And the award goes to…. 'Slumdog Millionaire'!!!

“Slumdog Millionaire”, which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards made a great run by sweeping away 8 Oscars, including that of the ‘Best Film’. Danny Boyle won the award for Best Director, Simon Beaufoy for Best Adapted Screenplay, Chris Dickens for film Editing, Anthony Dod Mantel for cinematography. Sound mixing award was shared with Rasool Pookutty, Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.A R Rahman,the Indian musician won two awards- The Best Music Score Award and also for the Best Song shared with lyricist Gulzar.

For the past few months, there were also a lot of criticism and controversy going around this film on the view that the film depicted the lives of impoverished India, and also regarding the treatment of cast. It also faced criticism regarding the welfare aspects of its child actors. The director had to face accusations from some Indian media that his film was ‘poverty porn’. But according to Danny Boyle, it was an endeavor to capture Mumbai’s ‘Lust for life. The real controversy started with the comments in the blog of the legendary Indian actor Amitab Bachan. Following this; many more from the Indian film industry came forth with their critical views. Apart from the treatment of the film, issues also aroused that the compensation provided for the child actors were unfair.Another controversy was that the Co-Director of the film Mrs. Loveleen Tandan wasn’t included as co-nominee for the awards.This controversy even turned to the moods of Women Rights issue.

Leaving all these controversies apart and viewing it as a piece of art, the film is one of the riveting and the best portrayed films in recent times.”Slumdog Millionaire” which was actually filmed based on the novel of the Indian Author and diplomat Vikas Swarup named”Q&A”. The novel which delineated the exploitation and misery of orphans children, was exquisitely portrayed into the celluloid by the British Director- Danny Boyle.Even Vikas Swarup wouldn’t had expected such a beautiful and realistic illustration of his work.

The film beautifully renders major social aspects like Poverty, Orphan hood, riots, child harassment, under world, begging, brothel-houses, urbanization, cricket etc through a beautifully illustrated love story.

The story is of an 18 year old Jamal Malik’s journey from the slushy waste dump Slum in Mumbai to a hot seat of the Quiz Show -”Who wants to be a Millionaire” -The story moves with his progress in the show as he answers correctly. The reason how a primary school drop out Jamal Malik reaches the answers rightly, where even high qualified professionals failed to do, is the core of the film. Even the quiz master and the official law enforcement authorities turns suspicious on this. But,the answers were actually linked to incidents in the life of Jamal. The other protagonists in this film are Jamal’s brother Saleem and their childhood friend Lathika, for whom Jamal had a never ending adoration. The film conveys all the sufferings they had to face in their life with a realistic diction- the communal riots which made them orphans, the nightmarish world they had to spent with child beggars, the life in the streets and their striving for existence-even to an extend of killing for subsistence, the real picture of brothel houses, the rivalry, the separations, the longing despair etc.The film actually ends with the message that the ultimate triumph is only for true love and honesty.

Apart from Danny Boyle’s direction, the screen play of Simon Beaufoy, the editing of Chris Dickens, the cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantel and the music score of A.R Rahman were exemplary and can be attributed to the reason for this film to win such an applause. Another main highlight of the film is the lifelike performance of the actors, especially the child actors. The performance of Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Chheda and, Dev Patel as Jamal in various ages, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala and Madhur Mittal as Salim in various ages, Rubina Ali, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar and Frieda Pinto as Lathika had contributed to a great extend in maintaining the realism of the film. The credit of their casting goes to the Co-director of the film Loveleen Tandan,especially for her finding of three kids who did the youngest part of the three central characters. In fact, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali were actually found from the slums of Mumbai.

After winning a series of awards- five Critics’ Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film-the big challenge for the film was to culminate with the ultimate triumph. And at last, Danny Boyle and his crew has successfully accomplished their task as it proved its true mettle on the D-day, sweeping away 8 Oscars.

Bangs with Credits Card !!!!

A few months back,one of my friends called me to inform a happy news -He received a credit card
!!!…for the first time in his life, and the excitement was in his words,…..”I too was worthy for a credit card,Vow!.”
He just wanted to make the full use of this Rs 30K additional credit potential he achieved unexpectedly. So after a series of thoughts, he decided to purchase a“Mutual Fund” through this,and gave a technical explanation to all of us-”If you are holding at a credit possibility like this you should explore the investment possibilities of it. Since the credit card swipe offers a 50 days free credit and the earning potential of top rated MF was more than 3% per month(was true at that time), you will be earning a free 3% profit in real terms”.The idea seemed to be of true worth and everyone was convinced with this. Then purchased a MF worth Rs 30000,the full credit limit of the card,from an NBFC.
….then his first bill came within 20 days,and the bill amount was nearly Rs 32500/- When inqiuired in the Call centre he was informed that the additional charges were finance charges for Cash(since it was a finance company), overlimit charges(since the approved credit limit of Rs 30k has been exceeded), annual charge of the card and service tax,cess etc.Also not 50 days because he purchased on the last day of billing cycle!!! The total loss aaccording to his technical calculation was 8.3% for 20 days,which no MF could give!!!
He was so frustrated with this incident and didn’t want to use the card again.Only thing he could do now was to extend the payment of the bill amount onto the last due date.So on the due date he gave a cheque for the full amount in the bill and settled it off.Though he lost some money ,he took it as a learning lesson to get rid of this plastic money, without harming him further.
…then after a month his second bill came,and he had a due amount of Rs 750!!! When inquired he was informed that though he has given the cheque on the due date,the amount realized from it was after 3 days and they will be considering only the realized date-So its your late payment Charge!!!!!
(Further, the mutual fund value also declined to more than 50% after the stock markets broke down to more than half.)
The morale which he learned from his experience:
1)Don’t’ use credit cards blindly-use it only after learning its terms and conditions,charges,billing cycle etc
2)When you are investing in risky assets, Invest only your surplus funds.

At last they hit me….(Recession Story)

“World is on to Recession”

When I heard this a few months back I wasn’t much afraid.We were still wallowing in the prospers of the golden years passed by .Then the news came that it hit America….then Europe….then North Asia… I wasn’t aware that it was entering my county also.At last it came true…..Now every one is in a panic sort of situation as there is no idea of tomorrow…All that remains is a big Uncertainity!!!

-The words of Pastor Niemoller comes into my mind
“They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

Rewriting the words of Pastor Niemoller:

“It first hit America, And I wasn’t afraid because I wasn’t an American;
And then it hit Europe, And I wasn’t afraid because I wasn’t an European;
And then it hit Japan, And I wasn’t afraid because I wasn’t an Japanese

And finally…..it came to my country,but still I wasn’t afraid……..

Then it hit the stock market in my country, Still I wasn’t afraid because I didn’t belonged to that industry.
And then it hit the banking and finance industry in my country, Still I wasn’t afraid because I didn’t belonged to that too.
And then it hit the realty sector in my country,Still I wasn’t afraid because I didn’t belonged to that also.
…And finally the back bone of my country’s economy was hit by this.
…And Now I am afraid,because after all I belong to this country !!!!

Enlightenment

I went to Ooty-a tourist spot in South India- last season.The peculiarity of the valley that time was the blue flowers ‘Neela Kurinji’,which blooms only in 12 years.Since it was night when I reached there, I took a room in a hotel,leaving sight seeing for the next day.After dinner I sat on the balcony of the room.Down below the valley there was a meadow of the blue flowers,but due to darkness nothing was visible.Suddenly lightning stroked and and the beauty of the flowers become vivid in a split second.After that it fell dark again…

Though I had a full view of the valley and the blue flowers in day light the next day,the memory of sight which I saw for a split second in thunder light was the indelible one.

Thinking seriously, this is the case in human life also.Once we get enlightenment it is forever.That can never be erased.Even If we lead a normal life in this world,such wisdom once gained will never be lost…

New Aspirations…. New Attire!

After the roll in of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the Indian cricket team captain, Indian cricket team has become a revitalized one. The team now holds an unstoppable drive to success and his young guys are showing excellent talent and will power. He has been super cool is leading the team from the front.This Indian team is having a good triumph run for the past few months with wins over the top leading teams like Australia,England,South Africa,and Sri Lanka.The twenty-twenty world cup,Gavaskar-Border Cup,England Series with 5-0 lead and Sri Lanka Series with 4-1 lead were all exceptional triumphs. And also they became the world No.2 Team in ICC rankings for the first time.

And above all, they will be in a new look from now-The Jersey of the Indian team has changed,which was unveiled last day in New Delhi. Now what the Indian fans are looking out for is that will this fresh Jersey and the fresh talent of this vibrant young side excel the nation to the glory.

Illussion!!

Once I went to a village. It was a beautiful greenish village with cows grazing all around.I closely watched a cowherd,who wanted to take rest for a while in the afternoon.I was anxiously awaiting to see how he was going to tie the cow as the rope was broken.But what he did really surprised me-he just pretended as tying it by moving his hands.And the cow by force of habit,thought it was tied and remained there till the man woke up after a nap and again pretended as untying it…..

Thinking in a broader sense, Isn’t it true with human beings too? Isn’t it true that we too get tied with unreal things in the world? Aren’t we so concerned by certain situations in life that we fail to look beyond them??

Perception…

We often judge others introspectively…….often with prejudice!!!!………….

Once I went to stay in my cousin’s apartment,for a few days…It was a beautiful one,in the heart of the city and so the nearby apartments in it were also fully occupied…….

When I looked through the windows ,admist of the view of the city, what came to my notice was the washed cloths of his neighbour,laid for drying.But what I was not convinced was that, even after washing they seemed to be muddy………The next day also I came to notice the same and then too the washed clothes were muddy.I was unimpressed with their attitude towards tidiness,but the matter didn’t seemed to be of my interest anymore…………After few days,again some how I came to notice the drying clothes of his neighbour.But, to my surprise,this time it was very clean and shining white!!!!! I told this to my cousin,and also expressed my surprise in his nieghbour’s improved tidiness…

Then he told me that it was not because the neighbour’s clothes were muddy,but the glass of the window through which I looked out was full of dust,which he cleaned only that morning !!!!

Thinking seriously,we human beings often look through tainted glass-which is our mindset- see things in different light, and ends up in failing to the view of reality.

Value each day in your life!

“What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
This is a great quote to start each day of our life. The amazing thing about a year is that though every one of us has a common 365 days in it,we end up with different results-Some with success and some without. The main villain here is our attitude. It is up to us to decide whether to use these days wisely or simply waste them.
The difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person lies in the perception of this. A successful person lives each day knowing they will never have it again and does what needs to be done, whether they like it or not. They have focus and the will to accomplish. And, most importantly, they take action and do it.
So many people make wishes, and that is all they do - wish. They never take action; they think and talk about it, start a few things but not finish anything. A saying that is worthy to note: “Never confuse motion with action”.
Do not waste your days by Focusing on yesterdays’ failures - it is only a failure if you stop trying, and if you learned nothing from it. Anxiety over today’s problems - if you can fix the problem does so, if not move on. Worrying about tomorrow’s uncertainty - remember it is today that you are living, not tomorrow. And, if you do the things that need to be done today, tomorrow will take care of itself. Never Give up - there is a saying, “persistence prevails when all else fails.”
So Before you start each day, say the quote out loud: “What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
Is what you are going to do today worth a day of your life?

Vision!!

I went to a marriage function with a friend,to a nearby city.As he was a businessman in that city ,he was having many acquaintances at the function there.

First he met one of his acquaintance who also was a businessman.In his casual talks he asked how his business was.And the man replied : “Ya,it’s going very well and now I’m wishing to do more promotional activities.Then,how is yours??

Then my friend replied:”Ya,mine too is going very well”

Then he met another one who was also a businessman.Again,In his casual talks he asked how his business was.And the man replied : “Actually,I think recession has hit the business and it is very bad these days, How is yours??

Then my friend replied:”To be frank,mine too is very bad”

In fact,they all were doing the same business and recession hadn’t hit their business till then. Since the first person was an optimist,rather than fearing recession he was trying to overcome it.But the second person was having a pessimistic view and was totally distressed with the fearing of recession.

I was really thinking of the contradictions in replies of my friend for the same questions. Talking to an optimist makes you motivated and in the contrary talking to a pessimist demotivates you.And more,Whatever we think and do we get it back.

And as it is said,A half filled glass can be looked upon in two different ways-Some say it is half filled and other says it is half empty.

Always Smile!!!

(Though I don’t believe in Swamis and ‘human gods’,when one of my friend told these words of his guru,I decided to post it here as the thought in it was worthy for it.)

A Guru adviced his disciples to be happy always and to smile always.He said :”Living in this world is not easy for sure,but still you have to smile”.

Then one of his disciples asked:How can we smile when there is no reason to smile or if no one smiling at us??

Guru replied:”You have to smile-Not because life is not full of reasons to smile,but since your smile itself is a reason for many others to smile”!!!!