Guzarish !!

Its SLB, and I could not have miss it. For someone who even liked Sawariya, to watch Guzarish was rather a compulsion.

The first 5 mins of the movie and I thought I am in for yet another treat from Mr SLB. A different set blended with beautiful colours reminds you of Sawariya , the round curtains in Athen`s room ..Splendid. But as it progresses, somehow it loses its grip on the audience. The side characters (Lawyer, magician, doctor) do not really excel and I thought there could have been better actors for these roles. May be it was done to prevent any threat to the characters of Hrithik and Aish.

Talking about the characters, Hrithik while acted superbly but to me his baritone was not matching to the situation, A bit more deeper baritone would have done magic for me. Aishwarya Rai on the other hand was just perfect, I just loved seeing her performing this role. SLB really brings out the best in her.

Being an SLB film , it did have its moments. Some really good ones, like the scene where Athen`s helplessness is compared with a crowman or where he fights with the falling raindrops. And then there was this song Udi in the pub which Aish really carries off all alone to such a great level. The song suddenly comes out of nowhere and brings in so much energy with it. But then there were disappointing scenes too, like the stupid news channel reporting scenes (so cliched) or the court session scenes which have been made either idiotically funny or too sentimental or the last scene when everyone jumps over Athen. The magic acts apart from one did not really leave the impact they should have.

Overall, it was a disappointment to me but it still remains the only Hindi movie I did like to watch in the recent past and still goes as a movie which is sensible in its approach and deserves to be watched.

Hope !!

A look at my Past,
and I Wonder
If it was a Surrender
Or just a Teen-age Blunder

A look at my present
and I Realise
There is so much to life

A look at my Past
and I Wish
I get back all the fun
Minus The ONE

A look at my present
and I Hope
may I always hope ......

........

A sleepless night and a melody
lump in the throat and a shivering body

A tear and an unforgettable past
and a hope that never last

A heart and an empty space
and a future without a face

A room and the darkness
music, memories and the emptiness

A laptop and a deleted past
did I do it too fast

A feeling as sharp as knife
A moment as big as life

Pamper yourself

Its a rat race and we all are competing .. Talk to people slogging out late nights in the office , rarely finding time for themselves and others ,life for them sucks , actually !!
A late night conversation with a friend transpired the abysmal indifference we develop towards life. Isnt death better than putting yourself through this tyranny everyday. For whom are we doing it ? he asked .. and my answer to him - Do it for yourself . Selfish .... , he said
Selfish, yeah we all should be , we all are , some concede , some hide .
It is important that you feel happy about your life , to feel that its not life who is fucking you, but you who is fucking life , the green,yellow, pink paper in your wallets is only worth paper unless you do what money is meant to do, "BUY" , buy happiness....
Happiness, can it be bought ? Without sounding too materialistic , I would like to say YES, it can be bought ..... Its stupid to think of happiness as something eternal and too big, start finding it in smaller things ... How often you felt I should have this gadget or this shoe on display or this suit ,but decided against buying it, well BUY it and you will feel the power of money for which you slog 5 days a week. Pamper yourself, that is the key to stay alive , find a motive to earn ....

A lost soul

In a world of my own
I live all alone
I have no passion
and no competition

I have no friends
cos no one matches my ways
I love my solitude
cos no one matches my attitude

In my own arrogance
I refrain from any acceptance
With my bloated ego
I just can`t let it go

I look for reasons
why my life is bereft of any seasons
why others are on a roll
while I am still a lost soul

2 Minds !!

No, the title is not inspired from the latest Chetan Bhagat book, but from a movie "Antaheen" meaning endless. A bengali movie made with such subtlety and emotion that even though I watched it with english subtitles, I didnt find missing anything.
"Are`nt we all in two minds ?" is one of the lots of good lines in the movie, which make you think. And yes, when I think about this one, I find it credible because we are always in two minds. Unsure, unknown of our needs we always tend to weigh our options , try to strike a balance between emotion and practicality , decide upon the present by thinking about the future. We end up putting every decision of ours in a weighing balance and though some would say its a good thing to do, the trouble is we continue to weigh it even after the decision has been made. Its probably to do with our nature of being dis-satisfied with our present and weave dreams about future and what our present could have been had we not chosen the current one.
And , as the movie shows, its sometimes to do with ego. Ego , is like a double edged sword, on one hand it gives you the individuality, the confidence and imparts objectivity to your life on the other hand it makes you do stuff you didnt want to, makes you not do stuff which you want to. To make things tough, ego can`t be controlled.

TOP OF MIND : Difficult to be at the Top

We see it and forget it. Top of mind (TOM) recall is an issue that all marketers grapple with and strive to achieve. A plethora of brands in all the segments have established themselves in the market and its becoming increasingly difficult for even the top brand to sustain itself as the customers preferred brand.
With the technology becoming cheaper and ubiquitous and availability of free information, there is little differentiation left between brands which makes the job of a marketer tough because he can no longer sell and promote based on the product attributes. He has to look beyond the product and find innovative ways of communication and create a positive perception in the minds of the consumer. A pertinent example would be the strategy followed by various telecom operators. The top three Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have shifted their focus away from the basic product. While Airtel focuses more on non-verbal communication and plays on the emotions of the people, Vodafone is laying stress on the value added services and Idea concentrates on messages which have a greater social benefit attached to them. With near similar levels of network connectivity, choice for telecom operator is based on the image they have created in the minds of the customer. This also puts additional responsibility and pressure on advertising agencies for they have to come up with innovative concepts which can capture the fancy of customers. An ideal brand image is one which is strong, positive and unique.
To ensure a top of mind recall, it`s necessary to have high level of brand awareness. Ideal brand awareness is one which is deep and broad. With the advent of multiple channels of retailing and marketing, it is nearly impossible for a brand to maintain a high awareness level across all the channels. Thus one has to rationalise and carefully select a channel based upon the product and target segment and then aim towards maximising awareness in that channel through advertisements and appropriate promotion schemes. But, at the same time, one cannot completely neglect a channel, because these days most of the customers have access to all the channels directly or indirectly. Taking internet as an example, though internet penetration in India is just 2-5%, a lot of people have indirect access to internet through the people who have direct access. Parents ask their children to look for products on internet and find out about their performance by reading reviews and information available on the web. This need for multi channel marketing calls for a meticulously designed marketing strategy, because marketing budgets are limited (as we have seen especially during times of recession).
Customer is the king and he has a lot of alternatives at his disposal. Retaining customers is becoming a huge problem and retention ratio is now a key metric in performance evaluation of sales and marketing team. A consistent brand image helps increase this ratio. It is imperative that an organisation maintains strong brand equity in these changing times and adapts itself to the environment lest it fall prey to growing competition.