#Satyagrah : That Sense of "Missed Opportunities"

You watched the promos and as an aam admi identified with the anger seething inside against a corrupt system,  you reminiscence the Prakash Jha – Ajay Devgan combo brewing thunder on screen, you walked into the theatre with great anticipation to realize Satyagrah is an under cooked and over spiced spread whose soul is missing. Made with the right intention the movie suffers from the fatal flaw of a script stuffed with numerous sub plots, lack of focus on developing strong motive or etching out characters and sloppy editing.

                                         

In spite of vehement denial the script is a cinematic adaptation of Anna Hazare’s “Jan Lokpal” movement. It starts with the conflict between chasing money and following value and ends with preaching non violence and importance of staying in the system to change the system, in between it tries to connect as many dots, from the Satyendra Dubey murder case to grass root level corruption, to a rotten political – administrative system, the angst of common men, but fails to connect with the audience. Satyagrah will always remind Prakash Jha , how nearly he missed making a great socially relevant movie, by being either too casual , too self obsessed or making the cardinal mistake of taking the audience as fools. Dwarka Anand’s battle against the system is what each one of us is fighting today. We are as confused with the path, the end and the philosophy as Manav & Yasmin were. We watch their pain, yet it doesn’t torment us. We don’t fume in anger looking at the system’s apathy.  And this is where, Jha in spite of profusely using melodrama fails miserably.

 Amitabh Bachchan and Manoj Bajpayee with their superlative performance stand tall amidst a star cast that looks terribly jaded. Kareena Kapoor’s role as a journalist and activist is as confusing as Arjun Rampal’s presence in the movie. Prasoon Joshi pens a hauntingly melodious “Rash ke Bhare Naina” and disappoints with a dismal “Junta Rocks”.

In spite of numerous cinematic flaws, Satyagrah is a movie that people should watch for its candid intent, for canvassing the socio political activism of last decade, for instilling a sense of “uthkar karne hain kuch kaam, raghupati raghav raja ram” spirit in the youth.

As you walk out of the auditorium that feeling of “missed opportunities” grips you …….

Madras Cafe

#Madras Café: As an innocuous kid I woke up on the morning of 22^nd May 1991 to hear about the assassination of our former prime minister. There was terror, grief and anger in the air. As I settled down on my seat and watched the opening scene of merciless killing of innocent people and the helicopters flying in the sky I could feel the same terror and anguish.  Shoojit Sircar after directing two vastly different, but extremely relevant topics, love in the back drop of a terror struck Kashmir (Yahaan) and sperm donation (Vicky Donor) comes back to paint a gripping picture of the dark alleys of Jafna , the inglorious days of constant threat from the LTTE and the violent result of a political decision .

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s revolutionary” sums up the back drop of Madras Café. A debatable decision taken in June 1987 to send the IPKF to Colombo to hold the rebels and initiate peace process ironically ended in 1991 with the assassination of the Prime Minister. Sircar’s political thriller abstains from naming anyone, but his plot is a sublime combination of facts with fiction. He uses voice over and flashback to take his story back & forth and imageries shot in documentary style to showcase the strife torn island and its bloodied history. As the main protagonist Major Vikram (John Abraham) has been assigned the task of carrying out covert operations. While on his mission he discovers the deep treachery that people in the system are involved in. His disillusionment and sense of loss (both personal & professional) is heart wrenching. John surrenders himself to the character and gives a restrained performance essential for the role. The scenes between the military, cabinet secretaries and RAW chiefs are shot realistically. Sidhhartha Basu as a demanding chief fits into the role beautifully. Nargis Fakhri fails to impress even with the accent and Rashi Khanna has very limited scope to showcase her ability.

   

Kamaljeet Negi deserves a special mention for using unique camera angles to paint reality and capturing emotions in a terror prone land where treachery rules. Madras Café is a difficult plot handled with immense maturity and much restraint. It avoids unnecessary jingoism and ends on an intriguing note asking pertinent questions as maula sun le re plays in the backdrop.

I will go with 4 out of 5 for a movie that captures a piece of our distorted political history and surely deserves an audience. It may not excite you to do “Lungi Dance” but surely will enrich your cinematic experience!

P.S.: A bit understanding of the backdrop of IPKF and Tamil Eelum movement will help in understanding the essence of the movie.

D- Day : It thrills & shrills you !

Remember Ravindra Kaushik , who did a commendable job as a resident RAW agent  by penetrating deep into Pakistan Army and providing Indian Intelligence with vital information before he was captured and jailed for life. Probably you won’t remember. That is the destiny of undercover intelligence officers who are torn between multiple identities, live a faceless life and die an unsung Hero’s death. Yes D day is as much about Dawood as it is about those undercover agents who sacrifice their lives in foreign land and don’t ever get recognition or even a burial worth their effort.  

Nikhil Advani pulls out his trigger to tell an intriguing story in a remarkable fashion, mixing facts with fiction. D-Day opens with much promise with a visual from the 1993 Mumbai blast and uses flashback to reveal how the four RAW agents went on a mission to capture India’s most wanted man. Their journey across Pakistan to capture the wanted Iqbal, nicknamed Goldman (obvious reference to Dawood) is packed with high octane action and tremendous emotional turmoil. Advani takes the risk of portraying the human side of an agent by delving deep to capture Irfan’s love for his wife and Kid, Arjun’s emotional catharsis with a forlorn prostitute at Napier Road and Zoya whose dedication towards her duty comes in way of her marital bliss.

                                         

Advani also captures the dirty political and bureaucratic game, where the unfortunate agents end up being a sacrificial lamb, as the mission fails. Giving up everything in the lines of “Duty, honor & country” and then being disowned by your own nation to die in a foreign land can be a harrowing experience. And Irfan beautifully enacts this disappointment through his despondent expression.

The music is completely in sync with the plot and you must listen to “Murshid Khele Holi” as it touches various emotional chords. “Alvida” is probably the most macabre love and longing song ever captured on camera in Hindi Cinema with blood stains all around.  The lyrics and imagery transport you to a world where you feel the pangs. The action sequences are very well filmed and the camera work is gritty.  

What pulls down the movie is the fictional liberty the script has taken. For a film which was so well researched, blunders like the agents moving and killing openly on Karachi roads to avenge their beloved’s death is hard to understand. Also Rishi Kapoor’s talent is vastly underutilized.

D- Day is no “Zero Dark Thirty”, but it certainly is a statement on how technically Indian cinema has improved and testament to an increasingly mature audience. As you come out of the multiplex do spare a thought for those innumerable long forgotten faceless and fearless agents whom death even could not provide identity. I will go out with 3 out of five for a movie that thrills and shrills you. 

It's Just Not Cricket !

It has been more than two weeks since the Pandora’s Box was opened and the three cricketers got arrested and a towel emerged as a powerful tool of signaling. What followed for the next fifteen days on prime time television ranged from crime thriller to run and chase games to the display of blatant hunger for power, money and sleaze and eventually culminated in front of millions of viewers as a political potboiler.  I must clarify; I’m not shooting the messenger. I’m sure they were doing their job and they can’t be blamed, if at all in their quest for TRP they went little over board. After all what we watched in last few days made us cynical.

We as nation have accepted corruption as a part of life. Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) places India at 94th rank out of 176 nations. We have moved down from 72 in 2007 to 94 in 2012 pretty swiftly. But hang on, we thought politicians are corrupt, we knew that ragged clerk in the shady Govt office is corrupt, but our beloved cricketers who are virtually million dollar babies , getting richer by the day thanks to the new jamboree and adored by millions, selling themselves for money ? The nation was stunned and people who run the show and definitely know what is going on inside acted either shocked or preferred to remain silent owing to their contract. Oh, did we hear them say conflict of interest! Sorry folks, as Icons of the game we believe you need the towel to save your face more than Sreesanth needed it.

 Suddenly the plot thickened. Delhi and Mumbai Police acted at a pace which will even put the NYPD to shame. They got hold of a “you blink, you miss” (and I strictly mean the size of his roles in films) actor for his alleged link with the bookies. He turned out to be a singer in the investigation cell. His singing led to the arrest of a “cricket enthusiast”, whose twitter profile changed within twenty minutes, who unlike millions of us had the privilege to participate in player auction, sit in the dugout and attend media session. A remarkable enthusiasm, well rewarded I must say. Hope this kind of enthusiasm does not inspire young kids.  This arrest led to the twist in the plot. A sub plot emerged. From crime, sleaze & money the action shifted to a family entertainer. There enters the stubborn, power hungry and incredibly shame less (or shall we attribute it to his love for his family) father in law. For him his family, power and control comes first, always & every time. That he is the president of a board, answerable to the fans is secondary.

                  

While he made a mockery of everyone, seventy thousand people, yes the aam admi (no reference to the political party by the same name) the so called passionate cricket lover of the nation, whom news channel anchors refer to and apparently represent, thronged the stadium. The BCCI chief reasserted the credibility of cricket is intact and those seventy thousand were the testimony to his assertion. While the circus was over, a political thriller was being scripted in the background. For twenty four hours it was hyped strong steps are going to be taken, the president will be asked to go. One after another political puppets showed their bravado. Poor news reporters had to forgo their Sunday brunch and camped in front of Park Sheraton and news studios expecting a poetic justice.  Their frantic attempt to gather breaking news was like peeping through your neighbors’ window to watch the couple fight. It was hilarious to say the least. I’m sure the betting industry must have betted lots of money in anticipation. The entire tamasha was as exciting as the super over of a T-20 match (albeit much longer). And finally the political brokers (I refuse to accept them as sports administrators) came out of the hotel and ran from the media. What was anticipated as a high volatile match turned out to be fixed one.

What transpired in the last two weeks is disgraceful to say the least. I’m not too much bothered about the so called cricket fan. I know for many now it has become a masala movie. At the cost of sounding blunt, I must say, many don’t watch cricket for the sheer passion for the game, they watch it since they don’t have anything else to do in their spare time and this is the easiest form of entertainment. Many of them have exonerated themselves from their responsibility towards the game.   I’m worried about those who grew up worshiping the game , I’m apprehensive about the credibility of the honest cricketer and the great game , I’m frightened about the value system (which my firm believe sports imparts even at a very young age) we are preaching to the next generation and the social implication of this chapter.

The entire episode transcended in front of millions and neither the president of the board nor his cronies felt the slightest desire to show any sign of probity in public life. Gone are the days of morality and conscience. Welcome to the world where people hang on to power and money at the cost of dignity.  They neither feel any sense of guilt in committing wrong nor in defending it. They shamefully take advantage of the process of natural justice and make a mockery of the system. I’m aware this is rampant in politics but when sports get contaminated by the same incurable virus, you feel a sense of helplessness. That sports associations today are run by politicians is a lame excuse.

We have nothing against BCCI. They have done some fantastic job. Cricketers are financially much more secured, lovely infrastructure has come up. But I’m afraid what transpired is going to corrupt many young minds. Gone are the days of poetic justice, welcome to the naked world of power play in the name of democracy, impotency and a corrupt world created by the mighty and powerful. A future looks bleak as a monsoon evening, hope from somewhere a ray of sunlight will emerge.

Bombay Talkies : Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema

 It all started almost 100 years ago with a certain Dhundiraj Govind Phalke shouting “Light, Camera, and Action”.  The movie “Raja Harischandra” was opened for public viewing on 3^rd May 1913 and was promoted as “A performance with 57,000 photographs. A picture two miles long. All for only three annas.” The rest as they say became history. A nation learnt to dream, became a part of the madness of cinema, thousands struggled to become dream merchants and millions registered themselves as fans. Cinema became a religion, that unified an otherwise diversified nation. It breathed life into the aspirations of many, became the catalyst of change, sometimes depicting society and sometimes defying social norms.

A century later four of the most revered filmmakers of the present era , each defined by a distinct style of movie making, came together to pay homage to 100 years of Indian Cinema. Aptly named as “Bombay Talkies” after the iconic yesteryear studio, the movie celebrates the essence of hindi cinema, its profound impact on life and beautifully presents a canvas with myriad hues. Each of the four stories are unique except for their celebration of cinema, of passion, of life and dream.

Bombay Talkies opens with Karan Johar’s hard hitting, realistic punch on an upwardly mobile society that still lives in a world of lies and duplicity and in spite of a so called liberal fabric is yet to come in terms with as basic a thing as someone’s sexual orientation.  Karan , treads on a different path to capture the grey area in relationship and makes a powerful statement about society through a riveting story. He handles an extremely complex plot exceptionally well with witty lines, and masterful rendering of yesteryear classic “Lag ja Gale” as its background score. Saquib Saleem is effortless and steals the show with his spontaneity. Rani Mukherjee as a modern lady who finally becomes “free” and liberated after learning about her husband’s homosexuality adds sparkle to the plot. Hopefully post this we will get to see a more emancipated Karan exploring fields hitherto unexplored, away from his style of candy floss cinema.

The highly acclaimed Diwakar Banerjee pays a fitting tribute to Indian Cinema by adapting a Satyajit Ray story. He captures the trials and tribulations of a man trying to define his own success for himself. Torn asunder between the search for his professional success and personal respect, he finally finds his moment of glory when he gets to play a two minute non entity in a film. Nawaz is simply magnificent and the scene where he narrates his story in mime to enchant his daughter will stay with you long after you leave the movie hall.

Zoya’s story is all about the innocence of childhood, a sense of sacrifice and a captivating tale that inspires you to follow and protect your dream. On one hand it’s a morale sermon to those thousands of parents who force their kids to live their unfulfilled dreams, rather than inspiring them to create their own paths of passion , on the other hand it is a tribute to bollywood and its infinite  influence on our day to day life. Naman Jain plays out his character brilliantly.

How can we celebrate Indian Cinema and forget the fables of hero worship by fans. Anurag Kashyap’s story typifies those millions of fans from small town who are spell bound by the aura of their filmy Hero. Millions prayed when Amitabh Bacchan was hospitalized, many fasted, even today thousands gather in front of Jalsa to get a “darshan” of their superstar. Anurag’s story is an ode to those millions who were instrumental in making bollywood what it is today. Though it captures the joys and pathos of a small town youngster who came to meet the superstar at his father’s behest, this is one portion which could have been made better.

“Bombay Talkies” is a movie made with lots of passion. It celebrates the madness of cinema, the quintessential diversity of Indian film, its large canvas and its urge to experiment. More than a movie it presents few delicious slices of life that makes you laugh, dream and aspire. Go and relish the experience. 

THE SHIFT IN ECONOMY & RESULTANT CHALLENGES FOR NEXT GENERATION HR LEADERS

                                                           

The economic reform started in 1991 during the P.V. Narsimha Rao government under the stewardship of Mr. Manmohan Singh has brought about a radical change in Indian Economy. The Indian economy grew by leaps and bounds thanks to liberalization, privatization and globalization. The country withstood a massive global economic slowdown in 2008-09 and managed to grow at 6.7% in 2008-09 and 7.4% in 2009-10.As the nation weathered the storm of recession thanks to a consumption driven economy ,the entire world stood up and noticed a resilient economy taking  strong steps  towards consolidating its stance. Today India is emerging as an economic powerhouse and marching fast towards the magic moment of becoming the fastest growing economy in the world. This shift from a developing to a developed economy will bring about massive change in the social framework and the psyche of our workforce. As HR professionals the onus lies with us to prepare ourselves proactively for this imminent change.

 Tomorrows work force will be a much younger group, they will expect more professionalism, better transparency, quicker problem resolution and a value and empathy driven organization. With the number of double income couple increasing the demand for work life balance will increase and the lack of it will create a social mayhem. And the need of the hour is to visualize this transformation and slowly and subtly bring in systems to address these needs.

The most important thing that comes to my mind is transparency or the lack of it in handling the Human Resources function. There are very few organizations where HR is respected or trusted (and I don’t mean being feared upon). How many persons walk into a Human Resources Managers cabin and discuss their problems and seek solutions. How many of us are at least good listeners, a basic requisite for the function. In India in most of the organizations people don’t trust HR and many HR managers think their job is just maintaining confidentiality and policing. Yes I fully agree we need to maintain the hygiene and there are documents which are confidential. But most of the times we over do it. We need to understand society is changing rapidly and the new generation is more open and forth right. In order to deal with them one needs to be transparent. Business has taken a paradigm shift and one can not replicate the same practice which was followed in a manufacturing set up in service sector where the unlike a rigid union we have an informed employee. Most of the times the practice of keeping everything confidential leads to the creation of unnecessary rumor and ruins the work culture. HR gets branded as a diplomatic function and loses its credibility among employees. Hence the need of the hour is to build in transparency in the system by talking to the employee as often as possible, by addressing their queries and by providing them with a platform where they can raise their voices. Recently Infosys came up with an online platform called “Infy Bubble” where employees can vent their concerns as well as are open to give negative feedback. The important aspect is to take the negative feedbacks as areas of improvement and work on them in order to rein in positive change.

With the shift in economy retention will be major challenge for most of us. From an employer’s market it will soon become an employee’s market. We need to be innovative in our approach in order to counter attrition. Most of the employees give enough hints before they decide to leave. Our role is to identify those triggers and work collectively towards addressing the issues. How many organizations take the EXIT interview seriously or even bother to conduct one. Any HR who wants to know the health of the organization and improve the culture must take constant feedback from its employees. And to do that successfully one needs to win the trust of employees and make them believe that his concerns are being heard. With the increase in disposable income, money will cease to become the most important tool of retention. The generation that will work an average of 30 years in private sector would look beyond money and crave for good work culture, best practices and good people managers to work with. The sooner we realize these challenges the better.

Work life balance will play a pivotal role in the years to come. Today in most of the cases both the partners are working. With the kind of work pressure one has to undergo it is extremely difficult for most of the employees to manage their personal and professional life and draw a balance. Organizations need to take stock of an employee’s personal need as well. With the change in economy, money will not be the single most influencing factor for Indian employees. We also need to realize today most people are starting their career in early twenties. If proper care is not taken burn out will happen by the time the employee reaches forty years of age. Hence it is the prerogative of every human resources professional to treat the employee as an asset and convince business to put importance   on employees work life balance. Many IT companies have adopted concepts like flexi working hours, work from home, providing recreation facility and gyms at work place etc. Google leads the pack with its employee friendly work place concept. These models need to be replicated in other sectors too. Only a satisfied employee will be able to perform to his full potential and in turn will positively impact the productivity of the organization.

Nurturing talent and developing them to lead the business will be a challenge for most Human Resources professional .The new generation employees will be impatient and will get bored with their profile very soon. There lies the challenge for an HR to provide him with suitable opportunity and adequate learning through job rotation and empowerment. During one of my discussion with  a senior professional of a public sector Navaratna company ,I was surprised to find the amount of effort they put even on a non performing employee in order to improve their performance. I being a part of the new “Hire & Fire” generation could not fathom the fact when he stressed on the point that they try and nurture their resources rather than firing them at the drop of a hat. The conviction with which he emphasized the collective responsibility in terms of grooming a talent is a revelation. Though he stressed being in a public sector company he has time, scale and patience at his disposal to groom a new recruit and try his capabilities in different verticals to access his role-competency matrix. He was convinced that every single individual’s performance can be improved by providing him with the right opportunity, timely counseling, an inspiring boss or proper recognition provided the employee is not insane and has the correct attitude.

This kind of conviction is a rare quality in our generation of HR professional who in their urge to become Business Partners (a term which now a days is often being misused and abused by HR professional) are forgetting the inherent role of HR. One must understand HR is a leadership function. Few important attributes of a HR leader are understanding the basics of human psyche, transparency in dealing with process and people, trustworthy, a compassionate attitude, a knack of catching the pulse of the public, the understanding of the business and being innovative. I fail to understand why such sudden urge to become business partner. The question is are not we already partnering the business by acquiring, nurturing, retaining and growing the most important, valuable as well as vulnerable, flexible and potent asset in a business the Human Capital. If we are performing the core job then we need not worry. But if there is this sudden wake up call then either we were not doing our job as per requirement or we are coining a fancy term because suddenly we realized that business is not taking us seriously. And often we put the blame on the court of the organization by stating that we don’t get adequate say or respect because we are not revenue earning vertical .But then so are finance and supply chain. Does any one dare say that they don’t put importance on Supply chain or Finance? We are targeted because we have horribly let ourselves down by not sticking to the basics. We need to understand ours is a leadership and people oriented function which runs on trust, faith and skill.

Another big challenge that lies ahead of us is to maintain a balance between system and human intervention. In spite of the development of various tools and techniques HR essentially remains a Human function. The tools and techniques should be used to support us in our endeavor to serve people better and faster. We need to provide practical solutions to employees within specified time frame. This would help in creating a positive impact and give the function the much needed credibility.

With the progress of time the Human Resource function has evolved manifold. But there is a huge opportunity for us to improve and bridge the gap in terms of the execution ability. We need to pull our socks, be innovative and act proactively in order to build a potent workforce, a productive work –life management system and a profitable business module.

The Politics of Convenience in a Society that Lacks Conviction

 For me Indus Valley civilization has always been a combination of contrasts. It preached about its glorious past and practiced a convenient philosophy devoid of the values it took pride in. So much so that of late this contrast started taking shape of a culture ridden with hypocrisy.  

Cut One :Few days ago Pakistan Govt passed a resolution, condemning Afzal Guru's hanging. India reacted strongly. After all it is a democratic govt which had punished the perpetrator of terror. What right Pakistan had to protest? Fair Enough .A week later, DMK, the allies of ruling party walks out of the Govt in protest against atrocities against Tamils in Srilanka , leaving a nation walking on a financial tightrope exposed to naked horse trading or downgrading by rating agencies that will lead to financial strangulation. Foreign policies are by product of century old treaties & conventions and have a legacy. They must be left in the hands of experts .Using them for political mileage is a dangerous proposition. Yes as a democratic so called super power India can talk to Sri Lanka, but why pass a resolution with the term "genocide" used in it. After all the Sri Lankan Govt is also a democratic govt which is ruling by majority. India has its own house to put in order before it starts preaching others and souring relationship with strategic partners. Why the entire world was a silent spectator when USA was violating human rights left, right & centre.  What next … we will sniff our ties with Bangadesh on Teesta river, with China on some other issue. I completely agree that India must play a proactive and vital role in maintaining pace & human rights in the South – East Asia Pacific region, but that must be through continuous dialogue.

Cut : Two A girl in Delhi, is brutally raped and killed, the nation erupts, its psyche brutalized.  Common men expected a political renaissance and a change in attitude towards women. A committee was formed, which acted promptly to recommend some pivotal changes in the judicial system. Three month later we made a mockery of the death of that Girl in the parliament by debating for a week on the age of consensual sex. Some of our eminent and shameless ministers also gave example of Shila’s and Munni’s to drive home their point that eve teasing is a socially acceptable practice.  We epitomized the dead girl as “Nirbhaya” and conveniently went back to our “Nirlaja” way of functioning.

For us “means” no more justify the “end”. As we keep treading on a path of convenience than of conviction, future looks bleak. The only saving grace is the future generation, which seems much more aware and upright about what it wants and how it wants.