BSNL land line and broadband story

If I was found searching for antonym for the word "service" on my desktop wordweb , the credit goes to BSNL. First the broadband stops working for no reason and no one picks up at the customer "service" center. When contacted to one of the agents whom we knew, he gave all stories(not solutions) possible by him. Like reconfiguring the router and changing password etc etc. Finally when we were able to raise a complain we came to know that the problem was that the phone number was itself gonna change and without any prior notice and without any change to my physical address. The reason being that some exchange is being changed. So now here I stand with a new changed phone number and I have to inform all my relatives and friends of the change. Whats more taxing is that this is the phone number which is updated in all my previous employers,passport and all other important documents. As of now when called to the older number they redirect to the newer number by a message, but I am not sure how many months that message will be played.

And by the way the antonym for service happens to be a simple "disservice".

Sporting extravaganza on the weekend

This sunday I witnessed two big sporting extravaganzas. One being the cricket final for Asia cup played between India and Sri Lanka and the other being the Wimbeldon finals and I was found switching my channels at every chance I get. Though cricket failed to garner my interest for long (as has beent he case of late with 50 over matches) , some moments truly stood out in cricket as well.

• India's decision to field 8 specialist batsman and only 3 genuine bowlers came as a surprise move to me but nevertheless, Dhoni should be appreciated for thinking out of the box.
• Though the match was a lackluster fair especially if you were supporting India, the presentation had its own drama. Rameez Raza in his typical anti-India comment quoted the statistics of India losing out 18 finals out of 22 played from 2002. Dhoni was quick to bounce back with " At least we came to finals, some teams(Pakistan) even failed to make to finals." Bravo Dhoni once again.
  

And what a tennis match it was. Inspite of rain interruptions now and then we were in for a treat. The match initially in Nada's favour found the champion in Federer when he bounced back like never before with 2 set wins. It was a contest of Champion vs The Aggressor. It was the match between two men who showed true character. How else do you explain the amount of focus and determination shown by both during this 4 hour 48 minute battle of nerves. Hats off to both of you! I could only wish for some more of the match.

Some random thoughts

The issue which is taking the whole country by storm these days is sky rocketing inflation. Now added to that are sever shortage of fuel and a indefinite truck strike which is set to create a sever shortage of essential commodities which in turn will raise the inflation again. And as has been the trend in recent times in movies and various talk shows , people are blaming IT companies and the economic imbalance it is creating in the society for all these. Is the blame game right? I feel no.

The Govt. has failed to capitalize on major opportunities of growth and employment generation and this is the major cause of the economic imbalance existing in the country today. Which sector of Govt. in the past 61 odd years of Indian independence has created as many job opportunities as the IT sector. And why is Govt. not coming ahead in implementing some of the key development projects in India for instance the interlinking of rivers which is all set to generate more than 2 lakh jobs and eradicate the problem of floods and drought. It is because of the petty politics of the parties where they pull each other's legs which is the main hindrance in the successful completion of such projects and not the economic imbalance created by the IT sector. IT sector pays more. Agreed. But the reason for the same is that an IT company initial investment is very minimal and the profits it earns are huge. No IT company pays employees as a charity. Hence, Govt. must concentrate on uplifting of other sectors for equal growth rather than trying to pull down IT's growth.

However, I feel that the IT cos and employees on their part have to be more socially responsible. Especially in the aspect of saving fuel. The entire world will face a very severe fuel shortage in near future with the current growth rate in all the sectors. IT cos should invest some amount of their research in fields to develop energy efficient computers which will cut down fuel usage. Also the employees should shed off their ego and refrain from using unnecassary ACs. I mean, you don't need AC at night 9 pm even in the sultring heat of Chennai in the bus or cab. And the lightning used in the IT cos is also a major concern for me. The lights are shielded with glass walls. All this is done just for a decoration purpose. But makes lights useless in terms of their primary role.
Also, the buildings should be constructed in a way to promote natural light to peep into. Many a times sitting in the office we do not realize what time of the day it is. And lastly, we employees can resort to some basic energy saving tips like shutting off the computer at EOD and switching off the monitor whenever away from seat. I know some companies have already started to work on these but majority still have not.

Lets save power and lets save the world.

Dasavatharam: Leaves us gasping for better

Kamal Haasan is one of the rarest gems in the world who I think lives,eats and sleeps cinema. And when you have him saying Dasavatharam is the biggest film in his career you are bound to go to the theater with huge expectations. That was exactly the feeling I had when I went into the theater. Was I let down by the genius this time around? The answer is yes and a No.


Dasavatharam is a multi layered film for me. It is a very very ambitious attempt to make in Indian cinema. There are three main elements in the film according to me. One is the concept or the basic story line of the movie, which is usual in Kamal's movies of late like Anbe Sivam,Hey Ram etc. Second being the fact that Kamal has dared to do what no one else has ever attempted, playing 10 different characters with different makes ups, mannerisms and voice modulation. The third aspect for me is the special effects involved in the film. Majority of the film has scenes involving special effects. Kamal as a script writer had a difficult task to manage a script which accomodates all three of them in a logical sequence with a smooth flow. And as is typical to Kamal he adds his own doses of humour and atheism here and there.

Now to my interpretation of the movie and what I liked and disliked about the movie. To me the movie has two faces one atheism and other theism. It is the way you look at it that it will reflect upon you. The fact that the idol caused the tsunami due to chaos effect which killed thousands of people makes one feel "enna maari kadavul idu" but when we think of the fact that the tsunami saved tamil nadu from total extinction due to the bilogical weapon makes a statement in support of theism. This is evident in the film as there are characters who represent atheism and theism alternately. Also, the film stresses upon the fact that good and evil co-exist in the society. The synthetic bio-weapon is inside the statue of God for majority of the movie. Also, one of the avtar(role) of Kamal is the villain of the movie. To me the concept of the movie is an Indianised version of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.




The movie has lot of interlinked scenes and characters and Kamal has left it to the viewer to interpret them in his/her own way.

To get to the point of what I liked about the movie.

• The movie opens really well. The opening sequence and the mere screen presence of Rangarajan Nambi is awesome. Kamal throws a stellar of a performance as Rangarajan Nambi.
• Rangarana Nambi's acting is superb even though he lasts for hardly 15 minutes. It is truly of Kamal standard.
  
• The basic premise of the story and the concept involved is very good and the effort taken in showcasing these on the big canvas needs to be applauded.
  
• Make up for some of the roles like Christian Fletcher,George Bush and Naidu are really good.
• It is indeed an edge of the seat thriller.
• The humour quotient provided by Naidu is really good.

Now to what I disliked about it:

• The special effects in the movie is rather poor in some sequences. For example, the scene during the first scene when Rangaraj is taken in a boat to the sea. I feel these animations could be avoided in the first place instead of doing such a shoddy job at it.
• Make up for some roles are really shabby like Avtar Singh,the patti, the Dalit leader(his full body is not black). How can a genius like Kamal miss something so obvious.
• Avtar Singh doing typical Kamal steps was something which can only be laughed at.
• And what was Kamal thinking when he thought of the first/last scene of the movie where Kamal is delivering a speech. I mean, what was the felicitation for. The dupes for Kalaignar and Manmohan were poor. George Bush dancing before going to the mike, well.................. The movie should have ended with Kamal explaining the chaos effect to Asin , both of them leaning on the statue of Vishnu.
  
• Too much make up on faces of the majority of characters prevents us from seeing the usually brilliant facial expressions on Kamal's face.
• And the biggest sore point of the movie for me was the music. How can Kamal do such a gruesome mistake of chosing Himesh for music for such a film. A film which he is terming to be his biggest in his career.
  

So, can we say that it is a bad movie. Definitely not. Just that Kamal fails to live upto the expectations we have from him. Just for the sake of playing 10 characters he has created certain characters/sequences which has played its part in hampering the script and narration. I feel Kamal had too many things in his hands to deliver and hence these small goof ups. First, the concept of Chaos effect and Butterfly effect in itself is enough to be written into a full length script with inter-related characters and sequences. On the top of it Kamal in his typical self praising arrogance chose to play 10 characters. To add to all these he had sequences which needed international quality special effects. Special effects are definitely very good when thinking of standards of Tamil films. But when viewers these days have so easy access to movies made in Hollywood and when we are trying to catch up with the movies being made there, the special effects in Dasa leave a lot to be desired. So in an effort to make an all please movie Kamal has failed slightly to impress and deliver what he is known to deliver always, THE BEST.

Note: Had this been a movie by any other star than Kamal then all these shortcomings could be neglected but not with Kamal.

Chose this Happiness :In the pursuit of Happiness

Sometimes simple things impresses you the best. Amidst the hype surrounding Dasavatharam, I watched a simple and moving movie. "In the Pursuit of Happiness" starring Will Smith and many others. Though it is quite an old movie but I got the chance to watch it this weekend only. And indeed it was worth all its praises I have heard from friends. For me the highlight of the movie was the narration and the dialoghes. It goes on to prove that you do not need path breaking graphics and animation to make a wonderful movie or you don't need a very complex narrative beating user's intelligence every now and then to make a brilliant movie. It's simple but poignant tale makes an excellent watch. It is the story of triumph of human aspirations and hope.
There are no unexpected twists and turns in the movie, 15 minutes within the movie you know what you are gonna see in the movie but it is the way it has been portrayed on the screen wins your heart. Each scene in the movie is a beautiful piece of art but the one that scores for me is the one where Will Smith baffles his son to seek solace for a night inside a public toilet.
The movie watching experience is summed up nicely by Will Smith himself in the climax where he says " This .. this very little part of my life is called Happiness".