So, will digital cinema spell the end of multiplexes? Technology can make many things cheaper.
Many years ago, during the days before multiplexes, a blockbuster meant that theatres would arbitrarily hike their rates. If they did not do that, they would station their own men to sell tickets in "black". Prices would be artificially jacked up. The movie going public would pay more money, the theatre owner or manager and the blackmarketeer (in cahoots with the theatre) took a cut while the government got the usual tax.
With the arrival of multiplexes and online booking the black business has gone down, atleast in the urban areas, but the tickets have become expensive on the whole (which is ok, because it is worth the money). In the earlier days AC meant airconditioning in the beginning of the movie and then miserly owners would switch off the AC. Seating was pathetic and every seat had more bed bugs than the population of India. Sound systems usually meant loud sound and nothing else. All in all, it was a rip off at all theaters except the best.
Coming back to digital cinema the larger multiplexes charge upto 300 for tickets especially on weekends and new releases. For a first day show, it is a steal.
Friday, November 19, 2010
5 stars to Rang de Basanti !
And that is exactly why everyone was worried. Would Rang De Basanti really live up to the expectations?
The answer was yes!!! This film not only lived up - it far EXCEEDED one's imagination. A good film entertains you while you're in the theatre. A great film stays with you long after you've left it.
Rang de Basanti, in my opinion, is one of those greats. If Dil Chahta Hai redefined 'youth' films, Rang de Basanti took the theme to the next level.
I will explain why, but first, a quick plot summary :
Inspired by a diary written by her grandfather, foreign kudi comes to India to make a documentary on India’s revolutionary freedom fighters – Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and others who laid down their life for the country. She casts five young men for these roles – none of whom can identify with the idea of making any such sacrifices.
‘Is desh mein hai kya? Population?? Corruption???” says one. “Mujhe to jaise hi degree mili I’m outta here”. Meanwhile they’re hanging loose at the masti ki ‘paathshala’.
But, somewhere along the way the reluctant actors find themselves moved by the passion of the long-dead revolutionaries. And inspired to actually stand up and take on the System.
And from the official synopsis:
In the film both the 1930s British India and the India today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points. As the film reaches its resolution the line between past and present blurs, as they become one in spirit..
That makes no sense now but when you see the film it does! There.
Why Rang de rocked
Rang de Basanti’s greatness lied in the fact that achieved a fine balance. Dil Chahta Hai was a light film, this one had a message. Yet it managed to be as entertaining – perhaps even more than DCH.
The easy camaraderie and bonding between the friends lights up the screen. The language is Phinglish (Punjabbi and Hindi vich occasional English) – just the kind Dilli ke bande actually use (correct me if I’m wrong here!).
The film had all the usual youth ‘types’ – bade baap ka beta. good-for-nothing with heart-of-gold, nationally integrated cast of Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-and-Isaai. And yet there were no stereotypes.
In fact, the film created new definitions of old ideas. What does it mean to be ‘patriotic’? Rang de attempted to answer the old question in a new way. It was not about Sunny paaji single handedly immobilising the Pakistani army and half its airforce by breaking the sound barrier as he booms “JAI HIND”.
Rang de Basanti said patriotism is about standing up and doing something. Not just complaining that everything in this country is useless but to see that each one of us is responsible for the current state of affairs. And has the power to start effecting a change.
Ah, but here is where the really controversial bit comes in. Is the path chosen by these young men the right path? Yeh kai dinon tak charcha ka vishay raha. Coz these weren't the do-gooder variety of changemakers a la MohanBharga va in Swades.
Again I would say the film maker did manage to achieve a balance – while the characters embraced questionable actions and ideas, the viewer was left with some alternatives which were more acceptable: like joining the police, IAS or politics.
This was how Rakesh Mehra put it to rediff.com: There is a matter of making a choice and accepting the responsibility of making it - that is the turning point in the film. The big moment is the decision for them to accept that choice, and take on the consequences of their actions, not to be escapists.
The ‘taking consequences for your actions’ bit was the crucial one. That’s what took the film beyond the vigilante justice formula we’ve seen a million times before!
The Second Coming
Director Rakesh Mehra’s first film ‘Aks’ was described as “a superior product, technically speaking, but faltered in that one vital department -- story-telling”.
Well, Mehra seemed to have taken the feedback very seriously because this time the story and screenplay was numero uno, and on that strong foundation rested the other stuff: stunning visuals, music, technical wizardry.
The important thing about the story was that revolved around a basic clash in values –at many different levels. Youth of 1930's vs Youth of Today was the dominant theme. But there are many other sub-conflicts touched upon.
For example, the pressure from Aslam’s family to have friends from his ‘own community’ – the first time I think the ‘ghetto’ issue had been brought up on the Bollywood screen. Then there’s Laxman Pandey, a saffron party worker who’s anti-all-things-Westernism-and-Muslims. His attitude changes – in more ways than one – over the course of the film.
The casting – what can I say? All the characters – major and minor - don’t just play their parts. They live them. I particularly liked Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Alice Patten and Kiron Kher.
Aamir was great as usual. He looked a little old in some scenes but then he was supposed to be one of those dadas who’s still in college although he ‘passed out’ 5 years ago. And the film just would not have worked its magic on us without him.
Chhoti Baatein
I also liked the small touches. For example, the scene where Sue first steps out of Delhi airport is so true to life!
Thankfully the scriptwriters decided to give the phoren kudi Hindi speaking classes before coming to India - so we don’t have to suffer sub-titles or awkward English dialogue. And it made for some good laughs as well.
All the threads of the story tied in together – which was rare in Bollywood. Like the RJ who made a fleeting appearance in the first 20 minutes. Since it was a known face (veejay Cyrus Sahukar) you wonder usne do line ka part kyun accept kiya. Well, he suddenly popped up as a ‘crucial’ part in the climax.
It was also nice to see an ad filmmaker-turned-director NOT accepting ads in the film itself. So while there was a marketing tie up with Coke, there are no Coke bottles at all in the film. NDTV gets mega-mileage throughout – but it's not a plug. In fact, it adds authenticity to parts of the story.
It was also nice to see the Gang hanging out at places other than standard issue coffee shops, malls and multiplexes.
They preferred omlets and chai in a sardarji da dhaba or a purana qila next to an airfield. Of course, there was one important scene in a trendy lounge bar too. This reflected more accurately the mix n match hangout culture (street food bhi khayenge, 5 star mein bhi) of actual youth – again, rarely seen on screen!
The sepia-toned depiction of the revolutionaries was also extremely well done. And illuminating. I never knew, for example, that Bhagat Singh and his comrades went on a hunger strike for 114 days because they demanded to be treated not as common criminals but ‘political prisoners’ entitled to paper, pen and a daily newspaper. Of course, now the standards have changed to more luxuries, leave alone reading and writing.
And the way Rang De managed to cut back and forth between past and present –not just as long flashbacks but from moment to moment without trivializing either era was amazing. I’m sure it was very hard to pull off - in the movie it appeared effortless.
A couple of very minor quibbles:
- India Habitat Centre appeared to have been passed off as Delhi University.
- Saffron party workers attacking peaceful demonstrators at India Gate? In the age of 24 hour television, sending a martyr’s mother into a coma would be an absolute PR disaster !
- Sue is shooting an entire historical documentary with a single camera and no back up unit? Chalo maaf kiya – creative license!
There was a lot more I would have liked to write about the film but.........!
I would give Rang De Basanti a 5 star rating for its thought, its passion, its careful crafting and overall entertainment value.
The Inner Voice - II
In my last post I mentioned about an unusual career-related decision :
Five IITians entering politics.
While the decision was guided by an 'inner voice', clearly what the voice is saying are different things.
What the budding politicians hear is: "Serve your country. Give back to your countrymen". They have no natural 'aptitude' or talent for this. In that sense their decision is far riskier and idealistic. And open to ridicule as well.
Just being IITians does not automatically ensure these young men will make better or more honest politicians. But it does not mean they need to be condemned or written off before they start.
There is a case to be made for youth and idealism. Spending 10 years working in Bell Labs and then entering politics would not make these young men any the wiser or more effective.
We get what we deserve
Indian politics is badly in need of fresh blood. Because the current crop is teeming with rotten apples.
As the Association for Democratic Reform observed during the Bihar elections: Affidavits filed with the Election Commission one in three candidates fielded by major political parties had charge sheets pending against them.
So like I said, the road ahead for Paritrana is very very difficult but let's give them some time and room to make a few mistakes.
Otherwise, we have no business sighing about dynastic rule or criminalisation of politics.
What the party stands for
Jahaan tak rahi ideology ki baat, here's what their website (which appears to have been fixed) has to say:
Sabhi sukhi hon (All should be happy)
Sukh ka mool samriddhi hai (The root of happiness is prosperity)
Samriddhi ka mool rajya hai (The root of prosperity is the governance)
Rajya ka mool dand hai (The root of good governance lies in the system of reward and punishment)
Their website further explains: In less organized society the punishing side of Dand predominates. In more organized society the reward side of Dand predominates. In any case it is Dand that rules. The role of the System, the Government, the State, or that of a King is to "regulate" Dand, not to hold it. And when Dand is not properly regulated it destroys the State and its people. That's what has happened in past and is happening in the present society.
Now an economist may argue this is simplistic but so far I see no trace of rabid Hindu nationalism - the variety that excludes other communities.
Yes, they've used a quote from the Rig Veda on their website. Why should that 'offend' anyone? It is a part of our common heritage - whatever faith we may belong to today.
The tragedy is that unlike the Greek, Roman or Egyptian civilisations ours did not die out... So any reference to collective wisdom of the past becomes 'anti-secular', anti-the-idea-of-a-modern-India.
There, writing that one line I know will invite comments about me being a fundamentalist. Which is as offensive as people saying that all Muslims who take pride in aspects of their culture or religion are supporters of Taliban or Bin Laden or whatever.
How cynical do you have to be to assume (a) they may not have had a great job in the first place (b) they are probably fundamentalists (c) it's unlikely they are going to be able to do much!! Whatever jobs these guys had, I feel pretty sure it was better than the insecurity of politics. Even seasoned politicians routinely lose so of course novices are going to have a hard time. As for religion : I am an agnostic, don't care much for any religion. But I have no problem quoting the Geeta or the Vedas or the Sermon on the Mount, so I seriously doubt a quotation from the Rig Veda makes u a fundie.
Despite the inherent insecurity and natural fear that the entrenched & corrupt politicians will not let them affect change they have decided to follow thier inner voice and make an attempt to do soemthing good. Instead of being applauded and lauded they seem to be generating cynicism and suspicion.
I for one, salute them and hope they can truly be catalysts for change in our moribund political system. Remember we get the politicians (I would not deign to call our current politicians leaders) we deserve.
I wonder if the leadership makes any difference. Policy framing is done by bureaucrats anyways. In fact it might be detrimental to have thorough intellectuals running the country. a lopsided idealistic view, a tendency that cultured class carries, would be an unnecessary baggage. and by the way who would vote for them?? Who would be able to relate to aerospace engineering when immediate concern is roti, kapdaa aur makaan.
Any IITian with or without experience would be better than the current lot of criminal and illiterate politicians. At least they are educated. Not just educated but quite well educated.
I believe if there is one metric which should decide who would be a better person managing the country, it would be education. For that matter not just managing the country but for doing anything responsible.
As on politics, don't you think people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Remember people like Manmohan Singh (no less a scholar than an IITian) losing from South Delhi once, supposed to be inhabited by 'educated kind'. We all want clean politics, but when it comes to voting, no one is ready to eschew his own caste/religion interests in favor of a candidate who might otherwise be the 'cleanest'.
Politics in India is a gutter and we hope that these guys will be able to cleanse it to some extent. Whether they suceed or not is a different issue-but the very fact that they have thought and implemented something is applaudable thousands of praise.
There is a saying that "Youth will have its swing" or that most inventions were attempted by youth who at that time did not know that they were inventions. One should still laud the initiative though it is different from Michael Dell of Bill Gates opting out of universities to start businesses.
At stated in the end, the whole issue is one of accountability. It is strange that for management goals we are accountable to our bosses on a daily or weekly basis but people in public life have no such accountability once they are elected.
Rajiv Gandhi with 400 MP's in parliament had stated that only 15 percent of the actual funds reached the poor. So the issue is not what the party stands for but how they are going to implement. Indira Gandhi coined the slogan "Garibi hatao" but it was Narasimha Rao/ Manmohan Singh who actually did it with liberalization. Even Dhirubhai Ambani was great because of implementation.
Anybody can launch a party with idealistic slogans which stalwarts from the film industry also did during emergency with the nationalist party. It turned out to be schoolboy enthusiasm.
Even if just to save our civilisation's past, what we need is a party that makes no bones about being influenced by our history but refuses to blindly follow regional/religious divisions...... If Gandhiji could quote the vedas and follow the Bhagvad Gita yet be act as a messiah for both religions, why can't we?
If these guys can draw crowd and make them listen, and remain focused on goals germane to their conviction, its good. But I fear the convinced-altruism of the IIT/IIM sort might make them think of this as some kind of non-profit start up. Politicians are made in Universities. IIT/IIMs, so far have been notable exceptions.
Notwithstanding my eternal, perpetual cynicism, my Best Wishes are with them.
Go, make a difference!
Getting back to the original topic - the IITians joining politics. My lengthy defence of a group of people I do not know personally is based merely on a matter of principle. Everybody deserves a chance.
Of course, politicians must be accountable, whether they are cowherds or IITians. Magar abhi to innings shuru hi hui hai... what follows may be a series of ducks or some brilliant centuries.
Let's wait and watch.
Five IITians entering politics.
While the decision was guided by an 'inner voice', clearly what the voice is saying are different things.
What the budding politicians hear is: "Serve your country. Give back to your countrymen". They have no natural 'aptitude' or talent for this. In that sense their decision is far riskier and idealistic. And open to ridicule as well.
Just being IITians does not automatically ensure these young men will make better or more honest politicians. But it does not mean they need to be condemned or written off before they start.
There is a case to be made for youth and idealism. Spending 10 years working in Bell Labs and then entering politics would not make these young men any the wiser or more effective.
We get what we deserve
Indian politics is badly in need of fresh blood. Because the current crop is teeming with rotten apples.
As the Association for Democratic Reform observed during the Bihar elections: Affidavits filed with the Election Commission one in three candidates fielded by major political parties had charge sheets pending against them.
So like I said, the road ahead for Paritrana is very very difficult but let's give them some time and room to make a few mistakes.
Otherwise, we have no business sighing about dynastic rule or criminalisation of politics.
What the party stands for
Jahaan tak rahi ideology ki baat, here's what their website (which appears to have been fixed) has to say:
Sabhi sukhi hon (All should be happy)
Sukh ka mool samriddhi hai (The root of happiness is prosperity)
Samriddhi ka mool rajya hai (The root of prosperity is the governance)
Rajya ka mool dand hai (The root of good governance lies in the system of reward and punishment)
Their website further explains: In less organized society the punishing side of Dand predominates. In more organized society the reward side of Dand predominates. In any case it is Dand that rules. The role of the System, the Government, the State, or that of a King is to "regulate" Dand, not to hold it. And when Dand is not properly regulated it destroys the State and its people. That's what has happened in past and is happening in the present society.
Now an economist may argue this is simplistic but so far I see no trace of rabid Hindu nationalism - the variety that excludes other communities.
Yes, they've used a quote from the Rig Veda on their website. Why should that 'offend' anyone? It is a part of our common heritage - whatever faith we may belong to today.
The tragedy is that unlike the Greek, Roman or Egyptian civilisations ours did not die out... So any reference to collective wisdom of the past becomes 'anti-secular', anti-the-idea-of-a-modern-India.
There, writing that one line I know will invite comments about me being a fundamentalist. Which is as offensive as people saying that all Muslims who take pride in aspects of their culture or religion are supporters of Taliban or Bin Laden or whatever.
How cynical do you have to be to assume (a) they may not have had a great job in the first place (b) they are probably fundamentalists (c) it's unlikely they are going to be able to do much!! Whatever jobs these guys had, I feel pretty sure it was better than the insecurity of politics. Even seasoned politicians routinely lose so of course novices are going to have a hard time. As for religion : I am an agnostic, don't care much for any religion. But I have no problem quoting the Geeta or the Vedas or the Sermon on the Mount, so I seriously doubt a quotation from the Rig Veda makes u a fundie.
Despite the inherent insecurity and natural fear that the entrenched & corrupt politicians will not let them affect change they have decided to follow thier inner voice and make an attempt to do soemthing good. Instead of being applauded and lauded they seem to be generating cynicism and suspicion.
I for one, salute them and hope they can truly be catalysts for change in our moribund political system. Remember we get the politicians (I would not deign to call our current politicians leaders) we deserve.
I wonder if the leadership makes any difference. Policy framing is done by bureaucrats anyways. In fact it might be detrimental to have thorough intellectuals running the country. a lopsided idealistic view, a tendency that cultured class carries, would be an unnecessary baggage. and by the way who would vote for them?? Who would be able to relate to aerospace engineering when immediate concern is roti, kapdaa aur makaan.
Any IITian with or without experience would be better than the current lot of criminal and illiterate politicians. At least they are educated. Not just educated but quite well educated.
I believe if there is one metric which should decide who would be a better person managing the country, it would be education. For that matter not just managing the country but for doing anything responsible.
As on politics, don't you think people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Remember people like Manmohan Singh (no less a scholar than an IITian) losing from South Delhi once, supposed to be inhabited by 'educated kind'. We all want clean politics, but when it comes to voting, no one is ready to eschew his own caste/religion interests in favor of a candidate who might otherwise be the 'cleanest'.
Politics in India is a gutter and we hope that these guys will be able to cleanse it to some extent. Whether they suceed or not is a different issue-but the very fact that they have thought and implemented something is applaudable thousands of praise.
There is a saying that "Youth will have its swing" or that most inventions were attempted by youth who at that time did not know that they were inventions. One should still laud the initiative though it is different from Michael Dell of Bill Gates opting out of universities to start businesses.
At stated in the end, the whole issue is one of accountability. It is strange that for management goals we are accountable to our bosses on a daily or weekly basis but people in public life have no such accountability once they are elected.
Rajiv Gandhi with 400 MP's in parliament had stated that only 15 percent of the actual funds reached the poor. So the issue is not what the party stands for but how they are going to implement. Indira Gandhi coined the slogan "Garibi hatao" but it was Narasimha Rao/ Manmohan Singh who actually did it with liberalization. Even Dhirubhai Ambani was great because of implementation.
Anybody can launch a party with idealistic slogans which stalwarts from the film industry also did during emergency with the nationalist party. It turned out to be schoolboy enthusiasm.
Even if just to save our civilisation's past, what we need is a party that makes no bones about being influenced by our history but refuses to blindly follow regional/religious divisions...... If Gandhiji could quote the vedas and follow the Bhagvad Gita yet be act as a messiah for both religions, why can't we?
If these guys can draw crowd and make them listen, and remain focused on goals germane to their conviction, its good. But I fear the convinced-altruism of the IIT/IIM sort might make them think of this as some kind of non-profit start up. Politicians are made in Universities. IIT/IIMs, so far have been notable exceptions.
Notwithstanding my eternal, perpetual cynicism, my Best Wishes are with them.
Go, make a difference!
Getting back to the original topic - the IITians joining politics. My lengthy defence of a group of people I do not know personally is based merely on a matter of principle. Everybody deserves a chance.
Of course, politicians must be accountable, whether they are cowherds or IITians. Magar abhi to innings shuru hi hui hai... what follows may be a series of ducks or some brilliant centuries.
Let's wait and watch.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The Inner Voice: Can you hear it?
"Mani Ratnam's Yuva turned real, with five IITians deciding to join mainstream politics", reported TOI.
The party - Paritrana - was launched in Jodhpur in the year 2006. Paritrana means 'complete relief from various causes of distress and that is what we want to do for our people'.
Brave. Foolish. Idealistic. All of that - and more.
Tanmay Rajpurohit, who's done his MTech from Georgia Tech after a BTech (Aerospace) from IIT B is the party President. Other office bearers include Ajit Shukla, Smit Bisen, Chandrashekhar and Bharat Sundaram - all IIT B and IIT K graduates.
Says Shukla, "My inner voice told me I should invest in my efforts in country instead of making my pocket heavier... People think we are crazy so much so that our families have also failed to understand our motto, but we won't give up."
Deadly thing, this inner voice. That's why most folks pretend they can't hear it. Or choose to drown it out. Because listening to it may mean acting in ways which are strange and unacceptable in society.
Of course the families of these young men would be upset. IIT kya is liye bheja tha? But as Mahatma Gandhi once said: "There are moments in your life when you must act, even though you cannot carry your best friends with you. The 'still small voice' within you must always be the final arbiter when there is a conflict of duty".
Which, ultimately, is what these young men did.
Let's not make too much expectations.....
Let's not be too sceptic either.........
Their effort needs encouragement and support..........
Let's not burden them with more n more expectations.....
It's great effort for great cause......
There must be nothing to regret,no matter what are the results...
Not all the start up succeed in change we wish.....
and more importantly there would be no change if we just wish....
In the end.....Efforts matter as much than the end....b'coz there is no guaranteed ways to success.
I really appreciate the initiative taken by these guys and I m sure many youngsters want to do something good for our country and everybody knows that the main problem lies in this Political system. If we can't take such initiative, at least we should give them the support in achieving their goal.
The fact that they have taken a bold step to give up lucrative careers gives a hint of commitment, passion and objective in them. They are young and may not have everything that's required to run a successful political party. We should help them in anyway possible to help achieve the objective in the best interests of country. With the support of young, educated and passionate people, this party can only get stronger to compete with existing political parties and bring about a considerable change in a positive way. Good politics and governance can make India a superpower. We are not loosing anything by giving these guys a chance to make a difference.
I hope Paritrana will be the answer to India's Future. Lets first stop analzying on whether they would be successful or not.
Deep inside the heart every true Indian wants to do something for India. So lets see how we can help them rather ridicule or doubt them. I can understand where they are coming from. If they are able to give up their career and do something for India, dont you think its our responsibility to see how we can help them and help our country. I can assure there are 1000's of people like me who are sandwiched between the right decision I truly believe that young peopel like them can and will turn the path of India.
Kindly stay away from religion when it comes to politics. I really salute these guys for having so much of guts and passion to follow their dreams. So use our network to make them more powerful. Let's use our students network to gather men and power for the party and see how we can contribute to the country.
I apologize openly to anyone if I had stepped on your toes , so plz dont come back with a rational logic to defend ur negative statement towards the party. I never said you are wrong , I just request everyone to see things with a positive way. I know everyone is true from their perspective. All I am requesting is to help them and not to be a faultfinder.
When will we learn to think positive? Our minds have become so much used to doubting only the positive things. You doubt a person's honesty and you require proofs to believe in his honesty, but believe in his dishonesty almost comes immediately without any proofs. Have you realized this? Greatest of the distances can sometimes be covered by taking smallest of the steps in the right direction. I guess Paritrana is a right step, though small, in the right direction. Kudos to them!! They are at least planning to make a difference in the current scenario of our polluted politics. There are different categories of people:
1.People who accept the things as they are.
2. People who take responsibility to change things and do something good.
3.People who join and follow the second category of people to support them.
4. People who keep passing negative comments about all the other categories of people.
I would definitely not like to be in the last category, rather would like to be in the third category when it comes to Paritrana. Once again, congrats to the founders of Paritrana!!
Segmund Freud had once said that intution should be used to choose major decisions. It is said that "Great decisions are made through the heart, not the head". Even industrialists use more of gut-feel than analysis to arrive at the final decision on whether to go in or not for mega projects.
Good governance cannot come about without competence. There are too many incompetent Indian politicians and that is why we have a bad governance.
Because staying motivated and free of self doubt is always a challenge. One that I am sure both Sidin and the 5 young men at Paritrana will meet head on.
Have you tuned in to your inner voice lately? If you have everything and still feel empty inside, it might be time to slow down. Stop. And listen.
The party - Paritrana - was launched in Jodhpur in the year 2006. Paritrana means 'complete relief from various causes of distress and that is what we want to do for our people'.
Brave. Foolish. Idealistic. All of that - and more.
Tanmay Rajpurohit, who's done his MTech from Georgia Tech after a BTech (Aerospace) from IIT B is the party President. Other office bearers include Ajit Shukla, Smit Bisen, Chandrashekhar and Bharat Sundaram - all IIT B and IIT K graduates.
Says Shukla, "My inner voice told me I should invest in my efforts in country instead of making my pocket heavier... People think we are crazy so much so that our families have also failed to understand our motto, but we won't give up."
Deadly thing, this inner voice. That's why most folks pretend they can't hear it. Or choose to drown it out. Because listening to it may mean acting in ways which are strange and unacceptable in society.
Of course the families of these young men would be upset. IIT kya is liye bheja tha? But as Mahatma Gandhi once said: "There are moments in your life when you must act, even though you cannot carry your best friends with you. The 'still small voice' within you must always be the final arbiter when there is a conflict of duty".
Which, ultimately, is what these young men did.
Let's not make too much expectations.....
Let's not be too sceptic either.........
Their effort needs encouragement and support..........
Let's not burden them with more n more expectations.....
It's great effort for great cause......
There must be nothing to regret,no matter what are the results...
Not all the start up succeed in change we wish.....
and more importantly there would be no change if we just wish....
In the end.....Efforts matter as much than the end....b'coz there is no guaranteed ways to success.
I really appreciate the initiative taken by these guys and I m sure many youngsters want to do something good for our country and everybody knows that the main problem lies in this Political system. If we can't take such initiative, at least we should give them the support in achieving their goal.
The fact that they have taken a bold step to give up lucrative careers gives a hint of commitment, passion and objective in them. They are young and may not have everything that's required to run a successful political party. We should help them in anyway possible to help achieve the objective in the best interests of country. With the support of young, educated and passionate people, this party can only get stronger to compete with existing political parties and bring about a considerable change in a positive way. Good politics and governance can make India a superpower. We are not loosing anything by giving these guys a chance to make a difference.
I hope Paritrana will be the answer to India's Future. Lets first stop analzying on whether they would be successful or not.
Deep inside the heart every true Indian wants to do something for India. So lets see how we can help them rather ridicule or doubt them. I can understand where they are coming from. If they are able to give up their career and do something for India, dont you think its our responsibility to see how we can help them and help our country. I can assure there are 1000's of people like me who are sandwiched between the right decision I truly believe that young peopel like them can and will turn the path of India.
Kindly stay away from religion when it comes to politics. I really salute these guys for having so much of guts and passion to follow their dreams. So use our network to make them more powerful. Let's use our students network to gather men and power for the party and see how we can contribute to the country.
I apologize openly to anyone if I had stepped on your toes , so plz dont come back with a rational logic to defend ur negative statement towards the party. I never said you are wrong , I just request everyone to see things with a positive way. I know everyone is true from their perspective. All I am requesting is to help them and not to be a faultfinder.
When will we learn to think positive? Our minds have become so much used to doubting only the positive things. You doubt a person's honesty and you require proofs to believe in his honesty, but believe in his dishonesty almost comes immediately without any proofs. Have you realized this? Greatest of the distances can sometimes be covered by taking smallest of the steps in the right direction. I guess Paritrana is a right step, though small, in the right direction. Kudos to them!! They are at least planning to make a difference in the current scenario of our polluted politics. There are different categories of people:
1.People who accept the things as they are.
2. People who take responsibility to change things and do something good.
3.People who join and follow the second category of people to support them.
4. People who keep passing negative comments about all the other categories of people.
I would definitely not like to be in the last category, rather would like to be in the third category when it comes to Paritrana. Once again, congrats to the founders of Paritrana!!
Segmund Freud had once said that intution should be used to choose major decisions. It is said that "Great decisions are made through the heart, not the head". Even industrialists use more of gut-feel than analysis to arrive at the final decision on whether to go in or not for mega projects.
Good governance cannot come about without competence. There are too many incompetent Indian politicians and that is why we have a bad governance.
Because staying motivated and free of self doubt is always a challenge. One that I am sure both Sidin and the 5 young men at Paritrana will meet head on.
Have you tuned in to your inner voice lately? If you have everything and still feel empty inside, it might be time to slow down. Stop. And listen.
Hot chocolate Lux
Both, ostensibly, to celebrate '75 years of Lux'. And beyond the column-inches these activities may generate, neither is going to do anything for the brand in the long run.
The Lux strategy was especially confused and confusing. The brand is being stretched across the entire customer spectrum. So there's a soap cake being sold for 13 bucks and a White Spa body wash costing Rs 70.
A new 'chocolate seduction' soap.
A 'sandalwood + honey' variant.
A purple 'Aromatic Glow' variant.
The idea appeared to be: ek hi teer se saare competitors ko maar do. But that usually doesn't work.
A single brand can't be a Lux AND a Palmolive Aromatherapy AND a Santoor AND in liquid form, an economical alternative to Bath & Body Works.
And this was especially applicable if the brand reworked only its image and not the formulation.
No seduction here
Yes, I actually bought the Lux chocolate soap. My verdict: Melody may be chocolatey, Lux still isn't.
The shape, look and feel was very nice but the soap SMELLED like any old regular Lux soap. So you never feel seduced by the 'chocolate' element.
Fragrance is in my opinion far more integral to a soap's appeal than how it looks. And for those who think that a chocolate smell in soap is unappealing - think again!
Try any foreign cocoa butter lotion. Or if you are in Bangalore's Garuda mall check out the shop on the first floor which sells 'hand made' bath products.
The delicious smell wafts into your nose while you're on the floor above! Everything in that shop is absolutely fascinating. The chocolate soap is chopped off for you from a cake-like brick. Looks good enough to eat...
The only sad bit is the company is from the UK and insists on charging UK prices. An 800 rupee soap was a bit much - even in the name of indulgence. You feel like the soap would have to be guarded and sparingly used. And what if it melts in the soap dish and turns into mush?
I don't understand how they managed to take a topless woman, slather her in chocolate, and somehow get a result that just isn't sexy.
These ad campaigns probably bring about the early birds who would like to try anything new... But in the long run, Lux will need to stick to its USP: Delivering the middle-class housewife a soap that would make her feel like an on-screen diva! Remember, Lux is a Sitaron ka Saabun!!!
Well Lux has a simple positioning - Filmi sitoron ka saundrya sabun. The beauty soap of Film stars. The entire strategy is probably to give this positioning a lively new feel.
Their target is less "people like you and me" but more an average typical Indian housewife. They are found in large numbers in India - who live by dreaming themselves in the clothes, makeups and styles of film stars. They gossip about them. They love to try things that these film stars suggest.
SRK - was & is an error - I am sure that's why that ad suddenly became "gayab" - because it did not go with the aspirations of the traditional housewife in India.
Was Kareena & Chocolate also an error - probably yes!! becasue the whole theme seemed to be targetted at a younger audience - less to the taste of the typical housewives.
However, coming from an HUL one wishes thay had done the research they are known for. If thats the case - may be the face of the typical Indian housewife might have undergone a transformation before we took notice.
Well tried HUL. May you succeed.
Ha, you can see how hard I had to work to convince myself it wasn't worth buying. Now that is what I call chocolate seduction.
Eat your heart out, Kareena!
Gaming, serious? Really ??
Well, here is this piece in the Business standard that seems to think so or at least wants us to believe so.
Xbox is pretty similar to Playstation and offers more or less the same technical specifications. Though officially now available in India, it has still created quite a stir among gamers in the country.
And it is still big, eh?
PS 2 sold about 100,000 units in the country and was expecting to see an upward swing after the launch of PS 3. PS 3 was said to be one of the most awaited gizmos.
The sound of big. Hundred thousand units. Check out the console wars section of wikipedia for some dope on whats big.
Gaming is niche, niche and niche. It is not mainstream, not yet. In a country where PC penetration is yet to be "big", I fail to see how gaming can be big. One thing that does have potential is mobile gaming and here too, numbers are low.
Xbox is pretty similar to Playstation and offers more or less the same technical specifications. Though officially now available in India, it has still created quite a stir among gamers in the country.
And it is still big, eh?
PS 2 sold about 100,000 units in the country and was expecting to see an upward swing after the launch of PS 3. PS 3 was said to be one of the most awaited gizmos.
The sound of big. Hundred thousand units. Check out the console wars section of wikipedia for some dope on whats big.
Gaming is niche, niche and niche. It is not mainstream, not yet. In a country where PC penetration is yet to be "big", I fail to see how gaming can be big. One thing that does have potential is mobile gaming and here too, numbers are low.
Mobile Gaming: Too many 'wrong numbers'
ET declared: "Paid download figures for mobile games are around 600,000 a month but it could be anything between 50-60% more".
Huh? Why can't ET arrive at a fixed figure for number of paid downloads after speaking to all mobile operators? I can understand operators overstating downloads - why would they understate them by 50% ??
Incidentally, on 22 Nov 2005, Hindu Businessline reported 450,000 downloads a month. "And it is growing by 30-40 per cent". Annually, or monthly? Must be the latter if it's 600,000 less than 45 days later - which is impressive.
Perspective, please
Hutch said that it had had a 50 fold rise on downloads (from 2200 per month in Feb 2005 to 120,000 per month currently). But while growth is heady the numbers are chickenfeed compared to ringtone downloads - 300,000 a DAY.
That's about 9 million downloads a month.
Of course the average ringtone costs Rs 10-15 while the average game costs Rs 50. Still 80% of Value Added Services revenue come from ringtone and caller tunes as of now; games accounts for 2-8%.
In light of that statistic, this statement by the Business Standard does not make sense: "Within a year, the market (for mobile games in India) has expanded from a mere Rs 25 crore to at least Rs 80 crore in 2005".
3rd standard mathematics problem: The ringtone market in 2005 was estimated at Rs 150 crores (a figure that appeared correct given the no of downloads X Rs 10-15 per download formula).
8% of Rs 150 crores? Closer to 12 crores than 80 crores!
CIOL on the other hand estimated (correctly, I think) that the market size of wireless/mobile games in India was US $3 million (Rs 13.5 crores) in 2004. They explain how the figure was arrived at:
It is estimated that, on average, there are 200,000 downloads of games via GPRS network of the cellular mobile players - Orange, Airtel, Idea, and BPL. The market size estimation assumes an average charge of Rs 50 per download.
Elementary, my dear Watson. Maybe all journalists should be put through a compulsory course in addition and multiplication!
And oh, somewhere in the equation lie another 15 million free game downloads in the CDMA space.
More maths lessons
Sorry for throwing all these figures at you - honestly I am the last person to show off when it comes to mathematics (my worst subject at school). But bear with me, there is a point in all this somewhere.
Currently India has approximately 76 million mobile-phone subscribers .
The question is - how many have GPRS/ java/ colour screen handsets? Pyramid Research, an Economist Group company estimated that "almost a third of Indian mobile users are restricted from gaming due to a lack of sophisticated handset availability".
The Pyramid survey showed that around 32% of cellphone users in India played games on their mobiles - double the UK figure. Obviously these were pre-loaded games like Snake, given that we don't see corresponding figures of downloads.
Again I fail to understand how this FE journalist concluded that "Indian mobile gaming market constitutes 5% of the world share".In 2004 the mobile gaming market in China ALONE topped $98 million.
Arun Gupta, COO Mauj Telecom said, "With the introduction of faster networks and colour java handsets becoming more affordable, the Indian mobile gaming market was expected to grow tenfold in five years."
Fair enough - sounds entirely plausible. But according to a research by In-Stat/MDR , the Indian mobile gaming market was projected to grow to $336 million by 2010.
From $3 million in 2004 to $ 336 million is um... just not going to happen. The analysts are in the business of making dizzying projections - the figures get printed - everyone feels good.
It's like the astrologer who makes yearly predictions. No one checks back on the 99 things he predicted which did NOT come true (I distinctly remember one gent who predicted on Jan 1 2005 that Salman and Aishwarya would get back together..)
Magar agar ek bhi prediction sahi nikli - ya 50% bhi sahi nikli - both astrologer and analyst ki lottery lag gayi!
Who's playing
Back to the gaming conundrum. You and me know ringtones are huge - everyone has them. But games? Ask 10 people around you and it's unlikely that any has downloaded a mobile game.
Survey after survey confirms that the 15-22 year old India metro-based youth is not an avid mobile gamer - at least not of the download variety.
Why? For one, they aren't impressed with the quality of games on offer. Most Indian developers are churning out a large quantity of games but there's no one game that's proved addictive enough to spread by word-of-mouth and become a must-have.
Secondly, Rs 50 (going upto Rs 150) is not a sum you want to throw away on a dud game download. Earlier operators did allow you to download a trial version of a game for Rs 20 but that seems to have been scrapped.
So neither do we have a killer app in mobile gaming, nor a price so low that the average Anand doesn't think twice before making an impulse download.
Games at throwaway prices (I'm thinking Rs 10) could expand downloads significantly. Mobile operators know better than anyone else that once they've hooked you, they've cooked you. That, and they would need to identify a few 'killer games' which junta would want to own.
The combination of affordability + desirability is crucial.
The Action shifts
The interesting thing is, currently B and C towns are driving a large portion of the growth in value-added services for the mobile industry. Techtree reported:
In such towns, mobile entertainment cost is almost considered as mainstream entertainment, because of the lack of an alternative."
Which is why Mauj launched mobile games in Hindi and 7 regional languages including Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Urdu. The move was targeted at regional audiences, as only 3 to 5 percent of the populace is familiar with English.
The 3 games developed by Mauj - "Mastibhari Udaan," "Saahas Ka Yudh," and "Jaanbaaz".
This is also why Bollywood based games are finding favour with developers. According to Mid-day: On average, a movie sells 7,000 to 10,000 copies with more popular movies like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun even going up to 25,000 downloads. The Sholay game, which kicked off the Bollywood-mobile gaming frenzy had over 50,000 downloads.
This puts all other languages, other than Hindi at a sub-par level and we know this is not true. I hope you will take note of what I said in the right spirit :-).
Again, you and me would probably not download these games - but their appeal to the large mass of users is high. So they do make good business sense.
Among the SEC A and B metro crowd Nokia's Ngage was high on the most-wanted list last year. But now, the camera and FM have reduced its appeal.
Bottomline: Mobile gaming will grow in popularity - since the base is small to begin with the growth will appear spectacular. But better - and more affordable - games are the need of the hour.
And honest statistics derived from common sense calculations need to be used by the breathless reporters helping to hype up the phenomenon. Wrong numbers are inevitable in telecom. They should not be, in journalism!
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