Mobile market in India

There has been a tremendous growth of the market in India for portable devices like mobiles and tablets but the major manufacturers doesnt seem to care much about the same. Of course the nexus 5 came pretty early to India, the real game changer Nexus 4 never made it to India in the same price range as in the US. It still costs around 24K which is not cheap compared to others with similar specs in the market.
The most recent entrant in the segment was Moto G, but even that took some time to come from Motorola.

Moto G was expected to be the low price alternative to Moto X, but even then the launch was delayed. Why? Because India is still seen as something secondary in the eyes of smartphone biggies. Anyway its good to see that with Nexus5, Google has made a serious attempt at bringing their flagships to India soon.
As far as Sony is concerned, it looks like it is firing too many bullets at too many targets with the result that it gets very few points. Take for example the Xperia Z. It is still one of the best Sony smartphones, but it was followed by bigger flagships like Z1 within a few months. If sony can concentrate all its energy on 1 device per year, then I seriously feel that it will  become a major player in the smartphone race. One admirable maker is HTC which has shown that despite being in losses, one can be focused on few products and deliver on them perfectly. India is no different.

As far as design goes, LG seems to be aping samsung and both their phones look similar in terms of external design and with common features.Sony still has one of the best designs in the industry alongwith the HTC One. Even though most post-xperia z devices look similar, the new Xperia E1 looks fantastic, especially the white version.


With love.. Anil

Humanity is dead, Constitution is alive

Imagine a time when there is no humanity is left and all that is left is a big fat book of constitution in all its glory. I really don't understand why so many people keep talking about constitution while the main issue of drug trafficking and prostitution is swept away. They talk about anarchy when the people have some genuine issues and someone is taking an initiative despite police remaining a mute spectator in the fateful midnight.
Several comments against the AAP, made in the newshour show on Timesnow channel seemed to be overly hyped.
Are the leaders interested in making the constitution a success rather than taking society's security and safety seriously? Why are we obsessed with following the rules? What happened to the same law and order and governance when the 2012 delhi gang rape was taken to great heights by the media?
"Anarchy" has been mentioned so many times that the debate itself looked like a competition of english words, with the participants, including the host Arnab Goswami reading out the definition of the term "Anarchy"! All the participants talking against the AAP's representative Ashutosh are doing so out of false concern for the constitution and the legal structure of the government. Since when did a peacefull protest become anarchy, illegal, lawlessness, etc?
There have been a sudden surge in the national pride just because the dharna will disrupt the preparations for the republic day parade. A nation's pride doesnt lie in display of exhibits during the republic day or independence day, but in showing the self respect towards our self. We need to show to the world that we are not a banana republic which is run only by the laws. Of course laws are important for a nation's stability, but out of the box thinking and bold steps are necessary and in fact mandatory during the present times of globalization.

Yesterday was the first time that the debate turned out to be a kind of one-sided affair where the host was hell bent on picking up the minute details of AAP and showing that through a damaged magnifying glass.
Hope today's debate is a well-balanced one!

With love.. Anil

My Review of 1 Nenokkadine:

My review of 1:
It is well known that no psychological-suspense-thriller has succeeded in Telugu, especially any film with a star hero. So below is my analysis of the movie without any spoilers:

1. The hero's introduction as the rock star with the song "who are you" was awesome and makes the crowd wanting for more. The starting credits are also novel and goes with the mysterious theme of the movie.
2. The scene in which Mahesh finds out the phone number based on photos is just too good and the audience has applauded for it.
3. The interval scene creates a new feeling and is certainly a huge asset to the film.
4. When Nazar says: Here comes my golden rice, the shot was amazing, but the next scenes couldn't keep up the tempo as much as it could have been.
5. The climax felt a little stretched because of the boring sequences and not because of the length. When we think over it after the movie gets over, the lengthy climax indeed seems to be required to bring to the point what the hero is exploring for and to show his emotions in the end.
6. The background score is a plus point that goes with the mood of the film. DSP has shown that he can adapt to the requirements of a unique film like this which needs a different treatment.

As seen above, some sequences and elements were completely novel, fresh and deserved a huge applaud for the way they have been planned and set up. But all of those scenes couldn't create the cumulative effect that films like Pokiri and Athadu have created. Both those movies had suspense and twists and had some great scenes which connected well with the remaining part of the film and aided in their huge successes.

The movie is certainly an experiment that might go haywire because of the genre and the lack of punch expected from Mahesh's movies.
Technicalities:
One thing that anyone who feels that Tollywood needs to go on par with Hollywood: Its not just the technical department that needs to excel, but more importantly the way a movie is told and the storytelling ability of the directors that needs to improve. Technical stuff and the graphics will come later and they just compliment the content of a film. For example, Krrish3 has done a marvelous business not because of the graphics, but the content that it had for the audience. Same is the case with Dhoom3 which had a good content in the form of the brother sentiment portrayed by Aamir so well, and some actions scenes
which were well planned. The graphics just added the icing on top the cake in both the movies.1 nenokkadine is much more than just stunts and graphics, so when someone watches 1 nenokkadine, it needs to be watched with an open mind and not just whether it has spectacular graphics like Hollywood.
Need honest promotion:
When a film is promoted, it needs to keep in mind what will be the effect on the people's expectations. If it is promoted heavily by focusing only on action, and if the movie turns out to be a psychological thriller, the public wont be able to digest it. Same has happened to 1. It has been promoted as a complete entertainer during the festive season, which it is not.

Final words: 1 may not be the regular masala film and it does not have the commercial elements to make it a success, but it is a path breaker movie that will be remembered in the future. I had the same feeling after watching Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises as well as Inception.

Postscript:
Disco lights: For the first time in my life, I experienced special disco lights in a theater! Yes while the song "who are you" started in the movie, the theater turned on the disco lights in the ceiling to add to the excitement. Of course this may not be in all theaters but a good value addition nevertheless!

With love.. Anil

Who are you?

The experience of the song from Mahesh Babu starrer-Telugu film "1-Nenokkadine":
The track "Who are you" from the philips bass audio system pumped up my evening yesterday. By the way,
who am I? Will it not be more apt to ask myself who I am not?
I am not cash
I am not tears
I am not anger
I am not body
I am not thought
I am not fame
I am not work
Once I gave some thought to the question, it suddenly seemed to be philosophical. Who am I? No definite answers but there is a kind of realization that the
exploration for an answer to the question is called life. Ever since our birth, we keep exploring and thats when we really live. Continuous exploration of
ourselves is an inseperable part of life's nature which never ends. And when it ends, I feel humanity and life itself ends, because exploration is a part and
parcel of the nature itself. Change is inevitable and change is nothing but exploration of more options to expand life and become a part and finally keep
running a race to dominate the universe. Change is the only thing that is permanent in the universe. The earth keeps rotating as well as revolving across the
sun.
You may think that the sun is stable but even that keeps moving across the galaxy. And the galaxy itself is moving across the universe. And finally the
universe in itself is ever expanding.
If you argue with the earth or sun or galaxy and decide that you want to be at an absolutely fixed point in space. You may even get successful in your effort
and stay at one point but then you will be shattered to pieces due to the relative velocity and the energy that it generates.
So change and exploration is life and stagnation is death.

With love.. Anil