October 29, 2006

Was he Netaji?

A 125 year old man has reportedly claimed he was Netaji two days before he died in a village near the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. He was known as Baba Lalji Maharaj. The Madhya Pradesh police have started a probe into the matter.

The detailed article can be read
here.

October 08, 2006

Woh Lamhe...

Rating- ***

Woh Lamhe has Shiny Ahuja and Kangana Ranaut playing Aditya Garewal, a struggling director and Sana Azim, a successful heroine respectively. Sana Azim shares an abusive relationship with Nikhil, an actor who always makes it a point to remind her that whatever she is today is just because of him and his generosity. Aditya, on the other hand, wants to use her to become successful as a director, but he eventually falls in love with her. She dumps Nikhil and approaches Aditya and also agrees to act in his film, which goes on to become a huge hit. Aditya later finds out that Sana is schizophrenic and even gets stabbed by her in the process of getting her cured. The rest of the film shows the mental trauma that they both go through.

Though the movie has a tragic end, it connects well with the viewer. It might have got a four star rating if not for its second half which appeared sluggish at times. And, the other characters- Sammy, played by Purab and the doctor friend are adequate and do their job well. Kangana suits the role perfectly. Shiny looked better as an actor in Gangster, but he is a good choice for the role. This reel-life story was aided by the
real life relationship between director, Mahesh Bhatt and the yesteryear popular actress, Parveen Babi, who passed away last year.

The music of the film was scored by Pritam. Kya mujhe pyaar hai alone is worth listening to.

October 01, 2006

Intelligent Marketing

Marketing strategies have always formed a crucial part in selling a commodity. These include amongst others, mainly print advertising and telivision advertising- the latter making more impact on the public or the consumers.

The Indian advertising industry has shown a gradual change, getting better everytime. This should be quite evident to anyone who comes across any alternate advertisement on the telivision these days. And, moreover, there is no dearth of breaks inbetween any programme that comes on air. I used to get bored with the long breaks squeezed anywhere into the programme that you so enthusiastically plan to watch. But, nowadays, these advertisements are a pleasure to watch than the programmes or soaps. Smart ads always catch your attention, no matter how lengthy they are.

There are a few advertisements that fascinate me everytime they are shown on the telivision. To name a few, the very new 'Visa' advertisement where a bunch of monkeys try to steal the belongings of a couple in the middle of a jungle and the lady distracts their attention by making a deal with bananas for the belongings. She then orders a truck full of bananas with the help of her Visa Card right from the jungle and then a monkey plays the same trick with her, this time, the Visa Power for her jeep keys.

The new 'Bank of India' advertisement is also good. It tries to tap the human emotions beautifully. The ad shows a small boy trying to hide his small piggy bank somewhere and goes all the way from home in search of a safe place and finally goes to the bank, where the officer puts it in a safety locker, assures him and hands over the keys to the small boy who leaves the bank happily.

There are many such smart ads which make an impact on those who watch them. You still may not buy (or use) the product (or services) that is (are) being promoted, but they leave their mark in your mind. And, after all, that is what marketing is all about- Smart moves to spot you!