Rain as a Character - Mani Ratnam style !!

 Bharathi raja starts the film with two hands folded saying "En Eniya Tamil Makkalae"; Balachander gives his directorial touch by witty one liners; Bhalu mahendra movies move at lethargic pace with natural photography and my all time favorite director Mani Ratnam uses both 'Rain' and 'Train' quite a bit in his movies and would say he has gone to an extent where rain has played a character role adding more substance to the emotional quotient of the scene. 

Rain as introductory song for actress: I can't help but bringing Mouvna Raagam again to the equation where Revathi as Divya played her role to perfection. When the whole house is waiting for her arrival from college she goes with her friends dancing in the rain thereby showcasing her attitude. But Director has already given a prelude of Divya's tom boyish character by splashing tub of water to interrupt her brother and sis-in-law's stolen moment of intimacy. If you look into couple of lines in the song "Oho Megam Vandhadho" those describe Divya's take on arranged marriage 

"Naan pennanadhu kalyanam thedava  

Oh kannaalan vandhu poomaalai podavaa

Yaen ammaadiyo pen paarkum naadagam

Yaar vandhaalumenna

Thirumbaadhu nyabagam

Poovilangu thevaiyillaiyae"

She questions on arranged marriage and says why all this drahma ? She doesn't want to be handcuffed even if that is made of flowers ? Interesting thing during the song is at one point few men circle the girls and leave and director indirectly says that she is ready to take on boys .....Whole song was more beautiful because of Rain ....If you take rain out of this song then this would have been one of the many songs and wouldn't have made any impression. 

One other song 'Barso re' from Guru where Aishwarya Rai is introduced to audience through the song and once again rain was used in the background and it revealed the innocent childish nature of the actress dancing carefree in the rain. 

Thalapathy and Rain 

Rajini's intro happens in heavy rain and there is a big fight sequence where he takes goons; Rajini's first confrontation scene with Mamooty happens in rain and Mani Ratnam proved he can use Rain for conflict and fury. Mani Ratnam has taught us one thing - shooting in switzerland alone does not bring the beauty in the frame rather to shoot magical scenes you should know your frames well and should use it well to narrate your story. 

Alaipayuthey and Rain 

This movie has a special place for many especially if you happen to be in college during its release ....Mani Ratnam used Rain as a character to interact with its protagonists ...Evano Oruvan song is a classic song set in a dull tone starting with dark clouds, thunder storms, wind and then suddenly outpouring rain happens thereby indicating tension brewing up between shakthi and Karthik like the dark rain clouds and finally outpouring rain signifies couple want to love each other as intense as the rain. 

Arvind Swamy proposes to Manisha Koirala in Bombay and we see rain in the background; SRK's opening scenes with Manisha at Railway station where he says 'Duniya ki sabse chhoti prem kahani' where once again there was heavy downpour elevating the mood of the narration; In Kannathil Muthamittal cinematographer has used lighting to good effect when the marration shows family life and contrastingly uses rain, heavy clouds in latter part of the movie when the country is attacked by political chaos; Velu nayakkar dances in rain on colorful Holi to show that he is fond of his neighborhood in Nayakkan; Vikram proposes to Aishwarya rai in Raavanan and once again rain in the background. 

In a world where people use Rain merely to bring out the glamour quotient of heroines to cater front benchers here is India's top notch director who uses rain as a medium to narrate his storytelling in a poetic way. 

Who is a visionary ?

  After a brief hiatus I am back to Blogging which I just love doing. I have prepared a big list of topics which I want to pen my thoughts and topic for this blog is Visionary. Change is inevitable and things keep changing over the period. One who adapts change and works to his advantage clearly holds the upper edge from the person who see change as bad omen. If you are running a Business right from competition, laws and regulations, policy changes, Government tax structure etc., everything play a role in how successful you are. I am going to list few examples which were truly revolutionary and only from visionary people we get to see ground breaking ideas coming to life. 

Example 1 - Idhayam Gingelly Oil: People talk about "Cold pressed oil", "Branding" and all the BUZZ words used in Business language but here is an Entrepreneur from Virudhunagar one of the remote places in Tamil Nadu who established a world known brand in Consumer goods. Idhayam Gingelly oil is much more than a brand and it occupies integral part of one's kitchen especially amongst Tamil population across the world. Whether USA or New Zealand, Idhayam oil has cemented its place in FMCG market. Not to forget V.R Muthu is the second generation in the family and the brand was already founded by Mr.Rajendran. If we are talking about scalability and zest to grow then we have to invest in technology and appropriate process and that is what V.R Muthu did by automating the manufacturing and packaging process which led to phenomenal domestic and international sales. Idhayam oil exports close to 50 countries and has got 90% of share in seasame oil business and 70% market share in groundnut oil business. Also I cannot forget the Ad where Jothika bathes Idly with oil and that was when she was at her peak form and it had lot of reach amongst the public. Idhayam brand was the one which introduced concept of 'Oil pulling' (concept of swishing oil in your mouth for few minutes which helps to eradicate bacteria on top of moisturizing gums and increase saliva production) to nook and norner of Tamil Nadu or I should say created awareness about the concept. This translated to huge sales for Idhayam brand on top of becoming a household brand. 

Example 2 - Privatization of Television Channels through SUN TV: Maran is a powerful name in Tamil Nadu as Mr.Murasoli Maran is considered to be the Brain of DMK party; Serving M.P for more than three decades Maran senior was instrumental in negotiating Trade deals for India in Global forums and made significant policy changes to drive India's export potential. Now if you take rags to riches stories it would be very inspirational but if you take individuals who represent second generation coming from affluent families everyone would curiously watch what they are upto; Kalanidhi Maran son of Maran senior is a media baron and founder of SUN group. He owns television channels, radio stations, newspapers, weeklies, DTH services, cricket team and a movie production house. April 14, 1992 was a D day in Tamil Nadu's television chapter as it opened doors for private sector. Sun network was the first to procure license for satellite broadcasting and they had to start it as three hours program. Many make fun of mega serials in SUN TV but the hard reality is there is viewership for emotional quotient in TN (In this era movies like Kadaikutty singam and Namma veetu pillai were huge box office hits primarily because women loved the emotional quotient). Also in mid 90's anywhere you go in TN around 9.30 pm you would see people seeing 'Chithi' serial ....Raadhika and Maran on many occasions had to lock horns on political upfront but Maran junior has never mixed professional life hinder his personal life and has always supported Radaan media on her serials and she has provided very good serials for SUN TV. Also Maran junior had the vision of diversifying his portfolio by not restricting him in Televisions alone; If you look at movies produced or distributed by Maran junior he cleverly chooses low budget, medium budget and then a high budget movie. Maran's formula is like you invest X amount for movies like Kanchana 3 and take 3X benefit whereas in movies like Annathae he invests X amount and just takes 1.5X; End of the day his ROI on movies like Kanchana 3 and Namma veetu pillai is much more than movies like Beast or Annathae but movies like Beast and Annathae is more of Brand building. One other character I love about Maran sir is he maintains such low profile, in a world where people boast on getting more views in their respective Youtube channels here is a man who has revolutionized the whole TV industry but still avoids shutterbugs. 

Example 3 - Latest Kamal's flick VIKRAM: Kamal's latest flick Vikram is one cracker of a movie though there is excessive and unrealistic action sequences. I would say director Lokesh Kanagaraj is a great visionary for excellent execution on quite a lot of factors. First Kamal is having a release after 4 years and he is considered to be one of the senior actors in the country but the very decision to show him with such miniscule screen space in the first half would be baffling. But this is where Lokesh won lot of brownie points as he established the story and the characters quite nicely until interval thus giving massive scope for Kamal to start his fireworks in second half. If the writing is not strong whole thing would have fallen flat. Secondly we don't get to see quite a lot of multi starrers because one actor dominates other which discourages actors to act in a multi starrer movie. But here we have Fahad, VJS and Kamal who have got meaty roles and it justifies their presence in the story telling. Once again had the writing been one sided we would have seen one characterization being stronger than others which would have ultimately lead to less curiosity and overall would have dampen the mood of the audience and made them feel its a 180 minutes movie. Last but not the least I don't think any director in the recent past has connected the dots more convincingly than Lokesh on Kaithi 2, Vikram 2 and connection with 1986 Vikram movie. 

Example 4 - iD Idly batter: At IBCN event in 2019, I happen to listen to PC Mustafa owner of iD Fresh foods and was blown away by his approach towards running Business. One of the audience asked is Idly batter a viable business in the future with so many brands coming up and with so many food choices people have in today's world. Mustafa quickly explained some numbers which was so convincing for the audience to realize Idly batter is here to stay. Forget about his hardships and the challenges he had to face to climb up the ladder but just imagine his vision to sell idly batter and then grow a business to clock nearly 300 crores in turnover - absolutely amazing; I have seen people when they pick menu items in Pot luck they tend to skip taking Vada because making vada can be challenging. You take Aavin milk cover and then have the vada batter and then have a hole in the centre and then gently slide it in the cooking pan; It may sound lot easier but reality is different; iD fresh foods invented "Squeeze and fry vada batter" where all you need to do is squeeze the batter and then vada's shape is automatically created and more importantly shape of all vadas are equal. Housewives just love this especially girls who have just entered their wedlock. Mustafa eliminated shape of the vada can no longer be a reason to get into an argument for a Daughter in law and Mother in law. 

Just wanted to list these examples so I see these people like V.R Muthu, Kalanidhi Maran, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Mustafa to be visionaries in their respective industries. 

Next topic: Rain 

Perspective

 Perspective is a very interesting subject and the topic embodies phycological behavior of a particular individual.  What is right for ABC may be wrong for XYZ; It has been more than a decade but I still remember this joke way back in 2008-09 period ..I was working at Home depot HQ in Atlanta and since TCS had its huge presence there I had to work with quite a lot of TCS folks both from north and south of India. One guy called Nikhil Trivedi a hard core Gujarati always praises his state and was very proud of his state achievements and he said Gujarat is a state where at 12 or 1 am a girl can walk safely on streets. He had great admiration of his home state and always had good things to say ....I took the same wordings and shared with another guy called Tushar Vyas that of a girl walking safely at midnight in Gujarat ..He asked me "Hey Sundar ...what is the need of a girl walking at 12 or 1 am on the streets" ..I laughed out loud ..two people two different perspective ....Let me get into some practical incidents ..

Bursting Crackers:

Let us assume you have bought 10000 wala cracker and very excited to burst them during Diwali; You are pumped up and on Diwali day you rollout out the 10000 wala in the street with so much pride as if you have been selected for admission at prestigious Standford University; Now you light up the long agarpathi and approach near the cracker and light up the cracker .....once you realize fire has caught the cracker you run like PT Usha to a safe spot just to witness the sight of the cracker you burnt .....Imagine a young guy who is economically backward and cannot afford to buy any sort of cracker ...He may witness sight of the cracker bursting with all the joy and excitement too ...Now what makes you more happier ? You bursting the cracker or letting another kid enjoy the sight through you ??

Ringtone :

After a movie release some BGMs become massive hit ...for instance after watching Maanadu I updated my ringtone to SJ Suryah's intro BGM in my phone ...The reason was I liked the bgm so much hence wanted to keep that as my ringtone so that I will get to listen often. This is ideally anyone would do but there is another section of people who will just do the opposite .....In case they like something like a song or BGM they will just listen and not keep that as BGM because they are afraid they will get boredom if they get used to it often ...Once again two people and two different perspective .....

Abhishekham Sponsorship:

It is your birthday or wedding anniversary and you have decided to sponsor for an abhishekham for your ishta devadha at your local temple ...Based on the size of the deity abhishekham sponsorship may differ from temple to temple and on an average it costs anywhere around 1000 to 3000 rupees ....Since you are the sponsors priest make you and your family sit right in front so that you can catch glimpse of the entire abhishekham. Now imagine there are so many people who watch the abhishekham since they happen to be at the temple at the same time. Few people who couldn't afford to sponsor treat this as a blessing to watch the abhishekham ....Now you can either watch for a while and leave room for others or pretty much occupy the spot throughout the process. It is your own wish ....Almighty knows you very well and your intentions .....By leaving room for other he may be even more pleased to see your magnanimity ....But two people and two different perspective .....

Perspective is a fascinating subject ...nothing is right ..nothing is wrong ..it just depends on how you see things .....On a lighter note when you think of "Perspective" think about "Parotta" .....State of Kerala has banned Maida (main ingredient of Parotta) whereas if any such thing happens in Tamil Nadu whole state (including me) will go for protests on road as Parotta and chicken/mutton gravy is considered heaven on earth combination. 

Next Blog: Who is a Visionary ?

Naveena Chanakyan

 My favorite topics include 'Food', 'Cinema' and 'Religious aspects' and 2021 is the year where 'Politics' and 'Economics' have joined my list of favorites. I have written quite a lot of blogs on Politics and still yet to make my debut on Economics. Reason why I started liking these two topics would mainly attribute to two personalities - Prashanth Kishore and P.T.R Palanivel Rajan respectively. I have simply admired both of them and they have kindled my interest to great extent on these topics. When I saw RJ Balaji's L.K.G there was a character who act as a political strategist and make individuals win polls and at that time I hardly knew who Prashanth Kishore was but then after knowing about him and his organization I am completely flabbergasted on the talent he brings onto the table. 

Now before getting into Mr.Prashanth Kishore let us understand on the Indian political climate; BJP is literally going from strength to strength and its opposition Congress party is becoming like a villain in recent Thalaivar movies; As such India is going through a massive transformation in terms of Industrialization, Governance, Infrastructure and Corporate affairs and if results are to be believed India will soon become third biggest economy in the world. I would say two things are playing a crucial role in India's glorious run - (a) Stable government which is into its 7th year @ Centre (b) Revenue generation through GST. Stability plays a major role on governance and with BJP government on its seventh year is going from strength to strength and Mr.Modi has created something like 'Brand India'; GST is another factor which is generating huge amounts of money for both central and state governments and this is getting translated to lot of infrastructure changes across the country. Now that I gave a brief overview about Indian political scenario let me jump into Mr.Prashanth Kishore. 

Who is Mr.Prashanth Kishore? What role did he play in Indian politics? What contributions did he make ? Prashanth Kishore is an Indian political strategist and tactician. He has been trained in political strategy and has eight years of experience in United Nations working as Political strategist for various international politicians. Prashanth initially created CAG (Citizens for accountable governance) and then later regrouped as I-PAC (Indian political action committee). Basically Prashanth wants to create a platform for youngsters to participate and make meaningful contribution in political affairs and governance of the country without necessarily being part of the political party. Prashanth wants to make sure there is a citizen-centric agenda and partners with politicians to conceptualize and implement the most effective methods of taking it to the public. Let me list out some of his contributions :

1) Success in helping BJP win 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election

2) Success in helping BJP win 2014 Indian general election 

3) Success in helping JD(U) win 2015 Bihar legislative assembly election

4) Success in helping INC win 2017 Punjab legislative assembly election

5) Success in helping YSRCP win 2019 Andhra pradesh legislative assembly election

2) Success in helping AAP win 2020 Delhi legislative assembly election

3) Success in helping DMK win 2021 Tamil Nadu legislative assembly election

4) Success in helping TMC win 2021 West Bengal legislative assembly election

That's just WOW ......It is incredible because he was a driving force in how political parties carried out campaigns, what electoral promises to make, how to address challenges, how to tackle opposition etc., If you look into some of the directors of I-PAC they are from premium educational institutions like IIT and what they are good is getting as much DATA as possible and mining information from the data retrieved. You need to understand the constitution, rules of the land, laws and regulations and then devise your strategies. Prashanth just marshalls his resources to come up with a perfect strategy for each individual and the results are for everyone to see but there is plenty of information being carried out in the background. DATA plays a super duper role and prashanth collects as much data as possible before getting his hands dirty. I am going to walk you through some of the fascinating tactics Prashanth deployed during political campaigns which brought him so much of laurels

[1] 'Manthan' initiative: Prashanth realized out of 130 crore indian population 62 crores + of voters were under the age of 25 and realized a huge potential for indian youth to engage in political affairs and wanted to come up with a nation wide movement to bring the youth together and that is how 'Manthan' was born - he came up with a nation wide contest for resolving top 14 issues of the nation. This initiative saw 5 lakh youth participating and presenting their idea on the roadmap of India to a spectrum of leaders across party lines. Guess what the impact was so huge that some of the things like 12 special courts for fast track delivery of cases against politicians, 1.53 trillion rupees worth of loan released for small businesses under MUDRA yojana scheme, 17000 crore budget for seperate skill development ministry were made by Prime Minister to the nation and the idea was from Manthan initiative

[2] 'Captain's Nau Nukte' initiative in Punjab: Prashanth and his team devised a campaign called 'Captain's Nau Nukte' which focuses on nine point agenda bringing back the lost glory of Punjab and he executed the campaign through a large door to door campaign led by 1500 volunteers and reaching 1.2 crore people. This initiative had huge impact in the state of Punjab as it brought 35% women reservation in government jobs, 1500 crore debt waiver to 5.6 lakh farmers and special task force to control smuggling, peddling and consumption of drugs. 

[3] NAVARATNALU initiative in Andhra pradesh: AP was going through a bad phase with corruption charges and bad governance and YSR Jagan mohan reddy teamed up with Prashanth and released nine promises to people of AP. Following footsteps of his dad in 341 days, he walked more than 3648 kilometres meeting citizens directly in person to get an understanding of their problem and what would it take for his new government to resolve the problems. With over 5 lakh party workers, 90k volunteers, 70k influencers, 600 professionals getting connected through 35 online and offline campaigns, people of AP gave YSRCP a landslide victory. YSR acted swiftly on his electoral promises and NAVARATNALU was soon a reality with 55 lakh loan waiver promised to farmers, 15000 annually for every school going kid, 1.5 lakhs students promised reimbursement for accommodation etc., 

[4] KEJRIWAL KI 10 Guarantee in Delhi: Prashanth devised a strategy which consist of an extensive exercise to collect feedback on government's performance in the last 5 years through a door to door campaign reaching 35 lakh households in Delhi. Across Delhi, People were invited to townhalls with the CM and they became part of the discourse for coming up with the agenda for the next 5 years. People's voice, suggestions and feedback culminated into a 10 point agenda and once Kejriwal came to office some of the agenda items were executed like - Revolutionary education reform, Healthcare for all scheme by ensuring network oh Mohalla clinics and advanced government hospitals, 24/7 clean drinking water available to public, 7 million women has access to no cost transport etc., 

[5] DIDI 'R 10 ONGIKAR, BANGLAR GORBO MAMATA: With Congress in no form and J Jayalalitha no more BJP realized their only threat in the nation was Mamata Banerjee so they went all guns blazing and made elections in phased out approach and pulled lot of ministers from TMC to BJP. Prashanth and his team really had to work very hard to get things right as they faced stiff competition from BJP. Once again Prashanth introduced flagship campaigns to reaffirm faith in didi's leadership. Multiple citizen participatory campaigns were designed and individual concerns were addressed. Once Didi came to power 'Universal income support' that of offering 500 and 1000 per month to female heads of SC/ST community, student credit cards for limit upto 10 lakhs for all eligible students, free doorstep delivery of ration goods for 1.5 crore households, 10000/acre for 68 lakh small and medium farmers were introduced

[6] STALININ 7 URUDHIMOLIGAL: Tamil Nadu was merely remote controlled by centre and with stalwarts like Karuna and JJ out of picture state was going through a bad phase with lot of misgovernance. Upon working closely with Prashanth and his team Stalin came up with a '10 year vision document' which focused on revamping areas in seven sectors such as Agriculture, Water management, Health Urban  development, Education, Rural infrastructure, Social injustice, Economy etc., Stalin also had over 500 election promises which was made fun by the entire state but close to 50% of the promises were fulfilled is the reality. Finance minister selection raised eyebrows and for the first time we saw an well educated smart youngster given Finance portfolio, opposition party were treated with dignity, Tea party was hosted by CM which were attended by politicians across party lines. With just over six months DMK has literally had a glorious run and overall functioning of the state, handling of pandemic, governance has simply been outstanding and brought heaps of praise and appreciation from all over the country. 

I have just pointed out some of the things Mr.Prashanth did and he did a whole lot of things which is opening a new chapter in Indian politics. If you take a closer look almost all of his initiatives involved interacting with people to know and understand their problems from grassroot level since Prashanth believes only when you understand from close quarters you can come up with a solution. Modi's ever famous 'Chai par charcha' campaign where he had a chai and interacted with public and Stalin's Grama sabbhas before TN election to sit with people and talk to them all not just won praises but also respective elections for BJP and DMK respectively. If you look at BJP it has taken some of the boldest decisions in Citizens amendment act, decision to revoke Article 370, law related to Triple talaq, decision to make Jammu, kashmir and ladakh union territories etc., When a dynamic, young and revolutionary architect in the form of Prashanth Kishor come to the equation it augurs good for Indian Politics as it changes the grammar of how a political party should be run.

Next topic: Perspective

P.S: I wish all my readers a very happy and prosperous new year; Readership for my blog has gone ten times more and thank all of you for your time and thanks for sending me your feedback and healthy debates over Whatsapp. 

How Drahma Unfolds !!

 Staging a drama doesn't happen just on stage instead it happens in different contexts on various matters in India. I am going to list some of those based on my experience in the past. There is always a motive for people to stage a drama - sometimes it could be for monetary reasons whereas sometimes it could be to win over people, some occasions to gain sympathy, so on and so forth etc., 

[1] Drahma at Road side: If mass shootings is a concern in US then road accidents is a concern in India and sometimes road accidents are enacted through a drama too. Along with my family I was on my way to Vaitheeswaran Temple and of course this happened before Corona made its debut, once you cross Kumbakonam roads are narrow and it gets congested as population is dense in those areas. I was comfortable driving but I had to be very watchful since I could see bicycles, cows, dogs, suddenly making its appearance just like how elakai makes its presence when we enjoy the yummy biriyani. But I was moving along and at one spot and couldn't recollect the exact location I heard a big noise back of my car and I was very confident me and my car had nothing to do with the collision that happened for a two wheeler against one of the moving vehicles on the road. I looked into the mirror and saw people gathering in big numbers and since I had nothing to do with the accident I moved along. One person from the spot rushed towards me and parked his bike in front of my car and asked me to get down from the car. I obliged and got down and he said I was the one responsible for the accident and had to come to the spot immediately .....I said this is absolutely false and I cannot take responsibility for accidents taking place on road ...he was adamant that I had to come to the spot so I had no other choice but to rush towards the spot. First and foremost I am going to visit a temple so if I commit a mistake and then offer my prayers I am aware almighty is not going to listen to my prayers so I was confident lord will take care and gathered courage to face the crowd. People were furious at me and some even pointed fingers that I was responsible for the lady who fell down from the two wheeler; Guy who drove the two wheeler said I dashed him which made him and the lady fall ....I said to the crowd ...first let us all try to understand what happened .....I asked the guy to explain in detail ...I questioned him just like how Surya did in Jai Bhim ....Right from the direction he came, side of my car which seem to hit him etc., I also asked the crowd to look into my car whether it had any scratches or paint removal like how the guy explained ...I also spotted a Security Camera in one of the shops nearby but unfortunately shop was closed but I asked the crowd let us call the show owner and get footage of what happened ....Crowd listened to me ..they looked into my car which had my entire family waiting in patience. At this point of time crowd was convinced this guy is enacting a drama and was confident on the way I carried myself ....I even asked the crowd if I am proven wrong I can take care of any medical treatment and any expense that incurs for the boy but I cannot be fooled around. I gave all of my identity proofs in case they want to contact me further. I am pretty sure this guy basically wanted to enact a drama and get cash from me and he gathered sympathy by pulling the crowd and the lady and ambulance are all character roles in his play. God knows the truth but I realized once you are confident and truthful you need to FACE the challenge by yourself and my attitude was the saving grace on the incident and I thank lord Vaitheeswaran for giving me the strength to face the situation. 

[2] Third person make merry: When two people have misunderstandings the worst thing that happen is third person take advantage of the situation. In any Business when two generations work together it is super natural to have difference of opinion of various day to day operations. Best thing to do is for the two to iron out the differences and settle things amicably but at this juncture third party and in this case the employees in the same organization take advantage of the situation. Since older generation is lenient on lot of things they tend to get arguments with the new generation person and employees slowly but surely make more inroads on the rift between older and new generation. This is sort of a drama people undertake in every organization and I would strongly say reasons for family feuds are more of internal in nature rather than from external forces. This can be frustrating but one day truth will triumph. 

[3] Video leak: This one is not my personal experience but just my observation. High profile movie shooting may be in progress and all of a sudden some video footage may be leaked from the film's shooting. News spread all over the state and fans start to rejoice the content and start sharing virally on social media. Some people just want to get a glimpse of the video due to curiosity factor ...Overall this has been a paisa vasool marketing for the movie. If you take a deep look this whole thing could be a drahma ....when you release a video as a teaser it may generate 1 million views whereas you term it has 'leak' it may generate 2 million views ...This is like stolen mangoes are more tastier than mangoes bought. 

I have just listed few but there are whole lot more which I could keep writing; I feel there is always a motto behind every drama that has been enacted. People choose the characters, script and stage for the drama but whatever drama one does end of the day people are responsible for their own wrongdoings through the Paavam-Punya Kanaku just like Credit and debit entries in Journal Book. 

Next Blog:  Naveena Chanakyan 

Annathae, Rajini and Next steps

 Annatha was Thalaivar's latest flick and it was very disappointing and the disturbing factor for me was Thalaivar had to rely on so much emotional quotient to make his movie a Box office success.  In my community when someone reaches 70, Beema radha santhi is celebrated and it is time to increase dosage for Metformin, Amlodopine and Rosuvastatin ...but looking at Thalaivar he is still on the ground fighting it out when his counterparts like Vijayakanth, Sathyaraj, Chiranjeevi, Mohan babu all have either retired or doing character driven roles. You have to give credits to the man for pulling this feat. But before we get into Annatha would like to go over some of Thalaivar's strengths which I would personally like to term as his success strategies.

1) Almost Nil endorsements for commercials: Apart from the Polio campaign have you ever seen Thalaivar endorsing any campaigns? Have you seen him as a celebrity endorsing any FMCG product? Apart from the cut outs and hoardings during his releases have you seen his advertisement during any other time ? He played it very smart by limiting his public appearances and that translates to Freshness factor in Cine world. When you endorse for a FMCG product the company plays the advertisement multiple times in televisions and people tend to see your face 'n' number of times and this psychologically brings down the curiosity when audience tend to see a mass hero in big screen. Now you may understand how actors like Vijay, Chiranjeevi are mass heroes whereas actors like Surya who chooses good scripts can never become a mass hero. 

2) Limited public appearance: Getting invites is pretty common and just imagine for Thalaivar how many invites he would receive in a calendar year to attend for functions (wedding, cine related) etc., If Thalaivar attends everything he would hog limelight but once again that will translate to bringing down the curiosity factor when people see him in big screen. He has always maintained low profile - attend very few functions, skip cine functions for most part, minimum participation for any protests etc., One other significant thing which Thalaivar does is he does not participate in Film promotions even for his own films other than Audio functions (2.0 was an exception as he had to oblige Zee networks since Zee procured satellite rights for 2.0 and Endhiran at the time of release was an expensive movie so he gave interview with Sun TV as SUN network acquired satellite rights); On a similar note I see that people who are super duper talented like Ilayaraja, AR Rahman, Mani Ratnam focus less on marketing and instead focus on their respective work to  do all the talking. This particular strategy of Thalivar pays rich dividends as he always keeps the freshness factor and when people see him in celluloid after one or two years they go mad to catch glimpse of him. 

3) Family audience: These days film's fate is decided in the first 10 days but if you look into the past silver jubilee films run for 25 weeks (175 days) and if you deep look first 30 days belongs to hard core Thalaivar fans who consists of Auto drivers, rickshaw man, Milk vendor, vegetable vendor, lorry drivers etc., and then once the film crosses 30 days mark that's when Thaikulam come into theatres and they take the kids along with them. Thalaivar has this uncanny habit of attracting kids through his movies - the graphics song in Raja chinna Roja may look amateurish in today's world but it was considered cult classic at those times which attracted kids, Thalaivar's body language of catching Snake in Annamalai and murmuring 'Kaduvulae Kadavulae' will make kids laugh like anything, flipping of sun glasses/cigars all attracted kids. Can you name one movie of Thalaivar which is considered very glamourous and embarrass family audience ? Consider two songs - "Adikudhu Kuliru" from Mannan and "Siva Rathiri" from MMKR and nature of both the songs is same that of heroine trying to woo hero and director's intention is to make the song look sensuous. But such was the choreography and picturization that Adikudhu kuliru brought out the intention of the song merely through the tone and kudos to Thalaivar for making his movies family friendly in nature. I am not saying he doesn't have glamourous songs in his movies but he has always kept family audience in his mind whereas his arch rival Kamal Ji is considered to be kadhal mannan. 

Now that I have gone through some of Thalaivar's success strategies I would like to point out his current state of mind. Some of the biggest directors in 90's were K.S Ravi kumar, Mani Ratnam, Shankar, P. Vasu etc., After Linga bombed and Jaggubhai didn't take off it was curtains down for K.S Ravikumar. P.Vasu pulled off a miracle for Chandramukhi but then Kuselan was absolute disaster and the movie was completely written off so P.Vasu was out of equation too. Shankar made Sivaji, Endhiran and 2.0 and problem with Shankar's movies are like it takes whole lot of time apart from demanding huge budget. There are rarely any producer who could afford to produce Shankar movie on top of casting Thalaivar as hero so Shankar was out of question too. Mani Ratnam is still an option but believe both Thalaivar and Mani ratnam want to keep their everlasting record of Thalapathi intact and don't want to create any mishapenings in their combination. Thalaivar tried his luck with his daughter on giving audience an absolute new experience in the form of 3D Avatar by doing Kochadaiyaan but unfortunately audience did not like the movie very much though it was a novel attempt. Now Thalaivar sat back got his act together and realized new comers are the future and that was when movie 'Madras' was both critically acclaimed as well as huge box office success. Thalaivar surprised everyone in the industry by giving PA.Ranjith to direct his next movie. Movie was produced by marketing wizard Kalaipuli Thanu sir and there was almost feverish pitch as far as marketing was concerned and the scenario in Tamil Nadu was like if you haven't watched Kabali you have wasted your life. Movie released and though it was different from many of Thalaivar's past movies I personally did not like the movie as there was excessive violence and gun shots were used like "Potu vedi"; I watched the movie with hard core Thalaivar fans and enjoyed every bit of the experience. Movie was declared box office success and Rajini handed over next movie to Ranjith for 'Kaala'. 

  Kaala was an average flick and the movies didn't fare well at Box Office and Rajini moved onto Karthik Subburaj, a hard core Thalaivar veriyan for PETTA and the movie by far was the best of thalaivar's movies retaining the vintage Thalaivar factor as well as coming up with a good script for a mass hero. Personally apart from the flashback which was not at all convincing overall movie was very good. Now Rajini moved onto AR Murugadoss for Darbar and the movie happened to be an above average flick. Now Rajini saw Viswasam and blown over by the movie gave Director Siva a chance to direct his next movie and that is how Annatha happened. You cannot blame Thalaivar as he had to trust his instincts and give someone a chance to direct. But Annatha relied way too much on emotional quotient and villain was like a puppet. Movie must have run in villages and Tier 2 cities but overall movie disappointed many including hard core fans. 

Now that he is out of Politics TN People are not going to make him retire so it is always going to be LIGHTS - CAMERA - ACTION ...I think he should work on following as next steps

1) Thalaivar has to bring on board a strong Antagonist to rub his shoulders on screen.....Antony of Baadsha and Neelambari of Padayappa is still fresh amongst audience. There has to be lot of screen space for villain ..in short we no longer need Mighty Australia vs docile Zimbabwe on field rather we need nail biting India vs Pakistan matches of 1990's ...

2) Focus on Character driven roles: I think problem with Industry is they want Thalaivar to be the hero for economics to work out ....if he does Guest roles it affects Business hence Thalaivar is forced to be commercial hero. I think he is coming to a point he has crossed threashold of a mainstream commercial hero rather do roles pertaining to the age and what story demands. Dhruvangal 16 was a classic movie and if Thalaivar does what Rahman did it might still work out because there is a good actor inside thalaivar which no one really extracts. I would personally like to see two releases every year and roles can be character driven. 

3) Please stop the romance: Nayantara and Thalaivar's daughters should be of same age and it is absolutely awkward to see him romance, run behind the trees, slow motion shots trying to attract girls. If it is delicate for us to see I cannot imagine how Thalaivar acts because am sure it would be very embarassing to act on romantic scenes where his grand son is already a teenager. 

4) Bring back the scenes to tickle your bones: Action scenes are fine but too much violence through gun shots is definitely not cup of tea for Thalaivar rather go back to his strength of including scenes which invokes laughter. Kids adore him, Fans worship him, Thai kulam like him and he shouldn't let these go as these are the building blocks for his growth. 

As a politician I have never supported Rajinikanth because I feel he is not qualified to be a politician but as an entertainer I like him and want him to do more movies. He sees a movie and if he likes a movie very much he gives a chance and that is how Ranjith, Karthik Subbhu raj and Siva got chances. I am pretty sure after seeing Maanadu he might consider Venkat Prabhu, people like Lokesh Kanagaraj, Vetri maaran, Pandiraj, Karthik Naren, Mari selvaraj, Nalan Kumarasamy all stand a chance to direct him in future. I hope directors acknowledge his age and give him nice character driven roles which both extracts his acting talent as well as give audience meaningful cinema. End of the day we love Thalaivar as an entertainer and we want to see him on big screen time and again and enjoy all the euphoria and excitement for many more years to come. 

Next Blog: How Drahma Unfolds !! 

T & C

   T & C stands for Terms and conditions and I am just going to pen my thoughts based on some of my observations. There is a survey which says close to 90% of the people don't read terms and conditions and the percentage is even higher with youth population. Every organization or entity when they sell a commodity or a service are bound to provide you with terms and conditions and as a buyer you are supposed to read and endorse them acknowledging that you are aware of everything you sign up. In a world where people find emails to be lengthy imagine the fate of 'Terms and conditions' which runs over few pages with font size as small as kutty kamal in apoorva sagodhargal; Sometimes language is so complex that you tend to think whether these were drafted by Christopher Nolan and proof read by Kamalhaasan. At times content is so very generic and you cannot make out what is the intention of the conditions something similar to Bala sir movies where movie is over all of a sudden with wordings "A film by Bala" which then makes you leave the cinema hall realizing movie is over. 

I would like to go over few examples of T&C :

Social media & Privacy: One of social media's giant says in its terms and conditions that they use the data provided by consumers to improve the overall experience of the consumer. Such a sentence is very generic and we can interpret it in multiple ways and we have no clue whether the data is used for commercial purpose. EU comes up with their own set of ground rules on how they want to to govern the data posted in social media by their public. By coming up with their own standard they stand a chance of pulling the company to their respective court in case of any violations rather than relying law and order to be enforced by the country of the parent organization. Consumer data privacy is the next big thing since any of your posts, pictures you post can be used for commercial or various other purposes and the only catch for us is to 'Disagree' on the Terms & conditions.

E-commerce & rules: Post Corona E-commerce has picked up big time and number of shoppers grew in huge numbers for online shopping. Imagine you are about to buy a brand new scientific calculator online which belongs to an electronic product. Normally electronic products comes with a warranty period  and strict return policies. If you see the terms and conditions there would be a point which would state any tampering of sticker or screws violates the return policy. Due to some carelessness of the buyer or logistics person you may receive the product where sticker or screws may be misplaced and unfortunately the buyer has little room for negotiation since he/she has already signed the terms and conditions regarding the product. 

Health Insurance & rules:  When people sign up for Health insurance there is a tendency amongst people not to disclose pre-existing diseases like Diabetes, Hyper tension etc., When people switch from Insurance A to Insurance B some tend to provide coverage for pre-existing illnesses whereas some companies has a waiting period which is clearly mentioned in terms and conditions. People overlook this clause and finally when a claim is processed this clause haunts them big time since as per Insurance company the waiting period may be far from over. 

  Terms & Conditions are the talking point once we get into an incident/accident - no one pays attention unless we get our hands dirty. Organizations cleverly phrase the wordings in such a way when a problem arises they use the lawyer to work terms and conditions to their advantage. Consumer related issues will be on the rise in future and terms and conditions will play a prominent role. 

Next: Annathae, Rajini and next steps 

  

KKP KKP TVM

Let me abbreviate my blog heading "KKP KKP TVM" - கண்ணால் காண்பதும் பொய், காதால் கேட்பதும் பொய், தீர விசாரிப்பதே மெய்! This is such a lovely proverb that our ancestors have come up with and only during the course of life you are able to relate to the true meaning to this proverb. I am going to come up with two examples to illustrate this proverb and examples are taken from real life incidents with little bit of fictional elements but the core content is ORIGINAL. 

Example One - Anti-social elements role in Politics

    Assume DMK is holding a mega protest against the ruling BJP government citing the hike of prices for Petrol, Diesel, LPG Gas etc., Not all protests are bad in fact I would recommend protesting for your basic rights. Protests is planned in all major districts and DMK's district administrators plan the protest. They come up with a plan where to protest, timing of the protest, agenda for the meetings, any traffic diversions needed, permission from local bodies like consent from collector office, help from Police, Traffic police etc., Obviously DMK may protest against BJP since BJP is the government coming up with the new prices. Now ADMK is the principal opponent party of DMK in the state and alliances of ADMK may also be against the ruling DMK since they come under ADMK. The so called anti social elements who may neither belong to ADMK, ADMK alliances, BJP may form a group and disrupt the protest thereby causing damage of public property and injury to public. Chaotic atmosphere may prevail and innocent public become victims to these protests and DMK may complain it was BJP/ADMK who disrupted the peaceful protests whereas BJP/ADMK may complain DMK has to take the blame as a ruling party for the law and order mess in the state. But the ugly secret is there could be some inside forces within DMK who could initiate the protests or it could be a ploy from a neighboring state who wanted to tarnish the image of the ruling party for political mileage. It could even be people outside the scope of politics who may sponsor the whole protests thereby quenching the thirst of taking revenge due to some personal feud in the past. You never know who is the culprit unless there is a full time investigation of the whole matter. Meanwhile SUN News /JAYA News/ NDTV come up with FLASH NEWS blaming one another ....This is where proverb comes into picture. 

Example Two - Bride & Groom match making

Match making is a big challenging task for parents in current generation. There are N number of factors to be accounted before a final decision can be made. Now consider there is a marriage proposal for a boy and a girl ......It is natural for both the sides to enquire about the bride and the groom respectively .....Let me summarize some of the findings 

(a) Girl's side looks into Boy's biodata in Social media and finds Boy has lot of girl friends 

(b) Boy's side look into Girl's biodata in Social media and finds Girl is bold as far as dressing sense

(c) Girl's side upon enquiring Boy's parents comes to know that they have lots of liabilities 

(d) Boy's side upon enquiring Girl's parents comes to know that they are against couple settling abroad

Now if you look into the facts for each of these:

(a) Girl's side looks into Boy's biodata in Social media and finds Boy has lot of girl friends  - Nowadays every IT company engages its employees on team bonding and on one such occasion it so happened that boy happened to be trapped on a particular fun game and team took a group pic with the boy surrounded by all girls ...since one of his friends tagged that pic this caught attention of the girl's side

(b) Boy's side look into Girl's biodata in Social media and finds Girl is bold as far as dressing sense - Though we talk about Biotechnology on one side there is still mega serials running successfully in TV ....Girl just happened to visit Miami,FL on a vacation and you cannot expect girl to wear Nalli Samudrika Silk saree in Miami beach ....Unfortunately the mega serial aunty mistook the sleaveless shirt and shorts as 'Bold' ...BTW India is the only country where you can gauge boldness of a person through your attire

(c) Girl's side upon enquiring Boy's parents comes to know that they have lots of liabilities - One thing I realized is though many people have funds to purchase an asset they still finance and prefer loan payments ....Unfortunately one loan assignment is tongue twisted as liabilities since the intermediate whom people made enquiry passed what he heard ...just like how passing the secret game goes on info is completely fabricated ...

(d) Boy's side upon enquiring Girl's parents comes to know that they are against couple settling abroad - Sometimes when people have one daughter they prefer daughter to be geographically closer and this may just be a preference. Once again the so called intermediates fabricate the info and portray in such a way as if girl's parents are completely against couple settling abroad. 

As you can see information is Fabricated/twisted/misinterpreted and just shows importance of the proverb. Some Naysayers deliberately want to pull some families down hence kind of politely spread false information something similar to poking needle into a Banana. It is becoming even more important to make your enquiries right since what we see and what we hear may no longer hold true. 

Next Blog: T & C

Vasanth & Co

People who hail from Tamilnadu are very well versed with the brand name "Vasanth & CO" since the brand occupies some part of your home in the form of an appliance. When you hear the term two things come to your mind - a pleasant smile of the owner Mr. Vasanta Kumar and his loyalism to Congress party by having a towel symbolizing Congress party on his shoulders. Interesting thing is firm is a trader and still they were able to build a brand which breaks the conventional formula that you have to be a Manufacturer to build your brand. Vasanth & co generates over 500 crores and has close to 3000 employees spread across the country in as many as one hundred stores (approximately). Beyond numbers they have touched lives of many especially the economically backward through their business model. They are pioneers in coming up with EMI model for Home appliances and what was a dream for many turned into reality through Vasanth & Co; One can easily say to control one's desires especially materialistic fantasies but some things such as Television, Fridge, Grinder and mixie has fallen into ordinary category from luxury category; What is wrong in owning a television and wanting to see your favorite programme after a hard day's work for a Carpenter/Mason ..What is wrong for a Bank clerk who gets pay of 10 K/month in owning a fridge to safeguard her food ? This is where Vasanth & Co stepped in and revolutionized the entire Home appliances industry. They buy in huge volumes from Manufacturer (multiple brands) and translate the same to the end user on top of offering payments in installments. For example they allowed people to pay 50% upfront and setup monthly payments for the rest of the amount and take the goods with them. "After sales service" is one phenomenon which is given great importance nowadays but then in the past it was one area which was overlooked and Vasanth & co established centralized after sales support through their network thereby being a liaison between the manufacturer and the end customer. They won not just the customer but also the market. 

Apart from the points mentioned above there are few other reasons that I love about the man Mr.Vasantha kumar and want to list them below (personal point of view)

1) Loyalty to your affiliation: As an Entrepreneur he always has a suit and as a politician he wears white and white with a towel representing congress party; He has never been shy portraying him as a member of Congress party and he is rightly called as Mr.clean for his ethics in political journey. Now let us assume we have an interview and it is natural for us to have a vibudhi in our forehead but our mind tends to think like 'what if the interviewer is a christian/Muslim so better go with plain forehead' ...This is all very natural since we just don't want to take any chances. Just look at Mr.Vasanthakumar sir ....running a Business there is every reason for him to believe business may be affected if he leans towards one major political party rather be neutral in your appearance. Just imagine do you think hard core BJP folks would patronize his business especially in a country like India where politics is interlinked with anything and everything ? This is where his loyalty comes into picture and he endorsed congress party no matter what consequences he had to face. He was MLA from Nanguneri constituency and then later went on to become MP of Kanyakumarai lok sabha constituency. 

2)  Relation with his Staff: His staff calls him 'Annachi' and he has a wonderful relationship with his employees. Firing employees is considered to be a shortcut to bring back the company's financial fortunes but many do not realize that practice kills the goodwill that is built between employer and employee thereby causing a dent in their relationship. Mr.Vasantha kumar never fires his employees and always made sure he protects their livelihood. He mingles with them so freely that at times you can even see his hand over a shoulder of an autorickshaw driver. His employees wept for his demise and 

3)Competitors paying their condolences: One thing which tempted me to come up with this blog is a Newspaper ad from all of his competitors informing about his death and paying their condolences ..wow ....when your competitors mourn for your death and speak high regards about you after you left this world that talks about your character. I was moved and recently happened to have a chat with an Entrepreneur who is doing big time business in Home appliances in Trichy area and the moment I said Mr.Vasantha kumar, he started pouring accolades and said he is a legend and helped the entire industry scale great heights. Right from PM Modi ji, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, CM of TN, opposition leader of TN, political bigwigs in both Congress and BJP conveyed their condolence to the bereaved family. I would rate myself as a good reader than a listener but few days back happened to listen to a gentleman's wonderful speech about Death. He said birth certificate and death certificate are pretty much the same with the death certificate holding an extra green signature (from an government official) and no matter how many titles you hold in your personal/professional/social life nothing is going to appear on your death certificate. Good deeds will be remembered by people and when you have touched many people's lives they are going to remember you. In that sense Mr.VasanthaKumar has lived a great life touching many lives thereby earning a rich legacy and reserving a place in Heaven. I have paid my tribute to this gentleman through my blog. 

Next Blog: KPP KKP TVM

Mistakes made in buying Medications !!

  Being part of the Health care sector, I am seeing the end to end cycle of a medical drug; I have learnt quite a bit of this supply chain from close quarters since we are one of the leading Distributor for many MNC based pharma companies primarily focusing in and around Trichy area. I see quite a lot of mishaps happening in the supply chain and would like to point out some major flaws that is happening and this can be useful information for kids who are away from their parents. 

   First and foremost let us know the common practice followed in India. "Health Checkup" is considered a bad omen and many skip this fearing that it will open can of worms. People normally has a family doctor and preference is always given to doctors who speak friendly. If a doctor whose qualification and education may be far superior compared to his counterparts still people has a soft corner for doctors with 'Friendly' nature. Once medications are prescribed patients take that medicine and have a practice of keeping one or two month stock in hand. Once they have consumed the medications they have a habit of giving the used strip to either their driver/maid or a care taker to buy medicines on their behalf in case they are not able to go themselves. Some people who are Tech savvy use apps to order online and in some cases kids do the purchase on behalf of their parents. These are some of the common practices followed in India. 

   Let us try to understand how Retail medical shops work. Normally a retail shop may have license to sell quite a large pool of medicines which includes but may not be limited to Oral drugs, syrups, capsules, sachets, Diapers, Consumables like paste, powder, creams, soaps etc., Based on the location they open from 9 am or 10 am in the morning and work as late as 9 or 10 pm in the night. They may have two shift of workers to cover their schedule and overlap of workers to cover up peak hours. Ideally hiring a Pharmacist would be the best and this is what followed in all western countries but this is where I see a major blunder happening in India where most of the workforce have very little knowledge on pharma industry. Obviously you may see experienced folks but that is merely to inject some knowledge to new folks but guys are hired and fired as and when needed. The problem is these guys wear Doctor's hat and disrupt the whole efficacy in the process. Companies promote their brands in popular retail outlets and representatives take a commission based on sales and these representatives canvass retail stores to sell their product and meet the target. 

  High Blood pressure in India is as common as a stunt sequence in a mass masala movie; Diabetes is even more common and can be compared to number of people visiting Renganathan street on a particular day. When people start taking medications they just have to continue for a long time. When doctor prescribes a medicine they usually buy it from the same store. Problem happens when they switch medicines which can happen either due to miscommunication or carelessness from people who buy the medicines. Let us assume you take Aspirin regularly which lowers chance of heart attacks as it works by preventing platelets from sticking together which decreases formation of harmful blood clots. Acetaminophen is a medical composition which is used relieve pain from headache, muscle ache, tooth ache etc., Normally people who take Aspirin should not take drugs containing Acetaminophen since combination of both can sometimes lead to fatal events. But unless you have an educated Pharmacist how do you expect an employee to know information regarding medications. Some medications are restricted to take aftyer intake of Alcohol, pregnancy women should avoid certain medication, lactating mothers should avoid some, if people take steriods then some medications are restricted. There are several Ifs and But's and only a Doctor (who has a reason why he/she got a degree) should be consulted before you take medications. 

   Now coming to the second mistake people make while taking medications - Wrong strength of the dose. People forget to miss dose for one day or one course (AM/PM) and then decide to take double dose which may not go well with the body. Let us see an example ...Alprazolam is a common medical composition which many people take to treat anxiety which relaxes nerves, calms brain activity giving way to good night's sleep. But excessive dose of alprazolam can cause coma, respiratory depression and death. Similarly people take over dose of medications for Chronic diseases like Diabetes, Blood Pressure etc., without realizing consequences of their actions. Once again it is always advisable to consult a physician before making any small decision regarding your medications. 

  Now coming to the next mistake people make in taking medications - Take medicines which are contradictory to each other thereby making the overall process ineffective. For example if a young lady takes contraceptives to prevent unplanned pregnancy but at the same time takes anti-seizure drug phenytoin which stimulates excessive production of  an enzyme that metabolizes estradiol which is nothing but a component of low dose contraceptives. Contraceptives are cleared more rapidly in women taking phenytoin thereby increasing risk of unplanned pregnancy. 

Let me conclude some key takeaways:

1) Change of a brand and change of a composition are two different things 

2) Be cautious when you have someone procure medicines on your behalf

3) Never go by friend's advice on medications since every case is different - what works for ABC may not work for XYZ

4) Don't get carried away seeing the flash offers in retail outlets which may prompt you to change medications

5) Do not decide on the strength of the dose by yourself

6) Be informed on contradictory medications 

7) It is high time you start trusting your physician before making any small decision on medications. 

Next Blog: Vasanth & Co