Entries from December 2007 ↓
December 28th, 2007 — Internet and web
December 24th, 2007 — India
Amir Khan has arrived as a Director, the perfectionist director.
Saw Taare Zameen Par yesterday, I was quite happy to see a simple and nice movie. Darsheel shines in full glory and Amir does that with full honesty and taking the back seat and focus more on a dyslexic child, his problem, his world and his self discovery. The last movie that I had seen was Sawariya, it just seem to be a showreel launch vehicle for Ranbir Kapoor with lots of blue-ish art-direction. Same was with Black - whenever it came on Television I had to lower down the volume - as it was shoutcasting affair from Amitabh or Rani.
Indian movies, back in 70s and 80s had a simple storyline and characters but as we started getting influenced and as everybody started becoming an ‘angry young man’ in their 40s - we lost touch with the reality and all our characters became so abnormal that we would put even Mr. Mask to shame.
If you see the good movies in last couple of years - Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Omkara, Munnabhai, Rang De Basanti and many others - all of them had a simple non-masala formula - they had a original story and very humane characters - who talked, walked and behaved like we all do.
It’s about Story
I was happy as an audience and a film buff that Amir made this attempt and even audiences are giving him a good response - sensible cinema was appreciated and will be appreciated. There is nothing like - "because people expect crap, we produce crap" logic given by Indian film producers. Otherwise, Munnabhai wouldn’t have been such a great hit - a movie which talks about Gandhi, his principles and our values in the society (which sounds very boring and completely non-commerical hindi cinema material)
It’s about the way you tell it
Munnabhai & TZP are actually serious movies, but tell their story quite interestingly. They are not like boring art movies of 80s which had to be boring to prove that they were intellectual movies. They used to be about social exploits, funded by government body and their makers dying to receive awards from the very corrupt politicians whom they criticised in their movies.
Masala - no more
I have heard this somewhere from a film critic that "we put so much masala in our movies, that it ends up being masala bullshit". And Naseeruddin Shan once said that "In future, if our kids asks us what was India like in the past, we won’t have any movie to show that - how we were, how we lived and how India was in reality". How true these two statements are, and unfortunately still valid. Pick up any recent movie and would you be able to cite it as an example of our current times or culture.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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December 20th, 2007 — India
India television informs that the Indian media and entertainment industry is set to grow at twice the rate of the country’s GDP and the main factors of these would be - a) regional players b) technology c) digitization of the media.
Wider access to Internet and change in consumer behaviour - with the latter migrating fast towards interactive platforms, will force the marketers also rethinking their strategy in terms of spending spots.
Earnst & Young estimates that though currently the online advertising revenue contributes a meager Rs 350 crores to a total of Rs 22,000 crore advertising market in India, advertising in the digital era is revolutionising the way brands connect with its consumers.
"To connect with these consumers, marketers are being forced to look beyond the traditional mass advertising model of 10-second spots and adopt interactive mechanisms to engage with them," the report says.
But to achieve this I think some greater push is required from the industry and also from the government to create the infrastructure to support this growth.
Television:
Most of the Indians have a ‘Home - Office - Home ‘ life and that wouldn’t change much hence Television is something that would not stop growing and there is sort of mimicing localization effect which seems to work very well. One successful show in Hindi or English - convert into a regional show and you have the local audience glued to the TV. Even with poor service from cable operators or DTH, people can live without food but not without TV. But these guys have to be more cautious while treating their young and influential audience - as these people are now spending more time on social networks and social media. The more you dumb down the more you would loose the creamy audience for which the advertizers pays for.
Mobile:
Again this caters to the aspirations of all the classes of people - strivers, aspirers and achievers, just the screen size and feature list changes for the mobile phones. Majority of the people are still voice customers but have taken on well some VAS stuff like - cricket scores, stock market updates, banking updates, and other basic stuff. All the major corporate now provide their employees with mobile internet and email equipped handsets and connection.
But the mobile operators have still very mediocre VAS applications - nothing beyond exploiting ringtones and cricket updates. I don’t really understand why they have no plans for personal communication & personal media sharing between their users. Every phone is now a camera phone and Indians love to stay connected and chat with their friends. Their goal should not be to push VAS offering but VAS which generates intercommunication between their users - MMS, Chat, Mobile Content and all that.
Online:
This is where you see lots of stuff happening and I think now you have established players in all the vertical segments you can think of, and that’s a good thing. I would really appreciate people like Indian Railways where you can book a ticket in midnight and get the ticket at 10 am on your doorstep. Then we have lots of engaging portals offering news, entertainment, videos, social network, user generated media and all the latest stuff happening online. Main stream media is trying hard to get into this space, but they end up doing offline things online and fail. Online user is not a commodity - he is a user, he is a consumer, he is contributor and he himself is a moderator. Think platform and do not think just as a publisher.
Government:
I think instead of just minting money from licenses and delayed policy implementation, the government should push for early adoption of technology and creating a healthy competition in all the sectors. Just try getting a broadband connection in financial capital - mumbai and the silicon valley of India - Bangalore and you would realize the level of ‘growth’. The delay in mobile spectrum allocation may really prove costly. Government should also involve private players in spreading the reach - why can’t we have free wi-fi on airport terminals - powered by some ISP with their ads all over the place - or a kiosk in village sponsored by a FMCG and internet access in Schools and Colleges through similar sponsoring. Make it open, make it bidding based and make it fast - business are dying out for such places to advertize.
Popularity: 100% [?]
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December 6th, 2007 — India
Well, I have finally left Bombay - the city of dreams or ‘Bollywood’ as some people call it. And, now I have moved to ‘Bangalore’ - the city of IT or the Silicon Valley of India.
Leaving Bombay was an easy decision for me but hard to execute (I realized it later). All my life, I had lived in Bombay, but somehow this love-hate relationship was budding up in my heart from quite sometime now. Work pressures, daily travel and weather was taking my toll and I was missing all the fun and whatever else that I could enjoy in life. OR I must be really looking for a change.
I will surely be missing all my friends, colleagues and lot of other good people from Bombay.
Bangalore is nice to me and much chilled out compared to Bombay. People out here are very nice, educated and helpful (other than Auto wallas). I enjoy the weather here, the personal time that I get, the people I work with , some nice parks where I can walk and everything rest. The only thing that I don’t like here is some chaps and specially Auto drivers take you for a grand ride, the moment they know you are new here and don’t know the language.
Some tips if you are moving to Bangalore:
Movers and Packers:
Chose your movers and packers very carefully, get the insurance paper one day in advance and don’t let your vehicle move if they don’t provide it. Don’t believe in promises. And mind you - you are promised that it will be an exclusive vehicle for your transportation, mind you - your goods will be offloaded and loaded atleast within 2 /3 vehicles.
Checklist.
Make a checklist of things to do - Urgent, Important and Last to do. You get enough time to plan as the days get nearer
Things you should must not transport:
All photo identity proofs, all education certificate, all banking details, all most valuable things - Dont pack it and send it with movers and packers - keep these things with you.
Address Change:
Almost everybody will require address change for - Gas connection, PAN Card, Bank Accounts, Change of Phone numbers (only with Reliance it is possible) or you need to terminate it.
Office & Home distance:
Bangalore’s traffic is really something arrange a place which is the most nearest to your office and if you don’t have a vehicle of your own. You will be paying double the Auto/Taxi fare both ways, daily.
Forget global warming:
Get a vehicle of your own at any cost or you shall suffer. It’s really difficult if you are out late in night and relying on public transport.
Public Transport:
There is nothing called as Public Transport in Bangalore and whatever is there, since it does not carry any English sign boards you won’t be able to make any use of it. The metro is being developed but it will take it’s own sweet time.
Superstores / Malls
Definitely a delight in Bangalore, you will find stuff that you didn’t used to find in Bombay. There are more branded outlets in Bangalore than any other city
Food:
People used to scare me that you won’t get anything here and would miss Bombay. But I have seen more speciality restaurants and options in Bangalore. Only difference is that , in Bombay you can see restaurant every 5 minutes and in Bangalore you would need to travel. So it may be bit difficult if you looking for options very next to office or home. And if you don’t carry food to offfice , a bachelor or no joints near office - you would definitely die hungry.
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bangalorePopularity: 34% [?]
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