Children Drama

After a hectic October with Dusseraha and Deepavali celeberations i'm very relaxed now. Stage drama's are losing their charm, especially children skits are hardly seen. Whem I was a child Balananda Sangham set up by Sri Nyapathi Raghava Raogaru and his wife Smt. Kameshwarigaru regularly involved children in stage dramas. Thier dramas are basically for the chidren, by the children and to the children. There were even competitions among children skits, monoactions etc. But today there are no such events. If the children are brought up in the foriegn land expecting any such effort from them is a miracle, that too a Puranika Natakam! But children are like water in whichever object you store them they take that shape. Following is a dram performed by Telugu children staying in Perth, who don't even know how to speak Telugu properly, leave apart reading and writing. This is their effort....

Boring September!

Continuous rains letdown the spirit. Its really boring in September. Footy season over and its time for cricket season in australia. My son is looking forward to the new season. so i Just tried to write a parady for old poem written by Rayaprolu Subbarao. Sorry folks! Its in Telugu. If can read enjoy reading...

Judge by yourself

Recently you must have come arcoss on the TV about racist attacks on Indians, especially students. After what happend in Sydney test every one at first opportunity pointing fingers at Australia. I'm staying in this country for last 2 years. I don't say there is no racism. Traces of it are visible if you see closely. But the problem with the students is not racism but attitude. And how media reported back in India. One fine morning I recieved a phonce call from home enquiring about our safety then i came to know about the incident.

I zapped through some of the Indian television channels and really felt sick of what is shown and how the whole issue is portrayed. One should understand when you go to some others house you should respect their way of living but not ridicule them. Saying that without we Indian students Australian universities cannot exit is not just childish but foolish. Most of the students come here on student visas to join in cookery classes! Beacuse that is the easy way of getting into the country and later to get the permanent residency (PR) status. You may wonder what is a big deal. It is a big deal. The PR status gives them monetary benfits in many ways. Starting with colleges they need not to pay huge amount of fees as international students. If they are unemployed they will get allowances, full medical care, etc, etc. These monetary benefits lure many students to this country.

I'm not supporting what happend in Melbourne or Sydney. But how it is misinterpreted in media. What is its responsibility?

I'm giving below a link to TV program aired on Tuesday in one of the Australian channels. This will show you how media in two different countries reacted to the same issue. Then judge by yourself.

http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/87#watchonline

Margazchi Raagam, a digital concert

When my friend invited me to watch a musical movie in theatre, I walked in not knowing what is stored for me ahead! Within few minutes I realized I’m not watching any so called parallel or art movie based on music. It took only few moments to grasp the whole concept of the movie. It is a musical concert on big screen.

Digital, Dolby six track sound of carnatic music on digital cinema, Wow! Not exactly! Experiencing the carnatic music on 70mm screen is not my taste. Many might say this is a new beginning in the world of music. I don’t think so. I would always prefer a live concert than a screen concert. By saying this I’m not denying the brave and ambitious efforts of the makers. A joint venture of Aghal Films and Real Image conceived and directed by Jayendra, “Margazhi Raagam”, presented Bombay Jayashri and T M Krishna in this musical feature. Each performed three solos each and two Jugalbandhis.

This digital concert has swara, raga, laya, shrtui and every element of music except the connection with the audience. Involvement of audience and eye-contact between the singer and audience is totally lacking. “Sisurvethi, pasurvethi, vethi gana rasam phanihi”, well known Sanskrit axiom says music has the power of impressing the child, animal and the universe alike. But does Margazhi Raagam impresses everyone? One may say this feature is for the music lovers. At the same time this concert is for the one who know about carnatic music. The one who know about Kamas or Javalli, raga Mayamalavagowlai or Ritigowlai may able to relate to this type of concerts. If you are a music novice then this movie is not for you. If the director says this type of experiment will draw people towards carnatic music, I really doubt it!

A cinematic concert is not and cannot be a substitute for live concert. If you really like music why go to a movie hall instead enjoy it live. Releasing music DVDs is another thing and making it to big screen is altogether a different ball game. Especially artists need to be articulate. In this case audience don’t feel that. Initially I am more involved into the sets and cinematography, backdrops etc, etc. To get focus back to the music is an effort. Moreover I expected a dialogue from the artists. I was waiting till the end for someone to explain me about those raaga’s, but no such effort was made. Even when Krishna and Jayashri performed Jughalbandhi, it failed to create those magic moments, usually you find in Jughalbandhi. Both the artists were absorbed among themselves. It’s like nothing can move us! Many times when Jayashri performed it looked as if she is doing riaaz at her home. She failed to connect to her own orchestra. These are certain rudiments may go unnoticed in live concerts but cannot be ignored on big screen.

In short, Music is divine, let leave it that way!

Weirdest airport names

Batman, Moron, Brest, Old Crow, Mafia, Tsili Tsili and Asbestos Hill, you may think what are they? What I am talking about. In wildest of your thoughts you can never think they could be the names of the airports!

Yes, these are world's funniest, rudest and weirdest airport names! Some more names figured in the list been compiled by flight search database Skyscanner are:

Batman Airport, Turkey
Useless Loop Airport, Australia
Mafia Airport, Tanzania
Moron Airport, Mongolia
Ogle Airport, Guyana
Brest Airport, France
Eek Airport, US
Black Tickle Airport, Canada
Pickle Lake Airport, Canada
Raspberry Strait Airport, US

Airports that may rub you on the worng side are:

Old Crow Airport, Canada
Fukui Airport, Japan
Gaylord Airport, US
Pratt Airport, US
Shafter Airport, US
Dang Airport, Nepal
Ponce Airport, Puerto Rico
Fort Dix Airport, US
Tsili Tsili Airport, Papua New Guinea
Fak Fak Airport, US

Some other names which keep you away from those ariport include:

Red Devil Airport, US
Asbestos Hill Airport, Canada
Deception Airport, Canada
Bloodvein Airport, Canada
Slave Lake Airport, Canada
Broken Hill Airport, Australia
Rifle Airport, US
Deadhorse Airport, US
Danger Bay Airport, US
Colon Airport, Panama
Strange sounding airports
Woodie Woodie Airport, Australia
Wee Waa Airport, Australia
Wagga Wagga Airport, Australia
Wuhu Airport, China
Gorom-Gorom Airport, Burkina Faso
Xingning Airport, China
Puka Puka Airport
Kar Kar Airport, Papua New Guinea
Muko-Muko Airport, Indonesia
Flin Flon Airport, Canada

Rewind memories

I last saw her 10years back playing wonderful tennis. The queen of grass court, Steffi Graf, amazingly she retains the same magic after 10 years. Her forehand is as lethal as it was a decade ago. As her opponent Kim Clijsters rightly pointed out her legs moves so fast and she still has the same. Many new faces might have come and gone but one face that is always in tennis fans minds is Steffi Graf.

The charm she carried throughout her carrier is once more in front of our eyes, when she played the exhibition match at Wimbledon Center Court to test the new roof. First time everyone get to see the lighter side of Steffi. Very different to her character she was smiling, joking and relaxing. You never get to see herlike that. She was always serious in her business. Come smash really hard forehand strokes at her opponent, finish the game 6-0, 6-1 and move on to next game still she ends up as Champion.

Graf retired in 1999 with 22 major titles, including seven Wimbledon crowns out of nine finals, said: "I've been so nervous. It was special. A real treat to be on court." There is no tennis venue more special to me than Centre Court at Wimbledon. It just doesn't get any better. I couldn't be more honoured to play there again with my husband Andre, and tennis greats Kim and Tim. It will mean so much to return to Wimbledon and see so many familiar places, relive so many wonderful memories."

End of Elections

Wrong foot

“Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America”, an election promise Barack Obama fulfilled. The same Obama at one point agreed that outsourcing to India and China cannot be reversed.

America's challenges on economic front cannot be overcome by building "protectionist walls" Obama said. The country needs to focus on improving plight of the middle-class and investing in education opined Obama few months back, but what decision he took now is totally opposite of that. Obama said the US "can also create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our schools, roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure that needs repair. Instead of focusing on those things the President of US came heavily on outsourcing.

Throughout his election campaign Obama outpoured his anger on outsourcing and assured people of US, he will stop outsourcing and in turn job losses in the country. However, we have to now wait and see how many jobs will be created in US with his latest decision? How far US firms agree with Obama and stop outsourcing?

To reduce tax breaks for US firms that ship jobs overseas, a decision is more towards collecting more revenues rather than stopping outsourcing. Obama move was to ensure that the large profits kept outside are also brought into the tax net. However, National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), an industry body maintains that the move is going to affect US firms more than Indian Cos as many US companies had subsidiaries across the world and that more than 50 percent of their revenues were coming from outside the US.

According to a McKinsey-Nasscom study, the Indian software and outsourcing industry employs some two million people, earning total revenues worth $52 billion, of which nearly $48 billion comes from exports. No need to say 60% of our revenues come from US. Naturally, Indian IT firms are worried and cautious in their approach. “The decision may actually end up reducing competitiveness of US companies with global operations when compared to their European and Japanese counterparts,” Nasscom said.

Obama’s Monday Tax reforms will have least impact on Outsourcing, especially US subsidiaries of Indian companies like Infosys or TCS. Lion’s share of earnings of these companies is generated in India not in US. So the so called tax reforms have no impact on them. As far as US companies are concerned, they huge amount of dollars by running a subsidiary in India simply due to wage differences. US firms may be forced to pay corporate tax on income earned overseas, but that could be peanuts compared to what they save outsourcing the work.

In the whole fiasco, Obama may fail to generate jobs by imposing restrictions this way on outsourcing as he promised!

Young India

It is always felt that Young blood is crucial in making any change or taking any decision. In India one Mandal agitation has changed the government. There are many young politicians between 30-40 are participating in the elections this year. The power of young in India in numbers:

• Of India's 1 billion citizens, 40% are under 18; 70% are under 35
• 521 million of the population is between 12 and 35, with 268 million men and 253women
• 31.1% live in urban India 12.5%live in big towns and 18.6% in small towns while 68.9% live in villages
• 53.4% of those between 12 and 35 are married. 63% of young women are married compared to 45% of men
• 67.9% are unaware of the Internet
• 86.9% don't go to movie theatres, 76.8%never listen to the radio, 4.1% read English newspapers while 17.9% read Hindi dailies
• 40.9% never watch TV while 44.2% watch it once in seven days
• 25% of those between 12 and 35 are studying, while 7.8% work as agricultural labourers and 7.4% work in jobs other than farming

Race to Racecourse road

It is too early to predict what will be the outcome of the General Elections! If the trends has anything to indicate, then clearly we many assume the country is going towards Hung Parliament one more time. From mid 90’s the nature of Indian polity has shifted from two party system to coalition formations. Especially regional parties started playing significant role in forming governments at the centre. Either National Front supported by BJP, United Front with the help of Congress, NDA led by BJP or UPA led by Congress from 1989 till 2004 coalition governments ruled the country.

Theoretically two key parties BJP and Congress are holding the power but with the vital support by many regional parties. Even 2009 General Elections will see 3 key pre-poll alliances one each led by BJP (NDA), Congress (UPA) and Communist parties (Third Front). In politics no one is a friend or an enemy. Alliances and groups blossom and perish with time. After elections the numbers game will change the loyalties and alliances. Many regional parties which are not part of any pre-poll alliances such as Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Praja Rajyam could play the role of king makers.

Key numbers: As of today no single party is confidence enough to gain majority and form government. Neither the Congress nor BJP are sure of their position. If look into the previous two election stats, six recognized national parties put together won 364 and 369 seats in 2004 and 1999 respectively. Out of which congress won 145 and 114 and BJP 138 and 182 in 2004 and 1999. In both the elections regional parties won 150 plus seats. At the end these numbers that decided the rulers of the nation. Communists who never crossed 50 seats in general elections will wait till the elections are over to open their cards. Meanwhile parties like RJD, SP, BSP, DMK, AIDMK, TDP, NCP and TRS will split the vote bank in the name of region, religion, communities and castes paving red carpet for the hung parliament.

BJP Vs Congress: Both the leading parties are lack of strategy to outsmart other. BJP shed the word ‘Indian’ and replaced it with ‘Bharat’, perhaps more Indianized word? Congress countered with ‘Jai ho’ song from Slumdog millionaire and once again is singing the ‘Am Admi’ Mantra. BJP promises a ‘Stable and decisive’ government, however, only final scoresheet will tell which party is close to give a government. Leadership is another issue that may change the face of these elections. Congress solely depends upon the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and BJP on Hindusim. BJP finally placed the reins in L K Advani’s hands and declared him as its Prime ministerial candidate. Congress has no option but to announce Manmohan Singh is their candidate, however in case Congress gets the full majority the candidate may change. If anyone observes the congress campaign closely will be clear about it.

The main contrast between 2004 and 2009 elections are lack of issues in 2004 and issues like terrorism, social conflicts, political arrangements used to remain in power and economy in 2009. Though political pundits look at these broader issues, voters may debate only local and regional issues. Congress is following the footsteps of BJP blowing the trumpet of its achievement. With the current recession, loss of jobs, dipping economy congress publicity may kill their chances in the elections just as the ‘India Shining’ campaign did for BJP.

Young India: After the crazy win of T20 Cricket World Cup, suddenly in every field Young India is given prominence. 2004 elections have seen many young faces in the parliament. How they fared in and out of parliament will be known in coming elections. These elections are definitely a litmus test for all those young politicians and for the young India as well. With 65 percent of India’s voters are under the age of 35, making up the sizeable chunk of the electorate. Youth is looking at these elections in different way. For them unemployment, terrorism and relations with US are more prominent than any other issue according to studies. Among the prominent Young politicians who are going to shape up the future of the country are: Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), Milind Deora (South Mumbai), Jayant Chaudhary (Mathura), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj) Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jiten Prasad, Sandeep Dikshit, Dayanidhi Maran, Uddhav Thackeray and Varun Gandhi (Pilibhit). Advani opened a facebook group to attract young India. But the question is in what way they will respond?

Vote bank: Religion, caste remarks and Secularism, populism are dominating factors of Indian politics. “Vote on issues, not on caste”, NGOs may publicise but outcome of the results by far proved that caste loyalties are very strong in this country. Election Commission took BJP candidate Varun Gandhi’s anti-Muslim remarks very serious and criminal charges filed against him. BJP is confident that its vote bank will not effect by Varun’s comment. In previous elections 55 per cent of upper caste Hindus voted BJP led NDA. OBCs also voted in the range of 40-50 percent to BJP. While Congress secured 35 per cent of Dalit vote and 47 per cent Muslim vote. However, over the six elections from 1989 to 2004 the Congress's vote share fell steadily from just under 40 percent to 26 percent. Congress’s loss is BJP’s gain. BJP vote share rise from 11per cent in 1989 to 25 per cent in 1998, sliding to 22 per cent in 2004.

Key States: UP (80 seats), AP (42 seats), Tamil Nadu (39 seats) and Bihar (40 seats). For both Congress and BJP, Uttar Pradesh results will be very crucial. Main regional parties BSP and SP’s performance in the state will decide the fate of the leading national parties. As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned ruling Congress may face set back in the State! Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam may split the vote bank. Who will benefit, TDP or Congress or Praja Rajyam itself is hard to tell. TRS that was more than help to Congress in 2004 elections this time joined hands with TDP may tilt the outcome. In Bihar, BJP as of now going strong as far as alliance is concerned. Losing Lalu’s RJD support is a setback to Congress. In Tamil Nadu, wind is towards AIDMK. DMK, MDMK, PMK may lose heavily.

Countdown: Thanks to Election commission and Supreme Court media hands are tied and they will not be in a position to give exit or opinion polls 48 hours before the elections. So no more controversies as far as poll outcome and debate are concerned. Not exactly! Pre-poll surveys are already rolling. According to India TV survey BJP led NDA is predicted to get 187 seats and Congress led UPA to bag 178 seats. The month long general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha will be held in five phases on April 16, April 22, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13, and the results will be announced on May 16.

General Elections 2009 -Facts

India's general election is the world's largest democratic exercise.

Here are some facts and figures on the five-phase ballot that begins April 16.

• 71,40,00,000 registered voters
• 61,00,000 security and civil personnel on election duty
• 8,28,804 polling booths nationwide
• 1 -- Number of voters required for a 100 percent turnout at Junagadh polling station in Gujarat, which caters to a lone constituent.
• 543 elected seats in lower house of parliament 131 seats reserved for tribals or lower-caste candidates
• 5,180 metres -- Elevation above sea level of India's highest polling booth in Fastan village in Kashmir's Ladakh region.
• 26 kilometres -- Distance from the Fastan polling booth to the nearest road.
• 1,368,430 electronic voting machines
• 10,000 tonnes -- Estimated amount of paper that will be saved by the use of electronic voting machines.
• 157 years -- Combined age of two main candidates for prime minister, Manmohan Singh and L K Advani
• 100,000,000,000 rupees (two billion dollars) -- Total estimated cost of 2009 election, according to a survey by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS)
• 2,500,000 rupees -- Legal limit of campaign spending by individual candidates.
• 25,000,000,000 rupees -- Combined amount candidates will spend on illegal vote buying, according to CMS estimate.
• 200,000 dollars reportedly paid by ruling Congress party to secure campaign rights to the Oscar-winning song from "Slumdog Millionaire", "Jai Ho" ("Victory").
• 2,000,000 bottles of indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers to prevent double voting

Net Power

Scope for regional languages on the net in India is increasing. Only 28% of the net users are preferring English sites according to JuxtConsult. Some of the key findings of the research firm's latest report titled, 'India Online 2008'are:

• There are 49 million Internet users in India, of which 40 million are in urban cities. Of these, 35 million are regular Internet users who log on at least once a month. Around 25 million Internet users are online daily.
• 77 per cent of the Internet users are in the age group of 19-35 years, 51 per cent are salaried employees in corporate houses and 30 per cent live in metros.
• most popular activities online are emailing (91 per cent), job search (72 per cent) and instant messaging (70 per cent). Other popular activities are checking news and sports, downloading music and movies, and checking cricket scores.
• Yahoo! is most used for email (51 per cent users), instant messaging (53 per cent), online news (16 per cent), net telephony (25 per cent), astrology (25 per cent), cinema (14 per cent) and mobile content (12 per cent).
• Google is the most used website for information search in English (81 per cent), search in local languages (65 per cent), real estate (23 per cent) and online learning or education (32 per cent).
• Naukri is used by 42 per cent of the respondents for job search. Yatra is most used for travel (18 per cent), Zapak is most used for games (32 per cent) and eBay is most used for online shopping (33 per cent).
• Bharatmatrimony is most used (36 per cent) in online matrimony, YouTube is most used for video sharing (43 per cent) and Cricinfo is used by 19 per cent of the users for sports. Raaga is the website most used for music (17 per cent), while Rediff is used by 19 per cent of the users for buying or renting a movie CD.

Oscars: Behind the Scenes

Both the winners and losers shed tears on Oscar’s night! Winner for getting fruits for the money he spent on the publicity and losers for losing everything, the money and the glory. It may look odd when we see the insight of the Oscars, how the process goes about. It is sorry to know that awards are not genuinely given for the artistic work but the publicity stunt every filmmaker does. So it need not be the case that every movie that won Oscar is good and appealing to the common public. Advertising and marketing gimmicks are awarded on the Oscars night not exactly the films.

Hollywood publicist Michael Levine says, "Advertising, interviews, and any kind of brand-building editorial is essential to reach the 40,000 to 50,000 people who drive the nomination process." He also suggests movie stars participate in charity events which lend themselves to publicity as another vehicle to build awareness for who they are and what they represent.

Major studios shell out $15-20 million on Oscar campaigns, according to the Ad Age. Publicity and marketing play huge role in who gets noticed and for that popular studios pour millions of dollars into Oscar’s campaign. Marketing firms and people who are behind some of the winning movies are: Tony Angellotti of The Angellotti Company was behind the Shakespeare in Love and Seabiscuit campaigns. Michele Robertson of MRC helped Hilary Swank to get her Oscar for Boys Don't Cry. Longtime publicist David Horowitz worked on In the Bedroom, Chocolat and The Hours.

A subdivision of Disney, Miramax ran ads on “Amelie” much before the nominations are announced. Twentieth Century Fox has been touting hard for “Moulin Rouge”. Need not to add both won accolades! The master of the Oscar marketing campaign is Miramax. Miramax always picks up small budget movies but ensures they get good reviews in the media. For instance, Life is Beautiful, Shakespeare in Love, Good Will Hunting and Pulp Fiction are few to name. It advertises about the quality of the movie and cashes at box office citing multiple Oscar nominations. The company is so obsessed with Oscars it sends copies of its movie to every single Academy member so that he can watch and film is noted in his mind. Between 1993 and 2004, Miramax amassed 220 Academy Award nominations, winning 3 Best Pictures and 53 total Oscars, and the company’s canny marketing efforts produced 11 films that grossed over $100 million domestically.

Shelling money on campaign is always a tradition at Oscars. Orion has spent $325,000 on campaigning “The Silence of the Lambs”. Disney nearly spent $1million, on Beauty and Beast and The Rocketeer, and Columbia about $900,000 for The Prince of Tides, City Slickers, Boyz N the Hood according to media reports. Columbia bought at least 24 pages of pre-nomination trade ads for Boyz N the Hood. According to trade magazine Variety, Oscars campaign for “No Country for Old Men” cost $15million. LA Times estimates say that “Million Dollar Baby”, “Saving Private Ryan”, and “Shakespeare in Love” probably spent $15millionn each on campaigning. The Most expensive Oscars campaign was for “Gladiator” about $20million as per the unofficial estimates. This year Paramount’s investments on Oscars campaign for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” exceed $10million reported LA Times.

Not many studios have that much of money so they try to appear more on talk shows and trade magazines. Oscar campaign contains big paid-media component advertising in film trade newspapers aimed at movie professionals. The early morning network magazine shows – ABC television’s Good Morning America, CBS Television’s The Early Show, NBC’s Today are prominent booking opportunities.

It is easy to make a movie but not that easy to get the Oscars, that too if you have to please at least 5800 voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), who live in Los Angeles and New York City. As a part of campaign the film maker has to organise a private screening for academy members, events such as cocktail parties with film makers and cast, direct mail and ad campaigns in newspapers. All these events cost around $200,000 to $3million according to trade pundits.

If the filmmaker could able to create right euphoria before the film hits the theatre it attracts both the public and critics alike. An outdoor billboard is not just for the general public but also targets the voter. Two important Newton’s Laws as far as Oscars are concerned, firstly, release the picture in later part of the year i.e., between September and November, so that it is fresh in the minds of the academy voters. Secondly, always send the movie to some other festival to get right mood and momentum for the Oscars. Getting LA’s film critic award, New York film critic award will pave the way to Oscars. Especially, the Golden Globe award that indicates which movie is going to be the best film at Oscars. Invariably all the movies that won Oscars have won the Golden Globe award baring one or two.

Internet site Awards Heaven usually runs an accurate list of who’s gotten what. Similarly The Hollywood Reporter and Variety and Entertainment Weekly predict almost correctly the winners. Because that’s where the studios spend their money! They spend up to $10 million for print, TV and radio awards campaigns, including full page ads in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, targeting the cities where most academy voters live. Studios dump the voters with lavish presents and DVD screeners.

Oscar awards are a combination of popularity, box office, artistic achievement, luck, sentimentality, bribes, and most importantly, marketing. Once the movie is nominated for the Oscars, there is no going back. Movies make quick bucks at box-office. After the Oscar nominations were announced this year, “Frost/Nixon” has grossed $5.3million; “The Reader”, $4.4million; and “Milk”$2.7million according to trade sources.

So next time when you watch Oscars on TV sitting in your living room, just remember how much publicity and marketing goes behind it!

IPL: Timing is wrong

Cricketers across the globe shocked to know that Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by a group of militants in Pakistan. Every cricket nation started saying this is the reason why we have not sent our teams to play in Pakistan and Sri Lanka is foolish to send its team. As many people as many views expressed on the issue. Net result; is Indian sub-continent secure enough to organised sports events? The immediate impact, negative, will be on India, which is going to host Commonwealth Games and IPL T20 tournament in near future.

Players from all cricketing nations are keen to be part of IPL due to lucrative money involved in the tournament. After Sri Lankan incident money may not lure them. Ponting and Clarke from Australia already withdrew from this year’s tournament scheduled in April. New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram said no amount of money would persuade him to put his life in danger. Immediately after the 26/11 many players expressed apprehensions about security. Attack on Sri Lankan team has doubled their fears. Even Indian government is not confident in providing proper security in the wake of General Elections. Home minister P Chidambaram already indicated his helplessness and requested BCCI to postpone the IPL tournament for later date.

But BCCI is not willing to change the dates, understandably, with big money involved. Just through broadcasting rights from various agencies BCCI will gather roughly $1.75billion. World Sports Group (WSG) that secured global media rights has promised IPL about $350 million for the first five years and a little over $550 million for the following five years for media rights. Ad revenue is distributed among IPL (40%), franchises (54%) and remaining 6% prize money. If the tournament does not kick off as planned it will be a huge loss for BCCI.

Moreover the franchise owners like Reliance Industries that invested $11million on Mumbai franchise and Sharukh Khan’s Red Chillies $7.5million on Kolkata in the first year and others have to face hefty losses, if the tournament fails to attract foreign players. Spectators come to T20 matches to watch players like Symonds, Gilchrist, Hussey, Muralitharan, Flintoff and others. It they are not seen playing, then the ticket sales which could be around $1.5 to $2million will suffer. It is already known fact that teams are expected to lose about $30 to $40million over the first five years before making breakeven. Any changes in the existing format will incur huge losses for the franchise owners.

Money that few franchise owners pouring in IPL teams is as follows:
Ø Vijay Mallya - US $111.6 million, for the Bangalore team.
Ø Shah Rukh Khan - US $75.09 million, for the Kolkata team.
Ø GMR Holdings - US $84 million, for the Delhi team.
Ø Mukesh Ambani - US $111.9 million, for the Mumbai team.
Ø India Cements - US $91 million, for the Chennai team.
Ø Deccan Chronicle - US $107.01 million, for the Hyderabad team.
Ø Emerging Media - US $67 million, for the Jaipur team.
Ø Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia - US $76, for the Mohali team.

In the first season except one or two every franchise made losses. Mumbai Indians incurred Rs 16crore loss; Bangalore Royal challengers –Rs 43crore, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers – Rs 18cr, Chennai Super Kings – Rs 0.2cr, Delhi Daredevils – Rs 6.6cr, Punjab Kings – Rs 2.4cr. At the profit side are only Kolkata Kinght Riders – Rs 13crore and Rajasthan Royals - Rs 6crore.

With its initial success BCCI is thinking big for the second season. But BCCI involved in controversies with every board has multiplied its problems. Every Cricket Board expressed anger over the lucrative money that is forcing players to prefer IPL than play in their national sides. Similarly its deadlock with ICL has already ruined some of the player’s career the classic example could be Shane Bond from New Zealand.

In the current situation if the matches get postponed to later date many international players miss IPL matches as they have to play for the national teams. April and May have traditionally been off-season in most countries except England and the Caribbean, that is the reason why BCCI has chosen that time. But with ongoing disturbances the timing has become wrong. Added to the woes are the terrorist attacks. While 88 percent of foreign IPL contracted players, reported they wanted better security and 83 per cent wished for assessments made by independent security experts, the IPL is yet to respond. Not to forget the December Mumbai attacks caused the abandonment of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

It’s a war between money and terrorism or should we simply say security concern. How many are willing to come is the million dollar question. Australia’s Shane Watson who plays for Rajasthan Royals don’t see any threat however he demands assurance from BCCI that everything will go well. If general elections are not around then the situation might have been slightly better. Under such a chaos let us wait and see does money rules all fears or not!

Radio: Changed, but not dead

Times change, so that the technology. It is not wise to say one technology is superior to another and it will trash the earlier one. Technologies complement each other, same the case with the media. When cable television came into the scene, people thought that will be the end of newspapers. But that never happened.

In the case of the radio also, it is still one of the unshakable media going strong. Even today the reach of radio is far more than any other media. No doubt traditional radio begins to compete with new era of audio technologies – internet and satellite radio, FM radio, iPods, digital HD radio and MP3 downloads etc. Similarly listener perceptions have changed. No more boring interviews or documentary styled programs! Of late radio listening is largely confined to the car. Still traditional radio has its loyal audience, though the time spent on listening to radio has reduced over the years.

However, the basic value or meaning of radio has not changed. Whether people likes to sit and listen to radio in their living rooms over a cup of coffee or listen to it while traveling in their cars or through net while browsing or chatting, they do spend considerable amount of time on radio. In India a person listen to radio on an average 70 minutes according to NRS 2006 report 10minutes lesser than 2003. Even today after having so many options Vividh Bharti is popular among the mass.

People may be going for Internet radio or FM radio most. While on net people can listen to programs and stations from other areas, at times that are more convenient to their schedules, and to content they might not be able to get anywhere else. In a survey by Arbitron/Edison Media Research, 17per cent of those who had reported listening to Internet radio said they did so to hear audio they couldn’t get other places; 13per cent said they wanted more music variety and 15per cent sought to control or choose the music played. In the modern era, people are looking for something more than what traditional radio offers and they have the choice.

Look at the way community radios operate. In America, they are non-profit and non-commercial services that caters to the needs of certain area, people and targeted audience. For UK it is an illegal pirate radio service. The ideology towards community radio may differ from place to place but its services more or less remain the same – providing entertainment to the people through music, local news and information. In India community radio is quite effectively used for education purposes. Universities and NGOs use it for social cause.

Similarly, internet radio or e-radio is a broadcasting service via internet is yet another form of traditional radio. Many Internet radio stations are associated with a corresponding traditional terrestrial radio station or radio network like BBC. Most of these Internet radio services offer news, sports, talkback, and various genres of music—everything that is on the radio station being simulcast over the internet with a netcast stream. Studies show roughly 1 in 5 Americans listen to internet radio regularly, BBC’s internet radio doubled its listenership in past one year.

The digital revolution has brought revolution in radio services. Once it is started there is no looking back. From web to satellite to mobile phones, listeners need not to worry how to reach radio in a particular time and there is variety of programs to chose. The traditional radio has not dead but taking new forms. Where traditional radio stations are struggling to cling on to the audience and get revenues, metamorphosed radio is opening new avenues.

Why West liked Slumdog...

Bravo! Congrats to all those who made into big at Oscars this year with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Its winning streak started at the BAFTA, journeyed through Golden Globes and ended at Oscars. Incredible! 10 nominations and 8 Oscars!

As an Indian it is a proud moment. Few years back every Indian prayed for ‘Lagaan’ that were nominated for best foreign language film. But Slumdog... is altogether a new experience. At Oscars function our own A R Rahman sang a song from Slumdog. Mumbai and India’s name was on everyone’s lips. India is really shining!

In India more than 1000 movies are made every year. But none could appeal west. Then what is great in Slumdog. Why West appreciated it so much and poured its love over it?

Very recently India won individual gold for the first time along with few bronzes at summer Olympics. It sent a spacecraft ‘Çhandrayaana 1’ on lunar mission, only the sixth country to do so in the world. Few months back Mumbai is on world map for horrified militant attacks. India is recognized all over the world for its software technology. During current global economic crisis, India is still posting a growth rate of 7%. Today’s India is different. The Young India has more to offer to the world. Is Slumdog falls into that category? Difficult to say.

Still the question remains why West liked Slumdog?

The first images of India in Western people is Taj Mahal, Sadhus and Saints, temples for their architectural value, snake charmers and elephants, rich culture and last but not least for Bollywood movies. The real spirit and success of India is lost among those mentioned images. When West thinks of India, they think of poverty, over population, its biggest slums and terrorism. Slumdog offered exactly what West wants and thinks and likes to see about India. Its progress and prosperity hurts West’s ego! Cruel if I state but true in reality.

Yesteryears angry young man Amitab Bachhan poured his anger in his blog. He said, “If slumdog projects India as Third World dirty under belly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky under belly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations.” His comments no doubt have invited controversy across blog world. However, the harsh truth remains.

If we look into the history of Oscars and Indian movies – every year we send a movie to foreign language category. Among all those movies that are sent, those who were nominated for Oscars are Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001). The core element of these movies is poverty and famine. Lagaan which has mixture of Indian culture and poverty that questioned British supremacy has not gone well with the West. British daily, The Telegraph, remarks on movie sums up the attitude of the West, “A Bollywood film that portrays the British in India as ruthless sadists and Mafia-style crooks has been chosen as Delhi's official entry to the Academy Awards in America.” The British press perhaps could not digest India winning over British even after 60years! Ironically, A R Rahman who won double Oscars for Slumdog was the music director for that movie. And if you ask any Indian they prefer Lagaan’s music over Slumdog for sure. In fact, Slumdog which won the best film is nowhere near Schindler’s List or Life is beautiful.

Some may argue that Slumdog depicts the dreams and aspirations of Young India. A common man in India does not any more cares what world calls him or says about him. This West’s so called Slumdog Cinderella fairy tale is certainly hurts many Indians pride at the international forum. Whoever saw the movie do not easily identify themselves with the protagonist of the movie ‘Jamal’, but surely questions about the slums of Mumbai.

What works for West may not necessarily work in India. Calling Slumdog an Indian movie is the biggest mistake. It is not that we have not shown slums and poverty in our own movies. Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ is a classic by its own on the said subject. Why West forgets that India with vast culture and resources was ruled by British nearly 100 years. The second most populous nation in the world is in the process of building itself, already made its presence known to the world. It is not easy for any Western society to feed 100crore people every day.

If anyone thinks Vikas Swarup’s Q&A, the novel the movie is based on is projecting the spirits of slum dwellers who are trying to make their life better, they have aspirations, dreams and desires, as he says. Then sorry the film failed to show any of these things. Slumdog Branded India as a poverty ridden country in a Bollywood way. Actually it failed even in bringing the soul of Bollywood into it. This is a BRITISH portrayal of India, everything starting from Taj Mahal, Call centers, slums and skyscrapers.

If West wants to make a movie on India, let them feel for the people in the country first. As Seoul Times in its review rightly said, “There is nothing Indian about this film.” Gandhi, which also received accolades at Oscars, is a movie if not Indian film is atleast about an Indian and India’s struggle for freedom is much closer to our hearts. Yet we feel proud for those who are moved by the Slumdogs in India.

Slumdog is truly for your (West) eyes only!

Sports: not for you, not for me

The saga of Indian sports from Milkha Singh to golden boy Abhinav Bindra is uninspiring. The first reaction of ecstasy has gone as quickly as it came. Then the final realization was it enough to fire up 100crore population? 50years ago Milkha Singh lost bronze medal in Rome Olympics from then on there are not many motivating stories but few shades of success in the form of PT Usha and Karanam Malleswari.

First time in the history of Olympics Indian hockey team failed to qualify for the games. Shame! First time history is created by winning 3 individual medals at the games. Incredible! Beijing Olympics has shown both sides of a coin to us. People may criticize our performance at the games is below excellence pointing at 100 and odd medals to China and US. Small countries like Jamaica and Ethiopia too got medals at the games. Yes. But does anyone look closely at the numbers – China entered with 736 athletes, US with around 500, Australia with 430. At the same time 56 athletes from India participated in the games. The medal tally reflects the performance evenly. China and US around 100 medals each, Australia got 45 medals and India 3, if we compare them at ratios all of them stand at the same pedestal.

That doesn’t mean India did great at the games. No doubt, many of our athletes not qualified to play the games. Whom to blame? The Government! It is easy to pass the buckle. But how many parents in India are ready to encourage their children to join sports at the expense of studies, other than cricket. How many companies are ready to endorse sports persons other than cricket? Unless, they achieve something on their own at the international arena! Many talented athletes in the country are looking in vain to get sponsorships, better coaches and improved infrastructure.

India is competitive in technology but fails to convert the same in sports. How many universities in the country provide sports related courses for instance? Sports science is a major in some of the Australian, US and European universities. Sport and Exercise science, Sports management, Sports marketing, sports psychology, sports therapy, sports tourism, strength and conditioning science are some of the courses to mention. Our education system has to go a long way before adopting some of these courses and motivate our youth to take up them and government to provide employment opportunities rather than reserving quota for sports.

Australia won most of its medals in water, because their children are trained in the schools from kindergarten age in swimming. Our primary schools hardly provide any sport equipment. In the Western world, sports are well blend with studies at the school level itself. If a boy or girl is good at some sport they are trained in that game along with the studies. But in India, you are on your own. By any chance the child has the talent, where to go, with whom to practice and how to expose to competition? Lots of sportspersons do not get a chance to travel to big sporting events held outside the country and the reason always is the lack of funds.

So when occasionally people like Bindra win any medal, we have to pinch ourselves so that the truth sinks. Yes really an Indian won a gold medal at Olympics level. It is not that India is a complete failure as far as sports is concerned.

Once Indian hockey team is at top with 11 Olympic gold medals, we produced world class Badminton players like Prakash Padukone, young talent like Saina Nehwal entered the quarters of the women's singles event at the recently concluded Olympics, Grand masters like Viswanath Anand in Chess, World champs like Geet Seth in Billiards and snooker, Indian men’s golf team won silver at the 2006 Asian Games, Equestrian team bronze, Indian Volleyball team ranked 5th in Asia and 27th in world rankings. India always did well at Asian Games and Commonwealth Games but failed to do so at Olympics. Lack of exposure at world level for our sportsmen and women and world class training reflected in their performance when they are asked to do.

In 2010, New Delhi will host the first ever Indian Grand Prix. Although there are no F1 circuits in India at present, there is an F3 circuit at Sri Perumbudur near Chennai. Delhi will also host 2010 Commonwealth Games too, the second-largest multi-sport event in the world. According to several informal statistics, India is the country in the world with the lowest number of total Olympic medals per capita (of those countries that have actually won at least one medal). Do statistics change for better by holding international events at home? Unlikely! For sports in this fiscal just over Rs 11billion is allocated. We have so many programs on the paper but so little to spend on them. Most of our budget goes for administration salaries and establishment.

So, next time when India fares badly at any games don’t lose heart. Because neither the government nor the citizens of this country has any flair for sports. However, do expect for yet another Abhinav Bindra or Rathore or, Jitender Kumar to rise to the occasion and make it to the top. One day hope all these individual efforts cumulative into a collective performance. Till then kudos to those who believe in sports.