Deep Impressions

In Search of Villain ( also published in movietalkies.com )  OTT  is seen as the key factor in the shift of audience away from cinema halls,  But the absence of 'villain' - who was so instrumental in driving audiences to cinemahalls - has escaped everyone's eye     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   “OTT may kill the business of cinemahalls” was cabinet minister Piyush Goyal’s observation during last fortnight's  FICCI Frame’s virtual event.   Experts would most likely have consensus on the above prognosis. But if the same question was reversed, “What can bring back audiences back to cinemahalls ( post the Covid crisis) ?”,  consensus would most likely remain elusive. However, in a country with limited options for Out-of-the-Home entertainment, a high youth population and  a growing economy, it would only raise one’s eyebrows when one learns that cinemahalls are expecting reduced ticket sales.   

Knowledge Era : Version 3.0 After challenging many of the long standing facts, beliefs and theories, will Covid be opening  the flood gates for the next knowledge era after Religion and Science ?  ========= ============ ============ =========== ========== ========== ===== A typical heated debate between my CA and MBA friends would end up with the CA side saying that CAs talk about facts and MBAs only about perceptions. The MBAs side would argue that CAs are inward looking whereas MBAs have a broader outlook.  Debates do not end. And it is good that they don’t. Unfinished debates remain the seed for continued growth of knowledge. However, a recent zoom call between me, Chintan, Chirag (both CAs) , and Manav & Mihir (both MBAs) had a different flavour. Excerpts from the call :                 -------   x   -------   x  -------   x  -------   x  -------   x  -------   x  -------   x   Manav  :  While “new normal” is the latest buzzword b

Life v/s Livelihood In the debate of Life of thousands v/s Livelihoods of millions, what if numbers are allowed to overrule emotions ? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the very interesting tweets that I have see on lockdown is : “If you feel useless right now, think of Google Maps” Indeed, who could have imagined that a day will come when roads and traffic jams will never be part of our daily discussion.  However, a low traffic on googlemaps would not mean a difficult ride of Google Inc even during these difficult times. However, others are not so fortunate. Take the case of a travel portal or a ticketing site for entertainment. The core proposition of the former was that everyone needs to travel and the latter's core belief was that boredom will generate a continuous demand for out-of-the-home entertainment. Till a few weeks back, both these were axio

Let the virus not 'SIP' through middle class savings Let the virus not SIP through middle class savings India, as of now, remains amongst the less affected nations by Covid 19.    However, the heart breaking fall in sensex has ensured that Corona jitters reach larger number of middle class savings – enabled mainly through the exposure to SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). In 90s, only a small percentage of household savings were invested into stock market. To achieve government’s agenda of shifting larger share of household savings into financial instruments from hard assets like gold and real estate, the Mutual Fund    (MF) Industry undertook a major PR exercise and advertising campaign focussing on benefits of long term disciplined investing in equity MFs. And since every mass revolution requires an icon, SIP became the icon for this revolutionary shift in investment habit. As a result, majority of Indian middle class (from a travel agent to techie

2019 : The End of Filmy Love Story The momentous journey of Romantic films in Hindi cinema that begun in 1960s after now losing its steam has had interesting social trends guiding the success and failures on the box-office ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Success stories are good to delineate emerging trends during the year. But there also failures that enunciate a big story. Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas hardly made any mark at the Box-office . However, for those searching for successful ideas at the Box-office, it did make a mark. PPDPK’s performance beguiled the end of an era in Hindi cinema that had gained momentum in 1960s. Romantic films have been charting success stories since 1960s. Their success ratio became so high that love story became the de facto launch theme for star kids (Rishi Kapoor, Kumar Gaurav, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Amir Khan). Even proven actors like Kamal Hassan