Chatter Box

Magadheera @ 100

2009-11-07T19:41:00.002+05:30

All south Indian cinema records are history now with S.S.Rajamouli's Magadheera successfully completing 100 days across the globe in 223 direct centers.

The movie is India's biggest movie this year grossing more than 100 crore rupees and still going. The movie has surpassed Telugu industry's benchmark Pokiri (43 crores) in just three weeks and Rajinikanth's Sivaji (one of the worst movies of the decade, yet south India's biggest grosser) comfortably.

Unlike Sivaji, Magadheera didn't have any expectations among the audience. But the stakes soared sky-high after the audio release. The trailers were a huge hit and along with the audio and created unprecedented curiosity and excitement.

The film, released worldwide by production house Geeta Arts (the makers of Hindi Ghajini) started with a bang on day one breaking records right from day one. Ram Charan Tej has evolved as the new Mega Star of Telugu Cinema.

The impact of the movie is clearly seen as the industry hasn't registered even a medium hit since Magadheera. A number of movies which would otherwise have recorded a decent run have been footnote to the magnum opus. Even Kamal Hassan's straight Telugu movie after more than a decade had to bite the dust.

Like Arundhati, Magadheera is sure to dominate the 2009 Nandi awards (the Andhra Pradesh government's annual awards).

The movie will be released for Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

For more details visit www.megafanz.blogspot.com

PS: Rajinikanth's Robot (Yentiram in Tamil and directed by Shankar) is the next biggest film in South India.

BSNL’s New Portal

2009-11-01T21:30:00.001+05:30

BSNL has moved its customer information onto a new portal, but failed to communicate this move to its customers.

Most of the users are still ignorant of the new web address

http://selfcare.sdc.bsnl.co.in/selfcare/start.swe?SWENeedContext=false&SWECmd=Logoff&SWEC=2&SWEBID=-1&SWETS=

and are wondering about the sudden malfunctioning of certain features in the old address www.dataone.in.

BSNL didn’t even bother to flash a message about the new development on its old website or redirect its users. The old website simply displays the following error message when the broadband users try to log in.

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

New Range of Services

The new portal boasts of many new features. First time users need to register with the website to explore the new elements that range from STD code search facility to application forms and bill payment.

The request is verified and the user gets his confirmation via telephone within a week.

On the surface, the portal looks healthier than its predecessor in terms of looks and navigation. The Home Page provides complete details of the user’s telephone and broadband plan along with the status.

Generic customer issues are placed under the services section which includes request for new service and its status, register a complaint and its status, update contact information, check broadband and telephone usage details and others.

The portal also promotes BSNL’s new offers and recommended products along with information about various plans under the offers and info section.

Moving on the website’s weaknesses, there are a few glitches with the broadband usage details. Unlike its ancestor, the broadband usage details do not get updated immediately after the session and can be seen only after a few days.

The portal looks pale and sans impressive graphics or bright colors giving the feel of a typical government website.

It seems to have some rivalry with Firefox and works efficiently when opened in IE.

I am yet to explore the portal fully and would appreciate any contribution from my visitors.

It's Out Now!

2009-10-22T16:17:00.004+05:30

A huge banner put up at the Microsoft office in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, on the eve of Windows 7 launch.

Employee Pampering

2009-10-11T21:15:00.001+05:30

Straight to the point: Do employees need frills at workplace?

Frills include a/c cabs, amphitheaters, a number of restrooms equipped with plasma televisions that most often play to empty seats, closed windows and blindfolds, conditioned air, artificial lighting, automated washrooms, etc.

Of late, a number of companies (including native and foreign) that have expanded to major cities in India have begun to provide such add-ons, if not all of them. In fact, employers seem to be vying with each other to provide better amenities to employees.

So, can workplace frills enable produce better output? The answer cannot be a definite yes or no. They can help retain employees for more time and make them come back to workplace the next day. But for how long is the immediate question.

It’s often seen that organizations with huge employee friendly infrastructure too have high attrition rates. This phenomenon is common in BPOs and back offices of multinational companies in India.

Does the nature of work too influence the kind of accessories? A mundane copy paste job many require employers to provide heavier add-ons than a dynamic job – not mentioned deliberately.

For most employees, it is the nature of their work and the accompanying pay check that matters than the aforementioned paraphernalia.

No doubt, good work and a decent pay combined with such frills is a deadly combination. Alas! It’s a very hard and singular combination, says my experience.

Frills may not add much value when other important components like organization culture, nature of work and employee management are poor, but certain frills can create huge void if ignored.

PS: Work, pay and frills are relative terms.

National Awards and Telugu Cinema

2009-10-03T15:10:00.029+05:30

"Telugu films are being made lavishly but no film has substance to consider for an award," remarked National Film Awards jury chairperson Sai Paranjape.

Thanks for the compliment madam. But is this an issue worth worrying?

A popular local television channel presented an interesting case on this.

It said huge lobbying happens at the awards and Telugus are very poor in this art, which affected fate of a number of good films on the national platform.

Classics like Sankarabharanam, Sagarasangamam and Swati Mutyam didn't get their full due, though they bagged a few national awards. Kamal Hassan didn't receive national award for his roles in Telugu movies Sagarasangamam and Swatimutyam (India's official entry to the Oscars in 1986).

Prakash Raj, the best actor for 2007, was brilliant as a factionist in the Telugu movie Antahpuram, but alas! the committee wasn't interested in his performance. A similar role in a Bengali, Tamil or a Malayalam movie would have won him an award for sure.

This is one side of the coin. On the other side we have commercial and entertainers dominating the Telugu industry. Social themes too are narrated in a typical filmi style with songs, dance, fights and comedy sprinkled across the movie. In the process, messed up a lot of good stories resulting in sub-standard and illogical movies.

The situation has also to do with the tastes of audience partially. Patronage for commercial cinema is strong and unbelievable. Commercial heroes enjoy demi-god status and have huge, loyal fan base, forcing them to make movies to satisfy their rooters.

Classic example of this is Chiranjeevi's Rudraveena released in 1988. Directed by Balachandar, the movie dealt with many burning social issues then. Chiranjeevi, who was already the biggest star of Telugu cinema then, portrayed the role of a reformist and his character was devoid of any commercial lineaments.

The result: Rudraveena won a few national awards and was acclaimed as one of the best Telugu films ever made. But commercially, the movie was a disaster at the box office forcing Chiranjeevi to return to his domain - mainstream cinema.

General audience here cheer pure entertainment. Native comedy and clean family entertainers take top honors while racy songs and action sequences follow suit. Of late, movies providing grand visual experience are being embraced with open arms.

Films like Pokiri, Jalsa, Magadheera and Arundhati have generated millions of rupees while movies without commercial gloss have more often faced outright rejections.

The audience here encourage movies that are technically superior, contain good humor and present novel themes. Language is no barrier and that is the reason a few good Tamil and Malayalam movies (dubbed version) enjoy a decent run here as well.

As a common man and with the little knowledge I have regarding the award-winning movies, I would run away from most of them. I beleive, heroes or movies should entertain and recharge us whenever we are down and bored. I would opt for a racy movie like Pokiri to get reloaded than a national award winning movie.

PS: The much coveted Oscars too were on the brink of losing their identity this year, forcing them to nominate and award some trophies to commercial flicks like Slumdog Millionaire.

Viewership is minimal for national awards while filmfare and even the Andhra government's Nandi Award attract larger eye balls.

I am lucky!

2009-09-13T22:19:00.002+05:30

I moved to a new firm from DMV at the end of August, and I found out how lucky I am.

First of all, I didn't know that so many people liked me and really missed me. Some said bye with a heavy heart while a few brave hearts managed to stay calm.

Some said I brought a lot of positive energy with me and they liked being with me. They said they would seriously miss my pranks and nonsense talking for which I am notorious.

Even I miss the people, the firm, and my long and taxing yet entertaining cab journey.

Got a few messages wishing me all the best the following week as I joined the new organization. I got emotional and felt guilty of leaving them all, but had to move out of the company for career growth.

I am happy, in fact elated and proud of what I am. I might sound like an egotist, but since it's my space, I thought of sharing my feelings here.

PS: Most of them had one common wish - A job in my new company. Ha Ha Ha!

Mallanna - 'Mad'anna

2009-08-29T23:05:00.009+05:30

Rating - 1.75/5

Despite knowing that the movie has bombed at the box-office, I dared to watch the movie simply because of its visually-appealing trailers.

However, the whole movie was like watching a trailer - highly inconsistent screenplay and very poor editing.

A good film either deals with an entirely new subject or narrates an oft-repeated theme in a novel way. Mallanna (or Kandasamy in Tamil)tried to take the second path and falls flat.

Director Susi Ganeshan, like most of his contemporaries, tried to ape Hollywood / Bond style of film-making and the result is a haphazard screenplay.

Most of the scenes seem unrelated to their predecessors. Combined with illogical editing, the movie gives the viewers a tough time.

The editing is so fast that no frame will allow you to take notice of the location or the art details or even the characters that are involved. My eyes started to feel the strain just after the first fifteen minutes and the situation only got worse.

The movie can easily serve as an (the) example for budding film-makers on how not to make a film. All the departments, barring Devi's music and to some extent Taran's art work, failed miserably.

Devi's Mallanna leitmotif sounds better with visuals and his background score is brilliant.

Digital Intermediate is highly inconsistent and the whole Mexico episode looks dark and out of place.

Vikram is good with his hen-like mannerisms, in the lady get up, and as a cool CBI officer. Shriya is more of a vamp and is quite disgusting. It's good to see yesteryear Telugu actor Krishna after a long time while Prabhu is okay.

I still don't understand how an experienced producer like K.S.Thanu invested more than Rs.50 crore on such a weak script and the reason for the movie to take two years to complete. A far superior film like Magadheera was completed in one and a half year.

Yet, there are a few positives about the movie.

1. The Mallanna get up

2. The fund transfer episode

3. Mallanna's warning against silly requests

4. Titles Rolling against Mallanna's backdrop

PS: Watch Magadheera again instead of Mallanna unless you are a great fan of Vikram or want to see Shriya's skin show.

Magadheera – One hour of technical brilliance

2009-08-02T00:31:00.008+05:30

(Rating - 3.75/5)

If Arudhati has enhanced technical standards of Telugu cinema early this year, Ram Charan’s or should I say S.S. Rajmouli’s Magadheera is a perfect extension to the new trend of using technology to enhance visual experience.

The one hour post interval episode takes you to a whole new world. First rate art work combined with excellent graphics and superb digital correction make you sit and watch the 16th century A.D saga in awe.

The camera work by Senthil, who also worked for Arundhati, goes with the mood of the story. The stunts and action episodes are breathtaking, but MM Keeravani’s background score failed to match the intensity in some scenes. This can be the only minus in the technical department. I apologize for my comments and I take my words back after watching the movie for the second time. MM Keeravani's music in unmatchable. Background score during certain episodes - Charan touching Kajal's hands and during action sequences in the flashback- really elevates the scenes.

The other one and half hour in the move is okay with a lot of loose threads. However, the director covered it up with some beautiful love sequences between the lead pair.

Magadheera is a director’s dream and Rajamouli should be really appreciated for the making such a wonderful movie. Of course, the production house Geetha Arts for investing more than 50 crores in creating this technical marvel.

As far as actors, Charan is simply superb. He looks cool in long hair and cow-boy hat. His horse-riding sequences are a treat to watch - reminiscent of Mega Star Chiranjeevi. He looks manly in the role of a gladiator. The character is etched carefully and gives him enough scope to showcase his prowess in sword fights. His dances are too good and costumes very good.

Kajal is cute and looks gorgeous in the princess garb. The way she offers herself to the man in Charan is nicely shot.

The villain in this film gets enough footage unlike in many Telugu films where he is just limited to shouting and uttering powerful dialogs.

The whole auditorium went mad at Chiranjeevi’s brief appearance post Bangaru Kodi Petta song.

Direction by S.S. Rajamouli is inconsistent some times. He seems to have concentrated more on making the one hour period episode flawless, while ignoring certain basics of film-making in the remaining movie.

The comedy sequence involving Brahmanandam fails to evoke laughter. Certain graphics for fire effect are pale and Srihari’s jeep episode in the climax is pathetic. The scene where the heroine recollects her past is not clearly narrated.

Top Scenes:

1. Charan’s horse riding after discovering his lady love

2. Charan killing 100 people

3. Charan’s confrontation with Sher Khan

4. The race / battle for princess’ chunni in the desert

5. Discovery of the old sword along with the villain’s skull in the climax

P.S. Chiru still carried the same style and charm and the writer just went crazy in the hall.

Back to Blogging Days

2009-07-14T01:15:00.000+05:30

It was becoming increasingly difficult to blog regularly due to the odd working hours and increase in work at my office. With the burden now evenly distributed across the team, thanks to the restructuring going on, I can now breathe easy.

I thought of resuming my blogger days with a small sarcastic piece on Gammon India, the culprit behind recent Delhi flyover mishap, but didn't want to waste my precious time.

The first Ashes test was a very close encounter and such contests rekindles hope for test cricket, Ashes in particular. Hope there will be some stiff opposition from England in this series.

I am eagerly looking forward to Ram Charan's next movie Magadheera. The songs are brilliant and the trailers very intriguing.

My DVD Home Theatre system has ceased to function last week - a big blow to my entertainment prospects.

Above all, my younger brother is most likely to leave for the recession hit USA on an official assignment, leaving me alone for three months.

A close look at the post reveals that the format is very close to the structure of news pieces I deliver day in and day out at my workplace.

Now it's time to decorate my bed and fall asleep. Gud Night.

The Demise of The King of Pop

2009-06-27T00:56:00.000+05:30

My day started on a bad note. Heard from my cousin early in the morning that my favorite and the hottest pop star of all times was no more, leaving me dumbstruck for a while.

As a child I was fascinated by the magician's dance movements, his moonwalking in particular, and his ability to sing while dancing.

I researched a lot about this crazy and enigmatic personality while writing a case study - Michael Jackson, The Rise and Fall of the King of Pop - for my employer.

That's when I got to know about the Wacko Jacko's iconic and demi-god status and fall from grace.

The frantic US media has to be blamed for nearly 80% of his fate, my research said.

Leaving aside the nonsense spread by the media and people about him, Michael Jackson will remain the world's best pop singer and the greatest entertainer ever, at least on my chart busters.

The last five to six years had been very difficult for Michael, and was surrounded with myriad problems.
His death frees him from all the controversies, including the US media, once and for all.

May his soul rest in peace.

The Versus I Hate

2009-06-14T00:20:00.004+05:30

A few oft encountered debates that I hate to get involved in.

1.Veg Vs Non-veg - I am a vegetarian by birth and will remain a vegetarian.
2.Men Vs Women - Both are equal
3.Team work Vs Individual effort - Conditions apply
4.Seperate Telangana Vs United Andhra Pradesh -Always a united Andhra Pradesh. I am born to Andhra parents settled in Hyderabad.
5.Love Marriage Vs Arranged Marriage: Preferably arranged marriage, but not against love marriages.

People tend to go overboard discussing such issues putting strain on their mental stability. Even I got involved in some frenetic discussions over such issues without any point to prove.

So, next time you find people partitioned over any of the above topic, better stay away.

Oh! don't go without adding some more regular debated topics in the comments section.

Boring Boring Boring

2009-06-07T22:56:00.004+05:30

As said in the latest Telugu film Kick, there has been no real Kick in my life of late.

Everything seems to be getting monotonous - personally and professionally.

Except for occasional joy and laughter, nothing much has happened in the last couple of months.

Oh! the IPL was a fantastic event, forgot to write about the Deccan Chargers' turnaround.

Yeah! there have been new friends, some really close ones and some hopeless at the workplace.
Some accolades and some remarks (not serious), but the KICK factor eluded me.

Got carried away on a few occasions putting my close buddy in a lot of trouble; may be that's why this cold, cough and increase in my body temperature.

The rains have spoiled all my weekend plans to buy some trousers and catch a movie.

Like me, the post too seems to be going haywire.

Please don't advise me to get married or find a new girl friend. Some planets are obstructing my marriage, my horoscope said.

Any progress can happen only after this September.

I'm bored writing this too.

All Work No Play Makes Vinay a Dull Boy

2009-05-30T00:40:00.004+05:30

I have finally decided to stick to the 3-11pm shift for all the luxuries provided by my employer, of course for a price.

However, it's getting tougher and tougher at my workplace with hourly deliverables in place. I am unable to find time to talk to my colleagues. Agree that office is not a place for blabbering and chit chats, yet one should socialize in order to remain mentally stable. Moreover, you don't find colleagues at your home.

I am unable to meet my MBA mate who works in the same building but with a different employer despite heavy planning and the worse is yet to come: I don't have time to scan the office for good looking girls. Forgive me, I am unmarried.

On to a different platform, luckily there are a few souls who wish to socialize in the night hours despite heavy work. Of course, there are those eyeballs that are constantly in search for curious happenings around the office.

Amidst all these, I finish all my work and rush home at 11:00pm in the cab.

Love, marriage, relationship, blah, blah, blah

2009-05-24T14:30:00.004+05:30

The post has reference to a discussion with my fellow cab passenger recently.

She was frank in admitting that marriage is a heavy relationship and you get bored of it after sometime, yet have to pursue it for the society.

It's up to the individuals to make it interesting, said I.

I admitted that I had been in and out of a few love affairs which she termed as mere infatuation. I could get out of most of those relations because I didn't see any light at the end of them or may be I got bored of them quickly-that happens with me. And of course, I didn't proclaim them in public.

But marriage is entirely a different ball game. It's not easy to come out of it once you are committed and at the same time no point in continuing when you are not entirely convinced of the relationship.

This might sound strange to a number of people who know me in person, but I was convinced after looking at couples who simply drag their marriage just to satisfy their families or society, without having a purpose.

We ended our discussion abruptly as we reached her drop point, and so will I end this post as it seems to be heading nowhere.

Oh No! It's Congress Again.

2009-05-16T21:14:00.002+05:30

Huh! It's Congress again. Both at the Centre and State. We already had enough of it during the last five years, and the election results remind me of an old Telugu adage which upon translation says, "The Goat Always Believes The Butcher."

We were literally robbed by the Congress at both the levels and we have voted them back to power. Ppch! expect a few more bomb blasts and scams in the coming years.

I expected a serious outfit like Lok Satta to gain a few seats, but alas it didn't win many. Chiranjeevi was a big flop, but the biggest loser was Chandrababu Naidu, who partnered with awful left parties and TRS.

I am back to watching IPL and I am now more worried about the Deccan Chargers. Then we have the ICC T20 World CUP.

Spoiling the IPL Fun

2009-05-09T01:00:00.001+05:30

It is sad to see IPL commentators like Gavaskar, Sivaramakrishanan, Ranjit Fernando and Arun Lal along with the comic characters in the Extra Fittings program adding a lot of crap with their insane and ludicrous talking.

Sunny Gavaskar tries to make the post match presentation ceremony as short as possible whenever Mumbai loses an encounter while Sivaramakrishnan has only a few adjectives up his sleeve to consume . Ranjit 'Shivering' Fernando should have been left in an old age home. The only reason for bringing in Arun Lal is the cheaper price tag that is associated with him.

Their constant blabbering doesn't make much sense, leave alone offering insights into the game and analysis of the play. They are more worried about the adjectives to be used to praise the incoming batsman or the bowler or the owner of the franchise.

As soon as the camera focuses on a franchise owner, we hear the commentators, especially the Indian species, yelling, 'Oh! king Khan looks a worried man' or 'The doc is sporting a brave face."

This torture is apart from their constant uttering of 'DLF Maximum' and 'Citi Moment of Success' umpteen number of times throughout every game. Big thanks to Set Max for not showing Extra Innings during the seven minutes unnecessary halting of the game in the name of strategic time out.

To top this all, this expert team has been joined by another icon, Rameez Raja of Pakistan.

This IPL is clearly missing the likes of Tony Greig, Geoff Boycott and Richie Benaud.

PS: Harsha Bogle, Ravi Shashtri and Simon Doull are doing a good job, but Mark Nicholas is the best of the lot.

Working in an odd shift

2009-04-29T09:41:00.000+05:30

This post is with reference to a change in my office timings that adds a bit of more sleeping hours to my schedule.
My office hours is between 15:00 and 23:00 hours with a pick and drop facility provided. The new shift allows me to sleep for more hours and also take that precious afternoon nap. Of course, it's not entirely an afternoon nap, but a nap worth enough to be called effective.

1. 12:45-7:45 - 7 hours
2. 10:00-12:30 - 2 hours

Cab journey is something that is really boring unless you have great co-passengers, FM radio and A/c. Fortunately, my cab has all of them. Still, it's a long journey.

It's a bit odd to work like a batman in the night with only a handful of people around you. It's a BPO kind of experience which I used to considered the best shift as you get lot of time in the morning.

But you miss all the fun that happens at your workplace. You will only hear about the fun and not be a part of it. You also end up eating more.

Moreover, this shift has deprived me of posting regularly on my blog.

It will end by mid May and I will revert to my original 9:00 to 18:00 hours shift.

The week that has gone by

2009-04-20T21:57:00.000+05:30

Last one week involved lot of action leaving me completely exhausted. Started with inviting people in and around Hyderabad on my best friend's wedding that took place on 18th. Went for a big round of shopping at the Hyderabad Central just after the office hours. It was followed by the engagement of my friend's brother and elections.

It all culminated with my friend's marriage on Saturday night where I had a gala time. We started shouting political slogans on this occassion and it was met with huge applause from everyone except one big old man who shouted at our gang for not listening to the vedic chants.

In my new office too, things are becoming a bit interesting and bit hectic too not giving time to write something on my blog.

However, the big occasion has arrived. The IPL has started and it's started off well for Deccan Chargers. Hope they stand among the top four this time.

So, took some time to write this one and now I am feeling sleepy. YAAAAAAAAAAAwn!

R.A.P.E.

2009-04-11T23:13:00.002+05:30

Before you jump to form your own conclusions, let me inform you that R.A.P.E here is not exactly what a dictionary reveals, but quite near to it.

R.A.P.E stands for Ruling Against Public Expectations. And that's what has happened in Andhra Pradesh and India, at least over the last five years.

Without going into details of the unfinished projects, money siphoned to centre, high-level corruption, Satyam scandal, faulty government schemes and bomb blasts, I urge all the people in the state to vote for Lok Satta, led by former IAS officer Jaya Prakash Narayan and avoid getting R.A.P.E(d).

My sincere appeal to all educated young people across Andhra Pradesh:

Don't skip voting to enjoy the holiday on the election day, please cast your vote to enjoy for the next five years.

Problem with consultants

2009-04-04T15:38:00.001+05:30

It's not very difficult to comprehend why we have a lot of jokes floating in the cyberspace about consultants and top management.

You hire a consultant to solve or show you a way to solve your problems, or your company's problems. If you don't really understand the mess created by you, how is it possible for a stranger to put things in order?

Yet, some argue that if a doctor can repair your health, why cannot a consultant repair an organization or a process. Point taken, but there is a difference in the way a doctor operates and how a consultant works.

Doctor discusses with his patient, inquires about the problem area, and then tries to give the best possible medication. But a consultant's style of working is different.

He is employed by the top management, and so he works only with them. He gets a feel of the organization or the problem area, on the surface, from the top management and starts his work. He doesn't actually go deep into the organization, learn about the current system being followed and talk to employees, who, I believe, will have all the answers for the management's problems.

Most often the employed consultants don't have the technical know-how or the way the business is done in a particular industry. They have an MBA tag, possibly from an overseas institution, printed on their visiting cards, 5-10 years of experience in some industry, and utter some strong management words viz. processes, streamline, solutions, etc.

Without discussing the possible pitfalls in the current approach with the employees, they propose to change the existing system or process completely. That's when you see good employees leaving the organization.

The consultants are paid 6 digit figure salaries, and to justify the payment, they introduce time sheets, work sheets and other documents to be filled up by employees everyday, which consumes a couple of hours everyday. Some to go the extent of monitoring the daily work of the employees.

To cut it short, if you think your company is in a mess, talk to employees. Involve everyone, if possible. They are definitely gonna provide you with the solution.

Reasons why we should not vote for Congress

2009-03-31T20:43:00.000+05:30

1. They have compromised on the national security.

2. The party has a number of eunuchs who spend most of the time licking Madam Sonia's feet.

3. The party members attach more importance to appeasing Rahul Gandhi than to attending to any of India's major problems.

4. Crores of rupees have been siphoned to the Centre from Andhra Pradesh, the only Congress ruled state in India, in the name of projects and schemes.

5. Above all and importantly, they did not allow the second edition of IPL to happen in India.

Ugadi - My Top 5 Telugu Movies

2009-03-26T22:38:00.001+05:30

It's Ugadi again and I am here with my top five Telugu movies released during the last one year.

Arundhati: No second thoughts on positioning Arundhati on top of my list. With brilliant graphics, DI, screenplay and re-recording, the film stands out as one of the best movies in Telugu cinema history. Glam doll Anushka ki jai.

Asta Chemma: I was very reluctant to watch the movie as it lacked big names. But I ended up watching it twice. Asta Chemma is a low budget movie that has all the ingredients for the upper class. Everything about the film is good. The cast is perfect and the screenplay is neat. Good songs and brilliant comedy timing of Srinivas take the film to new heights.

Ullasanga Utsahanga: The movie has a simple love story narrated in a beautiful way. Cool visuals, scintillating music and rib tickling comedy make it a complete familiy entertainer. While the hero is a big minus, the heroine Sneha Ullal is gorgeous.

Koncham Istam Koncham Kastam: KIKK would have been another love story if not for the loads of emotional scenes the movie carries. The lead pair Siddharth and Tammana is bubbly and cute. Supported by superb songs, locations and photography, the movie is a feel-good movie that teaches value of love.

Ready: Ready is a typical Sreenu Vytla (director) film with loads of humor. As always in a Sreenu film, Brahmanandam (as Mc Dowell Murthy) evokes maximum response. Good songs, fast screenplay and neat narration are the plus points of the movie.

Other hits:

Though missed by a whisker, Parugu was a brilliant film with awesome visuals, racy first 2 hours, scintillating background score and songs. Similarly Hare Ram was a good attempt by Kalyan Ram. A better ending could have made Nenu Meeku Telusa a bigger hit. Bladu Baabji and Bommana Brothers Chandana Sisters were low-budget entertainers. Kotha Bangaru Lokam was a superb youthful love story with soothing audio and visuals.

Disappointing:

NTR's Kantri was a replica of Mahesh's Pokiri. Balakrishna's Pandurangadu was more of a soft porn. Nagarjuna's King and Venkatesh's Chintakayala Ravi can be safely ignored. Prabhas was brilliant as Bujjigaadu but poor storyline marred the fate of the film. Nithin and Ravi Teja bagged two flops each. Kamal's Dasavatharam started well but the movie went haywire post interval. Another big dud was Rajnikant's Kadhaanaayakudu.

That's my list of top and flop movies.

UGADI SUBHAKANKSHALU

Hi-tech worker

2009-03-19T22:38:00.005+05:30

As employee of a start-up company which was established in a quiet locality in Hyderabad, I was always fascinated by the hustle and bustle of the famed Hi-tech city area during my visits (for interviews). People are often confused with Hi-tech city and Madhapur. Hi-tech city (Hyderabad Information Technology City) is a huge structure built in Madhapur area and houses many reputed software and technology companies. There are many such imposing monuments at Madhapur known by different names - Cyber gateway, Cyber towers, etc.

After my previous company screwed up my life and after many unsuccesful attempts to join companies at Madhapur, I finally joined a new firm operating in one of the tallest edifices at Madhapur. Yesterday was my first day at the office and I was quite excited to have joined the 'elite club' of workers. The activity that takes place during the mornings and evenings is unbelievable. Transporters ranging from cabs to mini buses to autowallahs, techies engaged in endless discussions about their unfinished business, prospective employees engaged in frantic searches for their companies, laborers at the construction sites, a number of roadside vendors, etc., all make this place unique and different from other job hubs in the city.

It would be a sin if I finish the post without giving space for the gorgeous women. They are everywhere and affect our driving performance. Drive carefully!

Excerpts from Varma's blog

2009-03-16T22:37:00.003+05:30

The following are excerpts from two posts from Ram Gopal Varma's blog. The reason for presenting them here is that they more or less echo my opinion about awards and A R Rahman.

About awards

To start with film-making is a tremendous team effort and the Director can be the only person to know who in the team is contributing what, as their work is being benchmarked against his vision and requirements.
The irony for me is that after all the euphoria Indians had on Resul Pookutty winning an Oscar it does not even occur to them to ask what else he had done before this. It’s nothing to do with Resul’s contribution and my proof of that is I have not heard or met a single person who saw Slumdog and mentioned sound in particular until the time the Golden Globe gave him an award.
There is a live effects track, a dialogue track, an atmospheric track and the background score track of which only a part is due to sound designer. All of these are made to come together by the final mixing engineer to create the desired effect sometimes in consultation with the Director and sometimes without. Any person who hears the final output of the mixed track has no way of knowing whose contribution to what degree is creating the desired effect. The only person who knows that will be the final mixing engineer who will be deciding what to keep, what to throw out and at what levels they have to be played.
The attempt of mine here is not to undermine Resul’s work but it is to make one understand that Resul can do better work which easily can go unnoticed and lesser work can create an impact due to reasons unrelated to work.
I have always maintained that my successful films are due to my team and my failures are due to me alone. The reason for that is that each and every actor and technician are contributing their work and talent as per my vision and in many cases they enhance it far greater than what I had expected. The success of a film is due to what contribution the actors and technicians gave in addition to what I expected of them and that is why it belongs to them and the failure of their equally great contribution belongs to me as I failed in channelizing it to its intended destination.
It has to be realized that in the making of a film the technicians and actors are working towards satisfying the director, and the director is working towards satisfying the audience. So only by the sheer understanding of the mechanics I have of what goes into the making of a film, I find the concept of an outside body giving Awards ridiculous.

About A R Rahman

When I happened to listen Roja’s songs at Mani Ratnam’s home, long before the film released, I was blown away with the sheer originality of the songs’ orchestration and tunes. I immediately wanted to sign him for a film I was making with Sanjay Dutt called Nayak, and for Rangeela. But my investors preferred Anu Malik, as they felt the success of the music of Roja’s dubbed version was a fluke, and that this kind of music would not work in Hindi. The very fact that A.R was not signed by any top Hindi filmmaker after Roja is proof-enough, they reasoned. They said that Anu Malik was at the top of his form after Baazigar, and that we would get a much bigger price for the audio.
After telling him the story of Rangeela ... he went through the situations, the compositions he came up with used to surprise me, though not always pleasantly. That is because his tunes were so original in his interpretation of the emotion of a situation that a conventional ear will take time to let it sink in.
A case in point is the Hai Rama song where my brief to him was that I wanted to shoot an erotic number... and I was subconsciously expecting him to come up with a tune, something on the likes of I Love You (Kaate Nahin Katthe Yeh Din Yeh Raat) in Mr. India. What he came up with was the Hai Rama tune, which sounded to me like some classical Carnatic raga, and my first reaction was that he had lost his head. But when I kept hearing it, it grew on me like an obsession, and I finally said that we will go ahead with the tune even though I was still unsure, deep inside, of how it would fit into the situation. But when he finished the entire track with the orchestration it was beyond my wildest imagination that an erotic song can be made to sound like that. He captured the intensity of the eroticism and the purity of its feeling in the beginning alaap, the cello themes, and through the wild tablaas which elevated the effect of the images I created, many times more than what they would have been otherwise.
The moment they (many music directors) finish recording a song, most music directors forget about it and move on to whatever else they are doing. A.R invariably keeps revisiting his song and effecting changes onto them (Read it as sculpting and polishing). Until a time the tracks have to leave for the audio company, he treats each and every song of his like his own daughter whom he is preparing for a marriage with the listener.
Also, A.R is the only artiste I have met who does not have creative arrogance. I mean that he never defends his work if it were to be criticized. He was recording The spirit of Rangeela theme in Chennai while I was shooting in Mumbai. When he sent the track to me I didn’t like it, at first hearing. Not just me but the entire unit didn’t. As I was playing the spirit theme in my car over and over again, at some moment it hit me like a thunder bolt, and I told him that I must have been out of my mind not to have liked it in the first place. He smiled and said “I knew you would like it eventually”.
The aesthetics of his song tracks are beyond compare to any other music director’s. What I mean by aesthetics is, if the melody is the story, the various instruments and the way they are recorded, played, and their inter-volume levels and tones would be like art direction, cinematography etc.

Never Seen Stuff

2009-03-13T00:04:00.002+05:30

The Indian cricket team is on a roll and for fans it is festive time. With last matches in every series becoming a practice game for the new comers, the Indian team never had such dream run for this long. Though there were a few long, good periods under Saurav Ganguly, the brutal force with which the new team is decimating oppositions is something that was never talked about in Indian cricket, and was seen only in teams like the West Indies (in the 70s and early 80s), and the Australians in the last one decade.

Indians were always gentle in their game as were most other nations till mid-1990s. The slam-bang approach in the ODIs- started by Srikkanth and Navjot Singh Sidhu, promoted by Sachin Tendulkar and popularized by Sanath Jayasuriya - was always associated with openers of a few countries and a few lower order all-rounders. But a team where all the batsmen compete with each other to rain powerful strokes is rare and the current Indian team boasts of such a lineup.

Look at the lineup. The batting is led by the audacious Virender Sehwag, a synonym for demolition and currently the most dreadful opening batsman, and the great Sachin Tendulkar, who is never tired of sending the ball to the fence and ruining the careers of bowlers. It is followed by the short and aggressive Gautam Gambhir who also knows to play second fiddle when Sehwag or Sachin is on song. Then comes the young gun Suresh Raina - the powerful left-hander with a wide range of shots.

The real trouble starts when prince Yuvraj Singh comes on to the ground. No ground is big for him and the balls keep sailing over the fence at his will. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who sometimes is seen at number 3, was once known only for his bang bang approach. But with his new role as the captain, he has also learned to bat through the innings. The list seems unending with Yousuf Pathan, the new hard hitting right hand batsman, following. He is akin to Lance Klusener of South Africa and can spur the scoring rate at any moment. They are followed by the hard hitting Irfan Pathan, and Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan who can bat as well. In reserve you have Rohit Sharma, touted as Tendulkar's successor, and Ravindra Jadeja, etc.

The recently concluded Sri Lanka series and the ongoing New Zealand series stand as testimonial to India's batting strength. Hope this team brings the World Cup 2011. Great going guys.