Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Moviola moments

The international film festivals in Cannes and Toronto are ideal unwinding opportunities for those looking for a bit of stardust while on vacation

What really is Cannes? It isn’t the capital of France. It isn’t even near Paris. And it certainly isn’t the movie hub of the world. But those in the business of cinema – whether they peddle expensive tent-pole movies or craft small, intimate, cutting-edge films – simply cannot do without it.

But hang on, there is more to Cannes than its famed film festival. Sans the latter, held for 12 days in May every year, this French Riviera town wouldn’t have been what it is today – one of Europe’s most written about places.

There is nothing in the world quite like the Cannes Film Festival. Over 200,000 people arrive here during the event. Nearly 40,000 of them are registered delegates, 4000 of whom are accredited journalists. In terms of media coverage, the Cannes Film Festival is rated as the world’s third largest event after the Olympics and the soccer World Cup.

So shouldn’t the movies be the sole thing on your mind as the aircraft floats in from over the Mediterranean to land at the Nice Cote d’Azur airport? Well, the answer is no. During the 30-minute taxi ride from Nice to Cannes, think silvery beaches, soothing climes, tempting wines and hours of repose in genteel cafes.

Cannes is a veritable smorgasbord, a city of pomp and ceremony that celebrates high art with as much passion as it embraces the most brazen displays of showmanship from attention-hungry movie industry mavens and mavericks.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Ipl – A beast or a bestseller?

Last week, two new IPL franchises were sold-off by BCCI at record high rates. Does this signal the beginning of a bubble for Lalit Modi's IPL or will his baby turn into the world's largest sporting behemoth?

Three years back, owners of the noted English Premier League (EPL) club paid Rs.1,511 crore to purchase Liverpool, a top name in the EPL for some years now, with stars bought for multi-million dollars like Steven Gerrard (from England), Daniel Sánchez Ayala (from Spain), Javier Mascherano (from Argentina) et al. That was considered one of the biggest deal in the world of sports. A repeat occurred in India last week, when all those present in a five-star hotel ballroom in Chennai were struck with two big surprises. Any observer in all his honest self would confess that none expected the influx of funds to have such unimaginable magnitude. So much so, even IPL's Godfather Modi could not disguise his surprise. “This is a super duper Sunday for BCCI and IPL,” said a beaming Modi. He further admitted that he was expecting much less for each franchise and not Rs.1,702 crore for the Pune team and Rs.1532 crore for the Kochi team (a total of Rs.3,235 crore for the two). In short, individually, both these teams were worth more than the famous Liverpool Football Club. Nothing surprising there, till you realise that unlike the English club, which had well-acclaimed stars during to boast about during the bidding process, nothing was/is known about the names of the Pune and Kochi IPL players – beat that for speculation!

Even when you look at the current IPL contracts, when all the teams were first put up for sale in 2008, the eight franchises were sold for a much lower Rs.2,853 crore, much lower than what the two new teams (as a combine) fetched in this auction. According to a BCCI official, there were five bidders this time for the two new teams, namely, Sahara Adventure Sports Group, Rendezvous Sports World Ltd., VC Digital, Adani Group & Aman Vohra. Out of these five, Subrata Roy-owned Sahara bagged Pune & little known Rendezvous caught hold of Kochi. Knowing Sahara's Roy and his relations with BCCI, the Pune franchise will most likely come out with its IPO in 2013. The BCCI official also said that, "Already one of the major football clubs from England has shown some interest in investing in the Pune franchise. This clearly indicates that Sahara is already looking for investors and can’t swallow a monster like an IPL franchise on its own." If this is the case with Sahara, the fate of Rendezvous appears all the more doubtful. Till date, most can only guess as to which parties actually formed this group. Insiders claim that Rendezvous is a consortium formed by Vivek Venugopal, Mukesh Patel, Ravi & Shailendra Gaekwad, Anchor Switches, Rosy Blue Diamond, Anchor Earth Pvt. Ltd and Parinee Developers.

Whether it is the well-known Amby Valley knight or some unknown Special Purpose Vehicles, the real rub lies in the outflows that are bound to follow. Whatever the parties have spent so far is only for the purchase of the respective franchises. Now, they have to invest on players, staff, logistics and infrastructure. Starting September, the players' auctions will start, and Sahara and Rendezvous will be forced to shell-out some precious coins for purchasing players. Next comes supporting staff, back up logistics... and the list continues! At the end of the day, building your team as a dominant brand poses the biggest challenge. Though for various reasons, this doesn't appear to be an issue in the case of Sahara, as far as Rendezvous goes, it sure has a rough uphill ride ahead. So there are many dark clouds looming large over Kochi. But as the grapevine telegraph has to offer, with Shashi Tharoor (who is the Minister of State for External Affairs) to back you up as far as funds are concerned, would you ever waste a frown? Perhaps not...

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Business ‘of’ and not ‘for’ kids

International adoption is emerging out as a new illegal business

Adoption predominantly and fundamentally was meant to provide a better living and growth environment for orphans. Historically, the process of adoption was given a very high social recognition and was seen as a community responsibility. Of late, especially in the developed world, the increase in infertility rate has shifted this process of adoption from realm of domestic region to international markets. With Hollywood celebs like Madonna and Angelina Jolie adopting numerous children from world’s poorest regions, the whole concept of adoption seems to have become an international fad now.

Westerners see this act of international adoption as a rescue measure for orphans from poverty-stricken life. But then, this act at no given point of time convalesces the fundamental and core reason of poverty. Moreover, these so-called adopted children are actually either kidnapped, stolen or transacted and not really adopted. Social unrest, poverty and natural disaster make it very simple for child traffickers to export or import babies like any other commodity behind the veil of adoption.

International adoption has today become depraved business of supplying children to rich Westerners. Children are literally assumed as commodities and are sold to those who can afford it. In regions like Haiti, Guatemala, China and Africa there are agencies that deal in international adoption. Going by a conservative estimate, adoption today stands as a $100 million industry and agencies charge anything between $25,000 to $40,000 per child from adoptive parents.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Completing the Cycle

Craze for eco-friendly transport catches up with MLAs & youth

Students and legislators, especially those of the ruling party, have mostly been at loggerheads in Assam. But on one issue — eco-friendly transport — the two sides seem to have arrived at an agreement. Given the ecological disaster that the world seems headed for, both students and legislators have decided to use eco-friendly transport, thereby setting an example for others to follow. Some Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Assam, students and faculty members of Gauhati University have taken the initiative. Their effort is to use bicycles rather than cars and bikes for short distances.

“I used to ride a bicycle,” says Akan Bora, Congress MLA, who recently flagged off a rally organised by the Assam Bicycle Health Club. “I will try to convince the state government to build separate lanes for cyclists in the city,” says Bora, who uses car for travelling long distance. The health club, meanwhile, has pulled out all stops to help people get back to such basics. “We launched our club in December 2009 and since then have organised four rallies,” says club convenor Ujjal Bezbora. The club, which has 10 convenors, started out by contributing Rs 10,000 each for the cause. “We used the money to buy 100 bicycles,” says Bezbora. A television channel editor, the owner of a nursing home, and one of Guwahati’s main cable distributors are members of the club. “Apart from cycling having major health benefits, let’s not forget the pain that Guwahati’s vehicles give, creating traffic snarls and congestion all the time,” says Bezbora.

At the university, meanwhile, both staff and students are out to use the good old bicycle all over again. Led by their teachers, everyone in the university has decided to use bicycles this month onwards. Says HP Sarma, professor of the department of Environmental Studies: “It’s either bicycles or acid rain and besides that the auto-chemical smog is becoming a distinct possibility.” University registrar Uttam Chandra Das told the media: “With global warming becoming a reality it is time to take a new look at the environmental impact of vehicles that use fossil fuels.” An increasing number of students have already started coming to the campus on bicycles, Das added. What a way to go green.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Studying India's old malaise

Is India ready to debate the issue of religious freedom?

A US think tank called Pew Research Centre has rated India as the second worst country in the world in terms of antagonistic acts against religious groups! However, in the same breath, they admit and appreciate that these are sporadic issues of some small miscreants and not engineered by broader government policy. A few months preceding this report, another report was published from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which for the first time placed India in its watch list, after witnessing Gujarat riot in 2002 and attacks on Christians in Orissa in 2008. India has always tried to set a high standard in her secular credentials, received a body blow as more reports pour in questioning her noble claim! Another study titled ‘Global Restrictions & Religion’ in its ‘Social Hostilities Index’ has placed Gujarat and Orissa at 197, below countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The report reveals that among 25 most populous countries, India (along with Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan) is most restrictive in religious practices of the minorities.

These reports contradict India’s image of a tolerant society. While none of these reports is correct in presenting India rightly, all of them tried to reveal some truths in the context of religious intolerance and how it is actually fading the image of this nation. India's image as a tolerant society emerged from the time of Independence, when the entire nation obeyed the Neheruvian tryst with secularism. There were a few Hindutva brigades, desperate to make a mark in the Indian polity, who tried to convince large section of the majority population that the time has come for a Hindu revival, perhaps out of insecurity, with increasingly assertive Muslims and Sikhs, and the secular parties’ pandering with minority groups. It gave enough impetus to the saffron parties to manipulate and rise to the helm of the Indian politics. Even Islamic fundamentalism in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh convinced the Hindu electorate of nefarious foreign religious and political conspiracy to undermine the Hindu community bonds. India’s ambition to be global player lies with the fact that she needs to be a modern state, which could not be attained with infighting in the name of religion or other diversion towards destructive purposes. Campaigns that hounded away MF Hussain and Taslima Nasreen by couple of Hindu and Islamic fundamentalists, respectively, can surely depress India’s image as a progressive state. India has also failed to provide a healthy environment for open religious discussions; perhaps because religion was never perceived as a priority in the school and college education thus not included in the curriculums. Had it been so, we might have seen less religious violence. In spite of a few occurrences of disturbance, overall unity of a country as large and diverse as India is something one can be proud of— as it has always been a melting pot of various people being absorbed in this great nation. The Dalai Lama echoed the same, when he said, “India's long tradition of religions tolerance can be a role model for rest of the world.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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