The Many Sounds of Kishore Kumar

He was a mimic from his childhood, and used to perform for guests as a kid. Therefore, it is not surprising that he seemed to possess as many voices as his screen heroes for whom he sang.

He was serious and respectable for Sanjeev Kumar in Aandhi, Romantic and soft for Rajesh Khanna in Kati Patang and macho for Amitabh Bachchan in Laawaris. The songs I am referring to are Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa nahin from Aandhi, Pyar diwana hota hai from Kati Patang and Apni to jaise taise from Laawaris. Of course, he was also boisterous for Sanjeev in O Manchali kahan chali, and serious for Rajesh Khanna in Aap ki Kasam (Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo makaam), and playful for Amitabh in Amar Akbar Anthony (My name is Anthony Gonsalves). He had some excellent songs for Randhir Kapoor (Jaane jaan, Yeh jawani hai diwani and Saamne yeh kaun aaya in Jawani Diwani and Gum hai kisi ke pyar mein from Rampur ka Lakshman), and Rakesh Roshan (Aaj unse pehli mulaqaat hoogi, Aankhon aankhon mein dekha hogaye deewane, Gulmohar gar tumhara naam hota). Whatever he did for these heroes, he sounded just right for them.

Some other memorable songs Kishore Kumar sang were Tu laali hai savere wali for Danny, Mere meet bata tujhe mujhse kab pyar hua aur kaise for Sujeet Kumar. Sama hai suhana suhana  for Jalal Agha, Yeh jeevan hai for Anil Dhawan, Teri duniya se hoke majboor chala for Parikshit Sahni in Pavitra Papi, Ghunghroo ki tarah bajta hi raha for Shashi Kapoor. He also sang for Pran in a couple of films (Hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai, sounding exactly like him and Daru ki botal mein saheb pani bharta hai, phir na kehna Michael daru peeke danga karta hai in Majboor).

Dev Anand and he were like soulmates for a very long time- from Are yaar meri tum bhi ho ghazab and Mana Janab ne pukara nahin, through Maine kasam li, Yeh dil na hota bechaara, to Dil aaj shaayar hai, and Phoolon ke rang se, right until Des Pardes (Tu pee aur jee, Jaisa des waisa bhes). They complemented each other well, and came up with classics almost every time they worked together.

Talvar- Film Review

I don't remember what Meghna Gulzar made before this film. But this one is directed well, and the casting is perfect. Every character is well-portrayed by the actors. The standout actor of course, is Irfan Khan, who is fast becoming my favourite. His 'Lunch Box' I thought was outstanding, with Nimrat Kaur also doing a fantastic job there.

Anyway, this one is based on the Arushi Talwar case, and its dramatic turns from the first pronouncement that it was an honour killing, by the local cops, to a completely different possibility that the man-servant's friends were the killers, and back. The twists are brought out well, in the process exposing and shaming almost everyone. The Talwars themselves, without evidence, suspect their man-servant, until he is found dead. The local cops, for destroying most evidence, the CBI and the courts too, for their actions, the media for sensationalising, the public for baying for someone's blood. Almost no one comes out looking pretty, and that is the strength of this film.

It is definitely worth a watch, if only as a mirror to the times we live in, and ourselves. Impressive. The war of words in the Home Minister's office between the rival CBI teams is hilarious, and lightens up the proceedings briefly. Particularly, the takeoffs on "The Missionary Position," and the dialogue Hindustani router hai, jab marzi chalta hai..about the router going on and off on the night of the murder. The Tabu angle is unnecessary, and could have saved around five-seven minutes.

The Comedians

I mean the directors, not the actors, though some of them were both.

In Hollywood, the first guy that comes to mind is Woody Allen. He made several good films, one as recently as a couple of years ago. Most of these had wonderful humour, mostly about human relationships, but also a lot of other things. Sometimes dark humour, but very witty. And delivered with deadpan expressions. A genius.

A very different kind of humour (in your face, slaspstick) is to be found in Mel Brooks' films. Usually spoofs on something (Silent Movie was about Hollywood itself), I still remembers scenes from films of his I watched many years ago-Blazing Saddles (spoof on Western Cowboy movies), History of the World (about major events in history), To Be Or Not To Be (on Hitler), and a Star Wars spoof called Spaceballs. I remembered the last again while watching The Martian recently.

Closer home in India, directors of good comedy were Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Both masters of situational humour, they made between them, great films like Chupke Chupke, Chhoti Si Baat, Shaukeen, Gol Maal and Naram Garam. Angoor by Gulzar was another great comedy. Though not known for comedy, Satyen Bose's Chalti ka Naam Gaadi with Kishore Kumar was an excellent romantic comedy. So was Padosan, directed by Jyoti Swaroop. Mehmood's role in it was immortal, on of the best ever.

Leadership Memories

I spent a few years leading some Indian business schools in the period between 2005 and 2013. The things I remember that I think made a difference, during those years, to various institutes I was in.

1. PESIT, Bangalore. My first and only stint in an institute that was not autonomous.

Creating a self-belief that faculty there could do anything that autonomous B schools could. Running a scholarly journal, interacting with industry, teaching through cases, publishing, teaching internationally. Most of these worked beyond belief, with some of the performance indicators exceeding the then norms at better ranked B schools.

2. IFIM Business School: Streamlining the admission process for MBA. We had spectacular success in reaching out, to roughly 30 cities in a year for admission. Bringing in research emphasis. Repositioning the International Business program as a desirable one.

3. IMT Nagpur. Encouraging both faculty and students to excel, all-round, in academics and extra-curriculars. Adding placement reps in metro cities to market effectively. Alumni relations were recognised for their importance, and channeled into chapter meets. And, of course, building a Golf course, even if it was only two holes. And using it. Running conferences successfully, also. Industry interaction with compulsory industry guest lectures. Wrote my first video case on Golftripz in the process, with the help of an alumna from KIAMS. Institutionalising an annual faculty outing for introspection and just building up a rapport among the team.

4. IMT Ghaziabad. It was a rather short stint, but getting faculty interested in research, case-writing and their own career development was a priority. Working towards accreditation was illuminating, too. Again, alumni relations were consciously improved.

In the current role, I am in charge of our training programs or MDPs and it is amazing to unlock the potential that my staff has, to increase the business significantly. Of course, backed by colleagues who do the hard work of delivering.

Festivities and Productivity

Festivals we celebrate in a multicultural society such as ours are numerous. A rough calculation from my limited knowledge of festivals we celebrate shows that we have around 15-20 festivals of Hindu denomination or tradition, around 4-5 Muslim, around 2-3 Christian, and maybe 1-2 each of Sikh, Parsi, Jain or other faiths.

This totals up to around 2 months of festivities if you include the number of days we choose to celebrate each one, even if you don't celebrate each one fully. The consequences of this on national productivity may be negative, even though there are some positives that are intangible, like the joy of meeting family and friends with whom we celebrate, building up a community feeling, and so forth.

But if we have to improve our own productivity, we may need to choose a few to celebrate and choose not to celebrate others. Of course, that is a choice that we may have to make individually, in order to raise the national standard of living and remain globally competitive.

There are of course, other ways to improve productivity such as better time management. But this is not about those.

Federal Bank Selfie Account Opening

This is a real innovation. Federal Bank sent a mail saying to open an account with them, you can -

1. Download their App
2. Take a selfie
3. Scan your Aadhar card and PAN Card

and send them these.

Your account is open.

Why can't Passport offices do the same, instead of employing countless useless people and procedures to obstruct you from getting one? Or the RTOs for a Driver's License renewal?

That's what Digital India means to me.

Bhopal- A City Review

After Nagpur, this is the first clean city I have come across in our country. My expectations are minimal. Wide roads without choking traffic, without heaps of garbage all over. Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, do not stand up to scrutiny on these counts. Bhopal does.

I was there on invitation to talk to budding young entrepreneurs. CII was the do-gooder, and a bunch of young guys there have taken up the cause of mentoring people with ideas. People of diverse ages and experience were a part of the audience. Many were existing entrepreneurs-the mentors. One among whom was a former student of mine from IMT Nagpur.

Anyway, the talk went off fine, judging by reactions during and after. It was on marketing strategy. Both on the way and back, we drove along the (Upper) lake, and it reminded me of Tank Bund in Hyderabad.

There are a lot of things one can see around Bhopal too, and I am sure I will visit again. Bhojpur temple nearby and a prehistoric man site called Bhimbetka seem the most interesting. MP Tourism, incidentally, is one of the most pro-active in popularising their destinations. I should know, having been to about a dozen of them, including Marble Rocks, Bhedaghat, and Pench Tiger reserve in the last few years. They had a restaurant at Dodi, halfway between Indore and Bhopal as a rest stop, with clean toilets. With posters and free brochures for other destinations to visit in MP state.