My favourite movies and books

Go read and watch "The Godfather" . Read because books are a medium through which one can visualise through imagination. Watch the movie because Francis Ford Coppola has brought the book to life. Very few movies do that. Mario Puzo's best known work is the greatest bestseller of all times. My favourite movie / book which can be watched / read n number of times.

Go watch "The Pianist". One of Roman Polanski's best known works about a Jewish Polish pianist and his struggles during the World War. Adrien Brody has done full justice to the character and rightly deserved the Oscar.

Read "The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle. The best whodunit in the mystery genre. Uses the Queen's language in it's finest forms. Luv this guy called Sherlock Holmes.

Slumdog Millionaire

What a film ! Truly amazing to watch it. Mindblowing performances. I loved the kids who played the brothers Salim and Jamal. The script is awesome. If you wanna watch Mumbai through the eyes of an average foreign tourist, go watch this film. Some of the scenes are so touching especially the one where Salim jumps into the shithole to see his fave actor, Amitabh Bachchan and the one where the eyes of the urchin is gouged out by the mafia don. Danny Boyle can teach some of our directors how to make a film.

Of course it was not without the usual controversies what with Amitabh overshooting his mouth and later issuing a statement that his post was misunderstood. Some people criticised the film saying it portrayed India as a poverty stricken nation.

Cmon guys, everybody has the right to freedom of expression in a democracy, Amitabh included. So lets treat this as pure entertainment and not make a hullabaloo out of this. Films are supposed to make us forget the present. What what is being done is to create a mountain out of a molehill.

Anyways, the film is a truly fantastic journey for die hard movie fan ! Enjoy this one !!

Luck by Chance

Watched this movie yesterday. Nothing special about the film. However, the performances were truly amazing, especially Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Farhan Akhtar, Sanjay Kapoor and last but not least Konkona Sen-Sharma. But doubt whether it will create any ripples in the awards circuit. Certainly not the typical Bollywood formula film. The cast also includes Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan who are as usual superb. Also Aamir, Shah Rukh, Karan Johar Akshaye Khanna, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi add colour to the film as guest appearances. Overall, worth a watch for its simple fare without too much expectations .Would rate it average.

Herald a new year !

A very happy and prosperous new year to all ! The year 2007 has been a great year for some and bad for some. But definitely a superb year for India. Economy is growing, people are getting more aware about social concerns, stock markets are booming, salaries are increasing, businesses are growing and more importantly there is an attitudinal change by the world towards India.
Talking about climate change, Indians are becoming more receptive to the fears of climate change. The recent initiatives like "Batti Bandh" for conserving electricity (which is a major contributor to global warming) has been a marginal success, as the media has projected. But definitely a start has been made by the youngsters who had conceived the idea. Hope the word spreads, else the future generation is bound to suffer. Also, another milestone for India was the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize won by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, for his contribution towards disseminating knowledge about climate change.

Another milestone for India was the recognition given to India born managerial talent. The notable among them was Indra Nooyi who was made the CEO of Pepsico and Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup. An argument always exists that they are not Indian citizens and have lived the major part of their life in US of A ( I support this argument). But what the heck ! I am talking about the recogniton of Indian talent and the eductation system imbibed by these people. After all arent they products of the world class IITs and IIMs even if they have pursued their higher education abroad. How far these people will go, only time can tell as they will be going through one of the tumultous times in USA, what with fears of recession doing the rounds.

Blame the Indian politicking system for the dearth of talent in these world class labyrinths of education which deprives eager, intelligent students of good faculty. Take a leaf out of some superb American or English institutions and instill them in these institutions. The results will be there to see. Give autonomy to these institutions and watch them grow.

America was the past. Asia is the place to be for 2008. Watch out for the Asian tigers !

Yes, there has been bad times too. Increasing instances of terrorism, increasing crime graphs, rising instances of crimes against women, the list is endless. But overall, the mood was pretty elated for India.

So let us look forward towards a more positive note for the country and its countrymen for the coming year and better opportunities which can be harnessed in the future.

Enjoy!!

Investment Fundas

Read about a new name in the investment world - Mohnish Pabrai. Apparently, this guy along with his partner bought themselves a dinner with investment guru Warren Buffett in a charity auction for $650,100. This is the first time I am reading about Mohnish. He is self -confessingly, a "shameless clone" of Warren Buffett. Apparently, this software engineer -turned- investment manager had applied to Berkshire Hathaway and was rejected by Buffett who claimed that he doesnt need any assistant as he preferred to work alone. Mohnish, like Buffett, also works alone and even says he takes naps while working in the afternoon. Now how easy-going and confident can one get?
I always believed in the power of compounding money rather than simply adding. I have always advised people about the virtue of long-term returns in equities. However, this doesnt apply to people with a low-risk appetite or a zero tolerance level to the short term vagaries of the market. It is not that I have not entered the capital markets with a short term view. But I have made some decent returns in the longer term than in the short term. People should realise that you can enter the equity markets only during your prime time and not when you are middle-aged and about 40ish. Also the most important thing is not to back out when you have burned your fingers. You always learn when you make mistakes !! So investing in equities is not for the feeble hearted. Another important thing is to keep abreast with the financial world and understand businesses. Read financial newspapers and magazines and watch business news regularly. I have personally seen the consequences of such disciplined investing. Remember, a little more money always counts! Do not put all your savings in the markets at one go. Invest regularly starting with small amounts and later on when you get the hang of it, you can increase the allocation. Invest according to your risk profile. It really helps when you find yourself slightly richer than what you would have been.

Rule of 100:- The thumb rule for investors is the rule of 100. Say, if you are 30 years of age, can allocate 70% of your investible towards equities and the balance 30 % towards safe investment options.

Its never too late !!!!!

Gun Control in the USA vis-a-vis India

One thing which is still commendable about India is that it has strict laws regarding the usage of armed weapons. Imagine if everybody had a right to own guns, the crime graph would jump multi-fold. You can buy a gun freely in USA as it is available everywhere just like you go to buy your toothpaste in India. Statistics reveal that almost 50% of the households own a gun. Check out this link (http://www.justfacts.com/issues.guncontrol.asp) for more statistics and facts about the consequences of poor gun control laws. How many of you have heard about school shootings in India? In the USA, it is regular occurence for children to carry firearms to school. The need of the hour is to enact strict laws on usage and ownership of weapons to avoid the Columbine school massacre in 1999 or the more recent Virginia Tech incident wherein a South Korean student shot dead 33 people and killed himself. Only the armed forces and the police should have access to weapons and that too only during official duty. However, this is near to impossible in USA where the anti-gun control lobby is arguably the most powerful after the tobacco lobby. Their stand is "Guns don't kill people, only humans do". In such a scenario it is impossible to enact such strict laws. India is a step ahead in this matter and getting a licence for firearms is near to impossible unless you are a big-shot minister, actor, businessman or a "reformed" gangster. Hope we do not see a Virginia Tech-like situation in India in the distant future too.

Rajnikanth - The Boss

I am simply enamoured by the "Sivaji" hysteria. To say that one man can command such a huge following is an understatement. I am not a Rajnikanth fan, but simply overawed by his persona. How many stars from Bollywood can match his persona? Khans and Bachchans are just Davids in comparison to this man from the South, who is a towering Goliath. How many stars can boast of about 700 fan clubs across India and many more across the world ? Considering that on an average each fan club has at least 25 members on a conservative estimate, no wonder political parties would give him anything for a favourable sound byte from him. And mind you, these fans are no ordinary fans. They live and die for him !!! To talk about being probably the richest artist in India, he is also the most generous and humblest human being as reports say. He never charges a fee for acting until the film is released and is a roaring hit at the box office. Legend has it that he has given away almost half his wealth earned so far to various charities and other organisations. It has been quoted by his old friend and colleague (a driver on Karnataka State Road Transport where Rajnikanth was employed as a conductor) , who had financially helped him during his early struggler days, that he stays a couple of days a year with him at his modest house in Bangalore incognito reliving his old days. Certainly, people and especially the Bollywood stars, should take a cue from his acts of generosity and modest. There is surely something to emulate from this man - The Big Boss of them all !! What say ??