Appreciating a new genre of hindi movies

Dibakar Banerjee just moved few notches up in my great director's list. Ahem, methinks me is a great reviewer of movies ;-)

But seriously, compare his movies Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. Look at the protagonist, then we understand the effort the director and scriptwriter has put in creating the character.

Chiraunjilal aka Cherry and Lucky are not very different. There is a fire simmering within but the triggers are different. Cherry is far more controlled and jumps in when his father gets pushed in a corner.

Lucky is more enamoured in the superficial but his crossing the line comes with a full knowledge of ones own wrongdoing. He is never disillusioned that he is doing something correct. The strife within comes to the surface in his drinking binge when he meets his family. His heart breaks for his father (whom he has detested so far).

The director Dibakar gives us some fantastic characters to study and observe. While Khosla ka Ghosla is intended to keep spirits up with light humour, Oye Lucky delves deeper inside the skin. Both films are on a backdrop of rising spending power and its interpretation by the two protagonists. That backdrop is not to be missed.

Dont miss out on the actors either - underrated power performers.

Great going hindi cinema!

Mystic Music from the Master at IIMA

We, at IIMA, had the privilege of listening to the sweetest sound that man has produced from wood. On a mild winter evening of 29th January 2009, the great Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia enthralled the audience in Chaos 2009 with his flute magic.

I am a novice in classical music and generally depend on what my parents or colleagues recommend to me. I seriously need to change this and start proactively listening to more of this. Yesterday’s performance certainly took me in a mood that was soothing and calming. So soothing that I felt lighter and so calming that I completely forgot about my pending assignments ;-)

I reached there with a time limit, mindful of the assignments. But then I soon lost all consciousness in the magical ragas coming from Panditji and his colleagues. I tried to remember the names they told, but I think I need more education in this field.

What is interesting is the practice these maestros put in to achieve these heights. The 4 human beings on the stage never looked at each other or told each other. They just knew what each other wanted, expected and it was delivered that way. On tabla, was Pt. Ghate who would spice up the rhythm every once in a while. As that happened, it was amazing to see the expression of joy and fun in the other artists up there. They just knew where the music was taking the audience.

As I walked back to the dining hall, a few questions lingered in my mind....

In this running around behind goals and targets, can we take a pause and practice a game so much that we become masters like Pt. Chaurasia and Pt. Ghate? Can we, unconsciously, independently and reflexively, perform our tasks so well that together comes an output that is as harmonious and sweet as Shri Krishna’s music? Is it worthwhile to skip experimenting and work on mastering an art so well that world gets awed by the final output?

I don’t have the answers but I would like to think on these lines more.

- Siddharth

Articles on Mumbai Attacks

Now that the Taj and Oberoi have been attacked one can expect some action from our very effective politicians. Hopefully, not with the same efficiency that was seen after Mumbai blasts, Ahmedabad blasts etc.
(Did you observe the "etc." there? Yes, per the standard rules of English, this usage is a valid and reasonable in this case. Soon we will be able to use it twice at the end "Blasts attacks etc. etc.")

Oh sorry, was just supposed to list down the articles,

Sadanand Dhume in WSJ
Rama Bijapurkar in ET
Jerry Rao in Indian Express

Will keep adding as I read them...

The charm of Status quo...

We love status quo, don't we?

As we see the chronology of events, there is a sense of deja-Vu dawning on us.

This in Mumbai, blasts in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore....

Each incident followed by assurances. We will not bow down....we will tackle terror in strongest possible way....we will get back to them.

Then the call for accountability...in the various boxing rings on various media channels who are really the epitome of reporting. They are fair no doubt...fair to the terrorists to whom they gave the live feeds...fair to shocked victims who came out of hotel yet the fair journalist poked his/her mic in his face...fair to the nation which has no clue which drain has swallowed its tax money. Oh yes they are fair!

Then amnesia strikes...ah the blessed moments at film fests, tech fests, and whichever fests....

Then another blast somewhere....

the chronology repeats...

deja vu...

Process maintained - status quo maintained.

Mighty Guests enthrall PGPX 3

Well, well, well....in term 3 we have been having a "Who's who" of industry visiting us and delivering amazing lectures.

Yesterday we had, Dr. Krish Chilukuri of Goodrich talking about the complexities of B2B marketing. It was a superb insight in what strategy means, what it means to get various ingredients like customer focus, costing and employee culture together in the area of highest technology in the world.

Today we had, Mr. Arun Maira of Boston Consulting Group addressing us on the contentious issue of Capitalism. His insights on how to popularize Capitalism by transforming it into a people movement was amazing. His passion towards this movement was touching and the questions he posed at the end of the address will remain with us for many years to come....

- Siddharth