Numb3rs: TV series

Oh yes, I'm watching many T.V. series now-a-days. Numb3rs is an FBI detective T.V. series that ran between 2005-2010. Agent Don Eppes is an FBI agent in Los Angeles and handles crime cases that occur in the L.A. area. In this work, he is assisted by his brother, Charles Eppes, who is a professor of Applied Mathematics in the (fictitious) CalSci university. Charlie (as Charles is fondly called) tries to apply his mathematical and statistics knowledge to come up with probabilistic solutions about the crime and about persons involved in it.

Now, here is a professor, who is involved in solving crime for the FBI, using all the knowledge of mathematics he has. Moreover, the FBI officers are portrayed to take his methodologies seriously, even if the conclusions may some times seem wrong or absurd. This  portrayal of a mathematics professor does help in creating a positive image about professors in research universities. There is a big prime-time audience watching this programme.There are many parents and teens in the audience. These are impressionable minds. If they see a particular character being portrayed positively and in a heroic manner, they would certainly develop a liking towards such a character. Remember, how as kids, being a policeman meant having the ability to bash up the bad guys and create piece for the good ones. This is partly because many Bollywood heroes (especially Amitabh Bachchan) were portrayed as positive inspectors. Or like Iftekhar, who invariably was the DCP or DIG in almost every movie. Or how we didn't want to be the lala or sethji since they were portrayed as someone who lives off by making poor people suffer.

 Can something similar be replicated in India? I'm not talking of a detective series alone, but a serial where college professors are shown to positively contribute towards problem solving. Can the 'consulting' aspect of professors be woven in to the story? Today, in most TV series in India (and even movies) a professor is portrayed either as a caricature or some one who is always too theoretical in his/her approach to anything in life. People, therefore, tend to view a professor's career too, in a similar manner. So, while parents complain about the deteriorating quality of teaching, no positive image of professors/teachers is being created, which would motivate young children to take up those jobs. The 'soft-power' of the television needs to be harnessed effectively. Someone in the film/television industry must help out with this. Anybody listening?

Movie producers'-Multiplex owners row: A conspiracy theory

The ongoing strike by Bollywood producers against multiplex owners has definitely affected everybody. For those unaware, the producers decided to go on strike because the multiplex owners refused to agree to the producers' demands for greater share in profits from ticket sales at multiplexes. From movie watchers, to the producers, to the parking lot contractors, beverage stall owners in the multiplex, everyone stands to lose a lot of revenue. With movies not being released, their pirated versions too are not available. Hence many movie watchers (those who cannot afford multiplex tickets) are starved for movies.

But this strike is not without conspiracy theories. The beginning of the strike coincided with the IPL 2009 season. IPL began on 18th April (the kickoff began a few days earlier), while the movie producers began their strike on 3rd April. Well before the IPL, many producers had decided not to release movies when the IPL is going on as it affects their revenues. Hence, even without the strike, very few movies would have been released during the IPL. The tiff with multiplex owners gave the producers a very good reason for not releasing their movies. With this year's IPL producing much more drama, the bickering between producers and multiplex owners too started increasing as the tournament progressed. The IPL will be followed by the T20 World Cup in England. The T20 WC will be held between 6th and 21st June 2009. That IPL causes a drop in movie ticket sales is well known from previous year's experience.

According to this article (dated 5th May 2009), any movie requires 2-3 weeks of promotion prior to its release. And on 30th May, there were reports that the producers are willing to end the strike and have presented a compromise formula on the profits. Apparently, there have been claims that both sides are under pressure because of the financial losses they are facing. The ball now is in the multiplex owners' court. It is for the multiplex owners to now respond to the situation.

So, if the strike ends, we should see movies coming to multiplexes in two weeks from the date of truce. Assuming that the strike ends by 10th June, movies should be released on screens by 20th June. And 21st June is the T20 World Cup final. So, the multi-crore rupee question is

Was this strike actually called by the producers so as to extract a greater profit share from multiplex owners or was it just a means to avoid releases during IPL and T20 World Cup?

Namaste London: Is this movie needed?

The other day I was reading about the movie Namaste London. Apparently this is a movie about the difficulties faced by first generation Indians in instilling "Indian values" in their children, i.e. their second or third generation.

Now, at the first look why do Indians have to be obsessed about their culture and its superiority? I belong to the community of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB). Generations and generations ago, this community which is said to have dwelled on the banks of the mythical river Saraswati had to migrate because the river started to dry up. In the process the community ended up migrating to the west coast of India. Now, the majority of GSBs reside along the coastal areas of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Now I feel there will be a very very few people who know about the lifestyle of the GSBs when they resided along the Saraswati river. These might be the only ones who know about the cuisines prepared during that time, about the language those GSBs spoke. Over time, majority of the GSBs have landed up speaking Konkani and its variants. A few of them are pure Marathi speaking GSBs. Infact, I am one such person, whos past two generations cannot speak Konkani, but we do understand key phrases. I am not sure what will it be for the coming generations.

The point I am trying to make is that the GSB community had to adopt to the lifestyle of the coastal areas of western India. They could not have survived and later on prospered if they stuck to themselves and their original lifestyle.

Now, if preserving of Indian values means asking the children to follow the Hindu/Jain/Sikh religion, then these should be done in the language that the children are used to. Look at Christianity. While the Bible has been originally written in Hebrew, all over the world, people read the Bible in which they are comfortable. In India, I have seen Bible discourses being held in Marathi, Konkani and Hindi. So, why can't the Gita, the Koran, and the Guru Granth Sahib like texts be made available in English, French, etc.? Why burden the children with learning another language, when there is little scope for formal training in that particular language?

All said and done, we would like to preserve the religion and its teachings. However, religion was never meant to be bound to a particular language. It was meant to be in a language that even the common man understands. We humans are failing to adopt to the changes. It is time, we get our acts right. You cannot live in Britain and crib about the loss of "Indian culture" and "values" in your children. They were born in Britain and for them to lead a smooth life, they have to adopt to the culture of Britain. Now, its upto the parents and the society in the overall sense to help religion adopt to the changing lifestyle.

Kabul Express: a few good points from the movie

The other day I was watching Kabul Express. In the movie, when all the passengers alight near a truck filled with Pepsi cans (that was bombarded by the Americans),the Talibani (actually he's a Pakistani army soldier) tries to open the rear end of the truck to get a glimpse of what is inside. In the process, loads of Pepsi cans fall upon him and he's almost burried under a huge pile of Pepsi cans.

Irritated, this guy says,
"Saara jung isi ke liye, Coke aur Pepsi bechne ke liye"
"Yeh America s**** kuch bhi kar sakta hai"
"Arabon ka tel nikalo, aur Coke aur Pepsi us mein thoos do"
"Har cheez paise ke liye, har cheez paise ke liye"

Translation:
"The war is just for enabling sale of Coke and Pepsi "(read: giving businesses to American enterprises)
"The Americans can do anything"
"Take oil from the Arabs and dump Coke and Pepsi in their country"
"Everything is just for the sake of money"

This definitely sums up the game of the Americans. A simple Talibani, who probably has no lessons or training in economics or politics beautifully sums up the imperialist designs of the Americans.

Kudos to the script-writers !!!

At another point, when the Pakistani soldier(PS) is friends with John and Arshad (J&A), they start discussing about Hindi movies and PS tells J&A that he is a big fan of Indian movies and that the Talibans were fools to ban such nice stuff. He than argues

PS: Hum to kab se kehta hai, Madhuri Dikshit do, Kashmir lo
J: Woh to America chali gayi, shaadi karke
PS: Ghoom fir ke, hum log ka sub kuch achha hota hai, wahin chala jaata hai

Translation:
PS: Since long we have been saying, Give us Madhuri Dikshit and Kashmir is yours
J: But she's gone to America after her wedding
PS: In the end, all our good people end up there

Wow, another powerful one-liner that sums up everything, India's brain-drain, the loss of big brains to the USA, etc.

In the end, even if Kabul Express wasn't a blockbuster, these two scenes and dialogues make it a must watch movie.