July 24, 2011

Zindagi Na Milegi Dubaara - Movie Review

"Zindagi NaMilegi Dubara" is uber cool with rich subtexts - 3 friends roadmap into Spain for bachelor's party and find their mojo through conversations that change their views of life- Not new places but new eyes, not dejavu but new experiences. Zoya Akhtar's direction, Javed's poetry, Farhan's growing screen presence, Hritik Roshan and Abhay Deol's quibbles, Katrina's GQ,Shankar E Loy's music - all enchant. Lovely.

On Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and Google+ - Views by Prof.Sree

I keep making shorthand notes of almost every lecture I listen to. Here's a summary of Prof.Sree Sreenivasan's talk at Manthan last week, point-wise. My own twitter id is @onlysridhar.Thought I will share with a wider audience before the next Manthan: • Facebook, twitter and other social media are increasingly used to impact social changes and bring revolutions as examples of Egypt, Syria, Libya prove.
• Facebook now has 750million users and is the third-most populous “country” in the world.
• India is 4th in FB usage next to US, Indonesia and maybe UK.
• The reason Indonesia is ahead of India is because politicians, bureaucrats and influential members of the society there have been early adapters of FB leading to a spectacular rise in following.
• In India, Mumbai and Bengaluru rule the roost and Hyderabad has yet to catch up big-time.
• It means Hyderabadis are not spending time online so much despite the fact that the India headquarters of FB is in Hyderabad.
• Twitter has about 100 million users although active users could be less than 50 million.
• Twitter’s founders also may not have had an idea about the unleashing of its potential.
• Every day about 200 million tweets are put out on twitter by its users worldwide.
• In order to document the social commentary that happens on twitter every second through its tweets, the Library of US Congress – the largest library in the world – now creates an archive of every tweet out of twitter users worldwide. This is done to serve as an archaeological reference for future generations of how generations of today think, feel and react. It will serve the same historical relevance as relics of the past from places such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro serve up now and then.
• The funny thing with social media such as Facebook is that productivity goes down as more and more folks spend time on these sites. You plan to use for 23 mins, you end up spending 23 hrs. You plan for 10 mins, you use up 10 hrs. It will be a challenge to maintain a balance between online networking and your work-life balance.
• There are social and family pressures building up because of this obsession with FB and other sites. But the damages are mostly self-created; you have to find that balance between online and offline mode.
• Even though you have more friends online, it doesn’t mean you should not maintain personal touch with your friends outside of online social media. Never lose touch with physical world.
• What is good about FB and others is that the feedback is instant and immediate.
• However, we have to realize that 99 per cent of the stuff that’s put on your walls never gets read really.
• Linked in is another site that’s growing for serious-minded people. Linked-in maps is the latest sensation which helps you manage your career, not just talk about it.
• Google + has come at a time when FB has monopoly and promises to address the privacy issues and puts your social circuits in compartmentalized circles. It will be difficult to dislodge FB with just 10 million users so far. But Google+ made two unsuccessful attempts with buzz and orkut earlier and will not easily give up.
• There are many sites which track what are called private conversations between folks on FB. For example, “What the Facebook” is one such site which gives exactly what you want to search on FB. You can search for “women who are shaving the legs”. And it will search for all the women who talked about “shaving their legs”. It will do a live search of live searches.
• How does one become socially more influential and enhance one’s social image?
• Sree offers some tips. You may find some on FB- @sreetips or on twitter @sree.
• Some tips are commonsense-driven: Make your posts subscribe to any of these attributes:
• Useful.Helpful.Relevant.Timely.Credible. Entertaining.Occasionally funny. Informative. Crisp. Insightful.
• If you have any of these attributes while you post, your posts will be well-read.

Chetan's New Book by Diwali

Chetan Bhagat's new book (After "2 States") is delayed as he got busy with new independent house construction. New book now expected on/before Diwali. Like CA Exams question paper final version, his publisher and Bhagat will keep 3 options for title and then decide on final choice just before printing the massive numbers his books sell for. At Rs.95/- per copy, even pirates won't survive. Is so much required?

"Singham" Movie Review: Hindi

Singham" starring Ajay Devgn sizzles like Tamil original ('Yamudu' in Telugu). Golmaal" dir Rohit Shetty embellishes this conceptual blockbuster with desi Goa-Maha flavor, good music and maxes up the output with rocking performances by Prakashraj, Ajay and stage artists. You can die of comedy created by Prakashraj. Kajal, not Kajol, gets cute debut. Another South plot gives lifeline to ageing six-pack Heroes. Watchable.


The Artist of Disappearance - New book by Anita Desai

Anita Desai is back with a new book-"The Artist of Disappearance" after seven year itch. This one is a lovely read- three novellas, one like a Ruskin 8ond memoir of an artist in making, one on a translator and one a travelogue. Delightful as ever and you will swallow it between dusk and dinner.


Kothi Kommacchi - 3 is released

Late Mullapudi Venkataramanagaru's work-in-progress columns in "Swati" weekly till his last days are published as part 3 of "Kothi Kommacchi". He stopped writing this column in May 2010 citing bad health and promised to resume on Ugadi of 2011. That was never to be. But the current one is shorter costs Rs.100/- and has priceless memoirs of people Bapu-Ramana met last 10 yrs. Must buy for Telugu literature lovers.

"Naanna" Movie Review

Naanna" is mesmerising with straight narration & crisp story-telling by Dir Vijay. No stunts, no items, no sleaze. Surprise, fully-clothed Anushka, mentally-challenged Vikram, angel-like baby Sara. Great performances by All. Comedian Santhanam draws out loudest laughs. 2nd half has few flaws in court scenes, though intriguing. GVPrakash scores good music. Dir hits it clear-You dont need IQ to bring up a child.

"Jailor" (Telugu/Tamil) Movie Review: Electrifying!

        "Jailer" is an electrifying entertainer in commercial format by Nelson who always builds a complex web of crime and police...