Happy New Year !!!

 

Wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year !!!

From all of us at the Keepwrite Team

read more...

26 Gigapixel (GP) – Largest picture (of Paris) in the world

The picture was made with the Canon 5D mark II and a 400mm-lens.

It consists of 1.665 full format pictures with 21.4 megapixel, which was recorded by a photo-robot in 172 minutes. The converting of 102 GB raw data by a computer with a main memory cache of 48 GB and 16 processors took 94 hours.

With a resolution of 297,500 x 87,500 pixels (26 gigapixel) the picture is the largest in the world.

 

http://www.paris-26-gigapixels.com/index-en.html

read more...

Just Look Up !!!

THE BUZZARD:

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8
feet and is entirely open at the top, the
bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will
be an absolute prisoner. The reason is
That a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground
with a Run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space
to run, as is its habit, It will not even
attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner
for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT:

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a
remarkable nimble creature in the air,
cannot take off from a level place.
If it is placed on the floor or flat
ground, all it can do is shuffle about
helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it
reaches some slight elevation from which it can
throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it
takes off like a flash.

THE BUMBLEBEE:

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will
be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.
It never sees the means of escape at the
top, but persists in trying to find some way out
through the sides near the bottom.. It
will seek a way where none exists, until it
completely destroys itself..

PEOPLE:

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and
the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our
problems and frustrations, never realizing that
all we have to do is look up! That's the
answer, the escape route and the solution to any
problem! Whether the problem is in your organisation, family, social circle or personal life - Just look up.

read more...

A story of how Ratan Tata built an empire

He's packing his bags -- again. December 2012, when he turns 75, is the third scheduled retirement for Ratan Tata.

The Tata Group has been at this inflection point twice earlier, and stepped back both times. In 2002, when Tata was to retire at 65, the Tata Sons board promptly redesignated him non-executive chairman, which meant he could continue for another five years.

Three years later, the board upped the retirement age of non-executive directors to 75. The message is clear: Ratan Tata is indispensable.

And it's not just the board that feels that way. There were loud cries of support from shareholders at the Tata Steel AGM in August, held soon after the announcement that Tata Sons had created a panel to find Tata's successor.

"We can't lose our ratan (jewel)," said one shareholder, while others asked him to stay on as chairman emeritus.

Whether or not he acknowledges it openly, Tata must be feeling vindicated by this public recognition of his worth. When he took over as Tata Group chairman on March 25, 1991, critics were loud and unrestrained in their disapproval and scepticism.

Ratan Tata was considered to have gained his position purely on the strength of his surname; he was incompetent, raged opponents both within and outside Bombay House, and he didn't possess an iota of the charisma of his uncle and predecessor, JRD Tata.

Nearly 20 years later, Ratan Tata has achieved almost everything on his 1991 agenda. At Rs 3.46 lakh crore (Rs 3.46 trillion), Tata Group revenue is 40 times the 1991 level, while net profit has gone up four times.

It is the largest Indian multinational conglomerate; more than 65% of the group's income comes from overseas and it has 98 operating companies (28 listed) spread across 56 countries in six continents.

In the past decade -- the decade that marked the glorious years of Ratan Tata -- nearly $18 billion was shelled out to acquire 22 companies worldwide, including Tetley Tea and Corus Steel in the UK, New York's Pierre Hotel and Jaguar Land Rover.

The Tata Group includes India 's largest private steel company, the biggest auto manufacturer and the largest IT outsourcing firm.

"Ratan Tata outperformed JRD. He toppled people as strong as Russi Mody, thought out of the box and came up with path-breaking concepts like the Nano," says Bala V Balachandran, faculty member at Kellogg School of Management, and dean of the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

Not bad going for a man who was once likened to the clown in a circus (by his loudest detractor, Russi Mody). For Tata's successor -- whoever that turns out to be -- the bar's been raised sky high.

"Tata's job is the most difficult one in the country today. Whoever runs the Tata Group has to provide strategic leadership, direction and inputs on multiple businesses, which is hugely challenging," says Rajeev Gupta, managing director of private equity firm Carlyle India .

The new chairman may be relieved of the responsibility of running individual companies, but he or she will have to head a team of extraordinarily talented and able leaders.

Not only will the heir have to ensure continuation of the group's growth momentum, but also provide the direction and vision for future growth. It's not an easy task. But then, nor was Tata's.

A shaky start
Left to himself, Ratan Tata would probably have stayed on in the United States after training as an architect at Cornell University . But the son of deputy group chairman Naval Tata and the nephew of JRD Tata couldn't be allowed to work outside the group (he had an offer from IBM).
In 1962, Ratan joined the family business, working on the Tata Steel shopfloor at Jamshedpur , just one of several thousand employees.
He got his first independent assignment less than a decade later -- as director of National Radio and Electronics (Nelco), in 1971 -- but it was a mixed blessing. Nelco was in dire straits when Ratan came on board -- losses of 40% and barely 2% share of the consumer electronics market.
Just when he turned it around, the Emergency was declared. A weak economy and labour issues compounded the problem and Nelco was quickly near collapse again.
Ratan's next assignment was just as trouble-stricken. He was asked to turn around the sick Empress Mills. He did, but was refused the Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million) investment required to make the textile unit competitive. Empress Mills floundered and was finally closed in 1986 (by which time the infamous Mumbai textile workers' strike had also taken its toll).
The two 'failures' haunted Ratan for decades. His track record was suspect, he was jinxed, said his baiters. "My first directorship was that of Nelco and the status of that company has forever been held against me. No one wanted to see that Nelco did become profitable, that it went from a 2% market share to a 25% market share," Tata said several years later.
The attacks became more vicious after 1981, when JRD stepped down as Tata Industries chairman, naming Ratan his successor -- in one leap, Ratan had moved to the head of the queue for eventual leadership of the entire Tata Group, and that was completely unacceptable to many.
So much so, that at one Tata Sons meeting, when Nelco's losses were being blamed on Ratan (although he came to the company much later), JRD had to step in and deflect the criticism.

 

Later, recalling the incident, Ratan was to remark, "Jeh came to my rescue and slowly turned around the whole conversation."
But even JRD's backing wasn't enough to help Ratan achieve many of his ambitions for the group. Foreseeing expansion of capital markets, which meant easier access to money for new projects, Ratan helped draw up a group strategic plan in 1983.
Among other things, it emphasised venturing into hi-tech businesses; focussing on select markets and products; judicious mergers and acquisitions; and leveraging group synergies.
Accordingly, Ratan promoted seven hi-tech businesses under Tata Industries in the eighties: Tata Telecom, Tata Finance, Tata Keltron, Hitech Drilling Services, Tata Honeywell, Tata Elxsi and Plantek.
But elsewhere in the group, his blueprint gathered cobwebs as companies -- many of which were run by their CEOs as independent fiefdoms under JRD's benevolent leadership -- blatantly ignored it or at best, paid lip service to the 1983 plan.
New businesses and M&As in these companies, if they happened, occurred independent of Ratan, not because of him.
Ratan's spell of bad luck continued -- even as his successes grew. He was steadily finding a place on the board of many group companies, having become a director at Tata Sons back in 1974.
In 1988, he took over from Sumant Moolgaokar as Telco chairman -- and promptly found himself at the centre of a prolonged labour dispute, perhaps the worst industrial relations slide in Tata history.

Ratan stood firm and eventually the matter was resolved in the company's favour. In an interview some years ago, Ratan recalled that Telco was "the first company in which I could actually do something. In other companies, I was always put in a fire-fighting situation."
Back against the wall
Taking over from JRD as group chairman in 1991 didn't resolve matters either, even though it was a Tata Sons board decision to make him group chairman.
Tata Group historian R M Lala recalls speaking with JRD some 10 days after the announcement and asking whether Ratan had been chosen because of his integrity.
"Oh no, I wouldn't say that; that would mean the others did not have integrity," JRD replied. "I chose him because of his memory. Ratan will be more like me."
JRD may have seen his own reflection in his successor but others, both inside and outside Bombay House, did not, at least initially. "Who expected Ratan Tata to become such a towering figure in his own right? The first three or four years were engaged in struggles with the satraps," says Lala.
Individual company heads were larger-than-life personalities in their own right, and had ruled these satraps for decades: Russi Mody at Tata Steel, Darbari Seth at Tata Chemicals, Ajit Kerkar at Indian Hotels, and Nani Palkhivala at ACC. Getting them to toe a group line and work in tandem with other companies was next to impossible.
It didn't help that they were more experienced and, many believed, more deserving than Ratan to head the group. Indeed, in an interview a few years ago, Ratan recalled his surprise on hearing of his appointment: he had thought Palkhivala and Mody to be neck-and-neck in the race for the top post.
As it happened, Palkhivala's political views and Mody's clashes within the group worked against them. Mody, though, continued to be a thorn in the flesh of both JRD and Ratan. His battles with Ratan were loud, acrimonious and conducted in full public view, which went against the ethos of this low-key business house -- an inside joke at the time was that Russi Mody had become Rude-i Mody. JRD finally dismissed him in 1993.

 

Ratan enforced the long-dormant retirement age rule for all business heads and directors, which effectively dealt with Seth and Kerkar (ill-health hastened Palkhivala's departure).
But the crown remained shaky for several years -- there was conjecture as late as 1997 that Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry would oust Ratan and take over the mantle of Tata Group head. (Mistry is the single largest shareholder in Tata Sons and, incidentally, the father-in-law of Noel Tata, Ratan's half-brother and the frontrunner in the current succession race.)
Business as unusual
To his credit, Tata didn't let the criticism and internecine battles deflect him from his chosen path. On taking over in 1991, he dusted off the 1983 plan and updated it, taking the newly-opened economy into account.
Now, the thrust was equally on technology-driven leadership, global competitiveness and being among the top three domestically, regardless of the line of business.
That meant rationalising the Tata business structure. The remnants of the era of government controls combined with independent functioning of group companies in decades past could be seen in the way the group had grown till then -- unstructured, with overlapping business across multiple companies.
When Ratan took over, there were three group companies manufacturing cement; five were involved in pharmaceuticals, while nine companies operated in the IT space. One of his first acts was to sell Tomco; swift exits from pharma and textiles and, later, cement, followed.
Management consultancy McKinsey was brought on board to help with the reorganisation. The Tata Group is still a diversified, salt-to-software group, but now there is a method to the business expansion.
Tata also paid attention to brand Tata. By 1998, there was a single group logo and the Tata brand belonged to Tata Sons. Now, companies needed to sign brand equity and business promotion agreements with Tata Sons before they got use of the brand name.

 

And Ratan was choosy about its use (stepmother Simone's cosmetics business, Lakme, which was later sold, and half-brother Noel's retail business didn't make the cut).
Zia Mody, managing partner at law firm AZB & Partners, which has advised the Tatas on acquisitions like Corus and Jaguar Land Rover, believes the group-culture Ratan Tata has created will stay on as his legacy.
"He has institutionalised processes. The reputation of the group and its guiding principles are uppermost in his mind while taking decisions," she points out.
Business historian and writer Gita Piramal has a different take on Ratan Tata's legacy. "Tata put 'design' into the group -- in mergers and acquisitions, engineering or cars or anything else. It is a very forward-looking strategy, putting new competency in very old companies," she says.
Ratan the manager
Perhaps the secret of Ratan Tata's success lies in his ability to think big -- and small. While he guides the Tata Group to pick up the luxurious Pierre Hotel in New York , he's also driving the launch of the budget Ginger hotels in India .
He has the ability to envisage an automotive business that encompasses diverse businesses such as the iconic Jaguar and Land Rover marques on the one hand, the world's cheapest car the Nano, on the other, and hardy, rough-road trucks sandwiched in between.
JRD is admired for creating world-class companies that could be globally competitive at a time when India was still not thinking scale and was instead leaning towards a socialist set up.
In contrast, Ratan had the vision to foresee the direction the economy -- and policy -- was taking, consolidate the business accordingly, and embrace change to leap ahead.

 

The group was totally unprepared for liberalisation, which was knocking on the door when he took over. Ratan knew the Tatas required a radical change in mindset and he set out to work in that direction.
He streamlined the organisation by selling some businesses and rationalised the processes and functioning of the Tata Group.
That explains why it still remains among the top three business groups in the country while many have fallen by the wayside -- or dropped in the rankings -- in the post-liberalisation era.
Yet almost none of this change came at the cost of people or employee morale. Be it the fixing of a retirement age for various employees or the creation of a close-knit group that could meet the group's ambitions, Ratan created a nimble-footed organisation.
Insiders say that those who were asked to leave were given full salary till the age of 60.
It's no secret that the genesis of the Tata Group's blockbuster moves can be traced to him. Tata's first global venture -- the February 2000 purchase of Tetley -- had begun five years earlier when Ratan Tata made a $318 million bid for the tea company.
That didn't work out, but Ratan didn't lose heart and kept an eye on the company's activities. The deal was finally clinched at $430 million. Sheer perseverance may have made that deal come true.
The Corus deal is also a telling example. A close associate recalls Ratan calling Tata Steel MD B Muthuraman, who was on a trip to Hong Kong . "I've learnt that Corus is up for sale. Do you think we can look at it?" he asked. After some thought, Muthuraman replied that they could perhaps pick up a strategic stake.

Ratan had different plans. "We must buy that company. Think it over," he advised. The next morning, Muthuraman called Tata to say he was game. With no disrespect to Muthuraman and other leaders who have spearheaded the various companies in the group, it must be said that such gutsy deals can't be done without a strong group backing or reputation.
The Corus deal is proof of the kind of goodwill the Tata Group has created for itself across the world, not just within the country. Unlike the Mittal Steel bid for Arcelor, which created a huge furore, the Tata bid faced little opposition.
Although the Anglo-Dutch company had several plants in the United Kingdom , there was little attempt to stop the deal by either political parties or trade unions. The Corus management was happy to support the deal, placing its faith in the group's reassurance that there would be no layoffs and that pension shortfalls would be taken care off.
Not just that. Given that Tata Steel was bidding for a company four times its size, it could not have funded the entire deal. In fact, the company put up just 25% of the equity; the rest was funded through foreign debt.
And even that was to be funded only through cash flows from Corus, with no recourse to Tata Steel -- a reflection of the credibility the group enjoyed in global financial markets.
Tata's big deals are balanced by projects focusing on the lowest common denominator. In fact, Tata has been among the very few to perfectly understand the pysche and the needs of the Indian consumer -- and build successful businesses around those insights.
That is, by recognising that the big market opportunity lies in making desirable products affordable for a larger audience and creating successful products to cater to a market need -- be it the passenger-car foray with the Indica in the early 1990s, the promise to create a Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) car or for that matter, making water filters that don't need electricity (for rural areas).
Hemendra Kothari, the doyen of investment banking in India who has worked on most Tata Group deals, has watched Tata's working style closely. "He is a very discerning person when it comes to decision-making. And once he has made up his mind, he is prepared to go all out to achieve his objective, be it Corus or Nano," he says.

 

Ratan's folly
Still, the markets have usually considered Tata to be out of his depth, questioning -- and dismissing -- his big, bold moves as 'Ratan's follies'.
The Indica was the first. People scoffed openly, when, in 1995, Tata spoke of building a passenger car with "the Zen's size, the Ambassador's internal dimensions and the price of a Maruti 800".
The scepticism seemed justified as project costs escalated to Rs 1,700 crore (Rs 17 billion) and Tata Motors posted Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) in losses -- the biggest splash of red in Indian balance-sheet history.
"Even within Tatas, people kept asking me to distance myself from the project so that when it failed I wouldn't be stuck with the blame. And when I refused to do that, they distanced themselves from me," Tata said in an interview a few years ago.
Ratan proved his detractors wrong, and how. Indica went on to become Tata Motors' great success story -- about a million units have been sold since its 1998 launch.
The group's global ambitions were greeted with similar scepticism. The Corus deal would lead the group to bankruptcy, critics declared: investors dumped Tata Steel shares after the announcement, and the share price plunged 11%.
And Tata was driving straight to disaster with the Jaguar-Land Rover deal: the brands were troubled, demand was low. Tata went on to prove everyone wrong. The group's international acquisitions are doing well, some have started making money.
When Tata took over, less than 5% of the group's revenues came from overseas. As the self-consciousness eased, the confidence grew. And with it, the scale of ambition.

The Ratan Tata of 15 years ago would never have gone for broke on deals like Corus and JLR. The JLR deal was audacious. Tata's interest was sparked as soon as the banks told the group that the marques were available. Why? According to him, "First, as Tata Motors in the number two SUV builder in India, owning [Land Rover] the gold standard of SUVs would be an enormous benefit to us. Second, to own a luxury brand with an immense history and heritage such as Jaguar is a virtually irresistible opportunity."
There's a personal angle to the "immense history": Ratan's father Naval was one of five people in India who took delivery of a new Jaguar XK120 in the late 1940s. "I remember the XK with great nostalgia," Tata commented to a Jaguar team. "I particularly remember the instruments on the dashboard and how stylish they looked."
Less than two weeks after the $3-billion deal was inked, Tata flew into the US on his private jet to meet Jaguar and Rover dealers across the country; for many dealers, it was their first ever interaction with a company executive.
Several years ago, in an interview, Tata dismissed the notion that he was a risk-taker. "There have been certain occasions when I have been a risk taker. Perhaps more so than some, and less so than certain others. It is a question of where you view that from. I have never been speculative. I have never been a real gambler in the sense that some very successful businessmen have been," he said.
Going by that logic, Ratan's 'follies' were decisions guided by prescience and not instinct and gut feel.
Of course, he's not perfect. Ratan Tata personally, and the Tata Group in general, have been bogged down by their share of controversies. When it comes to the environment, especially, the group gets a "can do better" grade.
In recent years, Tata Steel's joint venture with Larsen & Toubro to construct a port at Dhamra, Orissa, has come under the scanner for its proximity to two protected areas, one of which is the world's largest nesting site for the endangered Olive Ridley Turtle and the other India's second-largest mangrove forest.
A soda ash extraction plant in Tanzania also came under fire because of the threat it poses to a nearby lake and its flamingo population.

 

 

Tribal rights have also been a touchy subject. In 2006, several tribals were killed while protesting a wall being built by Tata Steel on land that was historically theirs. And Ratan Tata's pet Nano project was mired in controversy about land acquisition for the factory. After farmers in Singur, West Bengal , protested about forcible evictions and inadequate compensation, and Mamata Banerjee leapt into the fray, the Tatas pulled out of the state.
The company shifted the factory to Sanand, Gujarat, but Ratan Tata's subsequent praise for controversial Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi also drew criticism.
Situation vacant
It will be some months before even the shortlist for Ratan's successor is known. It's anybody's guess who will finally make the cut, but the qualities expected of this paragon are fairly clear to all.
In an interview a few years ago, Ratan had drawn up a somewhat simplistic checklist: someone "younger", ideally in his 40s, who believes in Tata values, demonstrates managerial ability and has the vision to run the Tata Group.
More recently, he also spelled out what the person doesn't need to be: a Tata, Parsi, or even Indian. "The successor should be the right person," was his emphasis at the Tata Chemicals AGM in August.
For the record, in its 142-year history, the Tata Group has had only five chairmen, all of whom were Parsis. The only non-Tata to make it to the top was Nowroji Saklatwala, who was chairman from 1932 to 1938. Of course, he was still family: Saklatwala was Jamsetji Tata's sister's son.
"There will be a vacuum if a non-Tata person is at the top. Any new person without the Tata name starts with a huge disadvantage," says Harish Bijoor, brand specialist and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults.
Still, considering there aren't too many Tatas around anymore, perhaps it does make sense to keep an open mind about candidates from outside the family. But not outside the company, and certainly not outside the country, seems to be the majority opinion.

Former Tata Steel CMD Russi Mody doesn't consider the lack of the right surname a handicap -- "I was a chairman although I wasn't a Tata," he says -- but is quite sure that only a company man will do for the job.
"This is an Indian company and an Indian should be appointed chairman. A company man will have loyalty to the group," he declares.
Preety Kumar, managing partner at global executive search firm Amrop, gives the neutral observer's viewpoint. "Internal succession always has smoother transition than an external one. In some of our work, successor appointments have been made two or three years before the succession, which helps change perceptions," she says.
Sanjay Teli, MD of executive search firm ESP Consultants, adds that group acceptance of and support to the heir apparent is critical. "Ratan Tata's personality and the changes he brought about helped attract the best talent to the group. Retaining some of those people may become an issue in the future," he warns.
Those and other important issues must be top of mind for the selection committee as it searches for the ideal candidate. The five-member panel -- comprising Tata Sons vice chairman NA Soonawala, group advisor Shirin Bharucha, British businessman Lord Bhattacharya, Tata Sons director Cyrus Mistry and Indian Hotels vice chairman R K Krishnakumar -- is expected to announce its choice by March 2011, which leaves room for a reasonably long handover period.
The actual selection process isn't public, but it is known that Tata and other senior executives have given their inputs on what to look for. "It's a scientific process," says a person familiar with the broad workings of the panel.
"The candidates will be evaluated on leadership qualities, management skills, operational performance and other criteria. There will be a matrix and the top scorer will get the top job."
As it happens, those are precisely the qualities that catapulted B Muthuraman to the top job at Tata Steel in 2001. When J J Irani's retirement was imminent, three people were considered likely successors -- Muthuraman and T Mukherjee, both executive directors, and Firdose A Vandrewala, who was responsible for sales and marketing, as well as new business initiatives at the company.

"Tata asked all three to prepare a presentation on the future of Tata Steel. Muthuraman's vision and roadmap was crisp, clear and the most appropriate," says a 30-year veteran of the company.
Background and prior domain expertise aren't make-or-break criteria for Ratan Tata, perhaps because he's living proof that track records can be deceptive or misinterpreted.
Anil Sardana was CEO of North Delhi Power when he was picked to lead Tata Teleservices (TTSL), a different industry altogether. He's already proved that the group's confidence in him was justified: from a user base of 15 million in August 2007 when he took over, TTSL now has 75 million.
The old order changeth
In many ways, the successor's task will be easier than Ratan's. It begins with the selection process itself. When Ratan took over from JRD, it was a succession fraught with intrigue, suspense and bad blood.
Resentment from established camps within the group at what was seen as an arbitrary decision was only compounded by Ratan's own admission of surprise at the announcement. The ongoing selection process may be equally opaque -- at least, at present -- but there is some logic and purpose behind it, which should make the panel's decision easier to accept.
The new chairman is also not likely to be battling cliques and fiefdoms within the group -- his predecessor has already taken care of that. Instead of the "corporate commonwealth" that Ratan inherited, the Tata Group now operates more or less as a cohesive unit, which will work to the successor's advantage.
Besides, there is now frequent churn at the board-level as senior members attain retirement age -- most Tata Sons board members are nearing 75, when non-executive directors have to retire. The heads of the three biggest companies in the group also retired last year: there's fresh blood at the top at Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services.
Also, when Ratan took over, the Tata family had neither financial nor managerial control over many group companies. Indeed, at one point in the 1980s, the Birlas owned more stock in Tisco than the Tatas (through Tata Sons) did. That vulnerability to outside interference is now greatly reduced: Tata Sons' holding in most group companies is now around 26%, sometimes more.
Clearly, the old order has changed. But some things will remain constant -- Tata stepped into the shoes of a giant in 1991. His successor will do likewise.

 

Ratan Tata, the person

    * 1937 Born in Mumbai on Dec 28.
    * 1962 Completes BSc in architecture from Cornell University .
    * 1962 Joins Tata Group.
    * 1971 Appointed Director of The National Radio & Electronics (Nelco).
    * 1974 Becomes a Director in Tata Sons.
    * 1975 Completes management programme from Harvard Business School .
    * 1977 Given charge of Empress Mills.
    * 1981 Named Chairman of Tata Industries.
    * 1984 Sale of Tomco
    * 1991 Takes over as group chairman from JRD Tata.
    *  

From driving cars to flying choppers, from charity to business strategy, Ratan Tata does it all, and he does it passionately. But, despite being the cynosure of all eyes, very little is known about the Tata Sons chairman's personal life.
"He is a very private man. Even his closest business aides know little about what he does in his free time," says a veteran at the group.
It's anybody's guess what Tata will do after he steps down from the country's top private sector job. Those who know him well believe he will indulge in all his pet interests, things he didn't have enough time for while helming the Tata Group.
A bachelor, Tata continues to live in a flat in Colaba, filled with books and dogs. Cars and planes are his biggest -- and perhaps, only -- indulgences. He has eight or nine cars in his stable, including a Chrysler Sebring, Land Rover Freelander and Indigo Marina. (There are rumours of a metallic blue Ferrari California and a Maserati also finding their way into his collection.)
"Unfortunately, I do not get enough time to drive. Sunday is when I take my cars out. The cars that I really like, I tend not to let my chauffeur drive," he said to an auto magazine almost a decade ago.
Now he'll have time to spend with his cars, as well as his other mechanical passion, planes. Like his predecessor and uncle JRD Tata, Ratan is an accomplished pilot and flies both planes and helicopters.
He made his first solo flight at 17 and enjoys piloting his Falcon 2000. He has also flown the F-16 and F/A-18 fighters, getting into their cockpits at the Aero India 2007 show.

 

"I've got a type rating [a licence that allows the holder to fly specific aircraft] for the Falcon business jet, but lately I've been getting more into flying helicopters. I love the engineering in them and they're challenging to fly well," he says.
There's also likely to be more time for swimming and golf, post 2012. Tata used to scuba dive regularly, but punctured his eardrums "too many times". He's had to give that up, but still swims "a lot".
Growing Up
Ratan Tata grew up in the lap of luxury -- in the south Mumbai mansion that now houses Deutsche Bank, driven to school in a Rolls Royce.
All that was forgotten in the decade he spent in the US studying architecture at Cornell, taking on odd jobs -- including washing dishes -- to supplement the pittance that the Reserve Bank of India allowed as foreign exchange allowance.
Returning to India and joining the Tata Group didn't mean any substantial improvement in his standard of living. Ratan's first jobs were on the Tata Steel shop floor in Jamshedpur, where he is believed to have done all manner of tasks, including shovelling coal into the furnace. Which is perhaps why he retains the common touch, and focusses on innovations that will make the lives of ordinary people easier.
Although Ratan Tata will retire in 2012, he will continue to be associated closely with the Tata Group -- nearly 60% of the group holding company is controlled by two charitable trusts, the Sir Dorabji Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Tata heads both.
That will mean that not only will he get the chance to sit in the audience during group company AGMs and ask questions (as he said he'd like to do), he will also be able to carry on the Tata family tradition of philanthropy.
"The Tata Group is associated with many charitable activities. It is logical that Tata will increase his involvement in that work," says an insider.
Tata may also spend a lot of time working with educational and business organisations with which he is associated. Clearly, Ratan Tata will be a busy man even after moving out of the hot seat.

read more...

Google Maps 5.0 for Android

Google Maps 5 for Android comes with two features that make Google's mapping software a lot more useful. Google now uses vector graphics instead of map tiles and it caches some of your most frequently used maps so that they are available offline.

Vector-based maps allowed Google to add a lot of cool gestures:

 

Tilting: Drag down with two fingers to tilt the map. Tilt while zoomed in on one of the 100+ cities around the world with 3D buildings to see a skyline spring to life.

Rotating: Twist with two fingers to rotate the map. After tilting to see 3D buildings, rotate around them to gain a new perspective from any direction.

Smooth zooming: Slide two fingers together or apart, and see the map and labels continuously scale to any zoom level, stopping when your fingers stop.

Compass mode: Center the map on your location, and then tap the compass button in the top right corner. The map will flip into 3D mode and start rotating to match your perspective, while still keeping all the labels upright and readable.

The new 3D view makes maps more intuitive and easier to use, but that's not all. Since Google no longer has to download map images from its servers and vector-based maps require 100 times less data for all zoom levels, it's feasible to cache data. "Rather than having a static set of maps when installed, Maps will automatically start caching the areas you visit the most when your device is plugged in and connected to WiFi (e.g., the nightly charge)." You can't manually control caching, but it's an important first step toward an offline Google Maps.

Google also promises to add offline rerouting to Google Maps Navigation. "You'll still need a connection to start a route, but if you miss a turn along the way, we'll quickly get you back on track, even if you don't have an Internet connection."

Google Maps 5 for Android uses about 70% less data than the previous version, so it loads maps much faster. The new features require Android 2.0+, but not all devices support them. The list of devices that support all multi-touch gestures includes: Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S, HTC G2, HTC Incredible, HTC Evo 4G and Motorola Droid/Droid 2/Droid X, while HTC Nexus One, HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson X10 and LG Ally don't support rotating gestures.

read more...

Android 2.2 hits HTC Legend in India

It's a mobile platform...

Froyo (following Google's adorable alphabetized dessert naming convention) is the latest iteration of Android, Google's mobile operating system. Simple enough! If you bought an Android phone recently, Froyo's what it will eventually be running.

 

...with a slightly different look...

Aside from the nice touch of being greeted by an Android icon at start-up, Froyo users can also expect a new homescreen widget. There are some other minor aesthetic changes, and transitions and animations seem a bit smoother, but the user experience isn't all that different from using 2.1 on a Nexus One.

 

...that supports USB tethering and acts as a portable hotspot...

Another piece of news we'd heard but are ecstatic to see confirmed: Froyo lets you turn your phone into a hotspot—including for your Wi-Fi iPad, if you're so inclined. (Or any other Wi-Fi device.) It's still not confirmed if every Android carrier will support tethering (AT&T?), but Froyo's definitely capable.

 

... that's way faster than its predecessor...

We'd heard previous reports that Android 2.2 was going to be ridiculously faster than Android 2.1, and today we saw it first hand: Froyo is up to 5x faster than Eclair, thanks to a just-in-time compiler. And that's just the OS; Google's also claiming that Froyo has the world's fastest mobile browser, period.

 

...that supports Flash 10.1...

Android 2.2 supports Flash 10.1—important, because Flash 10.1 is optimized to run on mobile devices. And more than finally killing off those little question mark cubes that litter the web on your phone, it'll also be a huge differentiator for Google in the fight against Apple. There's a line in the sand, and Adobe and Google are on the same side of it.

It may turn out that Flash on mobiles is a bad idea, but at least now you'll have a choice.

...that updates apps and music OTA...

Speaking of leapfrogging the iPhone: with Froyo, when you download an app to your computer you don't need to tether your phone. Instead, the update will automatically be installed over-the-air to your device. Same goes with music you buy. Hear that, iPhone users? No syncing required.

...that streams your music...

You'll also be able to stream your (non-DRM) iTunes library wirelessly to your Froyo phone.

...that's introducing a bevy of new app features...

Froyo gives hardware compass access to the browser, handy for orienting maps according to which direction you're facing. You'll be able to access the camera from the browser, as well. Google continues to blur the difference between native and web apps.

Other tidbits: voice recognition for search and for Google Translate—the latter of which, when plugged into text to speech, makes a handy speech-to-speech translator. There's also a handy new application manager that'll let you move apps to and run them off of an SD card and allows background updating.

 

Change Log:

* General Android OS speed, memory, and performance optimizations

* Additional application speed improvements courtesy of JIT implementation

* Integration of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application

* Increased Microsoft Exchange support (security policies, auto-discovery, GAL look-up, calendar synchronization, remote wipe)

* Improved application launcher with shortcuts to Phone and Browser applications

* USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality

* Added an option to disable data access over mobile network

* Updated Market application with batch and automatic update features

* Quick switching between multiple keyboard languages and their dictionaries

* Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth

* Support for numeric and alphanumeric passwords

* Support for file upload fields in the Browser application

* Support for installing applications to the expandable memory

* Adobe Flash 10.1 support

* Support for extra high DPI screens (320 dpi), such as 4" 720p

 

Froyo articles from http://gizmodo.com/5543853/what-is-froyo and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

read more...

Around the world in 80 seconds !

Just go around the globe through Youtube. A list of various famous locations around the globe for you to watch

 

http://www.jcdurand.ca/Monde/Tour.html

read more...

Tees Maar Khan

Tees Maar Khan

Director           Farah Khan

Cast                 Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Raghu Ram, Akshaye Khanna, Arya Babbar, Sachin Khedekar, Murli Sharma, Apara Mehta, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor

Year                2010

Genre              Comedy

I have always been a Farah Khan fan.  I loved Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om.  The latter in fact is still one of my all time favourites – strictly from a perspective of providing wholesome entertainment. What I like about Farah is that she doesn’t make any bones about each one of her movies being “different”. She is quite cut and dry. So, when Tees Maar Khan was announced a while back, I was quite excited despite the controversy that surrounded it.  Most pundits challenged the mother of triplets when she decided to go ahead with Akshay instead of Shah Rukh as the lead for her latest venture.  In hind sight, which is a virtue all of us have, Shah Rukh probably could not have pulled of the role.  It demanded someone with a better sense of comic timing and therefore clearly cut out for someone like Akshay Kumar.  However, Mrs. Kunder would now have realized the importance of a good luck charm. TMK flatters to deceive.  A disappointment spread over a little more than 2 hours.

Tabrez Mirza a.k.a. Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) started very early in his life as a con artiste.  His mother (Apara Mehta) would watch age old Chor Police (Cops and Robbers) movies that would invariably have the Chor (Robber) in the lead role.  In a manner of speaking, Tabrez was – Well Inducted.  And he starts off by pinching the docs watch and nurse’s chain as soon as he pops out. And no points for guessing that he eventually grows up to reach the “Most Wanted” list not only @ home but also by large organizations such as the Interpol. He has been caught 11 times to date and has escaped 24 times – don’t ask me how the math works here – and before the end of the movie also manages to escape two more times. As he proudly proclaims, “Tawaif ki Lut ti hui izzat ko bachana aur TMK ko Qaid karna – dono hi bekaar hai” (It’s a waste of time to save a harlot’s honour or to imprison TMK).

The world famous Johri Brothers (Raghu Ram) are a pair of identical conjoint twins who are leaders in their own field of work – Smuggling of Antiques.  They have just been relieved of 10000 kgs of Antiques worth Rs.500 crores (Rs.5 billion / $110 million).  The cops have not been able to capture them and are therefore convinced that they would attempt to get back what they believe is rightfully theirs. However, there are only 3 people in the world who can pull of a stunt of stealing that amount of valuables from a moving train.  2 of them are safely behind bars.  The third is obviously our hero.

Farah Khan tries to stick to what she is good at.  A movie that is primarily a comedy peppered with action sequences that are sufficient to keep people excited.  However, this time she kind of comes a cropper post the declaration of, “Is mission mein hum kamyaab honge ya nahin dekhenge after Intermission” (We will see if we are going to succeed in our mission after the Intermission).  Kind of corny and seems forced.  Things build up quite well in the first half and then somewhere the movie loses steam and becomes kind of repetitive.  Maybe it was time for her to actually do something “different”. Just when one thinks that Akshay Kumar is making a comeback he peters of like a deflated balloon back to where he has been over the past 2 years. Forced effort and complete lack of comic timing.  Much better in parts but overall no improvement whatsoever.  TMKs sidekicks are played by Vijay Maurya, Dharampal and Ashish Asgar who seem to have better comic timing that AK. 

And they definitely have much more screen presence than Katrina Kaif who is totally stunning furniture with barely any role to write home about. The only saving grace for her is the absolutely amazing, “Sheela Ki Jawani” (Sheila’s Killer Youth as the subtitles in the Aussie version proclaimed – I definitely have an opportunity to be a subtitler coz they were absolutely atrocious in parts and extremely funny).  The music is very good – a combination of songs by Vishal Shekhar and background by the husband Kunder.  The choreography is also extremely well done.  Full points for Farah Khan there for making Kats dance like the way she has.  Someone finally taught her some serious jhatkas!!! Overall, a decent entertainer for the family on Christmas weekend.  But don’t go with too much of hope.  I give it 4 on 10 in the festive spirit and my liking for Farah Khan as a director.  Watch at own risk.

read more...

Manmadhan Ambu Movie Review - A Complete Laugh Riot

The much awaited Kamal Hassan starrer "Manmadhan Ambu" has finally hit the screens and the viewers are mighty pleased with the outcome. The movie is written by Kamal Hassan and directed by K S Ravikumar. The actor-director combination after their successful ventures earlier has embarked on this project which is produced by Udayanithi Stalin of Red Giant Movies.

The movie is completely set in Europe and the story revolves around the three characters in Major R Mannar (Kamal Hassan), Madhanagopal (Madhavan) and Ambujakshi (Trisha). The movie begins with a disturbed Ambu flying to Europe for a holiday as her engagement with Madhan is on the rocks as Madhan gets too possessive on her. Major Mannar follows Ambu to Europe as the spy acting on behalf of Madhan.

Ambu does not travel alone but with her close friend Deepa (Sangeetha) who is a divorcee with 2 kids. Things go smoothly till Deepa's kids find out that there is something fishy about Major. When he successfully clears the air, the story marches ahead in full throttle and its non-stop comic entertainer from there till the end.

The twists in the tale are many but most of them are predictable which again has been handled deftly by director K S Ravikumar and has made sure that such predictable events does not pull the pace of the movie down. In the second half of the film, the fun gets too much too handle as every scene is loaded with humor. The ending though gets predictable but still a minor twist to it makes it a bit better.

In terms of acting none can be compared to the experience and skill of Kamal Hassan and he has continued his good work in this film also. Madhavan once again has proved his mettle as an actor who can perform comedy roles with ease. Trisha and Sangeetha however does not have enough scope in the movie to display their mantle.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad could have been better while editing and cinematography is commendable. Story has a logical flow to it while the supporting screenplay makes it even more interesting. K S Ravikumar has added one more to the list of hit films that he has directed. The supporting actors include Ramesh Arvind, Oviya, Urvashi, Caroline, Sriman and Usha Uthup.

"Manmadhan Ambu" is a complete laugh riot.

read more...

Well Done Abba

Well Done Abba

Director           Shyam Benegal

Cast                 Boman Irani, Minisha Lamba, Samir Dattani, Ila Arun, Ravi Kishan, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajit Kapoor, Ravi Jhankal, Yashpal Sharma, Rajendra Gupta, Salim Ghouse, Satish Sharma, Lalit Tiwari, Rahul Singh

Year                2009

Genre              Comedy

When Shyam Benegal released Welcome to Sajjanpur, most scorned @ the concept and all but wrote him off.  But as they say, form is temporary and class is permanent.  With Well Done Abba (WDA) Shyam Benegal proves once again that he was, is and will be one of the best directors India has ever had and can expect to have – this time with a not so intense but very pointed take on the corruption food chain.

Arman Ali (Boman Irani) is in trouble.  He has returned back to work as a driver to Rohan Kapoor (Rahul Singh) in Mumbai after 3 months.  The trouble is that he had taken leave for only a month.  Obviously Rohan doesn’t want to have him back.  And it is not the first time that Arman Ali has decided to take off for a few extra days.  But this time around, Arman has an extremely genuine reason.  But not one that can be explained over the phone or a 5 minute conversation.  The complexities of the issue that Arman had faced over the past 3 months can be only understood if one were to give him an uninterrupted listen.  Rohan is in a rush and needs to get to Pune.  Seizing the opportunity, Arman Ali offers to drive him down and explain the issue en route.  Luckily for him, Rohan says OK.

Arman Ali reaches Chikatpally, a village close to Hyderabad. All this thanks to a panic telegram from his brother Rahman Ali (Boman Irani) stating that his daughter, Muskaan (Minisha Lamba), has come of age and that he needs to be more attentive – a very polite way to say that its time to get her married off. Sometimes I wonder if we will ever progress.  I mean whats the point of getting a girl married @ 17????  Nevertheless, when Arman gets back, he finds that there are larger worries that bother the village.  Chief amongst them being a severe water shortage.  However, he also finds out that the government is working towards building wells for the truly needy – those below the poverty line (BPL).  So starts Arman’s effort to procure his own “Bavdi” (A Well that has water in it for those unfamiliar with the local lingo in Andhra.

Well Done Abba is one of the most educational movies that I have ever seen.  It is a movie with a purpose unlike most others which try to do so but fall flat as prey to just simple entertainment.  Now I don’t mean to say that other movies do not try to send a message across. Its just that the message gets lost in the overall idea of giving the audience an entertaining couple of hours and does not really provoke thought.  That doe not make them bad movies per se.  In sharp contrast, Shyam Benegal has courageously tried to expose the gangrene that has set in the system and how government officials eat away most of the tax payer’s money.  I am given to understand that the movie is an adaptation of a Marathi play.  Would love to get and opportunity to watch it.  Other than the core issue at hand it also sends strong messages for the development of the girl child, moving away from the archaic caste system and also touches upon the issue of “bride sales”.  All of this very interestingly but noticeably woven into the overall message of standing up against corruption at the grass root levels and how each one of us can make a difference. 

What also helps Shyam Benegal is that he is working with a cast that has predominantly moved in from theatre into the large screen.  It is next to impossible to find flaw in Boman Irani’s acting talent and WDA just goes one step further to cement his position as probably the best comedian and one of the best actors of our time.  Actors like Yashpal Sharma, Ravi Kishen and Sonali Kulkarni seamlessly step into their roles of a sidekick constable, a Government Engineer and the Engineer’s wife withtou any effort whatsoever.  Stand out performance by Minisha Lamba – yes, there is a lot of potential there – just needs the right director to extract it out of her. I would highly recommend WDA not just for the messaging but also for the comeback of one of the best directors of our time. Had it not been for a couple of songs that were not required, it would have easily been an 8 on 10.  That’s probably the only place where Benegal could have done with some cuts. 7.5 on 10 from my side. Watch it!!!

read more...

Bheja Fry

Bheja Fry

Director           Sagar Bellary

Cast                 Rajat Kapoor, Sarika, Vinay Pathak, Milind Soman, Ranvir Shorey, Bhairavi Goswami, Tom Alter, Ikhlaque Khan

Year                2007

Genre              Comedy

Yet another advantage of visiting your friends abroad.  You get them DVDs that they have always wanted to have and more so with friends down under coz they don’t get most of our Desi Titles and even if they do, it is horrendously expensive.  The best part is that they have probably not watched an all out hilarious movie like Bheja Fry and a maniac like me was only looking for the next available excuse to watch it.  So on a not so warm evening around 8 kms away from a place called Margaret River in Western Australia, I seized the opportunity to watch one of India’s finest comedies to date with my close friends Shilpa and Parikshit. And for those who were wondering what I was doing watching desi movies on vacation – do come down to wine country and try to find some place open after 7. Would love to know J

Ranjit Thadani (Rajat Kapoor) is a successful music producer.  He is married to Sheetal (Sarika – and does she look gorgeous still – wonder why Kamal Hassan left her – the vagaries of the world I say).  Their marriage is going through troubled times.  Ranjit cares more about his work than what Sheetal does.  Sheetal is a reasonably successful singer in her own right and was actually seeing a music director, Anant Ghoshal (Milind Soman) when she met Ranjit, who promptly steals her under Anant’s nose.  Ranjit and his friends have a fetish.  A fetish to have fun at the expense of unsuspecting folk who think that they are searching for new talent (helped by the fact that they are in the music business). Every Friday, the gang meets up to “unearth” fresh talent.  Stuff like people a guy who genuinely believes he has talent because he can spit a really long distance – Ugh!!!  Whats worse is that the group actually believes that the entire process is a great stress buster for all of them.

It would be Ranjit’s turn the next Friday to introduce the next talent to the gang. And he is quickly running out of time.  But a close friend, Jagdish Varma (Ikhlaque Khan) bumps into a genuine “talent” on his way to Pune.  Someone who actually believes that he was born to do only one thing – sing.  Meet Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak).  He is not only under the illusion of being a good singer, but also goes that extra mile to convince people that he really can sing.  He doesn’t waste a single opportunity to sing. And he is a leech to the core.  One doesn’t have much of a choice but to hear him out.  Complete chaos ensues when Bharat Bhushan enters the scene.  And very shortly, you would be holding on to your stomachs in pain – thanks to some amazing comedy that will come your way.

Bheja Fry is the kind of movie that comes every once in a while to reaffirm our faith in quality comedy.  Director Sagar Ballary is far from being a superb director considering the number of inconsistencies that existed in the movie and the editing that was definitely below standard.  But these gaffes are more than masked by the superb performances of everyone in the cast.  Everyone but for Milind Soman who for my money’s worth should realize by now that acting is not up his alley.  He should stick to modeling which he can continue with for the next 10 years plus – he still looks absolutely stunning and is a huge role model for us 30+ paunchy folks who have resigned to not looking smart and fit coz it is all too late.  People are going to remember the performances of Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey for a long time to come.  And Bhairavi Goswami will be talked about till eternity for her classic dialogue as Suman Rao, “Ranjit, Jaane se pehle mujhe ek baat bata doh.  Yeh “Tharki” kya hota hai”? Complete Master Card moment I say!!!! Long Live Comedy.  7 on 10 for this one.

read more...

Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud

Director           Burr Steers

Cast                 Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Prew, Augustus Prew, Donal Logue, Kim Bassinger, Ray Liotta,

Year                2010

Genre              Drama

The in-flight schedule screamed out, “Zac Efron as never been seen before”.  It went on to describe how this was Efron’s first attempt @ a serious sort of a movie and not the usual Chick Flick & Musical stuff that we are used to seeing from him.  Now I am no Zac Efron fan but I must admit that I was quite intrigued with the strong write up.  Most importantly, I have, in the recent past, seen other chocolate boy heroes of the likes of Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception, 500 Days of Summer) make a successful transition to what could be termed as quality movies.  Add to that, the summary of the movie seemed quite interesting and I was very keen to see if Efron could really pull off a role that would need significantly higher levels of intensity and emotions and not just preening around in the dreams of girls – something that Efron is really good at – and I mean that in a really positive way.

Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) is around 18.  He is the eldest of 2 brothers.  Samuel (Charlie Tahan) is the younger of the two.  They are being bought up by their single mom Claire (Kim Bassinger) who is a nurse at a local hospital and works a double shift more often than not.  She needs to save money to put Sam through school and Charlie through to Stanford which he should make it through with a Sailing scholarship (I mean when will stuff like this ever come to India????).  Charlie is an ace sailor and teams up with Sam to win the local championship in grand style by a hair’s breadth, much to the joy of most people and the disappointment of his competition.  Charlie is about to celebrate the victory that evening but is told by Claire that he is on Sam duty coz she has to run her 2^nd shift. So Charlie spends time with Sam for a bit.  But his youth gets the better of him and he decides to play truant.  As he tries to sneak away, Sam catches up with him and insists that he should go along. Disgruntingly Charlie agrees.  As they are driving through the town and playing the fool while driving, they crash into a truck.  The paramedic, Florio Fiorentte (Ray Liotta) refuses to give up and in the process revives Charlie.  But is unable to save Sam.  Now Charlie has to live with the thought of being responsible for Sam’s untimely death.

CSC is a movie that runs extremely high on emotions.  It deals with the extremely sensitive topic of responsibility for someone’s death.  It is hard enough to live with the thought leave along having to deal with it personally.  And how does one deal with it if its your own kid brother? God knows none of us want to be in Charlie’s place.  Having said that, director Burr Steers still had to get the concept to life. His previous attempts would not have inspired too much confidence in anyone.  His only directorial effort before this was again with Zac Efron in that RomCom called 17 Again.  However, he does show that there is talent lurking somewhere in him.  Most scenes are handled very sensitively and effectively.  And surprise surprise – turns out that Zac Efron is NOT a one trick pony.  He plays the lead role of Charlie quite well and is able to emote very well in most situations.  The support cast is nothing to be too excited about.  Anyways it is a movie centred around a single character and I guess Mr. Efron has proven himself to the extent that he can be considered for future, more serious projects ala Joseph Gordon Levitt.  Although it must be said that Mr. Levitt far supersedes Mr. Efron in acting talent.  Yet another one not released in the motherland.  Should have been.  Would have done reasonably well I would guess.  6 on 10 from my side.

read more...

THE CLASSIC

TIMELESS - without a beginning or end, eternal, everlasting.

Only a few movies earn the tag "CLASSICS" & only a handful of those films become "TIMELESS CLASSICS".These films even after decades will still bring about the same nostalgic sensation with the latter generation, such is the impact of these well crafted masterpieces.

At the same time movies will always be movies irrespective of the language they are made, the feelings, pain, sufferings get etched out so well that language is never seen as a barrier.

As the saying goes "MUSIC & MOVIES TRANSCEND ALL BARRIERS".

PLOT : " The film tells the parallel love stories of a mother and daughter. "



Kwak Jae-yong & Alejandro Amenábar are my favorite directors, their films serve as an inspiration for me & many alike throughout the world.

And this korean film "The Classic" directed by Kwak Jae-yong is my all time favorite movie, having seen so many movies of various genres I had never felt so much for the lead characters in a movie.

Everything about the movie was captured so well, Kudos to the director for utilizing the potential of his team so beautifully.

The script was also written by Kwak Jae-yong, he has effectively brought out the love stories of both the mom & daughter in a very well crafted manner such that the parallel timelines never serve as an hindrance.

One of the most persistent characteristics in Kwak Jae-yong's movies is his sense of comedy, "My Sassy Girl" is a testament to that, here too that part is handled very well along with his trademark love scenes between the lead characters.

Music as always been a major plus in all of Yong's movies, it gels so well with the flow of the film that it elevates the movie to a whole new level, the background score & music by Jo Yeong-wook here is also very haunting & soothing.The music in the trailer will serve as an example for the excellent musical score.

The lead characters have just grabbed the opportunities presented to them, Son Ye-jin as the mom & mother was simply outstanding, she pulled off both the roles with panache & she was very very gorgeous.

Jo Seung-woo ,Lee Ki-woo & Jo In-seong too were a treat to watch especially the former for his role as the lover torn between friendship & love was so very well portrayed & enacted.

Cinematography by Lee Joon-kyoo has captured the two timelines in the movie with perfection adding authentic backdrop so convincingly.

Editing by Kim Sang-beom & Kim Jae-beom were crucial to maintain the flow & feel of the movie & the both have done it superbly.

Great are films that immerses the viewers in a fictional world where they feel & relate with fictional characters, this is one such film even with its cliches & slow pace immersed me into its world of love & drama.

This film is one of the finest products of cinema that will surely have an everlasting appeal, it has something for everyone, from youngsters to parents to grand-parents.

• Director : Jae-young Kwak

• Writer : Jae-young Kwak

• Cast : Ye-jin Son , Seung-woo Cho , In-seong Jo , Ki-woo Lee

• Rating : "PG" for some brief scenes of nudity.

P.S : " Kwak Jae-yong is known for his limitless fondness of love stories set in a mix of different genres. "

read more...

Tron Legacy

Director           Joseph Kosinski

Cast                 Jeff Bridges, Garret Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, Olivia Wilde, James Frain, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, Anis Cheurfa

Year                2010

Genre              Action

6 months ago, I saw the trailer of Tron Legacy and was mighty intrigued to say the least. As the months went by, I kept seeing the trailer over and over again and was quite exasperated with the goddam never ending wait. Finally, a couple of weeks back, the release date was announced as 17th December 2010 - coincidentally the same date, Avatar was released last year - coincidence I am sure. But Walt Disney recreates magic once again!!! The wait was well worth it I say.

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a geek. A young geek in 1989 who has thought of the concept of WiFi way back in 1985. He is the founder of Emcon, a gaming company that has created many a wave over the past few years. Most importantly, he is the reason the organisation has fallen back on track and is a huge hit with the shareholders. Sadly, he loses his wife in suddenly and is survived by his only son Sam (Garret Hedlund) who he loves very very dearly. He now lives with his son and parents who are his support system. He also owns a gaming arcade that is called - surprise surprise - Flynn's J. How predictable I say!!! Corny. But sweet. On a regular night, Flynn Senior, after putting Sam to bed, decides to go to the Arcade to check something out. He has promised Sam that he would unravel a particular mystery the next day. But he never returns. The mysterious disappearance doesn't go too well with the markets and Emcon stocks start to tumble. More importantly, Sam turns violent and then slowly but steadily into a recluse. Much to the disappointment of his father's closest aide – Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) - who is unable to explain the reason why Sam's father is not back home.

Twenty years down the line, Sam has grown up to be the major share holder of Emcon but least interested in who is running the company or where it is headed.  He is a rebel without a cause. A loose cannonball whose single thrill in life is to make the people who are turning his organization into a money spinning machine look like jokers. And he does that quite successfully and quite frequently.  After one such stunt, he returns home to his ever faithful mutt Marvin, only to find that Alan has made himself comfortable.  He informs Sam about a page that he received from the Arcade.  Surprisingly the arcade has been shut for 20 years.  Sam pretends not to care but he cannot hold himself back.  He gets there and finds a door that he didn’t know existed.  A door that is about to open a Pandora’s Box in a manner of speaking.  Fasten your seat belts at this stage for what is undeniably the ride of the year.

Super special effects, amazing make up and brilliant use of Computer Graphics make Tron Legacy a heady concoction not only for the fans of the game or the older movie but for anyone who get their thrills from action movies.  Light Jets, Light Bikes ala Star War Light Sabres.  The works.  Have a joint before you walk into the theatre and you can be assured of the best trips in your lifetime. This has been a year for first time directors all the way and Joseph Kosinski joins the gang although he could do with a crash course on consistency.  Like how can everything electronic at the arcade work perfectly after 20 years?  A bit far fetched I say. What is surprising is that otherwise there is a level of attention to detail like the best directors would.  Some obvious gaffes mar an otherwise nearly flawless execution of a classic.

Tron Legacy is Disney’s next franchise.  I would refuse to believe that there are no sequels planned.  It would be a waste of a fabulous idea.  Don’t miss this one.  Clearly a 7 on 10.

Signing off with best wishes – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers!!!! You may not hear from me for the next month as I embark on my one month vacation starting in under 3 hours from now.  I just had to ensure that the Tron Legacy review is put up before I leave.  And I will do my best to get a dekko @ TMK in Oz Time which would be ahead by about 4.5 hours from India and u may just about get the review on time.  Will keep you posted on that one.  Till then – keep watching movies!!!! Have a blast folks!!!!

read more...