...and thus, I just finished watching Andaz Apna Apna for the twelfth time.
Amazingly enough, it still managed to make me laugh. Which is when I realized that I had to blog about it.
What is it about this movie, a flop when it was released way back in 1994, which has since gone on to become a beloved cult classic, that pulls me back time and again?
Well for one, the director Rajkumar Santoshi had made this movie at the time when he was at the peak of his art, having already made Ghayal and Damini, two heavy-duty Hindi potboilers, still popular today.
Andaz Apna Apna was an out and out comedy. Unlike other Hindi movies of the time, which used comedy as an ingredient along with parts of romance, tragedy and action (typically termed masala movies), here was a movie which was packed with comedic material from start to end. And what material it turned out to be!
The amazing part of this movie is that even after multiple viewings there will always be a particular joke or a throwaway line which we discover, just like discovering a particularly good piece of prose in a book undetected in previous readings.
The jokes are hurled at us at a breakneck speed, and even though some of them do fall flat, most of them do hit the mark. Till today!
Speaking of "mark", the most brilliantly funny piece of farce I have seen till today, is the scene where Amar (i.e. Aamir Khan) draws a mark on the face of Ramgopal Bajaj (played brilliantly by Paresh Rawal) to distinguish him from Teja (Paresh Rawal again) in the eyes of Teja's bumbling henchmen, Robert and Bhalla. The very fact that someone actually conceptualised this scene speaks volumes of human creativity and inventiveness. In my eyes, no Hollywood movie has ever come up with a scene more funny.
And then there is the evergreen character of Crimemaster Gogo, a brilliant riff on the arch-villian Mogambo from Mr. India. In fact, he is introduced as Mogambo ka bhatija (nephew). Played by Shakti Kapoor, everything about the character is funny, from the costumes he dons, to the modus operandi he uses to rob his victims, to the one-liners he spouts. "Aaya huun, kuchh toh loot ke jayega".
As for the plot ... there is no plot. Basically, the story is about two rascals, Amar and Prem who go to Ooty to marry the daughter of the billionaire industrialist Ramgopal Bajaj, Raveena (or Karishma) who has returned to India from the USA to find a groom for herself. But the evil mastermind Teja, RamGopal Bajaj's evil twin brother has his eyes on the family fortune ...
The movie is so wonderfully amazing, that even Salman Khan (who plays Prem) is funny, a feat that he has never again managed to achieve in any movie after that. Aamir Khan is endearing as the cocky Amar, who always tries to stay one step ahead of the slightly dim witted Prem, but ends up ... but that is something you need to watch.
Me and my friends in Hexaware, Siddhesh and Prakash have been and will be die-hard fans of the movie. We spent countless lunch breaks endlessly spouting the hilarious one-liners in the movies (mostly from Teja) applying them to all sorts of day to day situations.
I could go on and on about this movie. It is one of my favourite films and THE best comedy of all time. If you haven't watched this movie, do watch it ASAP. If you don't understand Hindi, get a friend to translate.
Believe you me, there are few better ways to spend two and a half hours on a Sunday afternoon.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
A year of management education
As my first year of MBA almost comes to a close (just two more days remain), the first thought that comes to my mind is "Is this it?"
Is this all that the great Indian obsession, the much vaunted term "Management Education", adds up to?
How much of management have I really learned, in comparison to what I might have learned if I had stayed back at my old job is an interesting question. Not that I would have really stayed back in my old job but that's because my old company is currently in a pretty bad shape. Rather, if I had continued to be in IT.
Sure there was a slim chance that considering the current economic scenario I might have been laid off, but self-deprecating though I am, I do have enough self-confidence to believe that I wouldn't have been thrown out.
I must confess that I possess little of what are generally acknowledged to be "Management Skills". That is something that you pick up eventually with experience. All I have been equipped with is an uncertain sense of jargon. I am vaguely aware of what most of the terms mean. Also, after a year, I can now confidently sift through the Economic Times and understand the nuances behind the articles, and not be bewildered by the unfamiliar terms, as was the case pre-MBA.
So now, after these two days are over and a 5 day break in between, I move into my Summer Internship phase. Ah! Now this is where the real challenge is going to lie. I have been given a Sales profile and I am uncertain as to how adequately I am prepared for it. Firstly, throughout this past year, I have been somewhat of a social recluse, happy to stick to my room surfing the internet, rather then going out there and networking.
I have managed to make few good friends, but not nearly enough. Now being in sales, my attitude will need to show a 90 degree shift. I cannot afford to be a recluse anymore or I might as well kiss the chances of a Pre Placement Offer goodbye. But this past year I have done little to develop this skill, nor is it something that comes to me naturally.
Anyhow, there's no sense worrying about it now and I guess it is going to be a case of Baptism by fire. I am not unduly stressed about it. One thing I have realized is, I do manage to accomplish stuff in my own special, bumbling and diffident manner. But Boy! Is this internship going to be completely different from anything that I have endeavoured before!
But then this is why I joined to do an MBA in the first place!
Today, when I read my post "Chala Murari hero banane", written just before I had joined my b-school, I find a curious sense of optimism that seems to have somehow, just diminished a little. Mind you, it's just a little dip. I do not think I will be posting again till my Internships are over.
How will it all turn out? What experiences will I have? I am damn curious to peek into the future and find out but unfortunately I have no recourse but to allow things to take their own sweet time.
So until next time, Sayonara!
Is this all that the great Indian obsession, the much vaunted term "Management Education", adds up to?
How much of management have I really learned, in comparison to what I might have learned if I had stayed back at my old job is an interesting question. Not that I would have really stayed back in my old job but that's because my old company is currently in a pretty bad shape. Rather, if I had continued to be in IT.
Sure there was a slim chance that considering the current economic scenario I might have been laid off, but self-deprecating though I am, I do have enough self-confidence to believe that I wouldn't have been thrown out.
I must confess that I possess little of what are generally acknowledged to be "Management Skills". That is something that you pick up eventually with experience. All I have been equipped with is an uncertain sense of jargon. I am vaguely aware of what most of the terms mean. Also, after a year, I can now confidently sift through the Economic Times and understand the nuances behind the articles, and not be bewildered by the unfamiliar terms, as was the case pre-MBA.
So now, after these two days are over and a 5 day break in between, I move into my Summer Internship phase. Ah! Now this is where the real challenge is going to lie. I have been given a Sales profile and I am uncertain as to how adequately I am prepared for it. Firstly, throughout this past year, I have been somewhat of a social recluse, happy to stick to my room surfing the internet, rather then going out there and networking.
I have managed to make few good friends, but not nearly enough. Now being in sales, my attitude will need to show a 90 degree shift. I cannot afford to be a recluse anymore or I might as well kiss the chances of a Pre Placement Offer goodbye. But this past year I have done little to develop this skill, nor is it something that comes to me naturally.
Anyhow, there's no sense worrying about it now and I guess it is going to be a case of Baptism by fire. I am not unduly stressed about it. One thing I have realized is, I do manage to accomplish stuff in my own special, bumbling and diffident manner. But Boy! Is this internship going to be completely different from anything that I have endeavoured before!
But then this is why I joined to do an MBA in the first place!
Today, when I read my post "Chala Murari hero banane", written just before I had joined my b-school, I find a curious sense of optimism that seems to have somehow, just diminished a little. Mind you, it's just a little dip. I do not think I will be posting again till my Internships are over.
How will it all turn out? What experiences will I have? I am damn curious to peek into the future and find out but unfortunately I have no recourse but to allow things to take their own sweet time.
So until next time, Sayonara!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
An ode
I came across this beautiful poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy during my travels on the Internet.
I think I know what it means, but I am not sure. I somehow am entranced by it and a whole world of imagination opens in front of my eyes.
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
I think I know what it means, but I am not sure. I somehow am entranced by it and a whole world of imagination opens in front of my eyes.
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Raw poetry from Trainspotting
Choose Life.
Choose a job.
Choose a career.
Choose a family.
Choose a fucking big television,
choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers.
Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance.
Choose fixed interest mortage repayments.
Choose a starter home.
Choose your friends.
Choose leisurewear and matching luggage.
Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics.
Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning.
Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows,
stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth.
Choose rotting away at the end of it all,
pishing your last in a miserable home,
nothing more than an embarrassment
to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself.
Choose your future.
Choose life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJzX9i24IKs
Choose a job.
Choose a career.
Choose a family.
Choose a fucking big television,
choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers.
Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance.
Choose fixed interest mortage repayments.
Choose a starter home.
Choose your friends.
Choose leisurewear and matching luggage.
Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics.
Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning.
Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows,
stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth.
Choose rotting away at the end of it all,
pishing your last in a miserable home,
nothing more than an embarrassment
to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself.
Choose your future.
Choose life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJzX9i24IKs
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Marketing
If there is one subject which is full of self-important jargon it is marketing.
Try some of these on for size.
We should leverage our core competencies to target the value for money segment.
By optimizing the usage of the 4Ps we shall provide a value proposition to all our stakeholders.
We will position our brand to attain relevant synergies with the consumer.
I could go on. One year in MBA has given me this tool with which I can "pfaff" with ease. Pfaff(P silent) - the latest word added to my vocabulary. One which in its simple structure covers the entire course of MBA.
MBA is all Pfaff. What does Pfaff mean? It means making stuff up as you go along, all the while enclosing it in a mist of meaningful sounding jargon to hide the fact that all you are saying is utter bullshit. In a way all MBAs learn to be confidence men or shysters. Some get better at it. Some like me initially rebel against it but later join in the flow.
Because its easier to do so and more practical.
Try some of these on for size.
We should leverage our core competencies to target the value for money segment.
By optimizing the usage of the 4Ps we shall provide a value proposition to all our stakeholders.
We will position our brand to attain relevant synergies with the consumer.
I could go on. One year in MBA has given me this tool with which I can "pfaff" with ease. Pfaff(P silent) - the latest word added to my vocabulary. One which in its simple structure covers the entire course of MBA.
MBA is all Pfaff. What does Pfaff mean? It means making stuff up as you go along, all the while enclosing it in a mist of meaningful sounding jargon to hide the fact that all you are saying is utter bullshit. In a way all MBAs learn to be confidence men or shysters. Some get better at it. Some like me initially rebel against it but later join in the flow.
Because its easier to do so and more practical.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Wretched thoughts
There is a nihilistic urge within me that threatens to immolate me. I feel I could self combust at any instant such is the nature of the urge. It has been caused by my inability in the recent past to have any kind of control or be able to harness my thoughts and my actions.
I despair. I despair at my inability to wake up from my slumber. It is as if a part of me has been blindfolded, ruthlessly cut off from the rest of my being. I find solace in writing this down. Slowly I find my frustration ebbing as if the inner clutter is being swept away. I glance at my hands as they type, tippety-tap, on the keyboard. I wonder how I'd live without them. To be rudderless in an ocean of misery.
But then my mood lifts. It was all due to a game I had begun with someone. Trying to infect that person with my negativism. And it seemed to work. I seemed to have transferred my fury and rage and incoherence and the translucent haze was lifted off my mind. I could see clearly how facetious I had truly been, how all these words and thoughts were an elaborate charade, created by a bored intellect and mistaken for torpor. I could see through the self important claptrap and suddenly I realized. I need to stop typing and start studying.
Oh wretched BDA, you soporific subject taught by that odious demagogue, I take a stab at you again!
I despair. I despair at my inability to wake up from my slumber. It is as if a part of me has been blindfolded, ruthlessly cut off from the rest of my being. I find solace in writing this down. Slowly I find my frustration ebbing as if the inner clutter is being swept away. I glance at my hands as they type, tippety-tap, on the keyboard. I wonder how I'd live without them. To be rudderless in an ocean of misery.
But then my mood lifts. It was all due to a game I had begun with someone. Trying to infect that person with my negativism. And it seemed to work. I seemed to have transferred my fury and rage and incoherence and the translucent haze was lifted off my mind. I could see clearly how facetious I had truly been, how all these words and thoughts were an elaborate charade, created by a bored intellect and mistaken for torpor. I could see through the self important claptrap and suddenly I realized. I need to stop typing and start studying.
Oh wretched BDA, you soporific subject taught by that odious demagogue, I take a stab at you again!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A walk amidst the clouds
Living on a hill has its benefits.
I have been in Lavale for four months now and finally did I find some time to visit this space and relive the old routine of typing some shit.
An MBA life is curiously enchanting. You rarely sleep before 2 A.M. You learn to read up for presentations an hour before. In fact guys get to learn a trick that girls have mastered instinctively - Multi tasking.
The campus is in its first year of operation and by now most of the glitches have been sorted out. The air is clean and healthy without a trace of the slightest pollutants, and for someone who hails from the perennially polluted Mumbai, this is a pleasant change. Of course, since this isn't Mumbai, electricity and water shortages are omni-present challenges, but the administration is dealing with it to the best of its limited capabilities.
To tell the truth I haven't found an MBA course to be much helpful so far. It seems to be just repackaging of common concepts and the examinations especially are pretty bullshitty. I expected post-grad exams to do a serious testing of your concepts and check your utilization of those concepts in practical scenarios. But so far all the exams have been similar to our school exams wherein we by-heart a topic and then vomit a short-note on it.
Of course, its not all crap. There are some good things in the course also. But all the good things only come to those who are willing to participate in either the student council activities, the inter b-school management fests or some case-study competitions etc. If you just depend on the school curriculum you are pretty much not gonna learn anything.
And finally, the biggest learning comes through the 2-3 months of your summer internship process. Thats when you get a feel of what is in store for you post degree and how suited you are to it. It is a time to experiment and hence it is extremely vital that you either a) Enter into a good b-school which will attract the best companies across India b) or have good personal contacts to get you into one of those companies.
So far, I have seen things which haven't been upto my expectations, but who knows maybe my expectations were themselves flawed.
As Bryan Adams (or maybe Aerosmith) sang, "life's a journey not a destination."
I have embarked upon an interesting journey. I have consciously chosen to throw away the safety net of my IT job and swim into deep unknown waters, especially with the economy being in such a roughed up state.
Wherever i may reach, it will definitely be far away from my current comfort zone.
I have been in Lavale for four months now and finally did I find some time to visit this space and relive the old routine of typing some shit.
An MBA life is curiously enchanting. You rarely sleep before 2 A.M. You learn to read up for presentations an hour before. In fact guys get to learn a trick that girls have mastered instinctively - Multi tasking.
The campus is in its first year of operation and by now most of the glitches have been sorted out. The air is clean and healthy without a trace of the slightest pollutants, and for someone who hails from the perennially polluted Mumbai, this is a pleasant change. Of course, since this isn't Mumbai, electricity and water shortages are omni-present challenges, but the administration is dealing with it to the best of its limited capabilities.
To tell the truth I haven't found an MBA course to be much helpful so far. It seems to be just repackaging of common concepts and the examinations especially are pretty bullshitty. I expected post-grad exams to do a serious testing of your concepts and check your utilization of those concepts in practical scenarios. But so far all the exams have been similar to our school exams wherein we by-heart a topic and then vomit a short-note on it.
Of course, its not all crap. There are some good things in the course also. But all the good things only come to those who are willing to participate in either the student council activities, the inter b-school management fests or some case-study competitions etc. If you just depend on the school curriculum you are pretty much not gonna learn anything.
And finally, the biggest learning comes through the 2-3 months of your summer internship process. Thats when you get a feel of what is in store for you post degree and how suited you are to it. It is a time to experiment and hence it is extremely vital that you either a) Enter into a good b-school which will attract the best companies across India b) or have good personal contacts to get you into one of those companies.
So far, I have seen things which haven't been upto my expectations, but who knows maybe my expectations were themselves flawed.
As Bryan Adams (or maybe Aerosmith) sang, "life's a journey not a destination."
I have embarked upon an interesting journey. I have consciously chosen to throw away the safety net of my IT job and swim into deep unknown waters, especially with the economy being in such a roughed up state.
Wherever i may reach, it will definitely be far away from my current comfort zone.
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