Musings From New York

The Foi(b)l(e)s Of The Kannada Film Industry

You guys might have heard of this minor nuisance in Bangalore, called the Kannada film industry.

In a spirited bid to promote Kannada films, they've decided the best way to do so is to stop people from watching other language films ... including the two "national" languages - Hindi & English. The guy coming up with these decisions has to be the most mentally deficient gutterslob in the world! Here are some of the reasons a moratorium on films will never work in a place like Bangalore:

1. First and foremost, it's a simple case of supply & demand. In Bangalore (where the activism is taking place), let's face it: a lot of people (I don't have any exact statistics, but I can bet a major, or significant, percent of the population) are non-Kannada speaking ... or, are interested in watching both English & Kanadda films. I don't know what it's like in the sticks.

2. Denial of popular methods of entertainment always ... ALWAYS drives it underground, encourages piracy (or bootlegging), which is to the ultimate detriment to society in general. Look at US prohibition against alcohol in the 1930's - it gave rise to a whole load of trouble in the form of criminal gangs manufacturing and/or smuggling hooch ... and ultimately gave us some very fine films, but that's another topic altogether. A moratorium on movies will basically lead to people pirating films in other cities outside Karnataka, and bringing them into the state for sale.

3. The cash-rich urban youth of Bangalore can always hop onto a flight or a train, go across the border to Hosur (!) and watch the movie. Heck if I were a public official in Hosur, I'd be contacting theater owners and proposing the construction of a multiplex just inside the state border! More cash to TN!

4. Ultimately, you're going to scare away business to other states. Let's face it: Bangalore contributes a lot to the state's bottomline ... directly (income tax of corporations & their employees) and indirectly (support services, lifestyles, etc. to all those people). Bangalore has been the posterchild of India Shining. How do you think foreign & multinational Indian companies are going to react to governmental support of such policies?

So ultimately, people are going to be watching non-Kannada movies at home, or in other states. They may choose to watch the movie again after 7 weeks, but I would doubt it. And what about Kannada movies? Would people watch them, when they weren't watching them before? ... that was a rhetorical question, for those of you who missed it.

So my question is ... who's currently using the Kannada film industry's single brain cell at the moment? Surely there's some way to make him see the absolute foolishness of these hairbrained schemes?!

This Is Why India Builds Concrete Bridges

Boy, people can damage any environment they live in, can't they?

Turkey Turns Chicken

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this ...

Can You Get Whiplash From Clubbing??

27-year old looks on bemused that he's standing next to beautiful women

Jeez, what a weekend! I can't believe it's over already. Had an absolute blast at The Bollywood Bar (near Green Street Station) - there were about 9 of us. 3+ hours dancing (or in my case, attempting to dance) to desi remixes spliced with hip & trip hop. As you can see from the photos, it was an AMAZING time.

There were these 2 girls from Bombay in the group last night, Girita & Alithia - first time I've met air hostesses ... er, stewardesses ... no, the PC term at the moment I believe is cabin crew :-) ... with Air India ... yeah, Air India, I know ... I won't hold it against them ;-). So now I've got to figure out when they're flying the NYC-Bombay sector . They've promised me decent grub in even though I'd be flying Economy. Hmm ... talking with pretty cabin crew ... or watch movies ... decisions, decisions!

A couple of minor quibbles over Bar Bollywood aka Bollywood Bar ... it was a bit small - Karim almost got into a fight with some dude jostling him ... and they really water down their drinks - took 5 Jack & Cokes and a whole lot of shakin' to get to the happy zone ... but get there I did :-)

Going to London for the weekend

On the agenda:

- An American resturant (read: BBQ, NFL, and NBA)
- A desi nightclub called Bollywood bar
- Possibly meet up with Noufail & family, if I can get a hold of them!

Erratum

On 11/20, I wrote: This is my cousin Nandini and her daughter, Pratri ... something. Parprika? No. Pratrika I think. Close enough anyway!

Nandini informs me that my delightful niece's name is Prakruti. She was quite amused about it. I think she's fairly cool as a mom - my head would've been chewed off by any other new mother :-)

Unfortunately, Hello can't connect to Blogger from my office network, and I'm forced to upload pictures to my blog on weekends only. I'm trying to figure out some way around.

Home Alone 5: The English Countryside

The front of the home/office

The back of the home/office - behind me is the clubhouse & the swimming pool.

Definitely looks like the setting of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, doesn't it? :-)

Photo of the Year

Baby looks on as photographer snaps "Photo of the Year". Mother remains glued to TV Screen.

This is my cousin Nandini and her daughter, Pratri ... something. Parprika? No. Pratrika I think. Close enough anyway!

TV Advertising in the UK

I've been watching a bit of British TV these last few days. Not much, mind you - British free-to-air is even more boring than US Daytime Shows. A rundown of the primetime programming last night:

BBC 1: Wildlife on 1 - A look at the life & times of some sort of lizard
BBC 2: Some sort of ballroom dance competition
ITV:  Some god-awful soap
Channel 4: Hollyoaks (another god-awful soap)
Channel 5: The Family Man (Nick Cage senti movie)

See what I mean? I usually watch TV just before I'm about to go to bed - 30 minutes and The Sandman doesn't just sprinkle his wares on my eyelids - he hits me with a sackful of the stuff!

Anyway, about advertising in the UK ....

I've sort of gotten the opinion that even advertising in the UK bears the "I'm ever so sorry to bother you, but do you mind considering purchasing my product? Um ... thank you. So sorry to have bothered you" mentality. That's the prevailing attitude for UK products ... like household products.  The usual voice-over is cheerful & bright to the point where you suspect the person behind it is overdosing Prozac. The other category of UK ads shows the person using the product and marvels at how amazing that person now looks ... kind of like what tobacco ads usually do.

You do have some ads produced by multi-nationals. The prevailing attitude behind those ads? "This product is cool. You are not. If you use this product, you can hope to be a little cooler than you are. But don't get your hopes up." The voice-over here is usually cool, dry and withering in tone. You kind of get the impression that the person behind the voice doesn't really live in this country.

Pixar's Sucess Is Attracting Critics

I ran across this story of envy via IMDb.