Do these people deserve to criticize Slumdog?

I am bugged at the way, all of a sudden, Amitabh Bachchan, Arindam Chaudari(who made some flop movie) are commenting on it. Arindam has in his blog stated that the movie is receiving undue mileage because it has been directed by a foreign director. How much of his MBA degree helped in salvaging his movie Rok Sako to Rok Lo, is there for the general public to judge. First he should look at what kind of movie he had made, before commenting on the movie.

Regarding the child actors not being paid, it has been clarified by the director that a fund has been set up 1 year back to the tune of 25 lacs for each child actor. Anil Kapoor has given his entire earnings from this film to an NGO for these children. Just by crying foul, have Amitabh Bachchan and Arindam Chaudari fulfilled their commitments towards India? Has Amitabh Bachchan while negotiating crores of rupees for the next film with Karan Johar even thought of giving it to the betterment of slums? Infact, he claimed exemptions from the income he gained while hosting for KBC, on the grounds that this particular income was because he had become a quiz master, thereby not paying a single penny by way of Income tax. A great actor he may be, but I would say, Sunil Dutt, Nargis Dutt and the likes are more greater than him, even if they were not termed as super stars

Aamirs loss , Slumdogs Gain, Indias Gain

I had put a blog long time back, stating that Taare Zameen Par, might win the Oscar for India this time round. I had also backed it up using Bejan Daruwala's prediction. A good movie, no doubt, unfortunately, it didnt make it to the nominations.

It made me dig out the prediction again. Bejan Daruwala has predicted a win for an Indian movie. Period. Next he has gone on to say that because of Aamir Khans stars, he might be the reason for the win. So putting two and two together, and Taare Zameen Pe, being the Indian representation, hopes were high. But the hopes came crashing down.

And then, all of a sudden, Slumdog Millionaire came into picture. And now with 10 nominations, it seems, there is a an element of certainty, that India shall be getting something this time. A R Rahman's "Jai HO" has got very catchy beats and is my personal favourite for the award. 22 Feb, hope India wins.......

Now its Slumdog and Slumdwellers, Slumdog and Hindus

The movie is to release today. Certain sections of slumdwellers have taken objection to the word dog. Just how much they will understand the context is understandable. Even before the movie has been released, they have started pelting stones on Anil Kapoor's house in Mumbai. One Hindu organization has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court, demanding a stay on the release, because according to him, Lord Rama has been depicted wrongly in the movie. Had it not been "Jamal", and the rioters shown in the movie not been Hindus, this public interest litigation would never have come up.

We are certainly living in an odd world.

Amitabh and Slumdog

I saw Slumdog Millionaire, was quite impressed by it. It had its moments when I really wanted to puke(like when the character Salim pukes, while a boys eye is being gouged out), but the movie was really amazing.

I fail to understand why an Actor like Amitabh Bachchan should criticize the movie. He has been given due acknowledgement in the movie. After thinking a lot, and these are my thoughts, and I stand by them, for some reason, I was being reminded of a contestant in KBC when Amitabh was the host. I don't remember his name, a frail guy, with a huge "tikka" on his forehead. A guy, who like our character in  Slumdog, didn't fit in. He had managed to surprise everybody by giving the right answers which finally took him to the final question. Just like the movie, before the final question was put to him, the "time up" gong went out. The next day, this person blew up the entire money by answering wrong. That he had come up to the final question was a huge surprise, because some felt that he didn't deserve it. Some felt he is was plain lucky at guessing and choosing the right lifeline at the right time. Are we seeing a sense of guilt somewhere, and thereby the criticism. Was some "help" from certain quarters given out? Why should Amitabh criticize the movie. Isn't he aware of the pathetic conditions slum people live in? Is life just a huge palatial house of Karan Johar movie for him?

Did the author of the book know something, which of course without substantial proof he cannot say is true? We are never going to know about it.....

A "HOPE" called Obama

America has voted for "HOPE". "HOPE" for change, "HOPE" for coming out of current recession. I am "hoping" that Obama is just not a hype. Just because he is the first African-American to be elected, there is lot of curiosity surrounding him. He is no doubt a great orator. No doubt he seems to be more intellectual compared to his predecessor Bush, who was known more for his "Bushisms" then his administrative powers. But can he deliver in these difficult times is to be seen. Being positive, is good. Pinning on "HOPE" is good. But delivering the goods is not easy. If he fails, it will be termed as a failure of African-American. And I am "hoping" he is not just talks, but action.

Modern greetings

Yesterday while discussing organization of our building function, we were discussing prizes to be given away. Gift articles, etc were being discussed. The topic diverted to greeting cards, love cards etc. At this age I was found wanting when it came to discussing the rates, though 10 years back I would have easily known how much they cost. But what surprised me more was the younger generation is also not aware of it.

The reason they gave was they are more into E-greetings nowadays. Print greetings are out of fashion now. Come to think of it, my expressions via print greetings were a long time back. Nowadays, I use emoticons on messengers, and E-greetings for even expressing love for my wife. Times are changing, and so are we.

A-Satyam(Lies)

Lots might already be written about Satyam. But what bothers me is that how does one manage to show so much of cash in the balance sheets. What were the auditors seeing while the cash balance was increasing. Satyam was not selling vegetables or running a restaurant for it to accumulate such cash. Anybody aware of the financial's will know that the cash balance is normally tallied with the bank withdrawals.

So now we come to the point of if the cash was infact shown against withdrawals then the fact is that the funds were there. And if they were there where are they now. Maytas Infra has been awarded major contracts including the prestigious Metro and Airport development. Such contracts in India are not without their normal kickbacks. With big leaps in financial's, come bigger kickbacks, and bigger kickbacks, means bigger outflow of cash. I am not saying that the entire cash has gone in kickbacks, maybe some has been siphoned off by the promoters. But then to handle such outflow of cash, is always not easy, when the markets are going through a recession. In a running market, its very easy.In 2002 , Modi Xerox had put up its hands, when its bribes against the rate contract it had received had inflated its cash balance.

So what is the fact now with Satyam. I am not ready to believe its in loss. I am not ready to believe its has worked on nominal margins. Raju has said was like riding a tiger, I am saying, Raju himself is the tiger who has eaten up a major chunk along with certain officials. The question is who is going to put his arm in the tigers throat to know the true Satya(m).