Manikarnika- Film Review

It's worth a watch, if only to review an important lesson in our history under British Rule. Their treatment of Indians, the servility and treachery of many Indian rulers, or their brethren, and many such eye-openers  are revisited. The end of the Peshwas and their re-location to Bithore near Kanpur was something I did not know about earlier.

Apart from this, we are made aware of many social customs that were turned on their head by Laxmibai a.k.a. Manikarnika during her stint as the Queen of Jhansi. Even if there is exaggeration that is obvious at times, cinema tends to be larger-than-life, and it's excusable..a film needs to be watchable too. Her decsription as the only Man among Indian rulers (by a Britisher) seems apt.

Kangana has poured her heart out, both as actor and director, and done a decent job of both. It's a bold attempt, and worth a watch. Danny, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Atul Kulkarni have decent supporting roles. Ankita Lokhande too.

Meet My Batch Arvind Deepika

ARVIND RAO (MARUTI/PLANTER)
d.o.b. 4-6-1959

A cat in anything he takes up, he is still trying to figure out why with his looks and build, he still
doesn't get the looks he should be getting. No wonder he sticks with Benji who operates in a
sellers' market. "I am too modest to fill in the 'Man of the Batch' and 'Person of the Batch', " he
said. Modesty, thy name is Arvind Rao!

DEEPIKA NATH (D NATH / PIK·PIK / BOND 003)
 “When you are a compulsive talker, why hide it from the world?”

On her own admission, she was a "total scatter-brain". However, going by her prolific scores,
we would rather drop that word "scatter". There is probably only a little bit of role-confusion-she
sometimes forgets which PGP batch, and which section, she belongs to.

My Batchmates Jose Bhima

JOSE G. VARAVUKALA (JOSAY / HOSE / YOSAPPAN)
"Fair and Lovely"  d.o.b. 9-4-1958

The man with the rich, b(h)aritone voice. Became better known as Father Jose after his Eff.
Comm. presentation on The Bible. He reached the heights of spirit-uality in the Jog Falls 'trip’.
He looked with a jaundiced eye upon anyone musically inclined intruding upon his privacy.
His favorite pastime: Singing, which Banny and even braver souls found hard to contain.

H. BHIMASENA RAU
(BHIMA / ASKY) d.o.b. 17-4-1959

His Tamil was painful - to non-Tamil ears. However, beneath the Tamil exterior, he hid hazaar
hospitality, warmth, hard work and a general inclination to excel. His gesticulations reminded
one of a puppet with strings detached. An enthusiastic placement rep., he discharged his duties
(?) with rare aplomb.

Marketing Research

This is a subject/course I have been teaching for around 27 years, starting in 1991. I got interested in it because of my stint in a company called MBA founded by 3 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad. Later, after a Ph.D. I returned to India and started teaching M.R., and soon after, wrote a book. Its 4th edition is on its way. A lot of students have contributed to the chapter-end cases in the book, starting with Kirloskar Institute and ending with IIM Indore for the latest edition.

A pic from a recent M.R. class where an interesting in-class exercise is on. I rely on a lot of these to enhance learning about the subject.

There are a lot of hands-on exercises as well as a course project that trains students in doing different things- from formulating research problems, designing a study and executing one. Analysis is just one part of this process.

Urdu Words on Song

In songs, actually, is what I meant. Some Urdu words that are appealing when used in film songs-

Dagabaaz ho banke piya,...a very old song.

Iqraar karna mushkil hai, inkaar karna mushkil hai..Manisha sang it in a remake (there were many) of Sleeping With the Enemy.

Beqaraar dil tu gaaye ja khushiyon se bhare woh taraane (Ashok Kumar sang in Kishore Kumar's voice, and Sulakshana Pandit sang for Tanuja).

Mohabbat. Yeh jo mohabbat hai yeh unka hai kaam..

Qayamat- Kamar patli, nazar bijli, suraahidaar gardan, qayamat se meri jaan kam nahin ho..

Haseena- O haseena zulfonwali jaane jahan,..

Bekhudi- Bekhudi mein sanam uth gaye jo kadam.

Film Review of Bhai the Biopic of PL Deshpande

He was the greatest contemporary humorist in Marathi, and a lot more-composer, playwright etc. His stand-up audio and video tapes were ahead of their time, and had millions of viewers/listeners.

This is part 1 of a biopic, the second will soon follow, in a month's time. Sagar Deshmukh has done a great job playing Pu La, as he was known. Direction is impeccable (Mahesh Manjrekar is the director).

This one focuses on his love for play-acting, playing the harmonium, and word play since childhood, his first tragic marriage, and his second which lasted long, in spite of some hiccups. Some of the other greats of Marathi Theatre and Music also figure in it, like Kolhatkar, Rangnekar, Kumar Gandharva and Bhimsen Joshi.

His wife is played very well by Iravati Harshe- she motivates him to complete some of his unfinished work, among other things. Their love blossoms in a school where they teach, and those scenes are a highlight of the film. So is the last scene, a musical jugalbandi of stalwarts, with Pu La on the harmonium. A treat for lovers of good cinema, and fans of Pu La Deshpande. 

Meaningless Cinema

As an antidote to meaningful and mindful everything, I propose meaningless cinema, with mindless stories, characters, situations, songs, and so on. You get the 'picture' I guess..

The conditions-

There must be no plot, story, that is discernible..the audience must be kept in the dark- this dark is different from the lighting in the auditorium that screens the meaningless film.

The characters must behave strangely- like some zombie moving from one scene to another..Deepak Parasher once had the look required..looked as if he was modelling, when he was supposed to be acting.

Songs if any must have lyrics that make no sense, and music that is out of tune, preferably a worse  remix of a bad remix..

Singers must sound like the combo of that Dhinchak lady plus Himesh Reshamiya..or Taher Shah.

You may argue that we are already there, with Race 3 and its ilk, but films in that class would be a very small minority..methinks we ought to do more!

Dilli O Dilli

 Went to Delhi and a conference at IMT Ghaziabad, where I found old colleagues. Two of them, Rashmi and Jayanthi were in a mood to smile, so here they are (above). Below, a special session on Retailing (a course I teach to doctoral students at Indore).

 The address below is my workplace in Connaught Place, that I adorned (!) between 1984 and 1985.-now you know how ancient I am :)  It used to be an Ad agency of the Living Media/Thomson Press group. My work life began here.

 An interesting way to adorn the outer wall of a restaurant in C.P. (below)

 And my visit to a city is never complete without a book store being included..this one has a tea room called Cha bar attached! The layout of the books is really tasteful too.

Discovering Indian Culture

I came across, thanks to Padmapriya, a former student and an actor with a conscience (and a National Award to boot), a novel organisation that she joined recently. It is called Sahapedia, on the lines of a wiki, and is about discovering various facets of culture.

It is an open online forum that relates to Indian culture and heritage. This is the link if it interests you, to find out more-  https://www.sahapedia.org/aboutus
Heritage walks are one way they do it, but there are many other dimensions to their activities such as writings, videos etc.

I found the idea very interesting, and hope to engage a little more when possible.

Anniversary Thoughts

No, not the wedding anniversary, but of being here (Planet i, as we like to call it)- 5 years, out of 58 on the planet. Long time, no move. I think it's because of the constant newness of what happens around here, that it seems like a new place each year, while remaining comfortingly familiar. Of course, the students are new each year, and bring in a good part of the freshness..the sheer variety of things I have seen/done too. New faculty (around 60 added since I came), the countries I have visited since I came here (Vietnam was tops, closely followed by Cambodia, Japan and Indonesia), discovering how to play Golf on a cricket field, the Conference we did here with NASMEI, teaching exec. students in Mumbai, stints as MDP chair, and Dean Faculty and tea-time conversations in the corridor, developing new courses on Tourism and Digital Marketing, writing papers with IPM students and FPM students, the Google Online Challenge were some of the highlights of these five years. Oh, yeah, getting wi-fi as a result of my suggesting it 5 years ago too.

 Out in the open..campus views.

 Inside my office with re-united roomie after 1989.
Playing Baaz Bahadur at Mandu, my favourite destination near Indore.

Never Let Me Go- Book Review

Kazuo Ishiguro is a British author who has won the Nobel in 2017. I was attracted to a book cover, the old-fashioned way (most of you are aware of my fashion sense by now). In a book store. I bought, and surprisingly, finished the book in about 3 days.

Never Let Me Go is a moving story, about humans, and clones of humans. I recently saw Robot 2, and artistically, these two are very different, but there were hints of what might happen when Robots turn human in the female character in Robot. Likewise, in all the three main characters- two female, and one a male in the book.

It's an emotional story, full of innocence, fears, and hopes of these clones (euphemistically called Students), raised only to provide organ donations to humans. They have a love triangle, exactly as humans might have, and grow up with just a little hope that they can extend their life just that bit. This hope is kept alive till the surprise ending, but you have to read the book to really savour it. I was impressed!

A link to the trailer of the film made from the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRbZuP3bAc

In Search of Paradise

 A view of the Kishore Kumar Memorial, from a distance, and a close-up. Really happy we made the trip that we have been meaning to for a long time..his voice often seems divine.

 In case you were planning to visit it, we have our Paradise right here on earth.. proof above. And close to it, not geographically though, is Indore's own version, where Mamaji serves you chai and poha.

 And to top it, is the place which has architecturally been an inspiration to some of IIM Indore's structures- Hindola Mahal at Mandu (below).