Bollywood movie promotions.

There is a stark difference in the way movies are promoted in the Tollywood and bollywood.
Audio releases are one of the biggest means of promoting a movie.
I dont know why there isnt a single open air function for an audio release function in Bollywood with huge crowds, covered live by top hindi channels like star plus/star gold/sony/max/zee.

If one looks at the movie functions, there are so many of them in South India, especially in Telugu movie industry: Audio Launch, platinum disk, 50-days function, 100-days function, etc. And the range of movies that have such audio functions/promotional events is wide. It spans low-budget movies, medium and high budget movies.
If there is one such event that was telecast live in Bollywood, you are welcome to share it!

With love.. Anil

Chromecast: The beginning of an entertainment revolution?

Bringing TV closer to digital devices and interconnecting them is not an easy task.
Google seems to have solved this puzzle in a way that caught the attention of the gadget world!
No doubt there are many similar devices that do what Chromecast does, but the sheer price of this small device makes it worth.
There are so many ways that it can be used:
1. Watch online videos on Youtube, Netflix, etc. More apps coming soon to the party.
2. Share anything through phones/tablets/laptops/desktops. Through Chrome web app, we can display any Chrome tab on our TV.
3. Not just any tab, an experimental feature makes it possible to display the whole desktop on TV.
4. Play phone's local files on TV.

With love.. Anil

Compassion..

These days the relationships have gone virtual online and people believe that money is everything.
But there is a side to any relation, be it friends or family that cannot be complete without interacting with others in-person. Compassion cannot be gained by just donating money. Donating money to the poor and needy or orphans may only help bring some satisfaction to ourselves, but a true compassion will be experienced only when we contact the downtrodden in person and spread love and positive energy in them.

One such idea is celebrating special events with an orphanage. I came across an orphanage in Bangalore while browsing online and that is called Abhaya Ashram.
One can spend a lot by donating them online but as important to it is to build such a relationship with them where they dont feel alone and participate in such activities which can put a smile on children's faces.

It could be a simple sweets-distribution or books or essentials like blankets, dresses, etc and make a long-lasting friendship with them. Taking the young ones along-with you can be doubly good as your kids will ingle with all the children and get a compassionate approach towards children irrespective of religion, status, language, etc. Many times we hear small children quarreling based on their status in the society or people making fun of orphans. For this to stop, children should be sensitized right from the beginning by taking them to the downtrodden and making them mingle with other children.

With love.. Anil

Make Android even more amazing!(part-2)

Continuing the post about Android, and smart phones in general, I would like to see the following features in a smart phone and in a free open source OS like android. I am concentrating mostly on the hardware side:

1. Smart phones should actually work smart by having more sensors:
For eg., they can have temperature sensor and water/moisture sensor so that the phone can adjust itself and let the user know that it is warm/chilly/humid outside. As we know, humidity is when water content is high in the atmosphere and the smartphone should be able to detect this as tell us if it is going to rain soon or not. It can even tell us if we are sweating based on the humidity/water content around it! The latest Samsung S4 already has a temperature and pressure sensor, so it is very much possible to bring it in all phones, build a whole new level of API(software) around it and integrate it within android's next major version!

2. Proactive activities like warming up when it is chilly outside!
Imagine this: Your smartphone warms itself to keep you warm! This can be done by having a small heater inside. Even better, it would be fantastic if there is an air-blower that tries to either blow cool air or hot air depending on the surroundings and your preferences! So you have your personal weather control device in your hands! If it is too hot outside, it tries to keep you cool by becoming a portable air conditioner. If it is too chilly outside, it tries to warm you up by blowing warm air!

3. Make smartphones check your health!
A sensor that they can integrate is a health sensor that can accurately check your heartbeat and blood quality, which are two of the most important parameters for a person's health. We already have devices checking diabetes and it shouldn't be difficult to advance it to include many other parameters to do a complete blood test inside the device, and integrate it within a smartphone! If this happens, the retired Google Health service may come back!

4. UV scanner and 3D radar
Imagine there is complete darkness around you and your smartphone automatically sensing a soft, warm, organic object moving towards you! This can be done by having your phone see in the darkness using UV and 3D radar similar to those found in some jets for night vision. The technology is very much there, and it just needs to be put into a smaller form and fit inside a slim Nexus phone! the applications for this feature can be unlimited!

With love.. Anil

A touching poem...

Just read a tribute of love in today's Deccan Herald(15 Mar 2013). Just felt like sharing with everyone.

Those we love dont go away
they walk beside us every day
Unseen, unheard, but always near
Still loved, still missed and very dear

Always a smile
Thoughtful beyond measure
He left us a memory
We are so proud to treasure

He has gone across the river
To the shore of evergreen
And we long to see his dear face
But the river flows between
Someday, sometime we shall see
The face we loved so well
Someday we ll clasp his hand
And never say farewell


With love.. Anil

Make Android even more amazing!

First things first.. This isnt an article to praise android nor am I a hardcore fan of android, but a happy android user and a technically curious one at that! So I like android not just because of Google, or the universality of the OS, but because of the trust, reliability, simplicity and the customizability that it gives me.
So this article is about what I dream about in android, which may become a reality in near future!.
This is with an intention to make android even better!

1. So, first thing is a concept called "Customization Center" where you can completely customize your phone from the default version that you get. This has been rumored to be coming in 4.2, but alas, it didnt.
It should have one option to set the software of the phone to stock android version(Google Nexus) and another to set to the OEM's version(Sony's Timescape ui, Samsung's Touchwiz, HTC's Sense, etc) your own launcher.
Basically this is perfect if you want a stock android experience on your phone, that is fast and simple. A nexus like experience which gets the latest updates directly from Google! Of course this isnt just about the UI, its also about software the way Nexus devices handle. We know every manufacturer has their own drivers, so those drivers need to be optimized to be used with Nexus software.

2. Option to backup and sync complete settings and data of apps: This is perhaps a very interesting and usefull feature. Imagine that you are on android 4.0, playing the angry birds 15th level, and somehow you get an update to 4.1 or 4.2 and update to it. You will get back the game app due to the sync and thats fine. But will you play all the 14 levels to get back to where you were? The real complete restore will be to upgrade to 4.2 nd start Angry Birds on the level you were previously in! You can even play 14 levels on your Xperia J and play the 15th level on your Nexus 7 immediately! Thats the perfect sync and storing all the app data in the cloud!

3. New android update to older phones with lite versions of latest features.
Imagine a phone running Android Eclair(2.1) having the Google Now feature in a lite version thats light on phone resources! Why dont Google give a surprise to owners of older phones by giving such small goodies like Google Now Lite, Chrome Mini and bug fixes or security updates? I know it is wishfull thinking, but it makes older phone owners feel good and improve the brand image, showing that Google doesnt forget older phones.


With love.. Anil

Observation about Sony mobiles...

Sony need to resolve some crucial issues:
1. Latest OS/support updates
2. Near-future-proof hardware to match the future software updates, and
3. Consistent developer support to all its older phones.
When most phone makers have dual-core androids, they got stuck with single core(till xperia arc, by when galaxy s2,droid razr, etc were going great guns). In fact, the absence of a dual core processor on a top-end phone like this was one of the negative points of this beautiful and feature-rich phone(both xperia arc and xperia arc s)! But Sony need to anticipate the future android releases and estimate the hardware requirements for them, and implement those elements in their phones so that
they can update the version easily without any problem/undue delay.


With love.. Anil

Music of "Life is beautiful"- an oasis in a desert..

Shekhar Kammula's upcoming movie "Life is beautiful"'s music was...well no words to justify or match its brilliance, or should I say freshness, melody, heart touching tunes, lyrics, etc! In fact it has everything that makes an oscar/grammy-deserving original soundtrack(Of course I dont consider Oscar/grammy to be the only measuring scale of one's brilliance)! No offense to other music directors/directors, but this album looks like a cool oasis in a desert full of item songs and loud songs that seem to break your head apart!
I personally hate item songs which seem to be a cheap trick to lure public to the theatres. But the audience has always opted for a better story/script and this was proved many times. Songs like sheela, chikni chameli, kolaveri alone cannot bring success to the movie. Eega's "nene naanine" was my favorite melody. That was till now!
My analysis of my favorite tracks in this beautiful album. All are melodious, true to Shekhar's nature and style, but some of them left me stunned:
1. Amma Ani Kottagaa: This isnt just a song. Its an emotional trip down the memories most of us have with our mother! In this mechanical world where we toil to earn every rupee and are getting isolated from the mother's pure love, this song made my eyes go moist each time it came in my playlist. The depth of lyrics is amazing and I havent seen such soft, smooth, lovely tunes, voice and lyrics in a long time!
It reminds us of the song "yeh jo desh hai tera" from Ashutosh Gowarikar's "Swades" but it touches the heart more due to the lyrics and a background score that acts like a massage on our crap-stressed out ears! Its almost like a cool refreshment after a hard day's work under the sun!
This song has lots of scope in its picturisation and I cant wait to see Shekhar's treatment of this song. It can, for instance, capture the moments when a person reembers the playful times he had with his mother when he was a baby or when the mother protects him in some way or the other. It has a kind of desperate, apologetic, immersive mood which may mean that someone is guilty of hurting his/her mother or may have lost her forever when he says "amma...nuvvu kaavale ammaa. bangaaram nuvvammaa..". Lyrics are so simple, clear and brilliant that anyone can get them! No background noise to distract you! Nice and clean.
2. Beautiful Girl: This reminds us of "arere arere" of Shekhar's biggest blockbuster "happy days". And even the voice of Karthik sounded similar to the "arere" song! It even seems to match so perfectly with "arere" that it may well have been in the place of "arere" in Happy Days!
3. Its Your Love: The lyrics are the strength of this song that never cease to excite you and the chorus makes it even more enjoyable!
I got the original album yesterday evening, put it in my cute little Sony Xperia X10 mini, adjusted the custom equalizer, and I cant believe that I have already listened to the whole album 5 times(6 times by the time I publish this post), and many more to come!


With love.. Anil

The Power of Sympathy!

Sympathy: The power full emotional factor that can change, create or destroy the fates of so many people!
Take for example the tale of Karn of Mahaabhaarath. He promised his mom that he would kill none of the Pandavas except Arjun. This is only due to the sympathy that the widow Kunti generated by revealing that she is Karn's mother and the sensitive heart that he had melted before her tactics. This has turned to be one of the most important moments in Mahaabhaarath. Fantastic.. isnt it??
Coming to today's world, the same logic applies, though now it is on a larger scale. Not one, two, three, but lakhs of people are being lured into this business of tears: Show them your tears, get their sympathy. And this sympathy often turns into votes that are invaluable to any political party!
One of the best depictions of this phenomenon has been shown in the Telugu movie "Rangam"('Ko' in tamil) where a newly formed youth party wins the elections due to the sympathy generated due to a bomb attack on them that killed so many of them.
In the real world, this effect is even more prominent whether it is at the state level or the national level. Of course at the national level, the effect is much more complex due to the innumerable local parties involved, but the effect is nonetheless very significant, even in non-political issues like women rights.
When a woman is shown as crying, people sympathize with her with no second thought. People fail to think about the other side of the story behind her tears and blindly consider her as a victim and the male as the culprit. Lets take the issue of women going to pubs. They surely have the right to go anywhere they want to go with whomever they want, but how can they be considered to be innocent just by some tears rolling down their cheeks? Don't we have the basic duty to treat the culprits as "accused" and not "guilty" till the judgement has arrived or till a proof has come out in public??
Freedom doesnt mean wearing whatever dress you want, do whatever you want to do or go wherever you want to go. If that is the definition of freedom, then birds and microorganisms have it more than any human.
Of course teens do have their right to education, style, financial freedom, etc, but when it comes to social responsibility that's always an important factor that comes with freedom, how many of them really realize that some of their actions can effect the society? If they have the freedom to wear a micro skirt or a short to a party, they also have the duty to self protect themselves from lusty eyes, no matter where they go.
Even if they go to a temple, there will be anti-social elements awaiting at the temple entrance to snatch away whatever they get: whether it is gold, money, or the girl herself. So if the modern girls really feel that they are more powerful and evolved into smart beings than previous generations, they should show it in their actions during crisis. Don't they know of the weaknesses of any attacker whether it is male or female?
The recent furore in the social world over some tweets of Kiran Bedi is the most unwanted stupidity ever seen where so many people started abusing and criticizing her by misunderstanding what she meant and purely going with some video on the internet that went viral due to the media regarding a girl being molested in public in Guwahati(Assam, India). Yes, the offenders need to be brought before the law, yes they need to be taken into custody and given punishment, but what happened to the senses of the so called celebrities? Dont they unserstand that pubs do have an atmosphere of hooliganism? Dont they know that pubs and high society people also commit crimes, whether it is inside pubs or outside them? Why are they supporting the pubs and trashing Kiran Bedi for saying that pubs are breeding grounds of hooliganism?("Pubs attract hooliganism and violence just as holy places attract peace and devotion! Its in the nature of environment!"; "Pubs breed lust, holy places reduce it (ofcourse exceptions exist!)")
Crucial points to be noted:
1. She never said "all the pubs" or "all the temples"
2. She has even mentioned that exceptions do exist.
3. She also has a valid point when she said: "Parents+Teachers+Employers?of Gauhati molestation case must be met with to find out what was wrong with these men/boys?"
There must be some reason why they attacked the girl in the first place. Of course taking law into their own hands is wrong, for which they deserve punishment, but without going to the root of the issue, how can we go ahead in the society?
For example, do we know the reason why Shah Rukh Khan behaved in an abusive manner during an IPL match recently? And what was the response when his team won the IPL and he just escaped with a much delayed apology? So many incidents of violence has been reported and even witnessed at rave parties, but still the people feel that pubs/alcoholic parties don't attract lust/hooliganism? Why? Because of the sympathy that they have towards "their stars", "their pubs" and the whole system that allows them to enjoy without any amount of guilt.

This is the extent to which humans can leave their senses and instead depend on the sympathy factor while judging things happening in the society.

.. Anil

One forgotten crazy poem..

After being in cold storage for more than 7 years in an old book stuffed into a rack,
for some reason I felt like putting this crazy poem out, written during 4mar2005-8mar2005:

The eyes yearn to see
but never a quark of light bother to spark a bit.
Looks like a breathing space,
but closer up proves to be
a dreaded asphyxiation
Intense thoughts flood the mind,
and leave deep gorges of despair behind.
As we try to recover,
bitter past rises up like a deadly phoenix.
At a distance I could sense
the sweetness of a beehive but
closer, its seldom melliferous.
Churning of a large melange
of ideas only result in fiery devils of failure.
The destiny seems to lie
in a cacophony of the infinite loop of utter confusion.
Hardly esoteric is the
thorny path of rescipisense from the runnel path,
Strewn with sharpest of spines,
strewn with deepest of ditches,
We can see the way ahead.
Then came the calefacient breeze
from the ecumenical spirit.
The first wave of ultimate grace gushed in,
encased with the non-ephemeral
power of a supernova in a silent serenity.
The lucent veracity of this lane pulled everything in,
and all the obstacles were a meldot
before the vast lucency of wisdom.
The real melieu is welcoming all,
about to sprint with zeal,
prepared to be embedded in eternity,
jumped into the all pervasive spirit,
indicating the beginning of true "we",
away from the miasma of the unreal,
away from the multitudinous mortals,
away from the ubits of temporary pleasure,
embellished with gems of brightest hope,
that was THE GENESIS of life!

The above lines could make an abstract idea for a movie I ve always dreamt about that deals with the fight of a person against all odds to come up trumps with great energy!

With love.. Anil