On Shammi Kapoor

Even to my parents who are only now barely checking emails, original Yahoo voice Shammi Kapoor was a rage. Whichever way you look at, Shammi is a darling character who will inspire many people. When there was no online world, his movies showcased Kashmir to the world. Go, travel and sing and rock and roll! And he did this when he faced an identity crisis - superstar elder brother, and Dev and Dilip. He proved that if you are original and true to your self, the world will notice you. Even going past his prime when angry young men, disco dancers and forlorn lover superstars dominated the silver screen, Shammi stayed current playing unobstrusive character roles - fathering reigning and emerging stars. Then Yahoo! came again - embracing technology to beat loneliness - and giving superstars like Aamir Khan - a lucky reason to release audios. He would have been eighty this October - but still he stayed current till the last. Even the electric chair he used to move around in the last months of his life, he got it online it seems. What message of courage, positivity, inspired living, unique personality and staying alive till you wither away. Off to another planet - Shammi will find his next act soon.

"Kandireega"

"Kandireega" is high-voltage drama of non-stop comedy from debut Director Santosh resembling "Dhee" and "Ready". Despite bizarre twists and often subhuman violence stylised as stunts, its a clean family fare. Hero Ram who apes Prince and Powerstar carries the film on his shoulders well. Sonu Sood can settle as a 6-pack comi-villain in Tollywood. Thaman's hit music, Director's dialogues and deft script makes this entertaining even if unoriginal. Longer by 20 mins.

"Dhada"

"Dhada" means terror/shiver in Telugu. It stars lucky heroine Kajal and effeminate turned he-man Naga Chaitanya. DSP scores music. Brahmanandam,Ali, Venu and all tagheur watch villains. An IIM alumni debuts as director with stylish screenplay, class and grand locations in US. What a waste though - story, dialogues, characterisation disappoint you. All this colossal failure of content will misfire on producer Sivaprasad Reddy whose networth is dedicated to Nag family. Unworthy.

Reason to buy Stocks?

There has never been a good reason to buy stocks since 1875 when BSE was formed. There has never been a good reason to buy stocks when Sensex base = 100 in 1986. Bofors and Billion scams later, million mutinies later, hundreds of double-decker depressions later, multi-polar world now and India today still dont see a good reason to buy Stocks at Sensex 17000. Wish somebody told difference between a stock and a bond in Xth class syllabus.

"Sega"

"Sega" means flames in Telugu. We expected the screen on fire because it is Nitya Menen and Naani. Instead, quite depressing movie full of slumdog squalor, sex-worker woes, drugs, death and revenge. Joshua Sridhar's music only relief. Dir Anjana made it in 6 reels - 2 hrs. Even that appeared too long. Wanted to walk out at interval but 2 jumbo popcorn buckets consumed held us down - not the movie.

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.