MAA TV vs. Gemini TV vs. ETV vs. Zee Telugu

Earlier, films used to clash only at the Box Office, on Fridays. But now, most clashes aren't  happening there. TV Channels is where the action is. Yesterday, amidst much fanfare, MAA TV has set the timing for telecast of "Dookudu", Tollywood's biggest blockbuster at 6pm Sunday. Lot of billboard advertising, radio ads and countless promos have gone into driving traffic for the film premiere which was purchased for well over Rs.5 crs. All set for 6 pm slot. But Gemini TV, AP's No.1 channel is not an easy competitor - atleast, they never let go an opportunity to nibble into rival channels' market share. They telecast another blockbuster "Kaanchana", a ghost-thriller movie of Raghava Lawrence at 3.30pm which is actually sleeping time for most Sunday TV watchers. But the climax is red-hot and must-watch for any film buff, it was stretching beyond 6pm - which made the edgy MAA TV delay the "Dookudu" telecast beyond half-hour. Last half-hour saw enormous channel-surfing as viewers were glued to the "Kaanchana" climax. Meanwhile, MAATV showed the curtain-raiser of "Dookudu" to fill in the half-hour during which "Kaanchana" ended.

The drama didn't end there. At 6.30pm, Gemini TV showed another hit of 2011, "Mr.Perfect" starring Prabhas and Kajal. That coincided exactly with "Dookudu" and the ad slots were carefully chosen not to clash with each other channel. But the movie on Gemini ended atleast 45 minutes before "Dookudu" finally got completed on MAA TV - with actors' clippings, samantha's comments and finally a re-run of the most hilarious episodes of the film stretching the run time from 6pm-10.30 pm. Only, "Ben Hur" and "Meraa Naam Joker" would have beaten that record running time. I am always intrigued by the rival strategies and counter-strategies of TV Channels in AP - they try to outdo each other. But I think, maturity-wise, MAA TV and ETV are better-off than the competitive Gemini TV. Gemini just can't give up fighting - whether its a Zee Telugu premiere or a MAA TV Blockbuster. Why do I say that? The total Ad revenue size of AP TV channels is Rs.700 crs. The prime slots take bulk of the revenue. It is therefore wise and economical for channels to vie for viewers' attention more carefully instead of making the advertisers lose money on programmes which don't get undivided atttention. The pecking order for entertainment channels in AP is as follows: No.1 Gemini TV, No.2 MAA TV, No.3 ETV and No.4 Zee Telugu. So, the race is between the top 3 really with channel share (sum of all channels in the group brand like MAA or Gemini) going upto 10-15 per cent.

Thats why the stakes are high for the top 3 but what I find intriguing is Gemini never gives in easily to the No.2 or No.3. And so, all throughout the day, yesterday, in order to tackle "Dookudu", it built steady traffic through blockbuster after blockbuster. Started with "Kick", then "Kaanchana" and then finally showdown with "Dookudu" - "Mr Perfect". Even though MAA TV now has the movie rights for the top five all-time Industry hits in Tollywood - 1. Dookudu 2. Magadheera 3. Arundhati 4.Pokiri and 5. Simha, there's a tendency to over-pay and raise the bidding stakes for producers of superhits. This is a game where the channels lose out which ETV doesn't get into. Gemini TV does get into the bidding game but doesn't over-pay. It picks one out of every four movies bid for satellite rights but ensures it stays in the competition but doesn't end up over-paying. "Gabbar Singh" the next industry all-time grosser is currently going for Rs.9 crores. We have to see who picked it.

ETV also tried its best to nibble into the viewership yesterday by airing a special program on SPB "Nenu Naa Swara Kartalu". The program took away some eyeballs from "Dookudu" in the middle. Advantage ETV and Gemini TV have over MAA and Zee is the vintage viewership and loyal base. Through old classics bought for a song and long-running musical shows and serials, they have ensured higher profitability and longer loyalties. Can you believe a movie like "Shankarabharanam" rights were bought by Gemini for Rs.1 lac only? Interesting strategies from different channels.

"Adhinayakudu" Movie Review (Telugu)

"Adhinayakudu" is a 3G wireless gift for Balayya (Balakrishna) fans - it shows Balayya in son, father and grand-father roles. Parachuri Murali is the writer-director ( I don't know which other movies he directed with a famous surname like that). The story is set in Rayalaseema backdrop but comes with a different treatment that his fans are usually used to. Harish Chandra Prasad is the patriarch who rules the hearts of the masses in many villages by getting FDI approvals for an iron-ore project in Kurnool. He convinces many and moves against many odds to get the project approved so that more people turn to employment instead of taking up sickles and bombshells. His son Rajendra Prasad takes on the responsibility of carrying out intent of the father. But the villains who don't like the good samaritans divide the father and son and what more, connive to brainwash the grandson in his infancy to kill the grandfather. This is the story that is unravelled in the end - but the story begins differently - the juvenile who grows up in Mumbai follows his roots to Rayalaseema and then the familiar climax - after lots of twists, flashback, romance, comedy and fights.


To be fair, Parachuri Murali weaves an intelligent plot with three diverse roles for Balayya and infuses life into the scripting and screenplay. The movie moves with a verve and freshness not usually associated with a Balakrishna movie. Dialogues are classy not crass, music is just about okay even though Kalyani Mallik - the less-talented music director of MM Keeravani tries hard especially in one or two numbers and OST. Lakshmi Rai sizzles with her thread-bare revelations in two songs and carries on her glamor well. The main villains led by Kota Sreenivasa Rao and Ajay do a good job. Brahmanandam comes up with a fine performance - and his comedy with the young Balakrishna masquerading as an alien from Mars is hilarious and fresh fun. Violence is also grossly toned down and so are the dialogues - they are not at all political and censorable, I am surprised they are written by somebody other than Parachuri brothers but bearing the same surname.

There are few observations on the film. In his anxiety to project all three characters in equal length, director adopts a racy track to collapse many frames and moods in quick succession - at times, it comes out good but sometimes the intensity is diluted. There is a danger, just like VV Vinayak's screenplay in "Chenna KeshavaReddy" that the characterisation goes adrift because of the need to show a screen friction between father and son, and later between son and grandson. Sometimes, you do get confused in having to take sides with the three characterisations - they never syncronise in one moment except for a fleeting phase during flashback. 15 Reels is also a bit long for a movie nowadays despite efforts to edit most scenes. Director has a talent and grip over making intelligent and sensibile cinema and for that he deserves a pat - you can watch it once for the treatment and the thrills and the diversity of roles played by an ageing hero. Even though I am not a great fan of Balakrishna, this movie shows him in better light than his movies in the past. I wonder why "Adhinayakudu" was delayed for 4 months without a buyer - it is passable fare and watchable for most of the time. I only wonder whether the fans, who seem to be calling most of the shots in Tollywood, will take an under-tone, under-stated Balayya. This is a better performance for NBK than "Srirama Rajyam".

Book Review: "Markets Never Forget" by Ken Fisher

There are a handful of books which survey the march of history and its implications for the serious long-term investor in stocks. "Devil Take the Hindmost" by Edward Chancellor is one book for the times. You have classics like "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" and "Manias, Panics and Crashes" which have gone into updated editions for every cycle downturn of the Equity asset class.

A famous cover story on "BusinessWeek" (Now "Bloomberg Business Week") came out in 1987 which lamented with a rant that's now known as an epochal error - "The Death of Equities". Financial Writers have always  found the obsession with Markets and Crashes as a soap-opera to expand the continuum of history of over 200 years of recorded market movements beginning with the late 18th Century till date. "Markets Never Forget: But People Do" is one more worthy addition to the literature on market history and the perspectives one can glean from the historical gyrations of stock prices. Who is the author? Ken Fisher, one of the few Investment Managers, who prides himself as a Forbes Billionaire Advisor for the Forbes Billionaire Club. Fisher has been the fourth-longest running columnist for Forbes Magazine and runs a firm - Fisher Investments. This is eighth book and its quite evident Ken Fisher can write well, weave facts and historical data points into a fluent narrative that is bound to encourage long-term stock investing. The timing couldn't have been better - its come at a time when the markets fear a Lehman-like moment and are getting psyched out of the cut-and-dry march of equity markets over the last five years.

Ken Fisher says that markets have always been volatile and there is never a dull moment in stock investing but one should learn how to overcome the behavioural biases that will creep into our memory and actions that tell us "This time is different" and we end up making the same mistakes that cost us money and time. He gives countless examples of moments in market history when people have shunned from the markets, got fooled by averages and generally got sandwiched between getting in and out of secular bear or bull markets. Ken Fisher gives fascinating, brick-by-brick tour of the American Stock Markets, the various phases of crashes and rallies punctuated by hundreds of mini-pulls of investor extreme reactions owing to government debt cycle ups and downs, corporate profitability fluctuations, and political bickerings. He infuses lot of authenticity by giving tabulation of all the returns, and the sharp movements of the markets in v-shaped curve, j-shaped curves, and v-w-shaped curves  --that surprised even the most maverick forecasters of the day.

Ken says that investors fail to be right most of the time because they forget the past and even refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past. They get overwhelmed by greed or fear but also forget that being greedy or fearful didn't work out for them in the past. In the process, they get head-faked by what later turns out to be normal volatility - because they forget they've lived through volatility many times before. They over-react - either too bearish or too bullish- based on some widely dispersed media report that later turns out to be highly overstated or just plain wrong and often backward.  Take for example, volatility. Ken Fisher says that contrary to what the media projects, the maximum volatility between these three asset-classes - Oil, stocks and a food commodity like Onion, was, surprise, witnessed in Onions, more than that of oil and stocks. Between 2000 and 2010, Standard Deviation for oil was 33.8% but for onions it was 211.4%. Contrast this with the SD of Stocks- a mere 19.41%. And then he constructs an argument, saying that there are other variables that are equally volatile- like inflation, government deficits, or GDP growth rates on a monthly basis - and the stock markets discount all of that and move on quite well.

What is the lesson here for investors? Ken Fisher tells us that a sense of market history is a powerful tool to help begin reducing your error rate and help begin getting better investing results. The book is divided into eight chapters with excellent examples and data tables. Each chapter highlights a dimension of history - of market averages, volatility of the asset-classes, traps in thinking, interface of politics with economics, rise and fall of bull and bear markets, and the interlinkages of the global markets. Ken Fisher is quite an intelligent and respected market commentator and a Fund Manager of repute. Few people also know that Ken Fisher is the son of the legendary of legendary Growth Investor Philip Fisher. Philip Fisher wrote the classic "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits." It is still a must-read for any serious stock investor. Ken Fisher gives a reassuring book of market history whose revelations will bring joy to anyone investing in stocks for living or retirement. Even if there are no examples from Emerging Markets, the book is spirited and comprehensive.

"Markets Never Forget (But People Do)" by Ken Fisher. Wiley India Pvt Ltd. Price Rs.399.00, pp.  216.

Advice from China, in lighter vein!

Advice to Sonia from China on handling Jagan:


1. To catch the tiger's cub, one must enter the tiger's den.

2. Do not use firewood to put out a fire.

3. Going too far is as wrong as falling short.

4. One tree does not make a forest.

5. When fortune flees even gold loses its luster. When fortune returns, even iron shines bright.

6. An idol-maker does not worship the gods: he knows what stuff they are made of.

7. A hundred men scrambling to fetch a gourd by cart will accomplish less than one man holding it in his hand.

8. An arrogant and complacent leader is sure to meet with defeat.

9. It is foolish to anger the majority, nor is it wise to do simply as you please. If your deeds displease the people, then disaster will surely follow.

10. A tyrannical government is worse than a man-eating tiger.



Advice to Jagan that never came from China:

1. Even oceans may at last run dry.

2. When you have wealth, why should you strive for more?

3. All questions have two sides.

4. Much property is a trap for the stupid.

5. Those whose ways are different cannot lay plans for one another.

6. When you see a straight piece of wood, you do not want to make it into a wheel.

7. Misfortunes never come alone.

8. Do not expose money to eyes.

9. In good times, the wise man works for the state. In bad times, he looks after himself.

10. Take care of the small things.



Advice from Sonia and Jagan to China:

1. Heroes are made by the times. (Jagan)

2. Though brothers may have private feud they fight as one against the alien foe. (Jagan)

3. To give peace to the Empire and suppress rebellion, a large sword and a long spear are necessary. What use is a pen? (Sonia)

4. The views of men of wise counsel are much the same. (Both).

5. Although I am thin in appearance, the Empire is fat. (Jagan).

6. It is harder to deal with the weeds once they have spread. (Jagan)

7. There is no victory in winning a hundred battles. There is a victory in subduing your enemy without fighting at all. (Jagan).

8. When the first indications of error begin to appear in the state, Heaven sends forth ominous portents and calamities to warn men and announce the fact. (Sonia)

9. Having a son is unlucky indeed. These days it is better to have a daughter. Your daughter can be married to your neighbour. Your son will be buried under the weeds. (Sonia)

10. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall, but its the common people who suffer. (Both)

- Compiled from the Little Book of Chinese proverbs. With malice towards none.

Can today's Politicians beat Nehru's Prison Term of 1637 days?

Did you know that Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, who passed away today served a total prison term of 1637 days during the Freedom Struggle? Gandhiji would have broken more records in going to jail too as did many other stalwarts. And today, a prominent politician Jagan Mohan Reddy's arrest by CBI is being headlined in all TV Channels as earth-shattering news. Is going to jail so much fun? And for What? Can any Indian Politician in India ever be put behind in bars for so many days as Nehru or Gandhi did? I shudder to think whats happening to India Today.

Satyameva Jayate - Doctor and the 3rd Idiot!

So "Satyameva Jayate" this Sunday takes on the Doctors abusing the trust of the patients. Even though there are instances of abuse, it is not on a scale that I am alarmed of. Some of my best friends are doctors - I know and appreciate what it takes to become a doctor. But let me not get into the issue of Doctors itself - they should be treated at a level above the rest of the professionals. But no...w that Aamir Khan has moved on from Family Abuse issues to Society Abuse issues from select professions, I want to ask Aamir: Who are all going to be in the AK net? And who is going to be outside it?


Will Aamir also cover Civil Contractors, Lawyers, Architects, Politicians, corrupt Government officials, PMO, Party Presidents, Promoters of listed companies, Mutual Fund Managers, Subsidy-Adminstrators, Drug Inspectors, Engineers of Public Works, Statisticians and Economists of Yore, journalists, Editors and press reporters, NGO officials, Forbes Billionaires, Teachers, Syllabus creators, Educationists and Tutorial Owners, Corporators and Legislators, Priests and Mullahs, TV Channel Programming Heads, Newspaper Barons, TRP Market Researchers, Violent-and-Porn Film Producers, Transport Operators. Will he cover folks from his own profession who suffer from extremes of social apathy to harbingering social awareness? What about my own tribe - Bankers, Wealth Managers, Tax Advisors, Auditors, Chartered Accountants, and Salesmen selling olive oil remedies? It appears Aamir Khan may spare my profession anyway - because we deal with, inter alia, an asset-class in which India's households invests less than 3 per cent. And we are doing a better job than the doctors. But lets leave it at that.

At this rate, Aamir Khan might declare all professions to be dishonest or he should start with his profession - Films - and set an example first before taking holier-than-thou attitude on other professions. Doctors ratio is already pathetic in India; 99 percent of the population have never developed awareness of their own body and they rely on doctors to bail them out. Most of them are genuine and good and the five percent who take the patient for a ride abound in every profession, with or without a hippocratic oath. Family issues - issues affecting the child, the girl, the woman, the bride and the boy - might deserve rich highlighting. But issues around aggrievement of an individual from a particular profession need not be a public farce - there are relevant acts and enough measures to address them. Oh, Aamir - maine Kyaa sochaa thaa aur thu kyaa nikala!

"Daruvu" Movie Review (Telugu)

‎"Daruvu" means drumbeat - or sound of mass as the byeline says. Ravi Teja's movies always meant you switch off your brain and mobiles together. So we went expecting a couple of hours of nonstop entertainment and comedy and antics that will chill you in this scorching summer. It felt this time a bit longer. A little short of 3 hours, the movie is dripping in masala fare, comedy and entertainment. It ropes in almost all of Ravi Teja's favorite co-star comedians - Brahmanandam, Srinivas Reddy and now Vennela Kishore who pack quite a punch. To give it a family touch, Ravi Teja figures in triple roles apart from the title role of a small time thug. How does it all add up?

There's an introduction scene of the "yamalok" - Telugu audience's favorite entertainment haven outside of our planet which makes the Old Yama Satyanarayana Kaikala anoint a new Yama (Prabhu who looks good) and warn him not to take "panga" with Telugu youth; he warns of those who tried to upstage "yamalok" in the past - NTR (Yamagola), Chiranjeevi (Yamudiki Mogudu) and NTR Jr.(Yamadonga). And the story is bizarrely concocted from there with a mischief played by Chitragupta (MS Narayana). No doubt, the movie smacks of tonnages of entertainment, comedy. So, the scenes shift off speedily and sometimes jerkily - with Ravi Teja trying to give a heightened sense of performance in every frame - he does have the screen presence and the mirchmasala factor especially with his loud voice, gay mannerisms and a Telugu accent that is neither here nor there, sounding like our CM's Telugu pronunciation. But he creates a variety in roles - as Home Minister, as mass thief, and two other fleeting roles. Director Siva's sreenplay is too fast-paced and doesnt allow most scenes to registe because of uproarious output by the energy levels of the comedy gang and Ravi Teja. We know what happens when Ravi Teja and Brahmanandam share the screen. Brahmanandam does well too but the character is one that family audiences may detest - an effeminiate, gay dance master.

Director has concentrated on the entertainment aspects well but has also introduced several elements that connect with classes - mother care, anti-corruption, Karma theory, etc. This creates a big drag sometimes - you can't unwind from the profane to the profound so fast especially with an explosion of entertainment and energy. There has been less concentration on the music and heroine. Music by Vijay Anthony is loud and "dappu" only and there's not one melody song that you can remember, it is so cacophonous. I wonder if this is the same guy who scored music for "Mahatma". Tapsi, the heroine, is never important in the plot and she doesn't add the glamour also despite trying hard.

How Good is the movie? I wouldn't watch it again - despite the extra efforts and the output of comedy, the length of the movie and the lack of subtelety does get on your nerves. Finally, my take on the heritage of "yamalokam" used in Tollywood is that the audience is losing interest in the theme. While "Yamagola" and "Yamudiki Mogudu" have been hits, current generation hasn't showered applause for "yama Donga" - it was not a comparative hit. Mohanbabu also attempted the theme in "Yama jathakudu" but with less success. Maybe the theme fires well on screen if you keep it close to the knitting - but if you mix up all the themes in the world, flat will be the output. Despite limited violence and extra-ordinary entertainment, I felt stressed in the movie watching my time a number of times. Ravi Teja, may be Tollywood's Amitabh and Dada Kondke, but he neednt have tried so hard. Sometimes, you need break from entertainment too.