The current post is all about the beautiful people in a venture by some of our seniors called ViVu. It is about what makes them beautiful. People here are driven by hunger, passion, the insight to change the way things are built, organized and the execution of the same which make difference in what they (we) do. I don't want to list out the names of entire team here. We believe that we are one as a team. However, based on my experiences with these amazing people, I feel that I can share what they are characterized of that makes them stand out from the usual people anyone comes across.
1. Dreamers - The people who always dream about the things they want to make come true. They dream about simple things that make difference and add value. They dream about complex things to make them look outrageously simple.
2. 'The' ones: The Neos of the Matrix. They (we) believe in things, in people, in round pegs in square holes. Things may seem different; At the end of the day, they will have 'the' style, 'the' signature.
3. Passionate: It's the teams absolute belief that nothing can come your way when you are passionate about getting things done, pushing the people around and getting pushed by the people around. If you are on the go, forget the world around; Live in your own. Needless to say its only possible through hard work. Passion that can never be contained and passion that will never be complacent.
4. Achievers: This is the most important characteristic of all the above. The team believes that it is all about achieving goals. Results actually define the success; And nothing else. Not the amount of effort, not the amount of hard work.
Thus everything simplifies to a single belief - Dream to achieve and achieve the dreams; Be passionate and all the way be 'the' one.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
"The Educated Fool"(lyrics by Iron Maiden) that I am
I'm an educated fool
So I don't know what it is I'm supposed to do
About this awkward situation
That's been forced down right upon me
As I'm walking down into
on my own into the valley of life
Got a lifetime of experience
yeah I've got so much to give
Open the page at chapter one
could this just be that life's just begun
Forever within your darker thoughts
Reflecting on everything you've been taught
Never felt this way before
Seems that somebody's just opened the door
To the book of life .... or is it death!
there's ever anyway out
Someone's looking down on me
to the very inner core of my soul
They won't tell me what they see
But I really want to know
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
I want to go and see the fire burn
I want to see and feel my world turn
I want to know what more there's to learn
I want to pass the point of no return
Do you really wanna be
Just another one statistic or feel
That you really should aspire
That you really do deserve more
Do you ever really feal
That you have so much potential inside
What you really have to give
Could be realized so much more
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
I want to go and see the fire burn
I want to see and feel my world turn
I want to know what more there's to learn
I want to pass the point of no return
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
I want to feel what life's like respond
I want to meet my father beyond
I want to walk right into the light
I want to feel no fear but delight
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
The educated fool
So I don't know what it is I'm supposed to do
About this awkward situation
That's been forced down right upon me
As I'm walking down into
on my own into the valley of life
Got a lifetime of experience
yeah I've got so much to give
Open the page at chapter one
could this just be that life's just begun
Forever within your darker thoughts
Reflecting on everything you've been taught
Never felt this way before
Seems that somebody's just opened the door
To the book of life .... or is it death!
there's ever anyway out
Someone's looking down on me
to the very inner core of my soul
They won't tell me what they see
But I really want to know
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
I want to go and see the fire burn
I want to see and feel my world turn
I want to know what more there's to learn
I want to pass the point of no return
Do you really wanna be
Just another one statistic or feel
That you really should aspire
That you really do deserve more
Do you ever really feal
That you have so much potential inside
What you really have to give
Could be realized so much more
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
I want to go and see the fire burn
I want to see and feel my world turn
I want to know what more there's to learn
I want to pass the point of no return
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
I want to feel what life's like respond
I want to meet my father beyond
I want to walk right into the light
I want to feel no fear but delight
I want to live my life on my own
I want to lift the unturned stone
I want to walk right into the fire
I want to live out all my desires
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
Time will flow
And I will follow
Time will go
But I will follow
The educated fool
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire - A movie of Spirit!
I watched this movie on 25th of January. I had a long wait to catch this movie in theater. I resisted and refrained myself from watching this movie on dvd though my friends managed to procure one by the first week of January and already watched it twice. The very first scene started pretty much smoothly with a police constable interrogating Jamal and later as the story line unfolded into the mainstream of how the protagonist won his love and in life, it is very much fascinating to have a look and discuss some of the brilliant aspects of various departmental efforts that were gone into making this movie.
The first thing I would like to mention here is Screenplay. One can say that the story is a very simple one with no twists and turns involved almost a smooth ride without any bumps. However, such a simple story is written for the screen in such a manner that rivets you to your seat until the very last scene is completed. Never did I feel that the movie was boring. The screenplay in every act of the movie can be divided into three parts. One, the current events where the police interrogates Jamal in an effort to know how he supposedly cheated. Second, how Jamal actually managed himself on the show "Who wants to be a millionaire?". Third, how Jamal learnt the answers to the questions being asked on the show since his childhood. Layered into all the parts is also the internal spirit, the movie actually tries to portray - the very spirit of life conglomerated with joy, experience, adaptation, bitterness, inevitability, desperation, hope, last but not the least - Destiny and Love. Screenplay writer Simon Beaufoy beautifully adapted the story by Vikas Swaroop. If we can observe a few dialogues in the movie, they were written in such a way to build the characters and story line. I would like to pick a few for example, in the scene where child Latika is standing in rain. the elder brother Salim mentions - "Who knows the name of bloody third musketeer!" and in the end thats the question Jamal faces to win 20 million rupees; In the scene where Maman asks Salim to pick the kind of life he would like to lead, he questions Salim if he wants to grow up to be a real man... like a gun-fighter and thats what Salim grows up to be after a few years later - a gangster; Also in the scene where Prem asks Jamal to answer correctly to his questions by saying -"If you get this wrong, you will loose EVERYTHING" which is actually true for the protagonist is playing for his love and for him, his love is everything etc. All in all, the screenplay of the movie is very well done and deserves an Oscar and I guess he gets it.
Secondly, Music. Every Indian knows the sort of emotions that Rahman would try to evoke among the audience through his music. His music has already drowned the music lovers in 'n' number of emotions and we know it well. Its for the western folk to take their turn now to get a dip in the ocean of Rahman's music. His music fits into every scene and brings forth the right feel for the audience. The joy of boyhood and the mischief of the childhood in the scene where Jamal, Salim and his friends were chased by police in the initial sequence of the movie, in the sequence during the escape of the boy brothers from some gangsters, in the scenes of journeys the brothers take in trains, in the scene where the brothers go in search of Latika among sex-workers, in the scene where Salim approaches another gangster after killing Maman and in the sequence where Latika comes for Jamal to VT and gets hurt by Salim and gangsters. He did a mix of Indian classsical and the western beats to churn out the music and gave life to the scenes. Apart from the above mentioned scenes, his scores in the rest of the movies is also very commendable. Altogether, he did so fantastic a job that words fall short of to describe his work. I guess he's definately going to win two oscars - one for "Jai Ho" in the category of acheivement for best original song and the second for achievement in best original score. (I saw the curious case of Benjamin Button before this movie and thought Alexandre Desplat is going to win the award, however, after going through Rahman's work, the latter succeeds in my opionion).
Cinematography is another superb work in this movie. The cinematographer chose his lights and camera angles in such a way to bring to life, the vibrance of Mumbai slums, captured them in a very lively fashion, as we can see in the chase of youngest Jamal by the police in the first scene, we can get a vivid glimpse of slums, one can see the flies on a lying dog, the way he captured police chasing from the mirror of barber-shop, children jumping from the asbestos roof tops, the way he captured Latika from Jamal's eye while escaping in train from the gangsters, also in the scene where Jamal comes for Latika in the gangster's house, he shows Latika from a translucent glass-like wall. These are just a few examples of his work. From the movie, I guess you can pick a lot of such scenes where the cinematographer tries to bring out his best. This is going to give The curious case of Benjamin Button, a tight fight in this category and once again I guess this one has a better edge over curious case.
Direction! Danny Boyle did an absolutely fantastic job. A great one. Though I may not even come close to guess how he dreamt of the movie, his work reflects his dedication for bringing out the best in the movie. He worked well with each and every department to bring out the right proportion of almost every scene. He definately bags an oscar for this one too I guess. Though I am a big fan of Davind fincher for his Seven, Fight Club and curious case, I would go for Danny for this one.
As a whole this is the best movie of the year for it brings out the philosophy of life which is applicable to most of the common folk. Like I said in the beginning - joy, experience, adaptation, bitterness, inevitability, desperation, hope last but not the least - Destiny and Love are a few to mention. It brings forth the very spirit of life and thats why this is going to be a heart-favourite for Oscar. The only flaw I could make out of the movie is that the order in which the Jamal faces the questions is also the order in which Jamal learns the answers in his life which is pretty much not according to reality.
On TV shows and news, I saw many claiming that the film portrayed Mumbai slums in a wrong manner. I guess they are wrong to the most extent. I agree that jumping into a shit pool is too unreal just for the autograph of Amitab (However looking at how some people do not care for their lives for some stars, I can consider this as an extreme case). When it comes to wrong portrayal of the slums, I almost totally disagree. Here is how I reason. Jamal played who wants to be a millionaire in 2006 when he was 18. So the life in slums is mostly depicted in the childhood of Jamal when he is about the age of roughly 7-9 years I guess which takes us approximately a decade back. During 1995-97 I don't think India is as how the Indians perceive it to be as of now. India, I guess started developing dramatically since early 2000s. But if you point out that Indian economic conditions and etc stuff were great and not like as shown in the movie, I would say, the story is not about portrayal of Indian Economic conditions or Indian quality of life but it is about the belief of a Slum-grown Indian kid in destiny & love and how he ulitmately succeds in his love and life through the strength in his faith for them. However, the portrayal of slums is very much real here. Anyway, controversies exist when there is difference of perception and opinion. For now I would like to say, its a great movie full of spirit.
The first thing I would like to mention here is Screenplay. One can say that the story is a very simple one with no twists and turns involved almost a smooth ride without any bumps. However, such a simple story is written for the screen in such a manner that rivets you to your seat until the very last scene is completed. Never did I feel that the movie was boring. The screenplay in every act of the movie can be divided into three parts. One, the current events where the police interrogates Jamal in an effort to know how he supposedly cheated. Second, how Jamal actually managed himself on the show "Who wants to be a millionaire?". Third, how Jamal learnt the answers to the questions being asked on the show since his childhood. Layered into all the parts is also the internal spirit, the movie actually tries to portray - the very spirit of life conglomerated with joy, experience, adaptation, bitterness, inevitability, desperation, hope, last but not the least - Destiny and Love. Screenplay writer Simon Beaufoy beautifully adapted the story by Vikas Swaroop. If we can observe a few dialogues in the movie, they were written in such a way to build the characters and story line. I would like to pick a few for example, in the scene where child Latika is standing in rain. the elder brother Salim mentions - "Who knows the name of bloody third musketeer!" and in the end thats the question Jamal faces to win 20 million rupees; In the scene where Maman asks Salim to pick the kind of life he would like to lead, he questions Salim if he wants to grow up to be a real man... like a gun-fighter and thats what Salim grows up to be after a few years later - a gangster; Also in the scene where Prem asks Jamal to answer correctly to his questions by saying -"If you get this wrong, you will loose EVERYTHING" which is actually true for the protagonist is playing for his love and for him, his love is everything etc. All in all, the screenplay of the movie is very well done and deserves an Oscar and I guess he gets it.
Secondly, Music. Every Indian knows the sort of emotions that Rahman would try to evoke among the audience through his music. His music has already drowned the music lovers in 'n' number of emotions and we know it well. Its for the western folk to take their turn now to get a dip in the ocean of Rahman's music. His music fits into every scene and brings forth the right feel for the audience. The joy of boyhood and the mischief of the childhood in the scene where Jamal, Salim and his friends were chased by police in the initial sequence of the movie, in the sequence during the escape of the boy brothers from some gangsters, in the scenes of journeys the brothers take in trains, in the scene where the brothers go in search of Latika among sex-workers, in the scene where Salim approaches another gangster after killing Maman and in the sequence where Latika comes for Jamal to VT and gets hurt by Salim and gangsters. He did a mix of Indian classsical and the western beats to churn out the music and gave life to the scenes. Apart from the above mentioned scenes, his scores in the rest of the movies is also very commendable. Altogether, he did so fantastic a job that words fall short of to describe his work. I guess he's definately going to win two oscars - one for "Jai Ho" in the category of acheivement for best original song and the second for achievement in best original score. (I saw the curious case of Benjamin Button before this movie and thought Alexandre Desplat is going to win the award, however, after going through Rahman's work, the latter succeeds in my opionion).
Cinematography is another superb work in this movie. The cinematographer chose his lights and camera angles in such a way to bring to life, the vibrance of Mumbai slums, captured them in a very lively fashion, as we can see in the chase of youngest Jamal by the police in the first scene, we can get a vivid glimpse of slums, one can see the flies on a lying dog, the way he captured police chasing from the mirror of barber-shop, children jumping from the asbestos roof tops, the way he captured Latika from Jamal's eye while escaping in train from the gangsters, also in the scene where Jamal comes for Latika in the gangster's house, he shows Latika from a translucent glass-like wall. These are just a few examples of his work. From the movie, I guess you can pick a lot of such scenes where the cinematographer tries to bring out his best. This is going to give The curious case of Benjamin Button, a tight fight in this category and once again I guess this one has a better edge over curious case.
Direction! Danny Boyle did an absolutely fantastic job. A great one. Though I may not even come close to guess how he dreamt of the movie, his work reflects his dedication for bringing out the best in the movie. He worked well with each and every department to bring out the right proportion of almost every scene. He definately bags an oscar for this one too I guess. Though I am a big fan of Davind fincher for his Seven, Fight Club and curious case, I would go for Danny for this one.
As a whole this is the best movie of the year for it brings out the philosophy of life which is applicable to most of the common folk. Like I said in the beginning - joy, experience, adaptation, bitterness, inevitability, desperation, hope last but not the least - Destiny and Love are a few to mention. It brings forth the very spirit of life and thats why this is going to be a heart-favourite for Oscar. The only flaw I could make out of the movie is that the order in which the Jamal faces the questions is also the order in which Jamal learns the answers in his life which is pretty much not according to reality.
On TV shows and news, I saw many claiming that the film portrayed Mumbai slums in a wrong manner. I guess they are wrong to the most extent. I agree that jumping into a shit pool is too unreal just for the autograph of Amitab (However looking at how some people do not care for their lives for some stars, I can consider this as an extreme case). When it comes to wrong portrayal of the slums, I almost totally disagree. Here is how I reason. Jamal played who wants to be a millionaire in 2006 when he was 18. So the life in slums is mostly depicted in the childhood of Jamal when he is about the age of roughly 7-9 years I guess which takes us approximately a decade back. During 1995-97 I don't think India is as how the Indians perceive it to be as of now. India, I guess started developing dramatically since early 2000s. But if you point out that Indian economic conditions and etc stuff were great and not like as shown in the movie, I would say, the story is not about portrayal of Indian Economic conditions or Indian quality of life but it is about the belief of a Slum-grown Indian kid in destiny & love and how he ulitmately succeds in his love and life through the strength in his faith for them. However, the portrayal of slums is very much real here. Anyway, controversies exist when there is difference of perception and opinion. For now I would like to say, its a great movie full of spirit.
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