Untitled

Guys, before I begin writing this post, let me tell you that I have incorporated a new verse in my post titled " Can't afford to miss her at any cost"... couldn't resist writing about Mr. Soumyadeep Das, a welcome addition to our already rocking group in the 7:19 train.
So, here I am... writing an article after more than a month. Frankly speaking, I wasn't busy at all and had all the time in the world to write a blogpost. I have been pondering about what to write and am still not clear on what I should about. I guess that justifies the rather odd title... Ok, let me begin before I drive my limited audience away.

Have you ever read about "Untitled"? I have read this in newspapers... for instance: Mani Ratnam begins shooting for his "Untitled" next venture. As the shooting of the film and other aspects progress, so will you read about a number of stories woven around it which are extremely well written. Things of the nature of :
"Himesh Reshammiya ate only tandoori rotis during the making of Karz and hence, the song Tandoori nights".... that's pathetic... it was easier to bear his songs...
"Imran Khan doesn't put on weight so he gorges on food whereas Minissha has to starve".. what nonsense!
"Asin, the new girl signed in for Ghajini had a heated argument with Aamir Khan"... I think Aamir khan is too intelligent to have an argument in public..

Now, you will read many such articles and they are so well written that people tend to believe that they are true. I have seen people discussing these articles in local trains. Whether these stories are true or not, they definitely help create a buzz around the movie and ensure great Viral marketing ( word-of-mouth). Right from the so called "Untitled" stage, these stories woven around films provide for excellent PR and branding of the venture. By the time the movie releases, there is great buzz and publicity created around it just by these news articles.

We have many MBA's around who will know all about the Kotler's and the Jack Trout's of marketing but all of them can take a leaf out of Bollywood. They may not be MBA's but they are brilliant marketers of their products. I genuinely believe, a movie like Om Shanti Om din't have much in it but for SRK's great marketing acumen which ensured great collections in the first week itself. The point here is that while Corporates spend so much on Marketing Strategies and their implementation, they can keenly watch the film industry's style and learn a lesson or two. Kudos to the film fraternity, they can definitely rewrite the marketing adage" No marketing effort can save a bad product"... they have changed this to ..." A great marketing effort can definitely turn a mediocre project into a bockbuster!"
Guys, if you have managed to read till here, just think back of the number of times you were fooled into believing that the Bombay Times(BT) article that you just read was true... and from now on, read it as if it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick... then and only then will you truly appreciate the film industry's ways of extracting the maximum out of print as a medium for a film... IT COULD,well, HELP YOU FORM GREAT STRATEGIES SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE AS A TOP MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVE.

A class apart!!!

In all walks of life, there are people and there are PEOPLE... but some simply stand out; they ... are a class apart. I am not necessarily talking about celebrities here. In my department in office , a good friend of mine named Ashish Dave stands out from the rest of us in terms of the way he dresses and carries himself, we all acknowledge it and call him "CLASS"... but let me tell you he puts in a lot of effort to keep the reputation in tact. Then, there are PEOPLE as I mentioned. They will stand out among a million others and their charm lies in the fact that they can do it effortlessly. This article of mine is about a guy who I truly believe is A CLASS APART.Now, I am not going to give away the name so easily. Let's have a build up to it. Just imagine yourself in a situation( say a discussion) with some poeple whose expertise about the topic of the discussion is unparelled. Are you sure you can stand your ground? Are you sure you can still impress and emerge a winner? I can bet my house on the fact that 95% of the people who read this article will not give an affirmative answer to both the above questions. Now, the person I am going to write about can claim this... actually he doesn't need to; for almost every Indian Cricket lover will vouch for this.
Saturday nights are normally TV time for me and I watch the Idiot box till late in the night. I am sure the TV feels happy because there is someone in the room to whom the adjective in the earlier sentence suits aptly. So, while surfing the channels,I happened to get a glimpse of IBN Lokmat. It is a Marathi news channel. I know no one will believe me when I say that I was watching a News channel at 12.30 in the night but the interview that was going on caught my attention. I have always admired this perosn's word power and usage of words-flawless, simple and elegant just like a diamond ring. The way in which he speaks is as smooth as a baby's bum ( please excuse the Sidhuism). But then, all this is in English, I never knew that he spoke Marathi. Frankly speaking, I know Marathi and can understand the language well but if you speak too fast and use very complicated words, it will become a bit tough for me to grasp. Nevertheless, the power of this genius' style and flow of the interview held my attention for the entire hour ( you should appreciate this considering the comment on my attention span in my previous post). I understood each and every word he spoke( hats off to me....). This time though, I was impressed by the man's outlook to life, the simplicity , the poise, the calm and a charm that is unique to him. I loved the way each question was answered- clear thought, good rationale and extremely humble mannerisms. The man I am talking about is none other than Mr. Harsha Bhogle... he truly is a class apart !!!!
The man with no experience in International cricket does stand his own in front of the modern day legends like Sunil Gavaskar , Wasim Akram etc. and all that with absolutely no effort whatsoever. I am not easily impressed by anyone nor do I want to be anyones fan but I truly respect and admire Harsha Bhogle far more than the cricketers themselves.
I am happy with the number of people who have read my blog and am in particular not interested in knowing who were the people who visited and read the posts. However, this article makes me think a bit differently.
I would simply love it if Mr. Harsha Bhogle were to read this article ever and comment on it for then my blog will also be what my title for the post suggests " A CLASS APART".