An Inconvenient Truth - A movie which needs to be watched by everyone

Last week, our Leaders, the representatives of our human race met at Copenhagen and decided our future, or decided if we should have a future or not. In my personal opinion, they let us down. To an extent, they delivered words, but when it came to actions, we saw none.

So, as a citizen of this beautiful planet, and to my knowledge, the only habitable planet, it boils down to us individuals to help initiate the change we want to bring about. Very honestly speaking, we can’t just blame the Leaders, since in their shoes; we too would take a similar step, since the support from public still needs a long way to go, before a leader can promise drastic changes. Also, a lot of the issue is caused by the fact that people are ignorant, or probably less motivated, and keeping that view in mind, I am writing this “Movie Review”, or should I say Documentary Review.

An Inconvenient Truth
Cast: Al Gore

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Rating: 9.0/10.0 (You really need to see this)

As is known, or would be clear by now, the movie is a Global Warning on the Global Warming issue. Very straightforwardly put, the movie revolves around a “glorified” Powerpoint Presentation on Global Warming that Al Gore supposedly gave more than a thousand times by the time this movie was made (i.e. 2005), along with some of his quiet musings and a decent background sound track, which as an movie would sound pretty dumb and boring, but the some brilliant direction and the catchy and crisp presentation skills of Al Gore keep the viewers interested. On a personal note, I never knew that Al Gore anything more than yet another American Politician, till he was actually bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and the Indian media was abuzz about this movie.

The movie, which on the whole enlightens the viewers (though I had earlier thought of using the word depresses) about what harm the uncontrolled and unchecked human activity is doing to the environment and what will happen when nature reacts back, has its own set of light moments. For instance, while introducing him-self, Al Gore starts by saying, “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next President of the United States of America”. The obvious reaction is a giggle from the audience, and to this he retorts saying, “I don’t find that particularly funny”. The movie is laden from time to time with such moments, which make us smile, even when we are buying some facts which show us the horrific picture of the future.

Though Al Gore is not a scientist, he has the air of a Professor, who can explain the even the boring parts of studies with a creative use of pictures, animations and jokes. I cannot think of any other movie, where seeing the red lines of the graphs, the audience gasp (I am not talking of office, where CEO shows loss and people sigh). The pictures used for explanation are very powerful and even the future speculations of what will get submerged strike a chord with the viewers immediately. This is coupled with a really cute video from the world of Simpsons, which in a comic way show us the gravity of the problem.

There are a few more areas of concern, which the movie cites with examples. While there is Zero disagreement over the fact that human actions are causing the temperatures to go up, taking a sample of 925 recent scientific papers on this subject, the normal population looks at this possibility with an almost 50% chance of agreement with this fact, showing that a lot of us are still ignorant, or probably possess half-knowledge.

All in all, Al Gore in a very subtle way proves to the viewers, all his view points, and convinces the layman about what went wrong, and what it will result into. There is a part in the movie, where he shows the choices the Politicians have, and shows us a Scale, which has “Gold” on one side, which stands for economic development and prosperity, and on the other hand, we have “The Entire Planet”. And then, when he has to choose, he just looks greedily at the gold, and goes hmmm. Doesn’t this strike a chord with what just happened at Copenhagen, with different countries fighting it over development and emission rates?

Since there is no fear of revealing any plot here, I am putting some of the facts that were put into the movie.
· The ten hottest years in the last 200 years came in the last 14 years.
· The data from Antarctica’s ice show that the current concentration of carbon-dioxide is the highest as compared to all historical data going back million years ago.
· Mumbai had a severe downpour of rain of 37 inches, highest in any city in India.
· There are lot of glaciers and mountain ranges, where we see the amount of ice retreating giving rise to water.

To be really honest, the movie leaves the viewer with a sense of despair, since the facts shown are pretty depressing and though Al Gore tries to imbibe the fact that we still have time and all hope is not lost, it doesn’t really sound convincing. However, in a nutshell, Al Gore’s presentation not only deserves, but also demands the viewer’s rapt attention.

Final Verdict:
The best thing about this movie is that it teaches you the same Green House effect, which most of us probably in our school days, and yet it makes you passionate about our planet, in a way you would have never felt before. Also, the movie does an impartial analysis of the human race and doesn’t point to a specific Political Party, Country or an Industry. On a personal note, the line that Al Gore repeatedly said, got stuck into my mind, that Saving the Environment is more of a “Moral concern” rather than a Political issue, and hence, each one of us should do what we can for saving our Home.
All in all, if you ask me, “Should I watch this movie?”
I would like to answer it saying, “Watch it, so your children don’t need to tell you, why did you not wake up, when you could have saved our planet and our existence? When you proclaim to be the most-evolved and the smartest species on this planet, why did you not act responsibly when you still had time?” A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, now it is the time for you to see the movie and awaken.

Copenhagen Conference 2009 – Did it "REALLY" change anything?

Just the last week we had the ONE OF THE BIGGEST event in probably the history of mankind, where all the supposedly important people from the 192 countries of the world, met at Copenhagen, Denmark to decide the fate of humankind. In brief, our so-called leaders met to decide on how to reduce the pollution we are causing and save our planet’s self-sustained ecosystem, before we reach a chain-reaction that causes changes which threaten the existence of a lot of species, including ours. ore so, this meeting is decided to chalk-out a successor to the renowned Kyoto protocol.

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

On Dec 11, 1997, with a moral-view in mind, a protocol was inked in Kyoto, Japan under the realms of United Nations for the reduction in the carbon emissions by the developed nations and the European Union. Now, in 2009, we have 187 countries, who have ratified this Protocol.

Nevertheless, among the developed nations, the United States, responsible for the highest emissions and Australia have not ratified this protocol as yet. Also, a lot of the countries, who signed up for this protocol are not able to meet up with the required figures. Though this was a good beginning, the scientific data shows that the checks are not enough and we will need to go one more step to stop our actions, if we want to stop the nature’s alteration. Thus, with that view in mind, and with the hope that Barack Obama, would act more responsibly as compared to George Bush, who exclaimed that reducing the emissions would hurt US economy, the Copenhagen Summit was organized.

The Change is Coming
The latest scientific evidence seems to suggest that the Earth’s ecological system is changing much faster as compared to earlier predictions. This is also due to the fact that the countries like China and India, which are home to almost 33% of the world population, are developing fast. Due to this, the emissions are increasing rapidly. Moreover, the emission levels from even the so-called developed countries have increased, putting more pressure on the environment. Major issues are expected for the island countries and the countries at lower sea-level. Other issues with increased temperature will include reduction in food production. Moreover, for India, the melting of the Himalayas’ glaciers will result in lack of water in Ganges and Brahmaputra, leading to major destabilization in the region.

The United States vs. China – A Deadlock
It is probably a human-tendency to just blame the others for whatever wrong has happened, and it is in this habit of ours, that we forget to look and gauge the existing situation and don’t salvage what can be stored while we keep fighting and blaming the others. The Copenhagen Conference saw a similar display of this human trait, albeit at a larger level and probably with something as importance as our existence at stake.

There was a tussle regarding the emission levels between the Developing nations and the already Developed nations. While the developed nations demanded equal stakes for all, the developing nations argued that they were at the brink of growing and cannot be equated with the former ones. Also, it was argued that while US and EU were not subjected to such laws when they were growing, why should India and China be.

There was a bigger issue between the United States and China, which are now, by far the highest emitters of green-house gases. While the US asked for independent evaluations of emissions, the Chinese refused vehemently stating it would be a threat to their sovereignty. So while the Chinese refused to budge from their own projections, there was not much that came as an offer from the United States, which instead of reducing their emissions by 15-17% of 1990 levels, only promised about 4% reduction.

The Final Outcome
As a last day measure, Barack Obama offered an aid of $100bn-a-year fund for the developing countries to move to the global goal of halving the emissions by 2050. This is only for the countries who join the Copenhagen Accord, which is the new outcome of this Conference, since nothing really concrete was pledged. Even the Accord doesn’t really boast of specific commitments and numbers, so things are pretty much in the wait-and-watch mode. And if the new agreement doesn’t include China, which is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, it would be a significant drawback towards a Universal deal.

Hence, all in all, the Copenhagen Conference ended with a much inspiration, but no action way. The final conclusion was that the United States, China and India reached a “meaningful agreement”. And as per the officials, a very diplomatic answer was echoed, that though none of the countries was fully satisfied, this Conference was a step, albeit small, in paving a way for the future.

Why the Conference Failed and the Errors
I believe the Conference failed because they had too many leaders to decide who was to do what. In fact, I read a few articles on the internet and found that, for this Conference 1,200 limos and 140 private planes were used to ensure the leaders and their delegates (15000+ people) were catered to. According to the organizers, the eleven-day conference, including the participants' travel, will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of "carbon dioxide equivalent".

Most of these people are not needed at the Conference, but they are present because none of the Leaders want to take the accountability of the issues. Moreover, instead of giving figures, which can be tracked and noted, say 8-10% reduction in 5 years, the World-Leaders are talking about Pledges of reducing the Carbon-emissions by 80% in 2050. I wonder if any of them (knowing the average age of the leaders), would be alive at that time, and leave alone, being in Power.


My Take on this Issue
All I can suggest we do is, reduce our carbon emissions as responsible species of this planet, encourage the use of alternative sources of energy, plant more trees and do whatever else we can for saving our Home – Planet Earth. In the end, if nothing works out, just move to Lands away from Seas and at higher sea-levels, with a few Air-Conditioners and a stock of Electronic Batteries, which lasts your lifetime.

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year

Oh well! Here I am, back with another post this weekend, which is kind of funny after my long period of estivation, but then there is logic for that. ;-)
Well, what has happened is that a group of us friends have taken initiative and have formalized a Synopsys Group for weekend leisure and the two activities we sincerely follow are playing Volleyball and watching a movie. And I kind of gave myself another commitment, to write about any movie I see in the Synopsys Movie Club as we call it. ;-)

So, for the movie I saw this weekend; here goes nothing...

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Gauhar Khan, Manish Choudhary, D. Santosh, Mukesh Bhatt, Naveen Kaushik, Shazahn Padamsee

Director: Shimit Amin

Overall Rating: 6.5/10.0 (A good movie to watch, if there are no other plans)

The movie Rocket Singh, revolves around Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor), who is a happy-go-lucky Sardar. Just cleared his B.Com., with borderline marks, and having a futile year in study-life, Harpreet is still optimistic about life and dreams of becoming a great “Sales Man”, the job he thinks doesn’t need qualifications, but needs quick thinking and persistence.

So, armed with his confidence and enthusiasm, and of course, his credentials, he starts looking for an appropriate job, and finally lands at AYS, a firm, which sells computers and provides service-contracts for computer maintenance. However, once into the job, he realizes that the “ideals” that his Grandfather (Prem Chopra) had imbibed into him are non-existent and he sees around him the complete opposite. One reason why every Professional, who does a job, will like to see this movie, is that, this is probably the first movie, which very effectively captures and shows the day-to-day office politics, cut-throat competition and the bitching, that exists in office environment. Also, this is shown very brilliantly by excellent acting from the bosses Nitin (Naveen Kaushik) and Sunil Puri (Manish Choudhary), who want absolutely no-nonsense, very competitive and at times even rude.

Harpreet tries his hand at learning the “new” tricks-of-the-trade, which include things like filing wrong information, spying on the competitors, and using everything, from bribes to office politics in your favor for getting your deals and meeting the targets, but fails miserably, since the ideals imbibed into him, cannot be undone so easily. This leads to a mistake, leading to more aggressive targets for his co-workers and in the wake of anger, his colleagues not only make fun of Harpreet, but also keep throwing rockets (paper-planes) at him, and if this was not enough, he gets some “real” criticism from his superiors; which leads to dynamic change of events in Harpreet’s so far silent and straightforward life.

The plot has been well-managed by all the co-actors, and their acting is definitely worth mentioning. All the actors, D. Santosh as Giri, a computer expert, Gauhar Khan as Koena, the ambitious and talented receptionist and Mukesh Bhatt as Chhotelal the Peon live upto their characters. Newcomer Shazahn Padamsee adds a romantic twist to the tale, but her part of the act actually doesn’t have much, to judge her acting capability. However, Prem Chopra’s role as Harpreet’s GrandPa is as refreshing to watch as ever.

Final Verdict:

On the whole, the movie is pretty straightforward, and relatively dry as compared to what the trailers depicted. The one loss I had while going to see this movie is to go with a mindset of a comedy movie, and finding none in return. And yet, the film has some pretty catchy lines, which keeps the audience amazed, but they are too few. My personal favorite is the line which goes, “Risk to Spiderman ko bhi lena padta hein, mein to phir bhi Salesman hoon.” (Even Spiderman needs to take risks; I am just a salesman), and then it has the catchy background music, which goes “Pocket mein Rocket Hein… Rocket Singh”, which is the only lip-synching sound track in the movie.

Another thing the movie lacks is a decent sound track. On a personal note, I felt the story went too slow at times, making it almost a documentary on the lives of Sales-men, and that it could have been made more amusing. Rocket Singh may not fit everybody’s idea of having a good time at the movie, nevertheless, the message the movie sends is very good. If you don’t go to see the movie expecting a comedy flick, you’ll realize, the movie delivers a much needed wakeup call to our conscience.

The Lost Symbol - A Sneak Peak

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0

I finally managed to get down reading and now reviewing Dan Brown’s Latest Book “The Lost Symbol”. The problem with writing a critique on this Latest Best-seller, which sold more than one million copies on 16th September, i.e. the day of its launch and also reaching the #1 position on Amazon.com sales, is that there needs to be a lot of care taken to ensure that the review is useful, and yet doesn’t reveal the slightest things about the plot. However, I am trying to take care to ensure, I have no spoilers here, which may spoil the fun of the blog-readers, who haven’t had their share of reading this book as yet.

Like all of Dan’s novels, even the Last Symbol, has hidden groups, shady enclaves and hidden secrets, which unfold at each and every turn. The story moves with our dear Prof. Robert Langdon (who is now 3 books old), moving in yet-another quest, which challenges his in-depth knowledge of ancient societies and symbols.

The story this time is about the “circles-inside-circles” in the Free-Masons society, which is hiding some secret, which yields un-imaginable power to the person, who can solve the mystery and reach the conclusion. However, as with his other books, Dan Brown, includes some facts of history, which are probably also mixed with some of his creative fantasies, which creates a fusion, the readers would find completely invigorating. One major difference here is that, the story happens right there, in the heart of Washington D.C., the Capital of United States, and yet, we find the reading as fascinating as it would have been Venice.

One point I’d really like to mention here is that, in this book, the role of the villain here is very well managed. You may find the villain early, and may not get the shock-value, like in the older books, because you know Dan Brown, but the actions are so villainous and kind of brutal, that you feel like dumping the villain in front of an Express train and see him getting trampled. This very fact is a definition of a villainous job well-done.

Why I liked this book?

The Lost Symbol is a page-turning thriller – but the main reason why I loved this book lies in the fact that unlike his other books, in this book, there is a revelation. The book kind of reveals the importance and opens the readers to the thoughts of “tolerance” towards other people, their customs and religions, and also makes the readers ponder about the existence of “the Supreme Element - God”.

This is done, in a self-realization, when Langdon tries to defend the Free Masons society, whose customs are first shown kind of satanic and a cult, till Langdon gives explanations and forces the readers to not be judgmental since, all customs will look the same way unless properly explained and looked at a bias.

What I did not like in this book?

One major drawback that turned me down was the constant self-denial the character of Robert Langdon had for the happenings around him. He keeps trying to fight out everything stating, it cannot be real and that all this is just a myth. I had hoped that the character would have matured to believe anything, especially after what happened to him in the earlier books (Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons), where he found truth, which was even stranger than fiction.

Final Verdict:

I guess, here I need to answer the question most readers will probably be posing. “Is this book better than Da Vinci Code?”

Well, in my humble opinion, the answer is “Yes, the book is better than Da Vinci Code”. However, my personal favorite still remains Angels and Demons. Yet I believe, Dan Brown has done excellent work in this book (barring Grammatical mistakes). Some of the points he puts really makes us have self-realizations, while others make us have thrills. Take a copy and read the first chapter, I won’t ask you to read more. And while enjoying this “dessert for the brain”, don’t forget to have your meals for the body.

Red Cliff - A Review of the Western (English) Version

Hi Guys,

I had been BUSY, these last few weeks or months, if you may.
For those of you who don't know, I was off to the United States for some Official work for about 6 weeks. Further more, I visited HOME, for a couple weeks on my return, making me EMOTIONALLY FULL and PHYSICALLY depleted. Giving all the above excuses, what I am sadly trying to admit is that I haven't been able to blog regularly, since my weekends, had been really hectic. But life is back to normal (at least as of now), so I will be trying to get back to my schedule of blogging once-a-week. :-)

To all my readers, Sorry to Keep you waiting, and now, getting down to Business. :-)

Red Cliff - A Review of the Western (English) Version

Cast: Tony Leung, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Chi-Ling Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hu Jun

Director: John Woo

Overall Rating: 7.0/10.0 (A good movie to watch)

Before I start this review, there is a Disclaimer about this movie.

Since this is an actual movie of almost 5 hour length, which is compressed into 2.5 hours for English audiences, there are notable areas where movie’s story suddenly seems to go off-the-track. Also, a 50% reduction in the show-time cannot be loss-less and hence there are some things, which happen unexplained in the movie, and the audience is supposed to use its-own-imagination to understand the context.

The Storyline:

The movie is set in ancient China, where there are seemingly 3 kingdoms, one on the North and the other two are relatively on the Southern-side. The Northern empire became stronger and the ambitious Prime-minister named “Cao Cao”, made the “puppet” emperor to allow a full-fledged attack on the Southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, by calling them Rebels, who were traitors to the empire.

This is followed by a series of battles, first between the armies of Cao Cao with Liu Bei, where the completely outnumbered soldiers in Liu Bei’s side try to fight as long as they can to ensure the peasants and the common men can escape the wrath of Cao Cao, before they are defeated. In this process, the most notable thing that happens is that General Zhao Yun saves the life of the infant, who is the heir to the throne of Liu Bei while fighting in the battle and towards the end of this battle, when he is cornered and running, Cao Cao admires the loyalty the great Generals have towards Liu Bei.

This loss results in a fleeing Liu Bei’s Viceroy to go and convince Sun Quan to formulate an alliance with them, even when Liu Bei’s armies are much smaller, and just defeated. The alliance is a success when Zhou Yu, the most trusted Advisor and Viceroy of Sun Quan gets convinced that war is inevitable, and only joining forces do they have a chance to protect themselves from the threat of being run-over by Cao Cao’s army.

The story now becomes interesting as the Cao Cao makes plans for his attacks in various formulations, whereas Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, (the strategists from Liu Bei and Sun Quan), try to reverse engineer Cao Cao’s attacking strategies and try to defend their stands. What is more beautiful to see is the sentiment that Cao Cao harbors, that though he has the strength of armies in numbers, they are all soldiers, who were imprisoned from previous wars, and hence, their loyalties were shacky, whereas though the opposition had fewer soldiers and notably some great war-heroes, they were all loyal to their respective leaders.

The alliance of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, brings a consensus amongst armies, one which is well trained and in high morale, and the other having strong and inspirational leaders, thus making their combination a force to reckon with. The action sequences, atleast the picturization of the armies and the scenic beauty are a pure spectacle to look out for in the movie. However, it is the whole chess-like battle planning and strategizing that awes the audience the most and leave them yearning for more.

Final Verdict:

It is a good war-movie, but the cuts probably took off some of the storyline with it, jerking the audience out-of-sync with the storyline and making the movie difficult-to-comprehend. On a personal note, it made me nostalgic a lot, about “Age-of-Empires”, as I saw similar visuals, same type of infantry and cavalry units, coupled with the siege weapons and even the navy.

On the whole, I walked out of the theatre, pondering, “Damn! That is some war-time strategizing, and some really awesome military formations, but was there anything more in the story except the war?”

If you ask me, “Should I watch it?”, all I can say is,

The action sequences and the cinematography are absolutely awesome. If it helps to know, this is the most expensive movie in Asia-Pacific region till date. However, the real answer depends on whether you would like to see a few hundred thousand men, fighting with medieval weaponry in a historic backdrop and/or if you love “Age-of-empires”, watch it to remember the “good-times”.

Bandra-Worli Sealink - An Indian Achievement or a Hoax?

On Wednesday morning, July 1 of 2009, the Indian Government finally rolled out what is officially called “Rajiv Gandhi Setu”. More formally known as the “Bandra-Worli Sea link”, it is believed to be one of the most complex and advanced construction endeavor ever in India. In simpler terms, this Sea-link is a 8-lane cable supported bridge which is built over the sea to join two of the most busy areas of Mumbai to provide ease to traffic congestion problems.

The History

Till this bridge was envisioned and even constructed, the only link that could connect the Western suburbs of Mumbai to the main city was the Mahim Causeway, which is a very old link (made sometime in 19th Century). The problem faced was that the existing Causeway is not scalable to meet the needs of the ever-growing traffic in Mumbai and there is very heavy congestion especially in the peak hours. The estimated numbers show that more than 120000 cars use this way for daily commuting and the stretch of 7.7 km from Mahim to Worli takes about 40 minutes. The vision was to reduce this time in commuting to just around 7 minutes. Moreover, having a parallel route would also divide the traffic and hence reduce the congestion.

Finally, in 1999, Shiv Sena laid the foundation of this ambitious project, which the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation awarded to Hindustan Construction Company with the initial deadline of Dec 2004 (which was later revised twice to Dec 2007 and then Dec 2008). However, the construction was stalled due to varied reasons like lack of funds, payment disputes, opposition from fishermen groups and other changes in design structure and finally, it is now partially finished after one decade of long wait in 2009.

Facts and Benefits
The length of the bridge is an astounding 4.7 km over the sea-surface and the weight is almost 670000 tonnes. The massive structure is held together by main towers of height 126 metres, which is roughly 43 storey (floors).

The bridge is going to have very hi-tech features like automated toll-collection lanes to reduce the turn-around-time and the vehicles using the bridge will be able to avoid 29 traffic lights. There will be automated systems which authenticate the toll pass in a matter of seconds and the bridge is also installed with 12 camera, which will be used to monitor the movement and ensure safety on the bridge. With an estimated traffic of 125000 vehicles, the bridge is going to save almost Rs 100 crore annually from transportation front alone.

The 8-lanes on the bridges (once all are functional), will not only reduce the traffic in the Mahim causeway, but will also add significantly to the Tourism image of the city, especially with the concepts of open-bus/cars giving the passengers a cool drive over the sea. On the same lines, the bridge is going to be fitted with various fountains and plantations which will beautify the jewel on the crown like bridge in the city of Mumbai.

The Criticism

Instead of just saying good things about the bridge and saying that India is doing great, we should also see some issues where things could have been better.

The initial cost of the bridge was estimated to 300 crore and the completion in 2004, however, the actual cost is now estimated to have crossed 1600 crores (almost 5 times the estimation) and this number dwarfs the amount of savings and hence the benefits of the sea-link by a great deal.

Also, according to various traffic experts, though the bridge will reduce the travel time from 40 minutes to 7 minutes, this duration is just from the end points of the sea-link. Since the impact and the handling of the traffic congestion at the Worli end is not thorough of yet, the actual travel time will be as high as almost 25 minutes, which kind of negates the very purpose of the bridge.

The last and surely not the least point that we have to consider here is that a toll of Rs 50 is going to be collected for each one-way trip on the sea-link, which per se, is going to dissuade many of the commuters, unless they see a real improvement in time.

Final Verdict

I feel that though the Bandra-Worli sea link project is hyped so much about and understandably it is a massive project which gives us Indians a sense of satisfaction. However, though a step in the right direction, the sea-link doesn’t live upto the expectations. There is still a lot to be learnt from this project and improve before we can truly proclaim that we too can have and build “World-class” infrastructure.

New York - Review of a Completely Fresh Bollywood Script

I have been off from Blogging for a long time now. However, seeing New York made me ponder a bit and so the way in which I can give respect to the movie is by reviewing it.

New York
Cast: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan

Director: Kabir Khan

Composer: Pritam

Overall Rating: 8.0/10.0 (A movie which is definitely worth a watch)

The movie New York begins with a thrilling start, where a huge bunch of cops go about raiding a cab, whose bonnet contains a huge bunch of arms and explosives. The trail leads the cops to Omar (Neil), who is the owner of the cab and on this trilling note the movie hooks the audience attention.

Pleading his innocence, Omar is led to go to a Flashback, wherein he remembers his wonderful days in his college at the New York State University with his closest buddies Samir (John) and Maya (Katrina). The story goes ahead in his fragmented memory, and the present also holds the audience in awe. Slowly the movie shifts from the pleasure-loving and breezy past to the more-turbulent present, and the FBI chief Roshan (Irrfan) forces Omar to return to his buddies (Sam and Maya), in guise of an undercover agent to stop an act of terrorism that the FBI believes Sam is hatching.

Omar on the other hand, remains loyal to his friends, who he believes, can never ever be terrorists in the first place. He wants to prove to the FBI, that they have goofed up something and his efforts remain in the direction of proving that his friends are innocent. The whole story shapes in the past and present, when the truths unfold and the mysteries are resolved, Omar tries his best to bring some re-conciliation between the tattered United States post-9/11 and the emotions of the South-East Asians, who have been detained and tortured, for months together to an extent that their dignity is completely diminished. And from that point onward, the movie only moves on with one question, Will Omar succeed in this quest?
The answer to that question is what drives the story ahead. The main thing about this movie is its difference in terms of subject and storyline as compared to normal Bollywood movies, which make it a completely new experience for the viewers. The thrill, the shooting and the background music by Pritam all combine to make the climax of the movie absolutely spine-chilling and yet, very catchy. The story is extremely well-narrated and till the interval the movie moves with a subtle pace. The interval time is a real shocker and though the second half of the movie doesn’t live up to the first half and is slightly predictable, it is still packed up with some moments where the movie has its highs.

All in all, with a post-9/11 trauma and some wily cops venting their frustration out on the poor, helpless South-east Asians, the story points to the Universal fact that no nation can bomb, bully or terrorize people just by their name or communal identity. What makes up the storyline is however, that everything is going smoothly in the life of the three friends, till one event changes their life forever. A larger than life event, the 9/11 act, which the world seems to be reading only in the newspapers, affects them personally. The line that makes the movie’s highest point is when Roshan says, “When times are bad, both people and nations make bad decisions”, which kind of explains the whole story in one line and the whole story tries to then resolve these bad decisions and making up for them.

The review would be unfair, if I fail to mention that each actor performed a role, which was considered beyond his acting caliber till now. John and Katrina probably had the meatiest roles of their acting career and they delivered with absolute perfection. Neil was the real hero of the movie with his character, who is torn between loyalty to friends and sanity to the world. Last but not the least, Irrfan’s acting puts the final wedge to making this a great movie. With absolutely witty answers in ever the most serious of the moments, he sometimes lightens the movie and at the other times, leaves thoughts for the viewers to ponder about.


Final Verdict:
All in all, New York takes up a topical theme and perfectly exposes the atrocities of the American FBI to which over hundreds of innocent Muslim people had fallen prey to post 9/11. The film is one of the best movies from Yash Raj and kudos to Kabir Khan , for handling this very sensitive topic in an astounding way. Though I am not sure if I can make this comparison, this is the “Khuda Ke Liye” equivalent from India.

As long as you want to see a good film, even if it is very serious, this is a MUST WATCH.

Tata Nano – An Indian Product or a Social Revolution?

Finally, one of the most awaited cars, in the automobile industry has been launched, which completely redefines the notion of owning cars. Cars, thought to be a thing of luxury, always eluded the common man, due to their high prices. The car is based on a vision from Ratan Tata, who said, “I observed families riding on two-wheelers – the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.”

With such a vision, the new Tata Nano focuses on not only the 10% Indian population which has an access to the other automobiles, but also to a huge percentage of population who can overstretch a bit from buying a new two-wheeler or a used small car to getting their own Brand New Wheels in the form of the “People’s Car”.


What is so Special about the Brand – Tata Nano?
Ever since it was conceptualized, the other players in the automobile industry were pessimistic about the feasibility. The Suzuki, the Hyundai, the Renault etc., anyone and everyone in the automobile industry had commented that the Tata dream of a People’s Car was just a figment of imagination and making a car at this low a price without compromising on quality is not possible. This very fact makes the Nano special. It is a brand that defines the Entrepreneurial Dream of an Indian, coupled with the hard work, dedication and determination of a team who believed in and worked for converting this vision into reality.

What is also heartening to see is that instead of making it look like a “cheap car”, the initial look and the comments and reviews from some of the people who test drove the car suggest that it is fares pretty well with its stylish looks, spacious interiors and a good quality drive coupled with a never ever before rock-bottom price tag. The car takes its tagline “Now You Can” from the Obama campaign and actually lives up to it.

On a personal note, Tata Nano even represents a triumph when it comes to a battle between Politicians and Industrialists, the base of which is present in my blog post about the Nano saga. India, the biggest democracy has its share of politicians who try to put “speed-bumps” in any development that happens, to use it for their own selfish purposes. Without going into details, the opposition party of West Bengal opposed the Tata Nano’s factory to be opened and demanded return of 400 acres from the 1000 acres which were allocated by the State Government. This was done on the assumption that since Tata Motors had invested a hefty sum into the Singur factory, they would cave-in to the demands.
Instead of giving in, Tata abandoned the incomplete plant and shifted the facility to Sanand, Gujarat, which not only baffled the people, but also showed the fact that the industrial sector of India is no longer weak and the Politicians cannot change things at the last minute based on their selfish interests. Thus, this Indian brand, with people speculating against it even before its conceptualization had happened, has come out successful defying all the odds.


Political Impact of Tata Nano Roll-out

The name Tata Nano is in itself a project of pride to Indians. The completion of this project changed the name of the Indian Automobile globally, from an industry where people just fixed the auto-parts made in foreign lands, to a place where innovations and research can happen and even reach new heights.

The pull-out of Nano from Singur is not good news to West Bengal, and has also resulted in tarnishing the already bad image of the state in the eyes of the industrial investors. This also led to loss of potential jobs that the new Nano plant, and its dependency industries, would have generated. We still see that Mamta Banerjee is still harping about her “achievement” of not allowing the Nano to settle in peace. Hopefully, the people of the state will see the light of the day and vote reasonably in these elections to ensure that a good Government comes in full power, and such embarrassing event never happens in the state again.
On the other hand, Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Government added another feather to their cap of achievements. With his dynamic speed, ability to convince and prompt action, Narendra Modi got not only the land leveled, but also got all the required documentation ready to roll a “red-carpet” for Ratan Tata’s favourite project. At the 4th Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2009, Ratan Tata said, “the Chief Secretory(in his speech) today quite rightly mentioned that two years ago I had said that if you weren’t in Gujarat, you would be stupid, I did said that and I am very proud that I listened to my own advice and that today I can stand in front of you and say that the fact is that I am not stupid any longer.” This statements from Ratan Tata, raised the bar of Modi Government for Gujarat to a new level.


Economic Benefits of Tata Nano Roll-out – To the Tatas and to the Customers

The Tata Nano is expected to roll out in 3 versions, the basic version is known as the Nano with no prefixes or suffixes. Next up is the Nano CX which comes with HVAC and central locking while the top of the line Nano LX adds power windows to the front doors. which are priced from the lowest around 1,00,000 which is from Pantnagar (would be around 1,30,000 on road) and the LX Model which will be around 1,80,000 which makes it still cheaper than most other cars in the same small-cars segment. This new car will not only be a saver in this recession time, but will also open the automobile segment to a whole new class of customers, who till now, could have only dreamt of owning a car of their own. Other than this, Tata group may think of exporting this “innovation”, though they are currently looking at only the Indian Markets. A new version is seemingly going to be unveiled in a couple years which have higher average and match European Emission Standards.

To the customers, the Tata Nano Revolution is going to help in seeing a cut in the prices in the other cars. This car has also made other players in the automobile industry interested and Bajaj Auto Ltd, the country's second largest two-wheeler maker has announced a joint venture with Renault-Nissan to produce a 2,500 dollar car as well. In yet another independent announcement, Japanese major Toyota announced a Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) investment in its Chennai plant to launch a 'strategic small car' within next 2-3 years.

These things are good news to us the customers and also to India as a nation, which will attract not only the huge investments, but also new jobs and developments due to this. As for Tatas, they are getting set to start lapping up this new Market segment.


Living with Nano – Redefining our Visions
After saying all the good parts, this is one area where we might have a concern, though in long term. The presence of the new “People’s car” will surely empower a lot more people to own the car. This is going to have a direct negative impact on the traffic conditions, especially in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad, where there are problems even now. Apart from this, the overall fuel consumption is bound to increase which may yield in further price hikes of petroleum products. The third addition on the same lines will be a problem of finding parking lots for the additional cars which will enter the system.

All said and done, the above mentioned fears will have lesser impact considering a few realities. The Singur Saga led to the postponement of the Nano roll-out and also the capacity is bound to be less now. From what I read, the Tatas are planning to roll-out some Nanos from Pantnagar and the full capacity will reach 3,00,000 cars per year only once the Sanand plant becomes functional. Secondly, with its sleek look and absolutely small 4-metre turning radius, the Nano will get fitted in even the smallest of places. This of course could cause issues with the other cars around it, but the Nano in itself seems a nice option. Another vision is that the Tata Nano will replace the auto-rickshaws in a big way and this I think would be a very welcome change for most of us.


Final Verdict and Personal Take:

With a few changes like no mirror on the Passenger side to save money, Nano does have some turn-downs, but my overall impression of the car is pretty optimistic. The new Nano is surely going to compete for being the first car for a lot, and a second car for another bunch of people. The impact of Nano release on the Used-Cars industry will be evident only once the Sanand Factory starts in a full-fledged way.
Till that happens, if you are a prospective Nano buyer, just pray that you win the Nano registration lottery and get your set of wheels sooner than others; and if you are in construction business, keep looking, we are bound to see a lot of Government Tender notices for building more roads and flyovers.

India – Another Talibanistan in the Making?

The Title suggests that India is on its way to become yet another country which will fall prey to the leadership of Taliban, which seems incorrect. You may suggest that the title should be Pakistan and not Hindustan. But, the facts below do show that we have a lot of our own fundamentalists, which terrorize the nation.


What exactly is Taliban?
The word Taliban is derived from the Arabic word “Talib”, which means, “one who is seeking”, but over the years, the word Taliban has got a meaning, “one who is seeking fundamentalist religious knowledge”.

Unlike Barack Obama, who classified Taliban into “Good Taliban” and “Bad Taliban”, from an Indian’s perspective, I’d rather divide the Taliban into:
1. The Foreign Taliban
2. The Indian Taliban


The Foreign Taliban – Based in Afghanistan and Pakistan
The oldest Taliban Militia was established in Afghanistan, after the Sovient Union broke up, to fight the Mujahdeen war-lords who were corruptly ruling parts of the country, and restore peace in a united Afghanistan. This movement of Sunni Pashtun religious students, was backed up indirectly and directly by the United States and Pakistan, because the Taliban used to check the spread of the USSR rule.

Growing in power, the Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Omar, took over the entire Afghanistan under their “Exemplary Islamic Rule”. The brought back the system called taqlid, which means a very strict following of traditional Islam. Cutting the long story short, in 1980s, Osama bin Ladin established guerrilla warfare bases in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. But after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the Taliban began to look at the Western culture as its enemy. They considered items like Television, Music etc to be Western infatuations, which are aimed to break their religious beliefs. This intolerant mind-set led to the 9/11 attack on the United States, by Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban refused to extradite Osama to the US.

On the other hand, Pakistan in its bid to take over Kashmir also helped the Taliban to grow. This has led to the Talibanese rule in a lot of Pakistani territory and even the Democratic Government and the army seems to be unable to control their growth. The Government’s approval to sign a peace treaty which accepts their rule in the SWAT valley, shows that Taliban in Pakistan is a force to reckon with.

Over the years, the same snake that the US and Pakistan nurtured and nourished has raised its hood against them and the Terror attacks in the US and the problems in Pakistan have grown very grave concerns globally. The new Obama administration has also recognized this threat and a new Af-Pak Policy is in place.


The Indian Taliban - A More Dangerous Breed

Unlike the Islamic terrorist Taliban that is growing in Af-Pak region, the Indian union has multiple versions of its own Talibanese ideologies. After all, we are a land where there is unity in diversity and hence there are diverse Taliban-like groups in India, based on caste, creed and region with their own selfish interests.


The Muslim Taliban in India

Before the title is taken in a negative sense, I would like to clarify one thing. An Indian Muslim is as much Indian as any other person. It is absolutely incorrect to consider all followers of Islam as bad and they are not the only community spreading terror. Generalizing the whole community due to the presence of a few bad people would be absolutely incorrect.

There are some areas like Cheetah Camp in suburban Trombay, where the local clergy are highly influential. Known as Khan baba, Abdul Jalil Khan said that he is fighting against the “corrosive power” of the visuals on the air-waves as all television programmes, either informative or entertaining, are replete with images of lust and of semi-nude models. The people are forced into sending their children into Madressa instead of the schools. The Madressa curriculum is very limited to Islamic thought culture and it has not changed over-time, which makes it even more dangerous. Children here are taught the “real” Islam and slowly they become molded to the rigidity of religion, which is a threat to our secular nation.

Another example to cite here is the one I came across on a blog. On January 16, a Pakistani woman named Saba was bashed up at a mall in Mumbai. The “crime” she committed was having a tattoo which said “Shukr Alham Du Lillah”, meaning “Thank you, God”. A group of Islamic Radicals led by Shabana Talukdar slapped her in the mall’s washroom till the Management came to her rescue. (Also printed in the Mumbai Mirror)

What I am trying to suggest here is, whatever happened to the fundamental right of “Freedom of Expression”. Especially in this case, where I personally don’t think anything provocative was written.


The Maharashtrian Taliban
Starting with Shiv-Sena, a group of pro-Hindu fundamentalists under the rein of Bal Thackeray, for the Marathis in Maharashtra, this group has grown in power over a period of time. With various cases pending in the court, the members of this group are either Politicians themselves, or are closely linked to Political Parties which provides them safe haven. The Shiv-Sena is known to have played a vital role in the riots that sparked out in Mumbai after the Babri Marjid demolition. A Judicial Commission also pointed at the Sena for its direct involvement in coordinating the anti-Muslim riots, and accused Thackeray of “commanding his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate by organised attacks against Muslims.” But after 7 years of Judicial Proceedings, Bala Thackeray was given a “clean chit”.

The Latest off-shoot of an uncle-nephew quarrel for power sharing between Bala Thakeray’s son Udhav and nephew Raj, has given rise to another offshoot of such kind called The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray is all gaga about the needs of the original Marathi Manoos (actual Maharasthrians) and it raised a virulent campaign against the migrants, especially from Bihar and UP. The group is known to have assaulted the Taxi-drivers, vendors and the people who had come all the way from UP and Bihar to take the Railway Examination at the Mumbai Center. Among the cases known, there is also a case of a sweet shop named “Karachi Sweets”, whose owner was threatened by the MNS to either change the name of the shop or face the consequences.

From the records that I read online, at least 84 cases are filed against the MNS which include grave crimes like rioting, promoting enmity, expressing prejudices in public etc. Raj Thackeray’s name is included on 55 of these, with some of the cases where he is the prime accused. But the fact that he is not charge-sheeted yet and the fact that he was just jailed for some time and released on bail show the Political Muscle of the MNS.


The Rama Sena and Bajrang Dal

The Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Though they say they are secular and accommodating in their ideology, the Bajrang Dal has a goal of reversing the impact of the Muslim and the British rulers in India. This also includes the restoration of the currently disputed places of worship like Ayodhya and Kashi. Though I am not saying this is completely wrong, but it is also not correct to destroy places of worship of other communities.

The Bajrang Dal is also known to have had active involvement in the various riots. The VHP leader, Praveen Togadia, was arrested in April 2003 after distributing tridents to Bajrang Dal activists in Ajmer defying ban and prohibitory orders. Other than this, the Bajrang Dal activists are known to be “spoilers” when it comes to Valentine’s Day Celebrations, by invading parks, pubs, shops, cinema halls and restaurants and behaving like “social-police”.
Another such group is the that newly got fame is The Sri Rama Sena, which is a group of self-acclaimed Hindu fundamentalists who want to “restore” Indian values back into the system. Around 40 members of this group attacked a pub in Mangalore, Karnataka and physically dragged and abused the defenseless girls. The pictures and videos of this incident also show that there was grappling and molestation involved in this bizarre incident. The people who tried to intervene were also bashed up.

The sad part about this event is that everyone rose up in anger, but the Politicians remained unmoved for the fear of losing votes. Yet, the women came up with a great idea of gifting the leader of Ram Sena Pramod Muthalik, with huge numbers of pink underwears on the Valentine’s Day as a gift for his efforts.

Fate it seems is ironic, in Ramayana, Rama had a Sena of Monkeys who behaved like Humans and now we have this Rama Sena of Humans in Kalyug who...


My Take on the Taliban and India Topic

On a personal note, I feel that the Taliban within is much more dangerous as compared to the one beyond our borders. The Af-Pak Taliban forces can be even attributed to their warring nation with almost no education, but the Indian Taliban is far more dangerous as it comes from an educated class living in a democracy. The recent spur of events woven around yet-another Hindu fundamentalist Varun Gandhi is not music to our ears.

The very events mentioned above make me ponder whether we do have any fundamental rights left with us. Security threats and Violence have also led to another set of questions.

“Are we living in places where people are less Fundamentalists or Rigid then the Taliban forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan?”

“Will India – A country of diverse Tribes, Religions and Cultures still remain united or will it too Succumb to these Hardcore Perpetrators and get divided?”

“Will the Political Parties understand that they too are feeding yet another Taliban which has the potential of going the Af-Pak way, or will they continue to think short-term?”

As responsible citizens of a secular democratic, we must understand that nobody can violate others’ lives or forcibly invade their ideologies. We must join hands and take action against Hardcore Dictators.
If there is nothing else you can do, at least show your concern and VOTE RESPONSIBLY.

Elections 2009 – India Votes Back!!!

Disclaimer: The views presented here are the views of the author alone. Readers are expected to form their opinion. Moreover, if I am a bit biased to some party, it may be because of the fact that the ideology of that party suits mine better. The readers are supposed to approve/reject it on their own responsibility.

The biggest Buzz-word in the Indian sub-continent, barring cricket, terrorism and recession, is The 2009 Elections. So as a human, it is in my blood to speculate and provide my views; hence this post is going to be about what I think are going to be the breath-taking moments of this new election. But before I start writing the post, there is one small disclaimer, which is as above.

There is a lot of buzz in the air and people, at least some people look excited to look forward to exercise the very fundamental right given to people by a democracy, their right-to-vote for the next bunch of representatives for the highest positions of the country. When I see the election season bringing the excitement, I get reminded of a famous saying by Benjamin Franklin, which is, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch." Though very correctly said, love them or hate them, the elections are bound to happen every 5 years, or at times sooner.


The Indian Electoral Spending – A Joke to Recession?

As the history of India goes, Indian National Congress (Congress) and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) are the 2 frontline runners which have the highest chances of getting a majority. Winning the previous poll in 2004, the Indian National Congress formed a weak Government with the alliance of Left Parties. This coalition broke mid-way in 2008, when the Congress wanted to go ahead with the N-deal with U.S. and Left pulled the plug. Yet with a critical trust-vote that went through, the Congress managed to finish its 5 years tenure, much to the surprise of all sooth-sayers.

Before I get into some of the spending details, the previous polls had these numbers.

Congress – 141 Seats
BJP – 137 Seats

This means, that without strong coalitions neither of the two parties can reach the magic figure of 272 seats to get the majority. The funny thing about Indian Elections is that it is one-event which is completely un-affected by the Global Recession. According to the data given by Centre for Media Studies (CMS), the Election will cost the Republic of India almost 100-billion rupees, which is $2 bn. This is only the “official” amount that is allowed or accounted for. The actual spending can be estimated to be at least 4-5 times of the above amount.

For instance, Indian National Congress bought the Copyrights to the Oscar-winning song “Jai Ho”, for what would surely not be a small amount. The BJP meanwhile is lapping up all the Ad-slots on the Prime-time radio with their propaganda. Not only this, following the Techie-way victory of Barack Obama, L. K. Advani has also started a blog, website and news-letters. Further still, these internet media are also being popularized by use of Google Ad-words and other Ad-agencies. This apart, various Regional Parties are also promising different things, from Free electricity to new colour TVs and from almost free food and new state status to reservations even in Private Sector.

Over and above this, the fact that Mayawati has shown ambition of being the Prime-minister and form a Third-Front, has also triggered a lot of other events. Ministers of all the parties are flying around the country trying to form new alliances or strengthening the existing alliances. Rumours of Lok Sabha Party Tickets being sold have made a complete mockery of Democracy and it seems that the politicians only consider the money spent for campaigning as an investment which will reap returns once they come to power.


The Election Schedule

The 15th Lok Sabha election or the general election will be taking place in 5 phases as determined by Election commission of India. The different phases each of the states lies in is according to the picture.
The voting will taking place on following dates:
Phase 1: April 16
Phase 2: April 22-23
Phase 3: April 30
Phase 4: May 7
Phase 5: May 13

The results of the election will be announced on May 16, 2009.


The New Leaders of the New India
There is a very heartening change that has come over in the Indian voter for this new Election. The very fact that campaigns like “No votes to Criminals” and “Jaago Re” are gaining popularity is giving a new hope to the Indian voters. For the first time, companies like Infosys and TCS have taken initiatives like getting Voter ID cards to be made for their employees and are encouraging their employees to vote. This change is going make the politicians see a new class of Indians Voters – the Indians who never voted before.

The other interesting thing to see forward is that though the current fight for leadership is between L. K. Advani (BJP), Manmohan Singh (Congress) and probably Mayawati (3rd Front). The real excitement is how the next leaders in Pipeline are treated and what Portfolios/responsibilities are they given. Congress is keen to bring Rahul Gandhi as its next successor, whereas BJP is silent so far. Yet, I have a strong feeling that the next candidate for BJP after L. K. Advani, will be none other than the current Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who is famous in the world for both, his positive and negative publicity. With industrialists like Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal openly supporting him for the post and with the success-model of Gujarat as his achievement, he will surely be one leader to keep an eye on.


Gauging the Future Possibilities

1. UPA + Coalition
Indian National Congress winning the next elections looks to be grim, but yet with the rural support they have, there are chances that they can win provided that they hang on to their existing allies and get support from 3rd Front once the elections are over.

2. NDA + Coalition
The chance of a BJP-led Government again looks dicey, but considering the previous Congress tenure, this Government has a realistic chance provided they get support from BSP and other allies, which looks difficult at present.

3. Third Front at the Center
This though looks tough, it has a realistic possibility if the allied parties in NDA and UPA break free from their parent parties with the greed of getting a bigger-share in the completely coalition government. Though not officially announced yet, Mayawati looks to be the front-runner for PM-position from this front. However, we can expect another round of polls if this government comes to power.

All in all, in the end, it will boil down to where the parties like CPM, TDP, AIDMK etc. will go, which will decide the fate of who forms the next Government.


Final Verdict

In these Elections, with the current Recession, unstable Pakistan and rising unemployment, which party wins or loses is kind of immaterial. It is going to be a tough ask for the new Government to tackle these issues effectively.
All in all, the whole Election Post can be summarized in one line which was once spoken by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said that Freedom from want and freedom from fear – do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing out ballots; they are only realized once the personal and material security of a people is ensured as well.