CHAKDE! INDIA

Chakde! Chakde! Ek Hockey Doongi Rakh ke…

Before the Yash Raj Films’ disaster of the year Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom – though I personally loved the abstractness of the movie and also appreciated the way director has played with the allegory of Prince Charmings and Dream Girls - appeared on the screen; loomed large the image of Shahrukh Khan in his new avatar (in a teaser of a forthcoming movie “Chakde! India”) as the coach of India’s women hockey team, gearing to win the World Cup. I hope it is not another sports based movie gone wrong from YRF camp, after their really tacky take on NASCAR in Ta Ra Rum Pum – which in turn was a very bad copy of Russell Crowe’s Cinderella Man.

Also YRF has this habit of unashamedly depicting Punjabi culture, traditions, songs and even Punjabi conviviality in a bad taste. I mean Punjabis are just not like that. But may be this sells, so much so, that these film makers are tempted to repeat the formula over and over again. But seemingly in Chakde! India, there is some semblance of reality and moreover this movie is based on a true story. Also the game hockey is so Punjabi in spirit. So Chakde! to that. The sports based movies are nothing new in Hollywood but in Bollywood these themes have rarely been tackled successfully and as far as my memory serves me Chakde! would be the first movie with hockey – our national game – as the premise. Another first which can be attributed to Chakde! is that it is a sports based movie where the players are from fairer sex unlike its predecessors. I am just yearning for this movie to be good and a big hit. Hopefully it will bring back certain glamour to the game hockey as I am really disappointed with Indian Cricket in general and also the predictability which has set in cricket matches.

The promo of Chakde! India (depiction is courtesy, Abid: Glamsham) is a long theatrical preview of the movie. The promo comes just before the start of Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom and commences with Shahrukh Khan looking classy in sober but sophisticated white-grey attire, and announcing to the audience (in a confident manner) - ' I'll introduce the team that is going to win the world cup for us.' After that we have some matter-of-fact rap singing by SRK, where he goes on about, 'Chak 2', 'Chak 3' , 'Chak 4'... , thereby introducing the team members to the audience and letting them know exactly what they can expect from this never-say-die, all ladies hockey team. In the background is the extremely infectious, aggressive yet so very different title track (by Salim-Suleiman) from the movie, “Chakde, Chakde, Ek hockey doongi rakh ke.” One by one the hockey team members, from different parts of India, appear on screen, with their own bits and subtle humor. In the end the whole team unites to talk about the 'Chak 1', their coach 'Khan', that is SRK!

I liked the promo for its realism and for the absence of razzmatazz which is part of any YRF product. I just hope movie is as good. Though Bollywood has rarely churned out good sports based movies, Aamir Khan seems to be a pro at it. With Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (cycling was the premise); it was again proven that audiences love to see underdogs winning. But the skill of the director was also in weaving a story around universal emotions like love, friendship, brotherhood and a father son relationship. If it would have been just another sports based movie, it would have met the fate of Aamir’s Awwal Number (based on cricket) or like that of Sohail’s Aryan (boxing) which were just trying to woo the audiences on blood rush and gore which happens in these sports.

Lack of sports based movies in India, clearly is an indicator of the society which doesn’t have a great sporting history and culture. But movies off late have tried to reverse the trend. Lagaan is a great Indian Classic. It pitches the underdogs against the strongest of enemy and unleashes a dramatic saga. Here again like all great sports based movies, the focus is not just on the game but on the emotions playing in it. It is a story of valor of one man and at the end reinforces the famous adage of fortune favoring the brave. In IQBAL all through the movie, the viewer empathizes with Iqbal since Kukunoor attempts to mirror the hardships a small-time guy faces when he dares to dream. Treating the story in the most realistic fashion, IQBAL works due to its Straight-out-of-life setting and Never-say-die spirit of the underdog. Also there have been some recent attempts like Hat trick where a sport is used as very powerful motif to depict similarities with life. That’s also a new way of story telling in Hindi Cinema. Then there are movies like Ghulam (again Aamir as a boxer), where though the game itself is not important to the movie but the qualities required in playing that game provide depth to the characterization of the protagonist.

The latest movie in this genre is truly Punjabi, Apne (partly inspired by Rocky and Raging bull). For the first time a boxing choreographer is used in Hindi Films adding authenticity to fight sequences. There is a high pitched training montage song here – one that goes “You gotta survive/you gotta hit the bullseye”. It sounds like Eye of the Tiger from Rocky III, but entire credit goes to the director to weave an emotional family drama around the game, providing wholesome family entertainment in otherwise very violent movie.

It is not surprising that most of the movies described above are cricket related considering the hysteria this game generates in our country. So Chakde! India is a welcome and refreshing change. I just hope more good movies are made in Bollywood and some fine day some Lagaan comes home with an Oscar…

“You gotta survive/you gotta hit the bullseye”

Finally MBA

Finally MBA, huh!
Finally MBA, aahhh!
Finally MBA, yippee!
Finally MBA?
Finally!
MBA? What’s that?
Finally MBA, trouble over…
It’s only an MBA, come on!
MBA… ho gaya?
Just 2 years…
MBA Vroooooooooooooom……………
MBA – Mazaa Bahut Aaya

Aah! Finally writing a blog. It was a long hiatus by any standards, actually by many standards. Thomas Friedman would say, “The world has flattened even more. While you were sleeping Charan, ten flattening forces synergized more intensely and all of a sudden Bangalore has ceased to be the epicenter of this phenomenon of flattening. India is no longer invincible outsourcing hub, though USA has still to learn its lessons.” I would reply, “To hell with you Tom, I wasn’t sleeping. I was busy doing something more important. I was doing my MBA. More importantly I was in the second year.” I believe everyone in MBA fraternity would vouch for it. All the non MBAs please read the previous blog for instant enlightenment ;-) its difficult to believe that I wrote it more than a year ago.

After going through the justification of my long time-away, wherein I amply used Friedman’s Global Gyan a.k.a Gas, I think my avid readers (I like to live in make believe world. Hic Hic.) would forgive me for being away and busy like hell. Mind it, such global and intellectually stimulating Gyan can come only from MBAs like me and there is a high probability with a level of significance of 0.99, that it would be better understood by MBAs or of their ilk. Finally I should start talking some sense now and actually try to unravel the phenomenon of “Finally MBA.” At the very onset I must make it clear, this phenomenon is bigger than anything you have dealt with till now. Even if Ravi Vishwanathan C R declares that Sivaji and Rajnikanth is Baap of all phenomenons or Behzaad Patrawala alias Baap thinks that he is the best thing that ever happened to this world, simply ignore them! After all they both are MBAs themselves.

Before one can declare that I am finally MBA, there are two things that need to be done. The first thing is to complete the first year and the second thing is to complete the second year. Sounds silly? Simple? If your answer is yes, you need to do an MBA. I had already taken a lot of pain to tell the world about my first year in the last blog. So allow me to skip the first thing and let me talk about the second thing. There are only two seasons in the second year i.e. Placement Season and Non – Placement Season. You needn’t study in any of them. Parties, booze and lots of sleep are the key common characteristics of both seasons. What differentiate both are the increased level of attendance in Placement Season and the substitution of mostly pedestrian faculty with dream companies as most worshipped entities on campus.

In a nutshell second year is all about having fun and lots of fun. It’s the time when one forges great friendships which last for lifetime. In second year nothing seems too distant and too difficult. There is a certain sense of well being. Some of us keep their feet on the ground while some balloons float. Then placement season comes, balloons burst. Thud! Humility is the last lesson which MBA taught me.

** During placements - Anxiety for sometime, tension and stress. Running around. Yeh form, woh form. Yeh company, woh company. He is the CEO material. She would do wonders. GDs and PIs... Phir se? Koi jeeta koi haara... par sab sikandar. Kuch din ke liye party band, jeans pehnna band, daaru band, classes band, sab band… and then after all this megalomaniac pandemonium. Farewells and convocation, vacations to goa, fun times and party times. Everyone is king of good times. After all these times didn’t last forever.” **

It feels great to be “Finally MBA”; it gives me a sense of achievement. But then I am so much more anxious and so much more uncertain. Case studies are over. Now handle the real cases. Still those two years will always invade my memories. Wish it was for two more years.

Finally MBA, huh!
Finally MBA, aahhh!
Finally MBA, yippee!
Finally MBA?
Finally!
MBA? What’s that?
Finally MBA, trouble over…
It’s only an MBA, come on!
MBA… ho gaya?
Just 2 years…
MBA Vroooooooooooooom……………
MBA – Mazaa Bahut Aaya

aM.Be.A.

Master of Business Administration – The most overvalued, over hyped and glorified thing I have ever pursued in my life. A mere master’s degree has become so important part of my life that I eat, drink, sleep the same – no it’s not about academics – it’s about life itself. At one moment I feel “Oh! Why I landed up here?” and the very next moment is an Aha! moment.

Its now almost a year since I have been here in Mumbai doing my MBA. Sometimes these 11-12 months seem like few seconds because one never realizes how time flies here. You just keep fighting against deadlines. Deadlines for everything… Projects, Presentations, Assignments, Surprise tests, Mid terms, End terms, Placements, Alumni meets, Corporate projects, B-school competitions, Seminars, Extra curricular activities, Festivals…. Huh! I am out of breath but this list doesn’t end here… And even after all this you see lots of parties happening… birthdays, achievements or without any reason… Let’s go for booze!!!! Then there are late night movies, strolls on beaches, an ice cream around the corner, and coffee with few close friends…. Clash of egos, clash of personalities, clash of titans and all kinds of clashes... hence helluva sound…. Remaining awake whole night to complete the assignments or remaining awake whole night just to talk to your best friend coz you don’t find time in the daylight… Doing all this and much more but still one thing remains the same… You just keep running against time and never realize when your next birthday is around the corner…

And sometimes you tend to feel as if time is moving at the snail’s pace. It may be due to the concept of relative velocity. You run as fast as time, so time seems static. Am I talking metaphysics? The monotony of doing the same things again and again and again… similar presentations, sometimes even similar topics albeit with few modifications… just stops exciting you. Surprise tests stop surprising you anymore. Hypocrisy comes to fore. It’s only on your birthdays and achievements that you realize that you have many more friends than you counted on your finger tips the previous night. Few close friends become still fewer. Late night parties become sickening and boozing sessions see the same discussions getting repeated. The Steel Man from our class will always tell that how he worked like a coolie at his sister’s marriage. The fanatic from placecom will give you his old wisecracks. The CFA in making will tell me that why I am a CEO material and I will reply back by saying that I don’t have those big ambitions. The chikna Metro sexual always seems to be assessing what the hot girls in our class think about him and still tells that he doesn’t care about girls. I will be generally stuck up with same issues too. The Cool Maratha will keep advising me on my repetitive mistakes and thus this cycle of repetition goes on and on and on… It seems as if time has come to stand still.

Then at the end of the year you see the light at the end of the tunnel. You get a well-deserved break in the form of summers. So here I am working for 2 months in an organization. If I sum up the entire year, I would say I have earned 3-4 decent friends, and some knowledge. I made so many mistakes, which I will never repeat in life. So that’s a takeaway. I can understand hypocrites and losers better. You know this seems pretty interesting. I read the story of the fox and sour grapes when I was a child. It actually applies pretty well for an MBA. It’s as good as any organizational politics. People never appreciate the winners here. They just try to justify their failures and attribute your success to the most hilarious of factors. I have lost a little bit of purity of mind and of course a hell lot of sanity and inner peace. I have understood the ephemeral nature of success. What else? There’s a lot more to tell but words are difficult to come by.

So at the end of the year I am partial MBA and can proudly say “Main Bhi A” – I m also there. By the next year-end I will be “Main Bhi MBA”. I was trying to find various other connotations of MBA that suits the philosophy of me being an MBA. So here it is to conclude my ideas.

aM – it is present of the word BE. It signifies my existence. MBA indeed has become an important element of my existence today. It defines me in a different hue altogether.

Be – No! No! Not Behzad Patrawalla. It just signifies, Be there, Be present, Be real, Be ALIVE.

A – First letter of the Alphabet. What can this signify? This signifies highest category, the power of ONE.

Well this is getting too much for you and me. So let me close here…