"Oh Baby!" (Telugu Film Review)

 Apart from consuming Korean smartphones for years, we Telugus have been served Korean film content indirectly in many of our films - mostly unacknowledged. But "Oh Baby" is the first official remake of a Korean film "Mrs Granny" now brought to you in India by a crew of producers including D.Suresh Babu who is now famous for entering a good script film late like a Series A Venture Capitalist. Nandini Reddy, one of the most endearing directors who is known for DVD Classic catalogue films variety crafts a delightful family entertainer. The film runs for 160 minutes but you rarely feel the duration as it takes you on an improbable though intensely emotional roller-coaster ride of an old woman who can reverse-age.

The highlight of the film is the characterization of four actors - Samantha (in the lead role), Lakshmi (as the Granny), Rajendra Prasad as Granny's best friend and Rao Ramesh as Granny's son. The rest of the crew hang around with their lines but the soul of the film revolves around these awesome four who treat us with their range of nuances deftly directed by Nandini Reddy. I have never figured out how Nandini Reddy gets such a fine balance between poignancy (in showing weighty family sentiments), subtlety (in caricaturing moms and dads like we find in our midst) and light-heartedness (in painting heavy emotions with a humorous touch). But she indeed pulls off a coup this time with iconic and experienced actors. For example, the delicate and platonic friendship between Rajendra Prasad and granny (find out who she is really in the movie!) is a rarity in Telugu films who are used to typecasting a man and a woman as either lovers or as friends. Similarly, Rao Ramesh's presence in the film and the magical outburst on at least two occasions in the film make you squirm and cry at the same time. Then I realize the word magic is created by Lakshmi Bhupal who has been minting for Nandini Reddy in all her films so far. Samantha definitely steals the show all the way right from her first appearance on screen and this film will get her more accolades than "A.AA". It must go to the credit of Nandini again for reining in Lakshmi's over-acting urges to give sublime performance. Otherwise, any crossing the line would have made this film no different than "Jeans" performance for madam Lakshmi. Naga Shourya is effective as Samantha's brief lover and carries potential to hold his own screen presence against a Diva's. One point to note: this is perhaps another rare occasion where mother (Lakshmi) and daughter (Aishwarya) act together!

Technically, the film's songs by Mickey J Meyer were average and could have been better except for the title song. One expected special output from Mickey after the enchanting score in "Mahanati". What he slipped in songs, he covered up in BGM. Editing by Junaid Siddiqui is quite sharp and different without seeming like a commercial format - only in the second half, some chopping would have energized the overall output. Personally, I felt the film's intrinsic value and the messaging deserve to get picked up by Annapurna Films more than Suresh Films - because the overall stardom of Samantha and the cameo by her darling would have been picture-perfect for ANR family production. Overall, "Oh Baby" is uproarious, intense yet light-hearted, clean and classy, and soul-satisfying film for all generations of family audience. Missing the film will mean missing a part of your childhood and memories with loved ones. I hope the film by Nandini Reddy will soon be celebrated in all South Indian and other languages. Go watch it!

Rating: 4/5
 

"Super 30" (Hindi Film Review)

 Films about academicians and pedagogy rarely make an interesting script, least of all from Bollywood's point of view which seeks drama in every real story. But Hrithik Roshan's "Super30" achieves that rare distinction. In 154 minutes, director Vikas Bahl re-constructs the surreal life story of a living legend Anand Kumar who's academy in Bihar has been handpicking thirty students every year for making it to the IITs for the last decade or so. From that point itself, the film deserves appreciation - because a subject of how a poverty-stricken passionate Mathematician finds his mojo in life after failing to muster all the money to go to Cambridge University, and later strikes gold by getting paid a bomb at corporate coaching centers where the rich pay princely sums to get their inert kids through the IIT entrance and finally, leaves all that addictive remuneration to start an academy which proves a leveler, on behalf of the poor students from humble backgrounds. The story of the film is an exaggerated cinematic depiction of that struggle of Anand Kumar (who is today celebrated all over Bihar and India as a poor man's passport-giver to the rigorous IITs) but Vikas Behal creates an exciting screen output of a story that needed to be told, aided by the Roshans (minus their in-house music director), a sharp technical crew of writer (Sanjiv Dutta) and editor (Sreekar Prasad) and an acting ensemble who know their lines well (including Pankaj Tripathi and Aditya Srivastava).

What makes the film authentic is the attention to detail in every frame, even if parts of that are dramatized for emphasis. And in doing so, the director never misses an occasion to milk emotions - whether it is the fleeting romantic moments with Mrunal Thakur (she shines even in the briefest lover role ever in a Hrithik film), or with father (Virendra Saxena) or the brief but frustrating encounters with the librarian, or the home which takes papads from him and immediately thrusts his Cambridge letter into a fire pyre (but how did Hrithik have the heart to wrap his papads into it?). The director's precise thinking can be seen from just one scene in the library: Hritihik smuggles himself into a corner of a library trying to steal visuals of one Mathematical Gazette that could be his passport to glory. Any other film-maker could show another corner of a library, but Hrithik is shown in the corner of books about Post-War British History and Economics ( a corner which we can safely assume will be undetected by the librarian who later yanks him out). Throughout the film, visuals like these show a director in command of his craft and wants to pack as much excitement into telling an inspiring story. The build up to the interval is interesting as are the different episodes in the second half which show his innovative pedagogy (methods of teaching concepts in maths, physics and chemistry), the Holi sequence (which is the only lovable item song in the film) and the electrifying climax (where the students distract and destroy an enemy camp out to eliminate them).

Music by Ajay-Atul is one of the most haunting scores in recent times which meet the criteria of a real-life reel drama - measured, melodious, heart-stringing and comprehensive. All the five songs show the class, range and mettle of the composer duo as they have the ability to trigger the right emotions, capture the ethos and yet make the music sound so distinct and clear. Reminded me of the times when Amit Trivedi burst on the scene many years before. If the songs are good, the BGM score is a different class apart - using sanskritised voice-overs of prayer song to invoke the blessings of Goddess Saraswati, the composers build a crescendo in the second half throughout that is at once piercing, soothing and brilliant in orchestral magic. That song that culminates in the climax and throughout the second half is unfortunately, not in the OST but will surely linger on long after you leave the theatre. Performances-wise, Hrithik Roshan is apt and comes out alive after a long time since there is no iron-pumping or Greek beauty to show - he practiced his Bihari accent well and delivers a neat performance that should get some brownie points (pun intended). What subtracts from the film is that the kids (whom you wanted to know more about after the Basanti Song) should have been highlighted more in flesh and bone. But I fully subscribe to the view that the film is dramatized to full measure because of which it has become so engaging to watch - any other treatment would have rendered it less exciting. If only the director spent a little more time to dig into the pedagogy happening in these money-spinning corporate centers, and the suicides happening into IITs, this would have been a seminal film. But overall, a soul-satisfying film and one for the Roshans to be remembered for. Never a dull moment, even for the kids. Go all out for it!
Rating: 3.5/5
#Super30 #Bollywood #HrithikRoshan #VikasBahl #AjayAtul #MrunalThakur #PanjajTripathi

Dear FM, Please remove customs duty on Imported Books

As a compulsive book-buyer and an avid book-collector, I strongly protest the imposition of customs duty on imported books. Earlier, it used to be Nil duty on imported books but now we have to pay five per cent. This is quite absurd and ruinous for those who love books and share knowledge. One of the greatest good that India's first Prime Minister Nehru did for our country (himself being a book-lover) was that he said NO to imposition of even Sales Tax on books. Because he felt knowledge should move seamlessly and cross borders and nobody should think twice about buying books. Books never attracted sales tax or any other indirect tax. If the NDA government thinks that books should also follow the MAKE IN INDIA doctrine, it is making a grave mistake with regard to knowledge acquisition in particular, and book-buying in general. As it is, most books now imprinted by global publishers like Random House, Hatchette and Bloomsbury follow the simple INR pricing model where global titles are assumed at a static foreign exchange conversion rate. This is because these publishers play on large volumes which ensure the absorption of royalty to foreign authors, a higher currency rate etc. Imposing customs duty and getting GST through the backdoor on imported books will eventually hit Indian publishing industry growing at 30 per cent annually and is the second-largest in English-speaking world. Publishers like Pearson, Cambridge, Oxford etc have so many reciprocal arrangements with concessional pricing in South East Asia with India as a major hub - now a lot of that trade will shift out of India. That makes educational books a tad costlier for Indian students as well. Only an uninformed and short-sighted policy maker will take such an extreme step of bringing books under customs duty and nipping a booming book trade in the bud  - at a time when paper costs are high and digital trends are disrupting many publishers out of business. Getting customs duty on books is also a gross violation of a constitutional commitment that Jawahar Lal Nehru made  - never to tax books. You can tax imported items like Gold, liquor, cigars and cigarettes, even petrol and diesel, but please do not tax books and get GST through the backdoor. Start thinking like a knowledge-worker and do what it takes to create a knowledge-economy. Otherwise we will only be reading the glorious books of the past and history books. By the time you read this post, there will be a knowledge-intensive imported book that is waiting to be opened in the container ship in India or so many new imported books just released for purchase on Amazon.

 #CustomsDutyonImportedBooks #ImportDutyOnBooks #GSTonBooks #NehruVsModi #KnowledgeSociety #KnowledgeEconomy #IndianPublishing

All About Indexing Books

What can enhance the value and utility of a book, especially a Nonfiction book? A good cover, an enticing title, a blistering blurb, a lovely outer cover, or a Bata-price tag of X99 rupees? None of these, methinks. Index, be it subject index or name index, is in my mind the most important enhancer of value. A good index can make you curiouser about the book you are about to buy – and even after you have bought, it makes it worthwhile to ration your time to it in a world of unending attention-grabbers. I have been reading books since third standard, buying books on my own since sixth standard and building up massive collections with moonlighting income from writing and copywriting from my Intermediate. Having seen books galore for a lifetime, I find it puzzling to see why so many book publishers especially in India miss the golden rule of indexing. I can understand why indexing is not worthwhile in Fiction books –who wants to read names you are about to get introduced in racy narrative? But for nonfiction books, Indexing is well in order. And even in case of a memoir or an autobiography, one can introduce a subject index if no name index is desirable in the eyes of the author.

For busy folks and executives who thumb through many titles of professional interest, from architecture to markets, from bitcoins to espionage – an index can be a life-saver besides being a time-saver. Yet, I find that Index is amiss in the multitude of books that are coming out of India, by Indians and by Indian/Global publishers. It tells me that there is some uneasy reluctance or sheer laziness by both the authors and publishers about indexing the books. Let me give some concrete examples of why a good index can ensnare a browser of books at a bookstore to buy the book. Look at some of the books released in Non-fiction category recently. James Crabtree’s “Billionaire Raj”, Monika Halan’s “Let’s Talk Money”, Rasheed Kidwai’s “Ballot: Ten Episodes that have shaped India’s Democracy”. Only one book by James Crabtree carries an Index Page. The book is actually rotten in content, and rubbished by the reviewers but the index page has references to Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and an entire chapter on Andhra Industrialists. It becomes easy to cite the book and quote anecdotes and insights from the book when you have an index which runs to half-a-dozen pages. Remember, Index for a book also means respect for reader’s time and hence, professionalism. You may have reasons for not including an index – when you feel the contents are explosive and may lead to a lot of backlash and defamation suits, but those are exceptions like a Lewinsky report or a Rajneesh Chronicle.

Seymour M Hersh, a reporter par excellence just released his book of memoirs. Lovely book but sans Index. On the contrary, a book of memoirs by AnandBazar Patrika’s impeccable reporter Suman Chattopadhyay - “My Date With History” is intricately indexed and makes you want to read fast and furious. What stumps me is that even global imprint publishers like Harper Collins and Penguin skip an Index when it comes to books by Indian writers. Take the case of the riveting book by a career intelligence officer Vikram Sood’s latest book on Insights on Espionage called “The Unending Games”. The book reads like a John Le Carre or Tom Clancy book full of irreverent digs into the world of spies from the Mossads to the KGBs of the world. But alas! No index! Giving an index means not just a big thumbs up to the visibility of the contents of the book but also aspiration to make it a global bestseller – to be lapped up by millions of readers outside the Himalayas. From what little I understand, most times, the decision to have an index page is either that of the author or both the author and the publisher. For the author, the reluctance comes not from shyness to put the referenced names in the Index page, but some contribution that is coming in as royalty from the publishers gets deducted from the author to the extent an Index is done. For example there are professional indexers and indexing software which cost a bomb and unless the author does the job herself or himself, the publisher may think it is an extra line item to the litany of expensing like marketing, promotion events of the book. A typical contribution from the author for indexing the book comes to $1000. So, one understands why there is a reluctance from Indian writers to index their works of non-fiction. But as much as you buy a good index service from professional software, nothing comes closer to having a good one than having the job done by the author herself – because the author (and the publisher) know best what is worth indexing and referencing. Cindex, Sky or Macrex are good index programs but despite that if one doesn’t know what to highlight in a book, even the best of such programs can hamper the credibility of a book, if the index is poorly done. Since I have a lot of publishing friends and writers in my feed, I wanted to highlight this aspect which is grossly under-exploited in the overall marketing and promotion of books. The next time you see a good book of non-fiction, remember to look up if it has an Index page after the acknowledgements page. If the publisher is serious about reaching a global audience for the book, chances are eight out of ten that there is a good index page in the book. Having an Index Page, sells a book. In this age of #hashtags and #keywordsearches. I rest my case.

#Indexing #IndexPage #BookSummary #BestsellerBooks #BookPublishing #Publishing #BookMarketing #GlobalmarketingofBooks #Booksellers #Authors #Publishers #IndianPublishers #Nonfiction #Fiction #HowToMarketBooksUsingIndex #Citations #BookBlurbs #ReferencingBooks #BookIndexing #IndexingSoftware #AuthorsAndWriters #IndianPublishing

Lessons from the Walmart-Flipkart Deal

Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion is the most exciting news for a variety of reasons and means a world for Indian Retail Industry. It is exciting because for a team of co-founders who braved the odds of running an E-Tail startup against all rejections, criticism and hardships for 11 years, this deal is the proof of concept that startups in India can not only succeed or become a unicorn (having valuation above $ 1 Billion) but get scaled upto a level that attracts the attention of the world's best investment bankers and giants like Walmart, Amazon (in the way its been pumping before and after the deal was announced) and Alibaba (who is also eyeing the Indian E-tail space). The deal happened to a company that is yet to enter "teens" but it will fire up the imagination and enthusiasm of millions of young people in India and South Asia to dream big in startups. The deal is also going to make bankers sit up and take notice as many of them are still unable to determine using conventional templates how to value and finance a company having negative EBITDA or higher cash burn rates. There has to be a way for project-financing bankers to participate in growth opportunities without collaterals. On the day of the deal announcement, Flipkart had accumulated losses over Rs.24000 crore (almost $ 4 Billion) but the ones who will make money from this deal will be Softbank (if they exit), Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Tencent Holdings and others who took risks. The deal is going to sizzle up the Investment Landscape too - with Alternative Asset-Class becoming worthy of Investment-grade by UHNWIs and HNWIs. OF course, not every deal will be a runaway success but we are at an inflection point today just as we were when we only had Templeton, UTI and Canbank and Indbank peddling Mutual Fund Schemes. The deal is also going to make all those Billionaires in India wake up to threats of their brick-and-mortar businesses without focusing on areas of impact - Artificial Intelligence-based Algorithms, Supply Chain connectivity, Top-notch managerial talent and Financial Innovation. And finally, the deal is just a scratch on the surface of the $750 Billion Retail Merchandise industry. Walmart is known to upend most of the Retailing oligopolies wherever they set foot and their move here will sure trigger agitations and backlash from existing stakeholders in India's vast Retail order but it is one of the tipping points for a host of reasons as above. There have been enough poison-pill reports by startup commentators in the last few years about whether India is going overboard with obsession over unicorn valuations and startup movements. This deal is an answer to all that fuss over valuations. The next time someone kicks their job to start up a company (even if it is not IT-related) or gets a campus offer from a startup or raising funds via crowdsourcing, respect them and wish them well - there is honor and promise in such risk-taking. Lastly, welcome to the benefits of Flexible thinking. We live in an era where a Tech-averse Warren Buffett has mended ways to invest in potential $ 1 Trillion tech companies like Apple. Follow the cheese, wake up and smell coffee! Congrats Bansals. #FlipkartDeal #WalmartFlipkart

Air Chief Marshall Idris Hasan Latif - A complete life of 95 years!

Air Chief Marshall Mr Idris Hasan Latif is no more. I have been privileged and fortunate to know and handle his finances as far back as in 1996 when I was a greenhorn in Financial Advisory. When I was handpicked to handle him, I shuddered. The first time I met him and his learned wife Madam Bilkees Latif at the bungalow which is now Saakshi TV Headquarters, I was floored by his hospitality, his congeniality and his charms. Wonderful imported tea, foreign cookies and elaborate spreads used to greet me every time I met him. Even though his office was a stone's throw from my office @ Karvy, meeting him meant comprehensive, nerve-wracking preparation and unmissable punctuality. All those meetings steeled my greenhorn ways into becoming Pro at work, very early in my career. Everything from writing out his name to the way you spell had to be spick n span. You put an extra "S" into Hasan or you miss the AIR CHIEF MARSHALL in reference, you get a glare that will shame you. Taught me a lot about professionalism, importance of name as wished to be written by a client, knowledge as a conversational input and the relentless need to be punctual as well as expedient. He kept minutes of the meeting as detailed as I and was cordial but firm in reprimanding on slippages in service. There was one complaint made against me for some shares not being dematerialized for which Karvy was not the registrar. Once again braced me up for pacing my speed of followup and expediency. Mutual Funds were just about to take off those days but somehow I felt despite the frenzy for Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund, I must not give Mr Latif the application and hardsell. I used to tell him, " Your portfolio has the best of the bluechips that is the envy of even fund managers. Don't sell it now. Sell it when you think you won't have time and energy to manage yourself." Neither did I tell him to put money into many of the Fixed Deposits marketed aggressively by Karvy which went kaput later. Mr Latif appreciated my advice and my convictions in simplifying but not over-complicating the portfolio with needless risks and diversifications. His family way back in the nineties itself was a global family - sons and daughters in China, US with foreign citizens as daughter-in-law and sons-in-law. He had the most exquisite artifacts sourced from all over the world from days of travel in Airforce to the days of being a French Ambassador.

His command over languages, English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Persian and bits of Telugu was inspiring. Years later, it inspired me to learn French when I was working for a french bank BNP Paribas almost the same way he taught himself when he moved to Paris. He used to maintain a lovely collection of books most of them coffee table books and inspiring biographies. Some of the less-important ones were kept on the staircases dotting the steps. He maintained pets, mostly cats and dogs and plenty of birds safely protected from the canine creatures in a separate aviary in the backyard of his house. Madam Latif always greeted me to acknowledge my presence and perhaps moved away to do her chores, of which I later gathered were mostly writerly. Her books on cooking and remembrances of things motherly have been iconic best-sellers. Throughout their lives, Mr Latif and Mrs Bilkees Latif were never apart from each other and even to the parties and rendezvous events, they were in it together, mostly seated in the first or primordial row.

Mr Latif was also a raconteur and sharp-witted but never slighted the guest. Those days, I used to drive an LML Vespa. And he had already few cars parked at the front of his house. For all others his guard kept the door closed for business disposed from inside but for me he instructed my Vespa be driven right inside and parked next to his cars. His kindness and goodness bowled me over and taught me that treat everyone with respect and dignity of a human being. What is small today can be large tomorrow. Years later when I met him, he told me he sold all his shares plonked into Mutual Funds and he is quite happy with the returns. He appreciated the thought that I told him that one day Mutual Funds will be as big as shares and until the variety improves, stick to your stocks. We met a couple of times   later after he moved away from that sprawling bungalow on Road No.1 to a place not afar on Road no.2. But I will always admireAir Chief Marshall Mr Idris Hasan Latif for the things he taught me, the way he treated me when I was small and for the opportunity to learn. I wish he ascends to Jannat in peace and happiness from a life so richly lived. One of the privileges of being a Financial Advisor is the free entry pass you get inside the lives of the rich, the famous and the most successful. Air Chief Marshall Latif Sir was all of that. A lot of the ninety five years of his life has a load of lessons. I hope his children will put his life's work in publishing domain.

#AirChiefMarshallIdrisHasanLatif #IdrisHasanLatif #BilkeesLatif #CitizensOfHyderabad #LessonsOnWealthAdvisoryFromClients

Actress Krishna Kumari is no more.

Sad to-  know of actress Krishna Kumari’s passing at age 85. In the history of Telugu Film Industry, Krishna Kumari will remembered as one of the most glamorous heroines in the B&W era making her presence felt in a range of plots from social to folklore to mythologicals. Acting in over 100 films, her strength is in projecting her classical looks into any role which demanded feminine grace, virtues of patience and generosity. What she lacked in versatility of her contemporaries like Savitri and Jamuna, she made up sheerly by her good temperament and immaculate dressing. From NTR to ANR, from Kantha Rao to Krishnam Raju, she was always ready to pair opposite anybody unmindful of her dizzy star power – which even overshadowed her own sister Sowcar Janaki who sprung into films much before her. Winning State Awards was easy for her because of the soberness she carried on screen and one never second-guessed whether she had any mirth off-screen except for those adventurous Janpad films she got paired alongwith Kantha Rao and Rajasree. The twist of history in Tollywood reveals that Krishna Kumari emerged like a dark horse (actually not dark!) when the film industry had an embargo on actress Jamuna after her tiff with NTR. The boycott lasted about five years enough for Krishna Kumari to double down on as many roles, meaty as well as one among the three heroines. Industry heaved a sigh of relief that there is a good alternative to Jamuna. But the gap was short-lived and Jamuna bounced back with her memorable performance in “Gundamma Katha”. Nevertheless, Krishna Kumari created an identity for herself in the South Indian Film Industry with a good mix of pace, initiative and tactfulness. The late NTR was so smitten by her that there is a rumour that both of them wanted to marry but NTR’s wife wouldn’t approve of it. That’s why some of the most romantic hits like “Bandipotu” etc came in that era.

It goes to the credit of Krishna Kumari that her feminine grace and dignified performances ensured that the most magical musical output of the golden era came as lilting songs featuring herself and heroes serenading her. You name any of Krishna Kumari’s films, and scores of melodies and superhit songs count – be it “Vagdaanam”, “Constable Kooturu”, “Kula Gotralu”, “Lakshadikari”, “Bharya Bhartalu”. Women in the 60s and 70s universally identified with her roles and the mesermerising music and the multi-star cast that usually earmarked her films ensured she is enshrined in our memory. She was also keen not to appear older or diseased in her films, a facet that kept her glamor quotient high even if it didn’t aid her career greatly after the nuanced Jamuna staged a comeback and other heroines like B.Saroja Devi, Kanchana, Vanisri etc surfaced. The best part of Krishna Kumari’s life and career is that she kept her dignity throughout, staying closer to her blood sister S.Janaki. Her part in elevating a heroine’s character without qualms and skin show is what is her greatest legacy. Also, if you go through her entire filmography, you may just find very few films like “Sampoorna Ramayanam” where she is seen as aged widow of King Dasaratha. Her obsession with only appearing in fairy tale visuals and happy frames is what makes her the original fruitcake in Tollywood. She reminds me of the Shakespeare quote and I would hence say: Some heroines are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. Krishna Kumari is a heroine where Tollywood thrust greatness on her.

#KrishnaKumari #Tollywood #TFI #GoldenEraHeroines #TeluguFilmHeroines