O Mere Shahe Khuba

This is about songs that begin with an O in Hindi. That roughly translates to an address in which you well, address somebody. Hindi films being eternally romantic, with a few exceptions, usually these songs are addressed to the love of your life.

O meri, o meri, o meri Sharmeelee was a classic sung very fast, tuned by S.D. Burman. Raakhee looked fetching, and was the addressee, and the singer was Shashi Kapoor.

O mere raaja, o mere raaja, khafa na hona, der se aayee, door se aayee, majboori thi phir bhi maine waada to nibhaaya..is another classic, from Johny Mera Naam, with Dev Anand and Hema Malini looking great in the surroundings, supposedly around Nalanda. Kalyanji Anandji had the zingy music, with quite a few good songs like Pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyaar kar le, and Nafrat karne waalon ke seene mein pyaar bhar doon.

O mere sona re sona re sona re, de doongi jaan juda mat hona re..was a lovely song sung by Asha Parekh in Teesri Manzil, a musical delight. Shammi Kapoor is the target in this one.

This movie had another "o" category number, O haseena zulfowaali jaane jahaan, one of the best club songs ever, with Helen and Shammi Kapoor outdoing each other. R.D. Burman scored the music.

O mere shahe khuba , o meri jaane jhanaana, tumne iqraar na kiya...was an Urdu beauty sung by Mohammed Rafi  from 'Love in Tokyo'. Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh were in it. There was another one, Sayonara, sayonara, in which we first saw a kimono in the sixties, in this film.

Another favourite in this category is O mere dil ke chain chain aaye mere dil ko dua keejiye, a moving, slow number from Mere Jeevan Sathi, starring Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja.

Amir Garib- Movie Recall

This is not Total Recall, but a partial one. On a flight recently, they showed an old classic (for me) Dev Anand film called Amir Garib. Though I missed a favourite song of mine sung by him with a trumpet in hand (Main aaya hoon, leke saaz hathon mein..in case you are interested) because I watched only a part of it (coz I was dozing, in case you are interested), I enjoyed what I watched.

Well, it's a masala classic, if you must know, and has a message- that the poor are better than the rich. This used to be the message in a lot of films those days. These days, the message might be what Gordon Gekko told us (Greed is good, unless you get caught).

Anyway, there is this female thief called Soni and our man is Moni. But wait, he is Moni by day, and Bagla Bhagat, a kind of Robin Hood who steals, by night. I remember Dharmendra starred in  a film where he played a Robin Hood character- in Jugnu. That also had Hema Malini in the female lead, and ran in Mumbai for 50 weeks.

It's all good fun, with the villain's den in garish colours, her's sister engaged to a cop whose mission is to catch Bagla Bhagat, and Premnath in good form as the (real) villain- a rich man, naturally.

Great fun to watch after all these years.

Daft Definitions

Some fun de(finitions)-

Shoe- A piece of leather wrapped around your foot.

Lipstick- Lip-synching wax with weird colours.

Car- A hollow piece of metal with four wheels driven on a moon-like surface on earth.

Aircraft- A hollow piece of metal intent on taking off, except when it is fogged out.

IPL- A system devised by scammers, for scammers with spectators’ money. Spectacular.

TRAI- The regulator that gives everyone a ‘trying’ time.

RBI- An entity that always holds your ‘interest’.

Goa Case Conference 2013

We at IMT started a case conference in 2010 November, and we are now in the 4th year. This is a conference where participants bring a case they have written, and get feedback in an informal round table setting. Faculty members, students and corporates are welcome to participate. We have had several interesting cases emerge from the conference.

This is quite different from research conferences that involve big sample data, which is the usual format in an academic conference. Powerpoint presentations that are normally used in these, we don't allow in our conference. It fosters a more friendly setting, non-threatening, and pleasant.

This time we had a strong contingent from IIM Lucknow presenting their cases, and a lot of people from a diverse set of Business Schools, from all over the country. There were also a few cases from Goa Institute of Management. It was nice to see the enthusiasm from the first time writers of cases. We also offer review and mentoring for anyone interested, over a longer term through email etc. Some of the cases presented here go on to get published after a revision or a rewrite.

We have been doing it at The International Centre, Goa, that has a beautiful setting near Dona Paula.

The Lunch Box- Movie Review

This stuff is delectable. I did not have this kind of a feeling, for a long time. I wished the movie wouldn't end when it did. Often, it's the other way around, thanks to poor editing.

Out here, everything is flawless. I generally don't go gaga over a Hindi movie. But I have to hand it to the director (haven't heard of him either). In the bunch of mostly meaningless masala that Bollywood churns out, this comes like a bolt from the blue.

There are innovative touches, like an 'aunty' who lives above the heroine's flat, and communicates through the window/balcony with her (and whom you never see), and using the reviews of the dabbawalas done by Harvard and Prince Charles in unexpected places. Also their song while travelling in Mumbai trains, used so effectively in the end...

The acting to me was truly electric, with the first-timer, Nimrat Kaur, doing even better than the veteran Irrfan Khan. She reminded me of Smita Patil a lot. Nawazuddin is also very effective with his act that acts as a foil to the 'serious' love story developing around him.

Fabulously understated and minimalistic, yet packs a punch. Need more of this stuff coming out of India-this is an Indian-French-German co-production, I believe. But it's all India in its story and treatment.

How To Guides- Part 2

We continue to look at this business of businesses and the following How To Guides which are next in line for publication-

1. How to get your kid admission into Kindergarten. An associated book will be on How to Beg for Favours and a supplement titled Standing in Line and Enjoying it! Sequels will cover High School, College and Post Grad studies.

2. How to Copy a Hit TV Show. Warning: This may not sell well, since all ideas for TV shows have already been copied.

3. How to Dance Like Govinda. Most important tips here will be on getting that manic expression on the face right. The dancing anyways is tough to describe in writing.

4. How to Join the Army. This will have a couple of chapters describing the various ranks that the army has, distinguishing between the various shoulder straps of various colours and the medals that you can get in a lifetime. And a little bit about holding a gun correctly.

5. How to make a mythological for TV (we still do, and some of these are better than the contemporary shows). This will come with a free DVD of all mythological films and TV shows that have appeared on screens big and small. You just pick one and redo it. Costumes can be supplied if needed-they are the most important thing in a mythological. Everyone knows the story, so no exertion is required in that direction.

How To Guides- Part 1

Part 1, because like Batman and Star Wars, I hope to have lots of episodes of this evergreen series. After all, everyone agrees that learning never stops. So how can guides? Wherever you have learning, can guides be far behind?

The first few guides-

1. How to give expert opinions on TV talk shows. You must not make sense, and shout louder than others-that's the key. Bonus chapter on Dealing with Arnab Goswami!

2. How to look sexy in a Food show- pouting, smiling and other chapters. Can also double as a guide to winning beauty contests. Add on a how to wear a swimsuit guide, that's all.

3. How to clear interviews for any job - learn twenty important words and use them randomly

4. How to write a winning blog. If I knew that, I wouldn't be writing this post.

5. How to become a star. Be born in a star family. Read the guide for other tips, like switching babies in a maternity ward.  95% guarantee of success. 5% errors may be due to typos. Please excuse.