Ani..Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar- Marathi Film Review

I am currently a fan of Marathi films, and for good reason. Their quality exceeds whatever else is on offer, by miles. I had missed this biopic of a great stage actor that Marathi Theatre had witnessed, and made up by watching the film on TV.

Excellent casting, direction and acting elevate this film to one of the most engrossing dramas based on real-life characters. Subodh Bhave pulls off the main character with panache. The doyen of Marathi cinema, Bhalji Pendharkar, Sulochana, an early actress, and Dr. Shriram Lagoo appear as some of the characters along with stage writer Vasant Kanetkar and producer Prabhakar Panshikar (played well by Prasad Oak).

Though I missed many of these real-life people and their plays when staged originally, the movie gives you a glimpse of Marathi theatre in its prime. And Kashinath Ghanekar was one of its prime movers, is what this film also reminds us. Before Rajesh Khanna became a superstar, he was one, style and all, according to a dialogue in the film.

Certainly a well-made film, even if you know nothing about the subject.

Cyclone Fani- A Job Well Done

The government doing a great job? It showed us what can happen when all the wings of government work together with focus. Of course, we have seen it before in our Space program or Nuclear Program, or even Weather Satellites Development (which is one reason why this disaster was managed so well).

This could easily have been a Killer cyclone with thousands of deaths, but timely evacuation and provision of services to the evacuated people (like shelters), turned it into just another storm, weathered well.

When I lived in the U.S., there was Hurricane Hugo which hit the South Carolina coast, and the damage was extensive. We heard stories from affected people, and they were bad- late 80s sometime.

I am glad an Indian State has made such progress in managing crises created by natural forces. May the Force be with us, for greater good of our citizens.

Making Predictions

My top ten predictions

1. Kim will continue to sport a funny haircut.

2. Kings and Queens will continue to thrive. Long live monarchy!

3. Kejriwal will continue to wear mufflers, but whether e will get rid of his cough, is too tough to call.

4.  Gun laws will remain what they are in the U.S., regardless of shootings in the country, and over-zealous actions by stupid countries like New Zealand.

5. Vada pav will continue as the State Dish of Maharashtra, along with Misal-pav.

6. Meetings will continue to waste hours, while generating Minutes, arround the world, particularly the corporate world.

7. Baldness will not have a cure, ever. Nor the common cold.

8. Men will be men (thanks, Imperial Blue, for pointing it out).

9. Selfies will become the leading cause of death- people jealous of others' abilities to take good selfies will kill themselves.

10. Student of the Year will continue till its 10th sequel, beating the Superman and Spiderman franchises.

Leading Professionals

There is an expectation from leaders in many situations, that they will do a lot of leading-in other words, micro-manage their subordinates' work from A to Z. In an academic institution though (and perhaps in other places which are full of professionals who have entered the profession with a will to do well), less is more. The major difference between an academic job and many others is that people here resent being told what to do and how to do it. Most are here for the autonomy to decide what they want to spend time on, and how to do it too. Mentorship for young faculty who want it is an exception to this.

To quote a former IIT director, your best bet is to hire the best people (faculty) you can, and leave them alone, and hope they will perform. This may be the best way to nurture the crazy set of autonomy-loving professionals.

Of course, this does not work with the non-teaching staff, who may need directions AND control. So, it is horses for courses, depending on the kind of subordinates you have. Contingency theory of leadership, anyone?

Engaging With People- DP Awards

Engaging with people on social media and real life may have some similarities. You have to think like an advertiser who fights the clutter, particularly on social media where there are a zillion distractions, and you have to cut through them.

An experiment that I started a couple of years ago, was to select Nice DPs from among my Facebook friends- note, these are not called the Best DP Awards-just Nice DP Awards. There is a difference. You can have a nice DP without it being the best on any one parameter. Of course, my judgement is what counts, as in any list, but many of my nice friends from around the world have been winners.

I am asked often by some friends when I meet them in person, what the criteria are for my selection. I don't have any specific criteria, but just an overall impression- sometimes it's the look, the location, the quality of the smile, or the humour inherent in the pic, or just creativity that grabs attention. So there's no formula to it, you gotta just keep trying out different things.

It's been a great success (52nd edition running), and though trawling through 3000 DPs is not exactly easy once every 3-4 weeks, I enjoy the process of looking at what people are up to, in terms of presenting themselves.

Administration Versus Leadership

I have deliberately not used the word Management, because I am not talking of MBAs alone, but more generally, about spheres that affect more people than the corporates.

Administration can be the routine activities, and more to do with implementation of rules that were framed by someone else. For instance, the Municipal administration mainly has to do with implementing rules and duties already assigned to the department. Few new things, maybe once in a while, like building a new flyover.

Leaders may be distinguished (if they are at all) by some creative ideas that they are able to come up with for the non-routine, which may benefit a lot of people. Many leaders give us hope, but few live up to it. In our political landscape, maybe three or four have solved problems of masses creatively, though many may have contributed in bits and pieces. TN Seshan, E Sreedharan (Metro Man), Verghese Kurien, and a few other bureaucrats from within the system were leaders who did this by probably going beyond their brief. The Metro has the potential to solve public transport problems if designed well- I have now travelled by Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore metros and can vouch for this.

I had the fortune to live in Andhra Pradesh when Chandrababu Naidu came up with a computerised service for citizens to pay their bills in one place. It was called eSeva, and was later (much later) copied by other states. Before this, people spent huge amounts of time in lines to pay their own utility bills.

The latest example of good leadership is the way the Orissa Cyclone called Fani has been handled, with able leadership directing the various administrative wings in saving at least a few thousand lives. It involved coordination among different administrative bodies/wings, making it all the more remarkable.

I am pretty sure that we can keep up a flurry of such innovations to ease the life of a common man, if we give enough thought to it. That would make for smart cities and villages, and much more. Maybe a citizen scrutiny and rating system may work, and get people to participate more in governance too.

The Tashkent Files- Film Review

A very well-made film in a genre that Hindi films usually do not even attempt. It has elements of The Odessa File starring Jon Voight that I saw many years ago, and elements of Twelve Angry Men remade as Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, about a jury debating whether a defendant is guilty or not. Here, the subject is the shadowy circumstances around the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's former Prime Minister, that happened at Tashkent.

Though the end abruptly points fingers at a political personality, making it look as though it is a propaganda film in the times of a general election, that does not take away the fact that it is gripping from the word Go. You can discount the last five minutes if you don't like those. Throughout the film, though, the entire political class is blamed for whatever the main argument is- a citizen's right to be informed about the goings-on in a democracy. The Cold War and the dirty tricks of CIA and KGB also come out starkly.

Shweta Basu Prasad excels in her role of an intrepid journalist, and is supported ably by a good supporting cast- Mithun Chakrabarty and Naseeruddin Shah being the major ones, and Pankaj Tripathi, Pallavi Joshi and Mandira Bedi among the others.

I liked it as a film, in spite of a possible propagandist angle, as mentioned earlier.