Quick Gun Murugan's official website says, "Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with Guntastic powers. He is a sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. The movie revolves aroundmis-adventures of Quick Gun Murugunand his fight with his arch villainRice Plate Reddy! In 1994, a maverick called Sashank Ghosh (MBA from University of Jodhpur), left MTV to become the creative head at Channel Vand created a character called Quick Gun Murugan. Those "fillers" in between programs were a rage among the youth. Quick Gun Murugan trailers quickly became the talk of the town especially in the colleges across India. It introduced the phrase "We are like this only" as a tagline that reflected the growing comfort with Indian English. An out and out spoof on film heros who duck bullets, thulp twenty attackers without ruining the shirt crease is what Quick Gun Murugan the movie is all about.
I am a fan of writer, lyricist, music composer and film director Vishal Bhardwaj. He brings in a breath of fresh air into Indian cinema especially mainstream Bollywood. He has cracked the magic formula of making movies that are aesthetically appealing and yet are commercially successful. Never afraid to experiemnt, Vishal is gifted and gutsy. As a director, his films Maqbool (adaptation of Macbeth, made in 2004) and Omkara (adaptation of Othello, made in 2006) have made audience sit up and take notice. Taking great stories to the masses is a challenge. To take the complexity of a Shakespearean play and adapt it to contemporary India and yet make it appeal to a broad spectrum of audience is what Vishal does best. His literary and cinematic mentor Gulzar writes songs that play at an upmarket nightclub as loudly as they do in the autorickshaws. Omkara had Saif Ali Khan and the blockbuster song Beedi Jalai Le (watch the song here if you have not) featuring a sizzling Bipasha Basu. Kaminey has Shahid Kapur.
To be able to write and to have access to forums that will publish one’s writing widely is a privilege. As a journalist and a reader I’m left in no doubt that there will always be people to write about the rich, the powerful, the glamorous; sometimes when they have nothing to say. But writing about such people, doesn’t impact them in the way writing about the marginalised and the alienated does. To write about those who have no voice, or whose voice has been silenced, is to empower them. Writing about the farmers of Vidarbha, who have been committing suicide since the 1990s, at one time at a rate of one every 12 hours, for example, has had a tangible impact on the political attention and economic stimulus offered to their community and their families. Having another profile written about Shah Rukh Khan, however, makes no difference to him, and frankly to readers—what more is there to learn about him?
Malgunji is a complex Raga of the Khamaj Thaat. John Campana describes Malgunji as having elements of Rageshri, Bageshri and a few subtle touches of Jaijaiwanti. It is popularly described as being a combination of Raga Rageshri (in the ascent) and Raga Bageshri ( in the descent). If traditionally Raga Bageshri evokes feelings of separation from the lover, and Raga Rageshri represents reunion, Raga Malgunji depicts the initial realization of the reunion.
We have all heard about being separated from each other by 6 degrees of separation. With some people you wish the degrees of separation would be 600 instead and less than six for the ones you are desperate to meet. The group that started the website at 6bridges.com (their byline says it is "An exclusive global community of Indian Professionals") did it to connect Indian professionals across the globe. The site focuses on 6 key areas (another six) : Career growth, entrepreneurship, Re-skilling, money management, leisure and professional networking. We got chatting about this and that. Let us cross the 6bridges.
Who says Math nerds are cool? Stephen Baker's book turned even me into a raging fan of The Numerati - math nerds for the layperson. For many years I grew up being traumatised by Math and teachers of that dreaded subject. My relationship with that subject was pretty much like that of a fellow commuter riding the elevator during rush hour. You may stand in close proximity, but you never say hello to each other and certainly do not recognize each other at the supermarket as you trawl for discounts. In short I am the most unlikely contender to review a book on Math and Technology. So why am I recommending that you read The Numerati by Stephen Baker. The book makes Math an almost easy to understand and attractive subject. It made me wish I had paid more attention to Math and Stat in school and college. Stephen certainly makes the Math nerd look cool. The blurb promises the book to be "A captivating look at how a global math elite is predicting and altering our behavior -- at work, at the mall, and in bed." While doing the post on Predictive Analytics for HR Atanu had recommended that read this book and sent me the link on Businessweek on The Rise of The Numerati.
What I heard at home as I grew up was almost entirely Hindustani Classical with a limited exposure to a few composers of Western Classical. The radio was our chief source of music. There was of course an old turntable and a large collection of vinyl records that we all heard through the weekend. My father was a classical music buff and if he was home, the radio was on. He would occasionally pull out an old diary and scribble some notes after he heard a piece of music. "I maintain when I have heard what Raga and the name of the artiste", he used to say. "The same raga sung by a different artiste will evoke a different feeling."
Abhijit Bhaduri, Human Resources (HR) director of Microsoft India, has chosen to spin his novels around the HR profession rather than any particular industry. A graduate of XLRI, Bhaduri set his first novel, Mediocre But Arrogant, in the ‘Management Institute of Jamshedpur’ , from where his hero graduates to land his first job in HR.His second book, Married But Available is about the protagonist’s early years in Balwanpur Industries, an Indian company that’s been taken over by a multinational. The book is sprinkled with HR gyan and Bhaduri, who has worked with Tata Steel, Colgate and Pepsico, says it gives his characters credibility: “The professional and personal lives of my characters aren’t separate, they’re wholly meshed.”
The euphoria of Oscars in India is still there as a lingering hangover. Everyone is basking in reflected glory - even me. I had predicted two Oscars for AR Rahman in my review of Slumdog Millionaire (see comment dated 8th Feb 09). So there... but the one that takes the cake is the ruling party in India taking credit for the Oscars. I kind of partly support their claim to fame. They are certainly responsible for our slums and the millionaire politicians.