China and India

Chinese President’s visit to India has generated lot of interest and discussions. Both of us are touted as happening economies by the western world, with some going to the extent of calling china as next superpower displacing mighty US in next 20 years. Although deeply interested in these issues, Iam still not an expert on economics and international business..
But, the thought which comes to my mind very often and what I keep mentioning to both my desi and western friends is , arent we indians blowing our trumpet too much? I mean just look at our media,especially e-media, which makes us believe as if only good and good is happening with India and Indian economy. Not to say that good things are not happening, but when will we learn to be more quiet and mature about it. Why are we behaving like overly excited teenagers? And, common we all know it’s just the Information technology sector which is doing well. We have made not much progress in manufacturing, FDI is still very low considering vast potential we have, our exports in many sectors have reduced with competition from other rising economies, our tourism revenue is pathetic compared to even countries like Thailand and last but not the least, compared to overall population, very few have yet reaped the fruits of growth. Ok, essentially what I mean to say is that for one, we are not doing that great as some of us tend to think, and even if we have done something good , why cant we just shut our mouth for the time being and keep doing our work.Let’s first achieve even half of what China has achieved in terms of improving infrastructure, access to health care and education for common man and success in controlling population and then start taking ourselves more seriously.
Iam saying this all the time because I see around me how chinese are going about their success. They are too modest about it and never really talk about how great they are. Infact, during most of my discussions with them on their success, they start talking about how India is also doing great. That’s the way chinese are..very proud of their country and culture, but very reserved and mature about their achievements. Chinese success in low cost manufacturing has virtually decimated manufacturing industry in lots of countries. That’s what you call success. Inspite of their not so good human rights record, west could not ignore them. Infact some people say that one of the reasons why US keeps talking about India’s success is because they are using India against China. So, not all the good things we hear from US experts might mean the same.
So, let’s keep perspective and not get carried away too much.
Take it easy.

Of Borat and Don

Welcome back! So, I watched Borat, Don and Match point recently. Borat is making waves all over the world. It was made on shoe string budget and it has taken box office by storm , breaking all previous records. It has lot of vulgar, crude, racist and toilet humor which has both amused and offended many a sensibilities. Already billion dollar suits are in progress by kazakhistan government, romanian villagers on whom first few sequences were shown ( they are suing because sasha paid them mere 4 dollars per person for those scenes), some jewish organizations and so on. Borat actually doesnt spare anybody, not even jews, and mind you Sasha cohen ( writer , actor and the man who made Ali G famous) is himself a british jew.
Iam really amused by it’s stupendous success..I guess it once again brings to the fore the fact that Hollywood has reached it’s saturation in terms of it’s creativity ( Havent we heard that before). No, seriously just analyze the kind of movies which have done well at box office in last decade or so..isnt it all primarily superman, spiderman , aliens entering earth kind of stuff . Where are Casablanca’s or sweet old Apartment kind of movies.
One word of caution though..dont watch Borat with your gf/bf..
Don..ofcourse I had to watch it..It was made by Farhan Akhtar. This guy gave us iconic DCH and less successful, but equally good, Lakshay. From the time he announced Don, I knew this time he is following more of his emotional instincts rather than creative ones. Emotional, I say because he made Don as a tribute to his father’s exceptional script writing abilities.
He tried different genre…different from the realistic and entertaining DCH and Lakshay. Has he succeeded? I think yes, he has to a large extent. The movie was stylish, fast paced, cool and with extraordinary twists. If you wanted to see a realistic gangster movie, you will be disappointed . Common, he didnt set out to make a realistic movie. Also, with that script and larger than life characters, can anyone make a realistic movie?
Now, coming to comparisons.. I think this movie is far more sensible and logical than earlier don. Are you shocked? Iam not. Consider this..in the earlier don, vijay took the role of don and, within few days, started bheaving like him exactly .. something which is not possible. I mean how can a street bumpkin become so sophisticated with some minimal training and observations. So, the point is new Don makes far more sense because a superbly clever Don can impersonate unsophisticated vijay but not the other way around. Also, remember that extremely preposterous scene in the earlier one where one legged Pran walks over the thin lane with two children hanging over him? I mean that was one of the absurdest and hilarious scenes I have seen in hindi movies..atleast this Don doesnt contain that kind of nonsense in the name of cinematic liberties.
Coming to actors, ofcourse , Mr Bachhan had more control in that role..but then he is a better actor than shahrukh. Although, SRK hasnt disappointed either. He looks pretty good in certain sequences, and ofcourse, is ordinary and hams in few ones.
Priyanka looks cool..but I liked Isha kopikkar more. Yes, I love maharshtrian girls..oh God they are so beautiful and real. Ya, I know she is konkani not a pure marathi ( My former maharashtrian flatmate rajas , who was from pune, told me about the difference)..Nevertheless, maharashtrian women are sooooooo cool.
This was the first hindi movie which me and elizabeth watched together. She had seen few before..not many. After watching the movie,only comment she made was ” isnt it too long and complicated”. But I guess she liked the movie more than I hoped she would like. She thought SRK was good looking.
In the end,I asked her which of the actors reminded her of me. Common, I wanted to hear something good ( Didnt I tell you, I always fish for compliments from girls ). She paused and said, ” I think one of the dancing ladies”. I hate girls.
Take it easy guys.