Something wrong with Mani & Haasan!!!

What do they have in common?

1) Great ambassadors of Indian Cinema
2) Have given many mind blowing movies
3) Have set trends in all departments of Cinema
4) Technically strong in every aspect of a movie
5) Trying hard to make a mark in B-wood.....

the list may go on and on and on... At the end of the list, some one needs to add another common point :

100) Both of them have become complacent & in fact over confident in the recent past.
Okay.. Let me be that someone and tell you why do i think so..

Am an ordinary man who is prepared to spend more than Rs.750 (Ticket cost + Travel + Snacks for 3) for 2.5 - 3 hours only for few selected movies. And the selection is based on many criteria s and movies involving both these stalwarts would also fit into that..

Thank God i did not prepare myself to watch "Kadal" after the beating i got from my wife for spoiling the early hours of a Sunday for "Raavana".. Everybody knew that Raavana did not do well in the BO.. so Mani sir went to France to collect an award for that movie.. For the entire first half.. Vikram was talking to Ishwarya Rai, move her from one place to another, and the police team would reach after they move. Second half was also highly predictable..
 Of course, cinematography was extra ordinary.. i guess it was Santosh Sivan / Manikandan.. someone... but i do not want to go to theatre to see and enjoy the locations... the settings.. If at all a cinematographer wants to make a mark in his career, he would do that by posting a video in you tube to get 1xxxxxxx likes.. but someone like Mani cannot waste 3 hours of my time in showing beautiful and artistic locations..!! Hold on... Just think the standard of Screenplay - Nayagan, Thalapathi, Alaipayuthey (new trend again)... where is that powerful screenplay now?? So Mani sir thinks that he could do anything and audience would accept... Sorry Sir.. fact is that the last 3 of your creations have failed in BO... though ARR has given some ultimate songs for them.

We then come to Dr.Kamal Hasan. Abundance of talent (God's gift !!) in almost all the areas.. Everybody knew the hype behind Vishwaroopam... the controversies etc etc...

Sir --. You are a genius. No doubts. But you seem to have got into a mindset that "I am a genius"... Vishwaroopam again depicted the talent of Kamal we know.. to the world.

But again, the emphasize was only on the technical aspects of a movie.. Afganistan was mind blowing.. we have never seen such a location even in duet songs!! First half moves faster... the changeovers of Hasan though expected... is amazing and lovely.. But what is he trying to convey? Is this aimed at pleasing the US Government and Mr.Obama? Most of the film is shot in US, involving FBI and their Intelligence (!) with just a character name from Muslim Religion in the lead role... after having crafted a full length screen play showing how bad muslims are.. Location, music, cinematography, technology, Kamal, Kamal & Kamal are toooooo good.. but why this movie??? to get into Hollywood and settle down there?? As such from the time of "Avvai shanmugi" the dominance of foreigners is on the high in all Kamal movies... Of course, we are happy and proud of him since he is an Indian.. but is he really thinking too much on going global? If Kamal travels to Afgan again for a shoot.. i am sure he will be shot! He indeed has insulted the muslim community.. he does try and make fun of atleast one community in all his movies.. Dasavatharam was a high length comedy aimed at making fun of Hindus. where he compares "Alayam"(temple) to "Showchalayam"(toilet). even Vishwaroopam is an example of that category.. every 5 mins,, u hear Allah ooh akbar... and you say its not about muslims!!!! Good Joke.. If he is an atheist.. let him be.. but why choose religious topics in all the movies??? I dont support the issue which forced for a ban on the movie / to stop the right to speak... but people like Mr.Hasan have a huge role to play in this world.. rather than being over confident and get into ugly controversies... wantedly!!




  

Time to rethink on Solomon vs Solomon???

Those who have taken Finance as their profession would have a paper on mercanile law at some point
and the first and foremost case we can see in any text book is Solomon vs Solomon

The famous judgement in this case goes like this : Solomon starts a company called Solomon & Company and carries a business Unfortunately, the business runs into heavy loss and Solomon & company becomes bankrupt. The investors in the business demand that they need to be settled by solomon by selling his personal assets. The Court declined the claim stating that Solomon is different from Solomon & company. Solomon & Co is a seperate legal entity and any loss of such separate legal entity cannot be cleared through the personal assets of Solomon.

What happens in a real time scenario?

Dr. Vijay Mallya is a multi millionare and he runs diversified business.. His company United Breweries is almost a monopoly model in the liquor industry. Apart from this, he runs an airline called Kingfisher Airlines.. He also invests crores and crores in buying a cricket team in the much fancied Indian Premier League. When he continues to earn millions of  rupees through Liquor, he spends every day with a new date, his son with bollywood actresses, life full of parties... Suddenly there comes a crisis in the airline segment, employees there are not paid wages for more than 5 months, but he continues to own the cricket team and spends nights dancing in the ground and after match at the star hotels. Now he says that his airlines division is bankrupt and running out of funds.. there is a raise in debts.. and he needs Govt support in bail out.. Since the Govt of India is struck with such corporate giants, we need not wonder if such bail out happens at the back stage

The point to be noted is that people are very careless only because of this old judgement in Solomon vs Solomon. Now Mr.Mallya's family thinks that airline is a separate legal entity.. let it get closed.. since it is not the bread n butter for him or his son. But what about the employees of KFA? they have already spend 5 months without pay.. what will happen now with the lockout and cancellation of license to fly? Will the Govt go for bail out with the tax payers money? If yes, will it not provoke the other airlines to say a similar condition? Why cant we just come out of Solomon case and attach Mallya's personal assets worth Trillions in India & Abroad to resolve the crisis which has a notable impact on the industry?

Its time to change what Mr.Ambedkar adopted from the British Law!!!!

Corporate Mantra's - What does it really mean when your Boss says the below?

1) We need to be in the same page    : You need to accept whatever i say

2) Not all 5 fingers are alike       : You slog, You work, You be true.. do not expect others to be like you

3) Win Win situation                : At the end, i should be the only winner

4) Raise the bar                      : Because i am aware that you have already set standards and i want you to                                        
                                                push more

5) Attitude                            : You talk.. i kill..

What makes a Leader??

I was sitting in front of a panel consisting of senior managers. They were ready to test my ability to clear the round and get into the leadership position for the first time in my career. One of them asked me “what are the 3 top qualities of a leader?” My instant response was i) Subject knowledge ii) Independent iii) Not being biased. In reply he named few other qualities but i was firm and stood by my point. He then wanted me to allocate percentages to the three qualities. I told him that it would be 70 – 30 – 10. I remember he was arguing for 10 minutes and finally said.. “You look to be very aggressive… well.. thank you!”

So, what makes a good leader??

Modern day corporate culture has changed things drastically. Leadership is seen only as people management. This may work with the Top most management of an organization for example.. GM, VP, Director etc.. but definitely not with the middle level management. And a leader can be successful in top most management only when he/she enjoys success at the middle level management.

Why knowledge is important?

The moment a subordinate understands that his leader lacks subject knowledge; it becomes a cakewalk for him in misleading his leader. He can easily say that an activity will take 7 hours as against the original time of 4 hours.. and all the leader can do is to accept it since he does not know what really is done in that activity!!

How important it is for a leader to maintain distance from his subordinates?

The outsourcing world has pushed a new culture among us. We are free to call even the MD by his name as against the ancient culture of calling superiors as “Sir/Madam”. This culture has confused many leaders in the middle level management on “how far can i move with my subordinate?”. The truth however is that when a leader tends to move closer to his subordinates, over a period of time, he starts sharing his personal thoughts on the confidential information of the organization. The situation becomes even more dangerous when a leader starts moving closely to a particular subordinate/group as it creates a huge amount of insecurity in the minds of the other subordinates. He then tends to act as per the directions of those who are close to him and starts making decisions after taking their opinion without really considering what is correct and what is not!

Why should a leader be independent?

When it comes to decision making, a leader can hear various opinions, but should be highly independent and should make sure that none of the opinions influence him in taking the final decision. Again, for this to happen, a leader has to be knowledgeable and has to maintain a good distance from his subordinates. The moment a leader thinks that he needs his subordinates to take a decision / to run the show, it only means that he is not confident about himself and it might make him to land in incorrect decisions.

What will happen if a leader is biased?

The first impact a biased leader creates is the insecurity on the minds of his subordinates. It then boils down to frustration on the part of those who do not belong to the leader’s favorite group and creates all sorts of chaos… which could possibly damage the entire set up…

These are my thoughts on what makes a leader.. What’s yours????

For all those who like to know the secret of success in Corporates !!

So back to blogs after some time...

This one is dedicated to all those who suffer like me in this ******* corporate world.

Now, if you are fresh out of college and have an offer letter of so called corporates.. read this carefully.
This could well be your life changer!!

Time management - Whatever is the official working hours.. pretend as if you are busy.. (in most cases, the higher ups will not be knowledgeble abt what exactly you do).. but dont complete your task. exactly after the official shift time ends,walk up to your boss and say u will extend since you have some activities.. make this a habit...

Weekend - Make sure you come to office during weekends (just for couple of hours) and send an email to your boss the moment you login (something at all!!) If possible and if you can send an email about incomplete work by any of your colleagues.. nothing like it!

Bachelor - This is one clear eligibility.. As long as you are a bachelor you have an edge over the ones who are married!! because they do not like to work beyond office hours / weekends..

Forget the word "NO" - You should never say "NO".. whatever may be the circumstances... the only comment that any boss is fond of is "YES"..

BTW... these are not applicable for fair & handsome ladies (does'nt matter whether they are married or not)... they can just write their own scripts with an instant smile on the face!!!

Keep the above in mind.. for a successful career..

Hypnotism at its best - In the name of Yoga!!

Recently, i had been to a very popular place in Coimbatore which is known for an art which is spreading pretty quickly across the globe. Yes.. i am talking about "Yoga" and the
place i visited is none other than the "Isha Foundation" @ velliangiri hills. I infact attended their basic yoga course back in chennai (many years ago) and i do have a fair
amount of knowledge on what they do..

I wanted to make use of the visit to Coimbatore and took a trip to see the much popular "Dhyanalingam". As expected, the entrance was amazing with huge pillars and many snakes
(not real!) on top of it. We also saw a huge "Nandhi", the one similar to the Tanjore temple. We were told to deposit all our bags, cell phones, camera etc.. they did not even
allow the milk powder, water, bottle which we had taken for our little kid. We were then showed a video of what we are going to see inside the premises. They stressed on one point
all the times... "Keep Silence". To me, any temple with keep silence restriction is not a temple at all.. The devotees should ensure silence on their own based on the situation
and should not be compelled to do so.

First we went to a place where they said it is goddess Lingha bhairavi.. they had done some changes in the normal shiva lingam we have seen. Again there was an instruction given
on how to offer prayer.. meaning lie down.. and fold one leg & hand.. i smiled at that person who told us this instruction in a tone which could be heard only by him.. silence on
the Top. I was shocked to see a fair and handsome foreigner (guy!) near the so called Lingha bhairavi with a huge dot of "Kumkum" on his forehead.. With wide open eyes he was infact
looking like a bad mandhiravadhi we often see in tamil movies and serials. he was murmuring something the whole time standing there. God only knows!!

On the way to the next place where we were told to take bath (not compulsory!!) i found so many foreigners (this time females also) in uniform with same kind of big dot of kumkum
on the forehead and wide open eyes as if they are threatening the entire crowd there.. it was actually funny to see them in such a costume and look.. India is a country where
foreigners can live even without a passport.. wonder on what visa they are staying here and for HOW LONG??!!! God only knows!!

apart from the foreign nationals, we could also see indians (belonging to all ages... right from small children to adults) roaming around in Red & white costume. I was wondering
how James cameroon got such a different face while designing "Avatar".. i got the answer there at Isha.. i saw one boy who was exactly looking like the Avatar character (infact
his walking style was also ditto) all the boys were having long hairs and again the traditional wide open eyes look. Wonder what the hell their parents are doing on earth.. God only knows!!

The real comedy starts here.. we came out and entered the main place of the location.. where the much spoken about Dhyanalingam is located. As i told you in the beginning,
the entrance is exactly opposite to the big Nandhi.. what made me to laugh was a pillar in front of the main entrance - which had a symbol of "Om, Cross & mark used by muslims"
Understood the logic?? to attract people from all religions.. A Nandhi and Lingam.. and they still depict they are far from religion.. very Funny!!!

We were asked to sit for some time since the prayer was goin on inside.. we could hear a Bass Guitar and a very excellent voice from inside.. the guy really sang well..
Ofcourse there was no song apart from sounds of "AAAAHHHH,OOOOHHHHH,EEEHHHH" etc.. but it was superb to hear his voice with the bass guitar.. As expected when the group
came out.. they were all Foreigners!!! what kind of prayer is this for Lord Shiva!!??? He only knows! In the midst of prayers.. my kid who is usually over active and never
keeps her mouth shut was asking something (the place we sat was too far from the prayer hall or the main hall of Dhyanalinga).. and one girl..should be in her 20's repeatedly
came and asked my kid to be silent..when she signalled for the fourth and fifth time, i called and blasted her telling that kids cannot be asked to be silent.. and they cannot be
hypnotised like you. After the prayer we went inside.. the Dhyanalingam was too good.. the space, the ambience, the structure above everything was amazing that even someone
who does not know what is Dhyanam can try and do a little bit of it.when we came out we saw the girl who got severe blasting from me sitting beside a pillar..with eyes closed and mouth
open.. we could see more people on the same age group with closed eyes and a posture as if they are dead.. Not to miss out foreigners again on the same posture.. they call it as
Dhyanam!! my goodness.. if you somehow manage to enter with a mobile camera and take a picture of how these young people are hypnotised in the name of Yoga & Dhyana... we can
bring more cases like the great swami Nithyanandha and other so called sacred Nandhas..

The problem with our set up is that these kind of so called Ashrams are situated well outside the main cities with the total area spreading to so many acres.. Even if u kill
someone and bury... chances of news coming out is very remote. Why to hypnotise people in the name of God & Yoga?? Again, on auspicious days the celebrities (even from the
much respected professions) go there and make the place all the more popular. All those young people who are inside.. might be volunteers.. but their eyes cleanly tell us that
"They are being mesmorised & Hypnotised"and in some cases it can also be above that!!! I came out with lots of sadness inside my mind thinking about these young people..
who should have been in good positions in their lives.. but just spending with white clothes.. so called silence... with lots of artificial calmness in their face...

Why dont people just understand... God is a super power.. and God never expects you to lose your life for him.. God never expects such a foolish act from anyone.. Yoga is definitely
good.. but not good in this way..its just an execrcise.. never requires you to lose your present to get the so called "INNER FEELING"..

Above all.. the head... is always on world tour.. enjoying his life.. with five star amenities... and continues to Hypnotise people in the name of YOGA!!!

You Just BE CALM (B.Com)

"Commerce" in class XI is considered to be the least rated one among all the groups available. Earlier people used to flag commerce group as an untouchable one and it was also
deemed to be fit for students below average to clear class XII.. this was even proved by some schools by transfering dull students from science to commerce.. Though the culture has
changed by a long way.. we still see this happen during every year especially with new admission for class XI..

But to me people who go behind science does not realise the big risk factor which is awaiting them.. not all science students end up as a Doctor.. Ofcourse Engineering has become an
easy degree..thanks to the 1000's of colleges owned by Politicians across the country.. but are they really worth?? i have seen so many engineering students working for a salary which
is less than that of an ATM security guard!! its true.. its because of the very poor standards of Eng.colleges where parents feel that they have achieved huge success in their life
by getting an admission in the so called Eng.colleges.. Go on a drive from Chennai to Sriperumbudhur.. you wont believe me.. within a distance of 46kms.. we have 16 Eng.colleges
out of which only 4 has properly painted buildings.. Ultimately you can find these students in a call center doing night shift.. and selling some stuff... this is for B.E.. needless to
say about other degrees such as B.Sc and others which will never place someone in high ranking profiles!

On the other hand... look someone who has studied B.Com.. just a B.Com.. forget about MBA... it has become like B.E these days.. but a B.Com will survive anywhere in this country.
There are tons and tons of openings for accounting people all over the country.. With the ITES on full flow.. only accounting stands out in careers when you compare with other UG / PG's
You need not complete any big professional courses.. but you still find a job with a decent salary.. Believe me.. with the growing ITES.. people who just have B.Com with a fair number
of years as experience are reaching greater amounts of CTC's year after year...

So.. the next time someone says that Commerce is for below average students... you just be calm.. let them suffer!! After all... all business end up with accounting!