jan Dhan and Mobile connection triangle created - which seeks to curb leakages. 17 crore number of such accounts gives a great base to start implementing cash-less direct transfers. The attempt to reinvigorate MNREGA, build a lakh of kilometres in roads etc. augur well for creation of jobs. Initiatives like Mudra Bank and the measures on Infra and agriculture might create positive impact. On the solar and renewables space, the government may do more outside the budget than just making a token mention - because there is focus on not only mega projects but also in encouraging foreign players like China and Japan and US. For example, when a leading company approached the Power Ministry to levy anti-dumping duty on the Chinese, it is reported that the concerned Minister remarked to the owner, “We want 100 times of your capacity, so we want the Chinese to dump their panels in Solar so that the prices will come down in the long run while building world-class capacities.” Thats the approach of BJP government in creating pro-business, pro-big-scale in projects. Hopefully, the budget will clear the decks for more installed power in all sources of energy. The recent tie-up between Dilip Shangvi and Suzlon Energy is another example how the BJP is collapsing friends to create giant scales to compete in the world and also to make India Infrastructure-heavy like China.
3. Does it curb inequality and Black Money? On intent, it does but a lot depends on how BJP will crater up the political establishment to move towards Black Money curbs. A new bill may buy more time before the obvious actions like incentivisation of cards for transactions. Both require political will which is not very evident of late in BJP. But on inequality, Chidambaram was wrong in his assessment of the budget. Jaitley fired a salvo which may be the first of sorts amongst G20 countries to impose surcharge for ultra-rich and the high-income earners. This is the Thomas Picketty style of copybook measure which won’t pinch the rich too much. One more complex Act  - Wealth Tax Act - goes, which reminds us of the fate of those in the past like the Estate Duty and so on. The fact that Wealth Tax Administration collected Rs.1080 crores last year vis-a-vis Rs.9000 crores expected to be netted from the surcharge shows why Wealth Tax failed.  Isn’t this a step in direction of removing inequalities? The BJP unlike the Congress never shies away from taking measures to simplify laws and junk vestiges of colonialism, inaction or canons of Adam Smith that the Western World is trying to shake off. Take the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Memorandum Bill (FRBM). We heard the outcry for BJP’s minor slip in fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent as against the 3.6 per cent of GDP.  How can you keep the fiscal deficit at constant levels when the business and economic cycles change and move away from growth to stagnation? One of the commonly pointed out lacunae in the FRBM, 2003,  amended in 2012 is that the deficit could not expand in bad times and the government did not have to generate a surplus in good times. If only the government can undertake fiscal expansion during bad times, NDA government will find it easier today to show higher growth measures and hence slip on the deficit higher, now the leeway as per the Act is just 0.3 per cent per year which is already frowned upon by the critics and the opposition. The government still has to borrow unto Rs.375000 crores in the market putting a slightly upward pressure on the interest rates. But the budget set the tone aggressively stating they will re-look at both the FRBM and the Monetary Policy framework of the RBI  - giving a tough message to  Raghuram Rajan to cut rates soon. 
4. Does it have big-bang reforms and attention to detail? To the cynic, they don’t seem evident. But look at examples in the budget which are hidden in clauses not so salient. Like the collapsing of the FDI and Foreign Portfolio Investments, creating an easy trajectory for capital flows to seek quality assets in India. Or, the Gold Monetisation Scheme with its four variants - it can be a game-changer in the long run with an estimated one trillion dollars of gold reserves unofficially held by Indians in their bank lockers and sofa foams. It is time to get the gold out of the closet and recycle it to generate employment and business opportunities. Last year, savings in physical assets like gold and silver were 11 per cent of GDP outweighed 7.3 per cent in financial assets by households. Gold and other valuables slipped from 17 per cent levels but the drift has always been to hoard gold. The scheme will “monetise” our gold for productive uses by giving an option to earn 2 per cent interest on gold deposited in a Metal Account. Suddenly, from TTD to Trivandrum, temples and hoarders of gold may put a beeline to deposit more gold lying under the custody of snakes and officers. Another measure, the move to merge FMC and SEBI as one regulator - giving a filip to the country’s fortunes in becoming a formidable player in capital markets and commodities markets since India produces and exports many of the leading commodities traded on exchanges from Chicago to London. It was on the cards but timing in the budget allows the regulator like SEBI to become stronger. Yet another measure is to deepen bond markets by amending the relevant sections of RBI Act, this year more money has been poured in by the FIIs into the Bond Markets than the stock markets -and the drift makes it clear for investors to move into Corporate Bond market. Another instance of attention to detail: arming the NBFCs (Non-banking finance companies) to seek the refuge of Sarfesi Act in recovering the loan defaulters. This will go a long way in strengthening the financial system because NBFCs comprise 9 per cent of bank deposits and have a sizeable loan book, this measure will bring further efficiency and accountability to the erring defaulters. Measures like these demonstrate the budget looked at issues of pending action. Another big-bang announcement is two-pronged: One, that the the much-awaited Goods Service Tax (GST) is going to be ushered in from 1st April, 2016. And two, as a precursor to that, the budget re-iteraed that the States will now get an unprecedented 42 per cent of the share of taxes - getting the states to the right side of the Central Government is a key to implementing GST. And the budget needs a high five on that.
5. Will FIIs like the Budget? Will they put more money in the market? Hard to say, but the FIIs want in summary, macroeconomic stability, fiscal discipline, growth in the economy (now projected at 8-8.5 per cent) and ease of doing business in India (things like relocation of fund management in India not inviting taxes will be liked by them). Both Debt and Equity and now, even Alternative Investments like private equity and real estate seem to be entering a zone of sweet spot in the months to come. Moody’s has already given us retained rating. If the oil prices firm up at these levels (the FM's calculations of the fiscal deficit peg the oil at $70 levels) and stay there for some time, the Budget and its initial fizz will soon be forgotten by the pundits and populace - and India will be back to business mode if BJP works at de-bottlenecking the rest. As long as the government works towards improving the life of the common man in providing better health care, education, and means of livelihood - it has many ways of doing this by enlisting the help of corporates, unleashing the supply-side economics that expands the size of the economy and in the process push the infrastructure in key focus, then growth will always happen. For that the Budget is but a small step - but not the only step. In that sense, this budget is one of the better budgets to come in recent years - it has a great alignment of intent, clarity and the blueprint to make India achieve its economic potential. There maybe misses here and there, but they are not rectifiable in the medium term. What I also appreciate is that for the first time, the FM has acted on many suggestions given in the Economic Survey a few days before the budget. This rarely happens and must be lauded thanks to Arvind Subramanian.

If all the stakeholders of the economy - households, industry and business, consumers, savers and investors understand the cross-implications of the actions proposed in a budget with a 360 degree view and an understanding of how economics work, the future will be better for all of us - and politicians won’t succeed in rabble-rousing us from seeing the reality and the work-at-hand.

Disclaimer: The views are personal and no way reflect the views of the organisation the author works for.

#UnionBudget #Budget2015 #FMJaitley #Budget #IndianBudget #ArvindSubramanian #Rajan #ArunJaitley 

"Temper" (Telugu Film Review)

NTR Jr. has been on a leather hunt for a long time. Like many top heroes, he has been waiting for blockbuster by flipping movies with hit-directors. With "Temper", NTR Jr. and his fans will finally heave a sigh of relief. No, it is not a blockbuster but it is one of the above-average films for the talented actor which will lift his fortunes. In little over two hours, director Puri Jagannadh scripts a story that revolves solely around NTR Jr. as a police SI with shades of grey. That's not new as "Pataas" also has a similar treatment. The difference between "Pataas" and "Temper" is in the degree of seriousness that Puri builds into the plot in the second half - taking NTR Jr.'s performance to an inspiring level - not seen since the times of "Raakhi" or "Simhadri". 

At a conceptual level, Puri Jagannadh is skilful in weaving screenplays out of wafer-thin, almost non-existent storylines. Most of his films are just an emotional roller-coaster ride giving the audiences entertaining bits of heroism, villainy, romance, comedy and tears. He writes dialogues, screenplay and directs the crew with punctuation points at opening, interval, pre-climax and climax scenes with an approach that seems to cover all elements of box-office success. He gets under the skin of the mass elements but mixes some class elements as well to create maximum impact. In "Temper", the film grammar he is known for hasn't changed but he has definitely mellowed down in lumping some of the cheap thrills and objectifications of women he is known to portray. He succeeds mostly in giving an engaging account of a police cop who is transformed from a "crony criminalist"  into an upright officer who polishes off the villains when the 'right cause' gets triggered thanks to girl friend Kajol Agarwal. 

The film's main objective seems entertainment but on tight leash and hence subservient to highlighting NTR in a career-redefining performance. So, Puri Jagannadh uses flashback technique and uses a reel-by-reel approach to elevating the character of NTR. He uses a side flunkie Posani Krishna Murali as a standout witness to NTR's journey from flippancy to greatness - like an audience's perception of how a hero is reborn. Posani's performance is one of the highlights of the film; he mostly gives a stare but when he speaks it impacts the audience about bonding with our feelings for the hero that change reel after reel. But for that, there are lot of forgettable scenes which are a big bore - like the scenes of romance with Kajol, the doggie scenes and the brothel scenes with Vennela Kishore. If they cut them out, overall weight of the movie might go up in terms of seriousness. Ali, who gets star treatment in Puri's movies gets a forgettable role; just a token presence. Prakash Raj gets a full-length role as a comic villain who wears half-pants and T-shirts all the time; his role gives a deja vu feeling but evokes good laughs here and there. 

What thrills the audience is the refreshing accent, body language and the characterisation of NTR. Instead of using multiple accents as Mahesh Babu did in "Aagadu", NTR  uses a consistent, high-decibel, short-'temper'ered tone that shows the volcanic anger of a policeman torn between morality and selfishness. His delivery of dialogues elevates his performance to a new high that could see repeat audience - because of the subtlety and novelty. By leaving out all the distractions that usually hamper receptivity to the acting prowess of NTR, Puri ensured this time NTR shines well taking the film entirely on his shoulders without the razzmatazz of star comedians and villains. Because of Puri's panache for restricting dialogues to preciseness, NTR never gives you a feeling of over-acting though occasional theatrical flourishes spring up in the run-ins between Prakash Raj and NTR. NTR couldn't have hoped for a better time than this film when the Nandamuri family is on a purple patch with hits like "Pataas". NTR's performance in the climax is altogether new and different than the fare before. Even if he hadn't shown his 6.5 pack (something extra) in a song, the fans wouldn't have minded. His dances were good but not different from previous films.

What pulls down the rating for an other-wise good film is music by Anup Rubens' music. It lacks melody and memorability - Puri's tastes in fine music have always been arbitrary and this film is no different in wasting an in-form music composer with a dud score. Mani Sharma gives an adept BGM score that compensates for Anup Ruben's unimpressive deck of songs. Puri also disappoints in the liberties and logic flaws taken in his approach. Like packing off dogs to Korea and shipping them back to India in 24 hours. Also, except in the last scene, NTR Jr. who is an SI never wears uniform, and uses a police jeep thats a cross between a Frontrunner and a Land Rover. The police station looks the same as that used in "Aagadu" and one never sees cops superior to NTR Jr. Wonder why nobody checks NTR's juggernaut of immoral antics until his own conscience pricks him. Next, under no circumstances does the court announce a capital punishment to gang-rape criminals within 24 hours of convicting the criminals. Puri hasn't really done a contempt of court but proves again his poor knowledge of justice system. In the climactic scene, NTR loses proof of evidence that will nail the culprits but couldn't Puri have the imagination to make NTR ask for an extra copy of the CD which may have been with the victim's sister? And when is TV5 getting aired in North America where the victim's sister is watching the proceedings? Puri also forgets that proceedings like hanging of criminals is not reported on an hourly basis. In dragging the scene in climax similar to Chiranjeevi's "Abhilasha" (where Rallapalli rolls on the floor crying hoarse "Aaapaaandeeeeeeeee..." to stop a hanging) Puri takes too many illogical cinematic liberties. Puri is known to skirt logic to prove his points but nevertheless makes an impactful, powerful film with an underlying message.The frailities take away some points but except for few lags, the film is eminently watchable for NTR Jr's tour de force performance.

Rating: 3.25/5

#Temper #NTRJr #NTR #Tollywood #MovieReviews #PuriJagannadh #TemperMovie 

What AAP Victory Means for BJP

My father had voted in every election since Nehru's last election circa 1960. He says,"Never be more patriotic than the king. Because if you are, what if the king is wrong, or bad, or corrupt, or arrogant, or dies? You will become a laughing stock." That shaped my political convictions. I have never believed in blind worship of political parties, only go with the flow or the momentum of how the performance and pros and cons stack up. 

Friends who side with BJP or Congress should realise that the pendulum of momentum keeps swinging from left to right all the time. You err once, it builds momentum the wrong way and before you realise, the ground beneath will appear shaky. I have always been predicting that because of the advent of social media and multiple ways in which opinions get built up and mobilise people's anger and frustration, successive governments after UPA won't get such luxury of ten years. BJP's own success in May elections last year was a result of a number of factors including the groundswell of middle-classes and unemployed youth against UPA government. 

In eight months, they have yet to deliver on most counts and instead of using the political capital in the honeymoon period, they went about concentrating more and more power. Instead of collaborating democratically with a non-existent opposition which has put up a weak consensus against Modinomics, they have taken the same steps they accused Cong-I of - taking the Ordinance Raj, etc. They have turned a nelson's eye to the prime accused in Sarada scam, Jagan's case, Vadhra's dealings, Sonia's corruption, swiss bank accounts, pending infra projects, reforms in corruption, etc. They promised so many sops in Andhra Pradesh where they now share power with TDP  - all of them forgotten. Which is why, the anger of the voters can be clearly seen. 62 seats out of 70 reflects the voter's mood and give whatever excuses you want - Delhi is urbana, Delhi is not Lok Sabha, Issues were different - it's a mighty slap on the face of BJP and Modi to start taking their Manifesto promises seriously. Look at the decimation of Cong-I. But BJP is not in the same league as Cong-I - they still have the mandate and the mass  momentum going for them at national level. They should take in humility lessons that the electorate has given in Delhi. Or else, the middle-class anger against corruption and crony capitalism as reflected in Delhi will grow to a national level as it showed up as a bud in Lok Sabha elections last time. Clearly, I am not writing off either Cong-I either (it will re-surface in new avatars) but AAP better dirty hands and work for their promises since now they can't complain after such massive mandate. 

BJP will face lot of headwinds and the Budget will be the single metric that will salvage some of their lost ground - as middle-classes and businesses looking at growth returning to Indian economy await hopefully. Modi will have to reboot itself better to gain acceptability as a man of actions not just as a man of eloquence. On the federal front and at the national level, AAP is the new Normal which can align lot of non--BJP forces together for some time before momentum and political capital gets dissipated. That also depends on how AAP conducts itself in the legislature. But I still can't forget what I wrote about them an year back - making token entry in the assembly like those three elected MLAs in the last scene of "Yuva". Will they grow nationwide? We have to wait and see. Congratulations and Celebrations for now! 

As far as the BJP is concerned, no big quake yet. Because Delhi Rajya Sabha elections are done with in 2012 (Delhi has 3 Rajya Sabha seats), the next election due in 2018. By virtue of their present tally, BJP is likely to gain control of Rajya Sabha only by end of 2016 with the allies and on its own by 2018. (2015 will see election for only 10 Rajya Sabha seats, 2016 - 75 seats which include 21 seats of the states where BJP+Allies are ruling the states. Add another 5 nominated seats, which normally go to the ruling party. 2017 - elections in 10 RS seats and 2018 - 68 RS seats will see elections. Hence, BJP+allies is likely to get majority in 2016 and on its own in 2018.  Based on the current tally of BJP in the state assemblies of these states, BJP can win about 38 seats.  Last year (2018-2019) of ruling by the BJP in the present regime would witness passage of all pending reform measures in the Parliament. They should just take some of the big-bang promises and deliver them religiously or else, AAP can hijack a lot of political capital in the coming years. BJP has still hope but only if it listens. Wake up and smell the coffee Modi Saab. Mann ki Baat chodo, Kaam ki Baat karo!

#BJP #LessonsforBJP #AAP #DelhiElections

"Shamitabh" (Hindi Movie Review)

The voice that should have become as world-famous much before the man who still casts a spell on billions of fans was once rejected by All India Radio. Yes, we are talking about Amitabh Bachchan’s voice which is the finest amalgam of texture, timber, diction and a baritone that reads the best Hindi dialogues. So what happens when that voice has an ego that eventually engulfs a superstar? Without delving deeper into a storyline that gives away the plot, “Shamitabh” is a 153 minute roller-coaster ride through the emotions that oscillate between ego and ego-massage between two men who are joined at the hip; both of them can’t do without the other and both know this - Dhanush and Amitabh Sinha (Sr.Bachchan). Akshara Hassan is the anchor in the film building bridges between the two who throw tantrums at each other. Great performances by all the three principal stars including debutante Akshara Hassan. Yet director R.Balki, undoubtedly one of Bollywood’s exciting directors, fails to give a clean output that can sustain interest. What went wrong?

Could it be Ilayaraja’s music? No, the maestro has given three good songs and embellishes the scenes with his own majestic interpretation of how we should read a film. And he has done this for the 1000th time in his career with this film. On the other hand, director messes with the picturisation of songs. The golden rule in South is, you don’t break Ilaiyaraja’s song, you don’t insert dialogues in between Ilaiyaraja song because his music is like a symphony with interludes that ascend and descend seamlessly. If you break his song, the beauty is lost. In almost all the songs, Balki commits this crime which disrupts the sense of sounds we grew up with. Can’t beat it right? Is it PC Sriram, the ace cinematographer who lets it down? Nope, he doesn’t add his interpretations to the camera angles, his work has always been a subset of the director’s eye and this movie is no exception. R.Balki must take it on chin for making a film high on form but low on substance. He gets majestic performance from Amitabh; even Dhanush is spirited and Akshara shows much promise despite unconventional looks but the story-telling sucks. Instead of building layers into the storyline, director resorts to extracting monologous performances from 'Amitabh in the graveyard' or breaks into a song that shows a Western Toilet in flowing glory. (What a criminal waste of "Piddly" song - the best in the album - showing WC in all variants of design!) Or he takes potshots at all that’s wrong in Bollywood - middle-men acting big, producers launching zombies into heroes, NYTs making it out in bed with stars at  night, directors cocooned in their delusions of grandeur and so on. Nothing new.

The fault in our stars…is an undercurrent to the film’s plot as the director gets under the skin of a rags-to-riches Dhanush who becomes a Superstar. Beyond this undercurrent, the film hardly moves and characterisation is lacklustre; Amitabh gets to use his “voice” maximum even when he is off-screen. Dhanush hogs limelight in the first half but only until Amitabh enters. The film has many gaps in narration. Balki takes the flashback route to tell the story of a rags-to-riches superstar but halfway we lose it whether the movie is in present tense or past, although the film moves back and forth. A lot many scenes are repetitive and don’t either move the story or surprise us, which is not the case usually with Balki. He has an Admaker’s eye but in his efforts to balance commercial cinema with artistic license, he forgets to entertain. And leaves more gaps in the narration with a disappointing climax. As it is, the plot is interesting but difficult to fathom how a superstar can grow without a home-grown voice and keep it Bollywood’s best-unknown secret. Leave that, why does he show a superstar with humble beginnings on one side but  uses people on his way to stardom without acknowledging  their contribution - be it Akshara or Amitabh? Why does he carry flings with co-stars when he is in love with Akshara? Why does Amitabh throw tantrums everytime with Dhanush but cooperates with the latter when he is in bed with someone? Why dos Akshara leave her assignment as Assistant Director and go all out to help Dhanush at the outset - is it that easy for an AD to skip work and knock on the doors of the who’s who? In the second half, when Dhanush refuses to work with Amitabh and agrees to make an all-mute film with real star Abhinaya (that girl who acted in SVSC) the director doesn’t appear serious about making a sensitive statement about such actors. More, Dhanush is made to abandon the project itself halfway. A lot many questions unanswered.

What redeems the film? For sure, performance by Amitabh Bachchan.  And his witty one-liners. Balki’s brief to Bachchan is to insert theatrical oddities in a commercial cinema with him as the centrepiece. “No Whiskey, very risky”…”Don’t use your little finger  so much or you will change the definition of No.1 in Bollywood”…”My voice is worth more than your weight” are a few of AB’s best one-liners. Dhanush is good in parts but his characterisation is confusing. I wonder what happened to him when he was hearing the script of this film for the first time. It seems he turned down 33 scripts before choosing “Shamitabh”. It is quite a sub-optimal choice for him because despite his antics, he is over-shadowed by Amitabh and doesn’t use his strengths well. After “Raanjhaa”, this doesn’t really cement his entry in Bollywood. Akshara Hassan has the face of her father and the eyes of her mother, she carries her role with maturity and poise but I am afraid she doesn’t have the glamor of her sister. Since this is her first film, I hope she proves her acting talent with more versatile roles. Ilaiyaraja’s music is good only to the extent Balki uses him. In some crucial scenes, unless the director and cinematographer understand the subtle nuances of the scene and present it well, Ilaiyaraja can interpret in his own way and give it a different dimension. That’s what happened in many scenes, where the emotions get jumbled in Ilaiyaraja’s ensemble. Compared to Balki’s previous films like “Cheeni Kum” and “Paa”, the sync between the maestro’s music and the director’s intent is largely amiss. What pulls down the film is lack of entertainment and comedy and the depth that can counter the non-stop rendition of Amitabh Bachchan’s “voice”. One of the best lines Bachchan says goes something like this: “ I don’t want my film to go to Sundance festival, Cannes festival, Venice festival and so on. I want my films to get released for Diwali, Dasera and Christmas festivals and do big business.” Or to that effect. Alas, “Shamitabh” becomes a joke on the same lines - it may go to Sundance and Cannes, hasn’t got released on any festival here and may hardly do big business. Watchable only if you have loads of patience and undiminished love for Amitabh. If you skip it, however, nothing changes.

Rating: 2.75/5

#Shamitabh #AmitabhBachchan #Dhanush #RBalki #ErosFilms #Bollywood #Ilaiyaraja #IlaiyarajaMusic

Lessons from Single-Screen Theatre Not Learnt by PVR Multiplex

Recently I went to PVR Cinemas at Banjara Hills to see "Pataas". After paying Rs.150/- for executive class for the 11pm show, I felt cheated when the theatre management switched off the AC in a houseful hall packed with a movie-crazy audience. This is what PVR can do. I went with a friend from Mumbai and he was also feeling restless and said this is quite common for PVR to switch off AC especially for South Indian movies. He says they dare not do this for Hindi films, it happens only for South Indian films. South-Indian or North-Indian, I have never understood the rationale for cutting costs by switching off AC  - it is the most annoying way to control your costs. It does two things - it cuts your cinema experience as a viewer by 75 per cent and then, antagonises you against the multiplex. Want proof? Ask all the cinema hall owners maintaining single-screen theatres in Hyderabad and Secunderabad - they are all  abegging- waiting for the quality-conscious viewer who moved on to multiplexes. What happened to the halls which shut down? Many of them didn't have money to upgrade the single-screen theatres to multiplex because their occupancy fell, lease rentals got frozen in time and patronage from regular viewers dwindled. I remember Sangeet, Venkataramana, Sangam, Saptagiri, Deepak, Basant, Kumar - most of them used to cut corners with AC. 

The last time I went to Sangeet theatre was for "Lagaan". In the film, Bhuvan was learning cricket from the English Memsahib and a cute romance was building up in the air. But my mind  turned to the AC switched off. Years later, the owners of Sangeet approached me for a Rs.18 crore loan to build a multiplex in the same premises. They waited for nearly ten years before getting the funds to rebuild a world-class multiplex now. Your best source of funds and private equity is your customer - not the banker or the government. If you are the owner of the theatre, would you like your family members to sweat it out when they are watching a film in your own theatre? That experience at Sangeet hardened me; I vowed never to step inside Sangeet again. Likewise, I like to think, many would have given Sangeet a miss - reasons for an early shut down of an iconic theatre.  There are still arrogant single-screen owners who treat their customers( (viewers) shabbily. They will pay a price one day. The latest example is Venkataramana and Padmavathi theatres in Kachiguda. About a decade back, I went with my family to watch "The Legend of Bhagat Singh". It had a feverish screenplay, rousing performances and mesmerising music by AR Rahman. The climax song was playing on with extra sound "Mujhe Rangggg Deeeee Eeeeee Eeee Eeeee Eeeeee" and we were about to cry. But we didn't know where the tears were coming from - my family looked at each other as we wanted to empathise with the hanging of Bhagat Singh amidst Rahman's patriotic jingle. We were sweating actually. Those were false tears but for a good cause! I vowed to teach Venkataramana theatre management a hard lesson in customer experience - they cut the AC again after interval. I collected the ticket foils and dashed off a letter to "Times of India", after it got published. I attached a photocopy of the letter and dashed off a letter to The Commissioner of Police that most theatres especially in RTC X Roads and Kachiguda were not keeping the AC on. I was told, for the nth time that AC means air-cooled not air-conditioned. I told the representative in police HQ that I was paying for continuous supply of cool air. The Commissariat promised action. I went back with hope. Lo! and behold, the ensuing weekend saw simultaneous raids in all the theatres I complained against  - for errant AC supply.  I felt elated and satisfied that police listens and punishes the culprits. It gave me confidence to take on issues before an RTI Act came into being. But Venkataramana theatre management went back to old ways - with adhoc car parking and wishy-washy AC. After many years, they are facing the heat of competition that will eventually wipe them out - INOX Kachiguda is grabbing segments in Sec A and Sec B audiences in the most thickly-populated and film-crazy belt in the twin cities. Occupancy is down and dwindling. 

Do I need to drum up more examples of why being stingy with facets of customer experience  never helped? On the other hand, look at the success examples which never took its audience for granted. They grew and retained loyalty, and with help from sound Financial Management  either reinvented their models or turned profitable. Examples, Tivoli, Shanti, Sudarshan 70mm. It doesn't take long for a crappy-valued promoter like PVR Cinema to go the way of those who shut shop because of giving sub-optimal experience to their patrons. Love your patrons or be prepared to shit bricks one day, PVR.

#Single-screen #Multiplexes #Entertainment #PVRMultiplex #AirConditioninginCinema #MovieReviews #TheatresinHyderabad #TheatresinTwinCities 

"The Theory of Everything" (English) Movie Review

A biopic on the life and times of Stephen Hawking is a baffling attempt by any stretch. The man wearing an out-of-shape pair of spectacles with a withdrawn gaze dripping saliva even if in a state-of-the-art wheel chair and communicating something just by blinking his eyes is a familiar visual to people around the world. What can his life offer? How interesting has it been? What are the most thrilling moments, his saddest and happiest days and what were the high-points of his remarkable life? What made him pulsate to live life as if nothing changed after the doctors gave him just two years to live? What is egging him on for so many years that even at age 72, after presenting scientific papers and authoring a book that sold over a 10 million copies "A Brief History of Time", he still wants to push himself to write that one theory that strings everything together on how the universe came to being? Universal studios brings another authentic replay of a life that is still inspiring millions to throb to liveliness instead of resigning to fate and wimping out like a vegetable.

"The Theory of Everything" takes us through a recount of Stephen Hawking's life as written by his wife Jane Hawling in her autobiography of her ex-husband - now separated after three children. Directed by James Marsh with an exceptional screenplay that uses the narrative befitting a film with scientific theories and expositions, the leading pair is played with vividness and intensity that stuns you. Eddie Redmayne plays Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones plays the first love and better half of Stephen. Unlike most films of this genre which bamboozle you with intellectual largesse and concepts that leave you dazed, the film sprinkles the essence of the science and cosmology that grew in Hawking's mind since he set foot in Cambridge with an arresting humility and then builds the romance between Stephen and Jane majestically - making it as evocative and beautiful as films like "A Beautiful Mind" or "Mr Holland's Opus". There are distractions, but by admission, honest admissions as the romance goes into unchartered territories for both the Hawkings towards the second half but the controls vest with the screenplay writer and the director throughout in the 123 minute visual. You don't get bored even once.

Irrespective of whether you regard Hawking as a scientist or not, his resilience and approach to cosmology have provoked people into investigating the unknowns of the universe, be it black holes, string theory or the debate between Quantum theory and the theory of Relativity and of course, space-time singularity. God has been extremely kind to this man who was given not more than two years to live when attacked by pneumonia - and his wife had two choices - either let Stephen lapse into coma forever or let the doctor drill a hole in the neck bypassing the throat that will silence him forever. She chose life over coma. From that point, Stephen experiences unsurpassed love and affection from his wife, his parents, his esteemed colleagues who enthused him to greatness. He coudn't utter a word but gives his denouements on the universe through a voice synthesizer specially designed for him. Eventually, his famous companion leaves him but he feels her around just as his theory on black holes. In 1974, a big blackhole called Sagittarius A-Star was discovered and the same year, Stephen combined everything we knew about black holes with what we knew about quantum theory - and proposed the surprising truth that black holes that suck light and energy have to evaporate away to nothing because they shrink and shrink. In a way, the film's climactic scene brilliantly captures the essence of quantum theory and the proposition made by Hawking. Someone asks if he believes in God. Hawking looks at the girl in the front row who drops her pen on the floor. You see the pen but what if the floor is not there any more - a plausible event in a quantum world - and the visuals cross his mind as if he walks out of his deathly chair to lift the pen from the floor. Actually, he does nothing of that sort,  he remains seated on the chair. And then he answers with effect of words that mean as if the universe is created without boundaries unlike what we knew before as bounded world - and this can only be the work of some creator we can't seem to know.

On the whole, "The Theory of Everything" leaves you with a trance-like experience and tickles your imagination with lines that ask the right questions in physics with relevance in space and time - the two dimensions where searchlights are still on and cosmologists like Stephen Hawking are grappling with linkages to the Big Bang theory. Despite such heavy content, the film's creatives ensured the simplest language and analogies like potato and peas to explain the divergence between Quantum theory and Relativity. The film's heart of the matter, however is the many-layered romance and the friendships that endured Hawking to live a meaningful life. According to a recent cover story in Outlook magazine, Hollywood has made outstanding films based on  93 out of the 100  best-selling books of all time. This film is another feather in that direction. What else can we do but applaud and salute a film that receives eight Oscar nominations. Watch out also for John Jahnson's music score - evokes emotions out of everywhere. Hawking would raise a toast to the director and Eddie Redmayne for playing it so truer with a boisterous blink of an eye.

R K Laxman: His work regaled the Layman

R.K.Laxman

I wanted to wait till what Times of India had to write about the passing of R.K.Laxman - the man who gave the paper unprecedented mileage. Dileep Padgaonkar was mighty right in saying such a poetic justice for a man who highlighted the plight of common man's most burning issues to die on a Republic Day - when the nation takes stock of the promises and potential in its constitution. Not just that Dileep added that R.K.Laxman's life in cartoons is a shining example of how freedom and responsibility should go hand in hand - a relevant debate after the massacre of Charlie Hebdo. After R.K.Laxman's death, I am sure, a murder of cows, armies of common men and packs of dogs are not the only ones who would mourn his passing. Of course, he made them all famous - crows, dogs and the ubiquitous common man - a statue of whom can be found in Pune - the city where he breathed his last. Infact, a serial was made on the ironies of common man back in the 90s - "Wagle Ki Duniya" which took his empathies with the bald-headed man with the caterpillar eyebrows, check shirts and toothbrush moustache to the masses who may not have yet read the papers.

To be fair, one always had the Dickensian question: Did we live in interesting times or was it Laxman who made our time interesting? Both, because India went through a sluggish period of low-growth, high-inflation and sloppy politicana. India also saw the dismantling of the single-party democracy in 1967- the year in which the Congress lost elections in eight states. That only meant more variety of politicians, and later India's most famous businesspersons, cine-stars, dons, sportspersons and celebrities. Laxman burst at the scene at the same time as his colleague at Free Press Journal Bal Thackaray but had a meteoric rise like none before. There were so many who drew before and after - but none achieved the peaks of Laxman's success. Possibly, Times of India's editors never interfered with Laxman whether he lampooned Nehru, Indira Gandhi or NTR or even Bal Thackaray and gave him more than a roomful of freedom with a canvas of many expressions. But credit Laxman only for his self-practised cartooning skills whose calibre only got better with each passing day as he churned "You Said It" cartoons on a daily basis and then those special occasion bigger cartoons.

To the layman, Laxman's talent looks prodigal and that is how it should read for this younger brother of R.K.Narayan - one of India's most-loved English writes of the 20th Century. Laxman grew up drawing inspiration from Sir David Low's cartoons in PUNCH magazine and then started illustrating his brother's cult literary works. He wrote for Blitz, The Hindu and others before joining Free Press Journal. But like all self-employed outliers, Laxman tried to get admission to the J.J.School of Arts to hone his natural abilities in carricature. He wrote to the Dean with a sample of his cartoons. The Dean rejected his admission with a letter: "I see no talent whatsoever. Please continue your studies." This kind of thing happened too often for people we now regard as legends. It didn't deter Laxman who went on to become Independent India's most famous cartoonist. He drew thousands of cartoons, designed logos for many of which we famously recognise like the boy in Asian Paints and wrote books to prove a point that he can write as fluently as his elder brother. "The Distroted Mirror" collected his short stories, essays and travelogues. "The Hotel Riviera" and "The Messenger" were his novels. His last book was "The Servants of India" in 2000 which was a compilation of his short stories. But the book that received accolades was his autobiography "The Tunnel of Time" released in 1998. You wouldn't find too many books in world literature which covered a life of letters in such crisp prose. Last year, Bob Mankoff, the Editor-at-large of New Yorker cartoons wrote his autobiography "How About Never" which tried to dissect a life in cartooning in much graphic detail. But "The Tunnel of Time" is a candid memoir giving such explicit detail of how a younger brother grew out of a literary giant's shadow to make his own mark in life. It also covers rare glimpses of the people Laxman and his first wife met with - including the great painter Picasso and the Nobel-prize winner Bertrand Russell. "The Tunnel of Time" was the first book I presented to Mr Bapu, Telugu's most-famous cartoonist. He raved about the book for days and thanked me for introducing a book that resonated so well with his own life - he too faced many rejections in his own life before Bapu became India-famous.

Laxman survived the emergency and the liberalization days, he covered every conceivable figure of history as reported in press. His cartoons had simplicity, humor and a light-hearted message that was both philosophical and deeply ironical. If India is a better republic today than it was at the time of birth, it is to the credit of cartoonists like Laxman who tirelessly highlighted the issues without didacticity and ado. No wonder, he got awards from Padma Vibhushan to Ramson-Magsaysay. But all awards got their veneer from association with the name of R.K.Laxman. There may be more interesting facets to R.K.Laxman's life just as R.K.Narayan because the former married twice unlike his elder brother. He couldn't draw for more than a decade after he hung up his boots. A lot must have gone through his life in those years of silence and recluse. Will we ever know? Must we know? Can't say. I can only take a leaf out of Bapu uncle's advice on how to view the lives of creative legends - "Don't try to get up close and know them more than what you know of their life's work. It might repel you." For Indians, R.K.Laxman was solid gold standard to us. We will continue to see his works on the walls, in museums, on special souvenirs relased by banks and doctors. His cartoons and the world he made will continue to inspire and humor us to make our lives more interesting - even if R.K.Laxman had the best day job in the world. R.I.P.