Random Musings

• After a very long time, we went for a movie on Sunday afternoon, and did not find tickets. Not in one theatre, but in two of them, in fact. Ultimately had to get tickets for a later show. That gave me the first indication that this may yet be something special!
• And indeed, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) turned out to be a fun-filled, refreshing, enjoyable fare, amongst the best releases of the year so far.

• First let’s get the comparisons with Dil Chahata Hai, out of the way. Yes, DCH was also a Farhan Akhtar film, though he had directed the same. Here it is his production, but his sister is the one who’s directing it. Could the siblings think so alike? Could their creative talents be so similar? Well, maybe. Why not? OR.. Farhan did have a hand in shaping this film , beyond being an actor and a producer?
• So the resemblance to DCH is uncanny. Its a film about three dudes on a pre-wedding, last bachelor trip (in DCH, they were a little younger and marriage had not crossed their minds just then). To that extent, there’s a shade of Hangover also. So it’s similar to that extent, and yet its different in many ways.
• I would still rate DCH a notch higher, more from the point of view of it being an iconic film, having just that little extra meat in the story, and the characters of all three protagonists being developed a shade deeper, and all of them going through some turmoil. And hence the story being that much more meaningful.
• In ZNMD on the other hand, what we have is largely a slice of life. Rest of the mental anguish and other factors, are relatively superficial. The hunt for Dad or ‘is it the right time or person for marriage’ are relatively lesser issues, than what the characters grappled with, in DCH.
• That apart, ZNMD is still a lot of fun, with a new kind of genre that I discovered recently, namely called “bromancing”. An interesting concept around male bonding, without elements of homosexuality.
• So this is a bulleted review, rather a few bullets of my thoughts about the film. Here are things that I liked most..
• I’m in love with Spain. Would so love to do the road trip these guys took. Certainly goes into my travel wish-list. (Travel destination companies – if you have something to flaunt, get folks like Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar interested to make a movie there, and you will not need to do any other form of marketing!)
• Abhay Deol is not quite the stupid, funny simpleton that Saif was in DCH. But he is the quiet and cooler one of the three, for sure. But he shows he can act. After Sunny, he may yet be the Deol to carry the family name ahead. I also did not realize he was that tall. Or at least they make him appear to be tall enough!
• We all know that Hrithik is the best dancer around, and all he needs to do is “Just Dance”. And I had heard that Farhan can shake a leg too. But was surprised again, to see Abhay Deol match them step for step. Good fun dance moves, over some decent Spanish style foot tapping music.
• The philosophical aspects of the story are there. The quest to do some dangerous adventure sports, as per an old college pact, and the resultant overcoming of one’s biggest insecurities, is the underlying message. Works well. Fun to see on screen, the adventure sports are a great backdrop in all respects.
• Farhan Akhtar has written the dialogues for the film too. And there is a snappiness in them. Quite like the cool conversation that dudes would have these days. And in the dialogues, and on screen, you can see that Farhan has an amazing sense of timing. Is that his guilt that holds him back, even as Hrithik (in the early part of the film) takes jibes at him? Perhaps. You can see him getting a little angry and then stopping short.
• I don’t know about Kalki. Really, what is it about her that people see? She’s pretty ordinary looking, okay as an actor. So yes, she is just so-so.
• Katrina on the other hand, is a surprise package here.

• First of all, the intrigue that one may have felt on seeing the drop of mango drink, Slice, on the sensuous lips of Katrina Kaif, has now been demystified. For Hrithik and the audience. 🙂
• Second of all, Katrina shows that she can act well. She has a good role and she does total justice to it, and I mean way beyond that one kiss.
• Of course, the film is a lot about Hrithik. Another power packed performance by the perfectionist. Well, they talk about Aamir Khan being the best in the business today. I think they are not giving enough credit then, to Hrithik. He also picks his projects well, and then packs a punch. This one is another fabulous work of his!
• And finally, I think the piece-de-resistance of the film is its climax. The bull-racing scene. From daring to do that kind of scene, to the emotions that the actors show before and during the run, the fabulous picturization, what it means in life to all of them, it is truly pulsating. It is the kind of finish that leaves you grasping for more, as you get out of your seats and walk out of the cinema house. Totally brilliant.

This post is fundamentally about the film, Buddha Hoga Tera Baap, which I happened to see today. But it has brought up a couple of analogies.

While seeing BHTB, I saw the trailer of Gandhi and Hitler. Interesting juxtaposition of two leaders, who lived around the same time. Both extremely ambitious for their own countries, but both having totally different approaches. This week also saw, in Wimbledon, one of the earliest exits for Federer. One who had ruled these courts for long, one for whom grass was like second nature. And yet he crashed out, after being 2 sets to nil, up!

I am a die-hard fan, and I do not like to see this. I wish he’d just retire, before suffering more embarrassment. I mean, he has toyed with these guys in the past. He has won convincingly. He has RULED. Why make the fans see such pain?

And that is the exact thought I have for Amitabh Bacchan too, after seeing Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.

The man who gave us Deewar and Amar Akbar Anthony and Namak Halaal and Silsila and Trishul and scores of fantastic hits, why oh why does he need to try so damn hard, to make stupid stuff like Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.

It is one thing where a film maker wants to serenade an old veteran and give him a lot of space. But let him take a good script at least, to start with. I mean, roles like Black and Paa (I have not seen the latter, only heard about it) are what an admiring director can do, for Amitabh, if he wants to. Why make him (and the audience) go through stuff like BHTB??

So what’s wrong with BHTB??

1. There is no semblance of a story line. In fact, the so-called story line is so wafer thin, that if you blow a little air into it, it cracks!

2. I think the director is not clear till the end, if he wants to do a gangsta flick, a revenge drama, a comedy, or what. In the end, instead of taking a decision, he lets it all be, and makes a bhel puri of it, that is totally messed up.

3. So fine, it is an Amitabh movie. Must that mean, that veterans like Hema Malini and Raveena Tandon, not to speak of the other two babes, must be shown as wall decorations in the film? Raveena’s treated like a joker, and Hema Malini has such a tiny role, with no room to emote. And she does that well. In the very few scenes that she has, she comes out looking lost. Like she’s wondering,”what am I doing here?”!

4. So Amitabh gets tones of footage. He’s probably in 80% of the scenes. It is a role that is kind of similar to his role in Bunty aur Babli. But there was some story there, and the character had a style. Here, the director has tried to give him style by dressing him up gaudily. One can pardon that, but he looks like he’s trying too hard. And that is not good. The effort shows, where he’d normally look effortless in his films. And in spite of the best of efforts to hide his age, there are scenes, where he actually looks old! Yeah, an actual buddha..!

5. There are too many unanswered questions. The director does not bother about these. LIke how did Amitabh know about the underworld threat to the ACP, while being in Paris. Like, what is the Godman connection? Like the I Hate Luv Stories angle of the marriage bureau guy. What’s that for? And things of such kind.

If you have not seen BHTB, I’d recommend that you save your precious time and money, and give it a skip.

I hope Delhi Belly is better fare..

And I repeat, I’d rather remember Federer for his smooth and flawless tennis, than for his early losses in Slams, to many people, at this point.

Likewise, I’d rather remember Amitabh as the Jai of Sholay, as Vijay Dinanath Chavan, as Anthony Gonzalves, etc. rather than remember him for stupidity like Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.. !

With all the admiration that we have for Mukesh Ambani, it is clear that the learning cycle for a large B2B conglomerate (with all of its legacies) getting into a B2C retail business, is huge.

Yes, Mukesh turned it around in Reliance Telecom those days when he managed it, and he has admitted that he made mistakes there, and he will make mistakes in retail as well. But he will learn.

So here’s my humble attempt to showcase one such mistake.

Waiting at a traffic signal last evening, I saw this store at the corner there, with the store board showing this logo:

And for a moment, I wondered what it was about.

Well, I am a little more interested in the retail vertical, and have kept an eye on Reliance’s efforts, so it came to me quickly. That this was Reliance Retail’s jewelry store brand.

But looking at a logo like this, one could easily wonder if this was a petrol pump, or a telecom store, or some office of India’s largest corporation, or perhaps the entrance to the new residence of Mukesh Ambani?!

No seriously, WHAT IS THIS?? The old style (and boring, for a retail brand) logo of Reliance, and then a running hand, “Jewels” written below it. It appears like the logo design had got totally missed out, and the night before the store was to open, they realized it. And some intern in Reliance Retail, went to Adobe Photoshop, and put this together. Right?!

When you are in the business of petroleum to plastics, and whatever scores of other businesses that Reliance is into (and I refer only the Mukesh Ambani group here), do you HAVE to put the Reliance logo, in all your retail brands too? NOBODY does this.. you don’t have an Aditya Birla More, or a Tata Croma? While you do have a Wal-mart and Sam’s Club, these are not Walton Wal-Mart and Walton Sam’s Club, for God’s sake! Even if they were, in case of Wal-mart, there is still some justification, for a pure retail conglomerate that it is.

But when Reliance if fundamentally associated with plastics and petroleum, pushing that name and logo, in front of it’s retail names, is doing the retail brands a great disservice.

And yet, he may still get away with a Reliance Fresh, but Reliance Jewels? That too, written in the way shown above? It’s a disaster!!

Jewelry trade has on the one hand, the traditional family jeweler brands, like the Tribhovandas Bhimji Jewelers or Popley’s Jewelers, for example. And then there are new-age, smart sounding brands like Gili or Geetanjali Jewelers or an Anmol. Reliance Jewels does not fit in either of the two styles.

If it needed to take on the family jeweler style, perhaps Dhirubhai Ambani Jewelers or a Mukesh Ambani Jewelers, might have been the road to go (would not have worked – this is just to drive home a point!), but the better idea would have been to christen the stores, with some new-age, smart branding. And put a tagline at the bottom, if you must, saying that it is a Reliance Retail venture.

And do the same for the other formats too. Why carry the baggage, and restricted branding that the word and logo or Reliance forces?? Let it go. Create a new name, a new brand altogether.

And this perhaps, is one of the reasons why Reliance Retail has not taken off. It starts from this kind of basics! And if this is so apparent, there may be other challenges inside the organization, as old B2B style working methods may also be forced on, to a retail organization, that needs to operate very differently. The branding imposition perhaps is a visible symptom of a larger challenge inside??

Many years back, as a kid, I remember the Gujarati magazine, Chitralekha, coming home. And my parents enjoying the column, “Duniya na Undha Chashma’. The antics of Jetha and Tapuda and Bapuji were hilarious, and though I did not read much Gujarati, through Mom and Dad, I had got a good feel of it.

Years later, it was interesting to see the same stories converted into a Hindi television sitcom, in the form of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah. When it hit the air, I had my doubts. Whether a story set in the 70s could be adapted well, to current times. Whether today’s folks will find it to be of interest.

But as time has proven, this serial remains one of the most popular comedies on TV, and has been running successfully, for a few years now!

What is it’s magic? Why does it work so well?

Interestingly, at a time when saas-bahus, and Sheilas and Munnis dominate the entertainment space, this sitcom is as far away from those, as chalk is to cheese.

So does it provide the right balance of the Sheilas and the Munnis? Perhaps so.

But other then that, this story of a society in suburban Mumbai, filled with middle class families, has many elements that work well.

There are stereotypical community families. The traditional Maharashtrians, the Sikh and Parsi couple, South Indian-Bangali couple, and of course, the Gujjus!! Folks see a little of their own selves as such.

All of the characters have been developed well, and all get their space under the sun. It is not about just the protagonists. In fact, the entire cast is central to the story and the episodes.

The episodes pack a decent dose of innocent humour, generate sympathy for Jethabhai, laughter at the stupidity and audacity of Daya, and the antics of the kids and the voice of wisdom from Bapuji.

They celebrate, they have fights – which get sorted out soon, there are elements of love, there is the occasional tension.. pretty much a story of “all in a day’s life”.

Looks simple and innocent. On paper, it would not necessarily be predictable to be such a success. But all of these small elements have got together, to make a potent package. And day after day, there is an interesting episode that they manage to put together.

And in these days of slapstick humor, the episodes also put in a small message of wisdom. Which the character of Tarak Mehta himself conveys at the end of each episode.

Really interesting formula for success. I am happy to see such a combination work, in these days and times.

Cheers to Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah.. may there be more of these kinds on Indian television..

Anna Hazare and his friends took on the Congress. Enough is enough, with the corruption levels, they said.

Dhaval Valia, a customer of Vodafone, cribbed and screamed about the pathetic service levels, and incorrect claims, on service offerings, of Vodafone.

There are similarities about how the Congress and Vodafone reacted. Conversations in the Congress office / Vodafone office:

1. “Don’t worry about him, he will go away…”

2. “What can a single person do?”

3. “It is a BJP-RSS (Congress) / Competitor (Vodafone) conspiracy..”

4. “Lets just crush him down with our government / corporate machinery..”

…..

And then,….

5. “Oh my God, he is getting mass support..”

6. “Oh, there are candle light protests everywhere (Congress) / Facebook and Twitter protests everywhere (Vodafone)”

7. “How did this happen? How did a single person generate such following, so much support..?”

8. “We have to back down.. we have to to fix this.. we need to apologize.. we should wave the white flag.. ”

If there were elections right now, Congress would land up where Karuna’s done in TN.

If Vodafone had pushed the case against Dhaval Valia further, it could well have resulted in the biggest exodus out of Vodafone.

———————

The bell rang and the school recess was over. The children of class V-B came running back to their classroom and settled into their seats.

The teacher, Mr. Patil walked in to the room. The class quietened down, as he put his book on the table and looked at them.

Teacher: “Good afternoon, children.”

Children: “Good afterrrrnoooon, Sir.. “

Teacher: “So are you all ready for the Games class? As you know, today we are going to play cricket!”

Children: “YESSSSS”

Teacher: “Ok, but first you need to do some warm-up exercises”

Teacher (continuing): “First, you need to do your neck exercises. Move your neck slowly, all the way to the left, and then back to the centre, and then towards the right. Do this slowly, and continuously, for 5 times!”

Children start doing this.

There are some sounds of “ouch.. hey, watch it.. “ etc.

Teacher (shouts): “Go at the same slow pace, will you’ll? You know there is only 6 inches between your heads.. if you don’t go in synch, you will hit each other’s heads!” 

And the kids do it better..

Once they are done with the neck exercises, they need to do the next one.

Teacher: “Ok, next you are going to exercise your fingers. This is extremely critical. Lift up your hands like this. And with the hands held up, close your fingers into a fist. Tightly. Then open up wide. Then again close. Do this slowly, 20 times.. “

Children start doing that.

Teacher: “Good.. do you have your cricket kits ready?”

Children: “YESSS, SIR.. ” 

Teacher: “Ok.. you know what form of cricket we are playing today, don’t you?”

A child: “You mean, T20 or T10?”

Teacher: “No, I don’t mean that kind of format. I meant, Android or IOS.. Today we are playing the Android version of the cricket game on your Android phones. Not your iPhones. So you have your Android devices in your kits, right?” 

Children: “Yes, sir..”

Teacher: “Ok, then, go ahead and play.. !”

—————-

Meanwhile, A K Hangal who lives nearby, and who has failing eyesight now, begins his walk past the school compound.

As he passes by, what used to be the school playground, he asks, “Itna Sannata kyu hai, bhai? Bacche khel nahi rahe? Aaj chhutti hai kya?”

The school watchman says, “Chachaji, aap bahut din ke baad aaye ho, aisa lagta hai? Ab yaha koi ground nahi hai, aur koi bacche yaha khelte nahi hai!”