Innovate. Disrupt. A backdated post.

The world in itself is a very bland place to live in. True that nature has given us many a goodthings to relish. And evolution has given us mankind. There started discontent then, and the need to improvise, innovate, discover, invent and most importantly disrupt the status quo. That disruption in itself is a huge phenomenon that happens without our great notice, but we are sweetly touched by them and our thinking changes.



Such disruptions have occurred in all walks of human race, and our TFI is no exception to it. Just that that disruption has been created by a phenomenon called Pawan Kalyan. And, it has been truly phenomenal. Originally named Kalyan, no one was aware of the future that this prodigy would create. Under the shade of his brothers, Megastar and Nagababu, he has carefully picked up the beauty of cinema even before the Telugu Cinema industry realised that something was about to change forever. With a movie called 'Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi', he brought in martial arts, breathtaking stunts and most importantly earned him the moniker 'Pawan' and a superstar was born.



Just like a tiger decides on its prey, plans on its pounce, and finally strikes, Pawan Kalyan had a stature in himself that he hid for his next two films. The next two movies were mostly run-of-the-mill, family melodramas that were typical of those days. Then, he felt the need to bring in a change, disrupt and Tholiprema came in. The movie earned him instant superstar status, ran for 365 days and brought in 6 Nandi awards. No simple feat that was.



With films that followed, he was setting records, breaking shackles, leaving no scope for typecasted heroes. He kept on innovating, experimenting, setting trends. Mannerisms, dialogue, fashion, dance, music, stunts. Nothing was left untouched and as each aspect was embraced by the Powerstar, TFI was left with the pain to innovate and retain relevance. Not that the industry was in shambles, but the audiences were so deeply influenced by the Powerstar's movies that Powerstar's performances became benchmarks for other movies, and had to improve or at least be inspired from them.

 

As he made movies, he also built a huge fan base for himself. In real terms, 'fans' would be no apt word to describe his admirers. He started inspiring youngsters, charming his female movie lovers and made his way into family audiences' hearts. Fans started become hysteric about his performances, emulating every trend he set. No college going guy in those 'Kushi' days of AP would have resisted from sporting that 'Kushi Sling Bag'. No girl would have resisted from smiling silently when they saw him wooing away his heroines. 



For the youth who grew up watching his films, he was a role model. He attained a leader sort of status in their hearts. They wouldn't matter if any movie of his ran for 1week or 1year, or made 1 lakh or 100 crores. They would just want to watch him onscreen, cheer till their lungs dried up, and dance in excitement. Such is the power he has risen to. Even when his movies like "Johnny" or "Komaram Puli" bombed, fans weren't one bit disappointed. They eagerly waited, in anticipation of their hero's rise and finally the Powerstar arrived as "Gabbar Singh".



Grossing at more than 100crores, that was the first telugu movie to achieve that feat. The makers were happy, the fans were on top of the world, and the star was back! Even if Gabbar Singh hadn't made that crores, fans would've loved it, as the movie had all kinds of elements that make the PK brand tick! Fans never had to ask for anything more.

Speaking about this phenomenon would need more than a news post, a blog post or a tv programme. You have to feel that charisma to revel in that joy, a Pawan Kalyan movie gives you. We believe we are too small in front of his charm to write a biopic about him. The world has better stories to tell about him. So to know better, have a talk to the nearest telugu cinema lover near you!

Here's a very happy birthday to the person who touched the industry, created a brand for himself and most importantly was hugely successful at disrupting the field was in. That's all it takes to be a Powerstar.

A Case Study: Ko Antey Koti

The human mind is like a piece of blotting paper. It can absorb anything thrown at it when used for a litmus test, it loves some colours more than others. The colours that react well in accordance to their acidity or alkalinity spread more on it, and the others less. Similarly, the things that set our brains thinking for long are what build our interests, obsessions and avocations. When the mind connects itself to something striking and thought provoking, it immediately registers itself that with a 'Wow' factor and keeps it for long. That exactly is the essence of what Social Media is doing to our minds.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and all others have a unique diminishing factor for themselves and curate a lot of things for us, based on the interests we choose. A racing afficionado 'Likes','Follows','Pins' his favorite magazines, channels, racers, racing blogs, racing photographers and what not. People like me who love to be informed about a lot of things like technology, movies, music, art, food, news scourge a lot of blogs, websites and again like, follow, pin on Facebook, Twitter and the likes, just to find their Mojo. 

In that search for my Mojo, I've been following a lot of movies across Facebook and Twitter to understand how the business of cinema is being turned around across these social channels. The west is quick to adopt novel ideas and practices for promoting their movies, given the close proximity to the technology world. The ripple effect immediately shows up in Bollywood, the next industry that is close to us and has big bucks that can be played around. Our Tollywood industry has been more of a cliched practitioner of trends, with a whole lot of movies  beating around the bush and running around a concept that would have been successful. The pre release euphoria for a movie here too has been mostly cliched, with a regular audio release, a platinum disc function supported by TV spots and trailers. 

Around all these run of the mill stuff, something striking started to show up in the Tollywood social media space too.I've been following a lot of Bollywood and Tollywood movies on Facebook, but none of the movies till Ko Antey Koti had anything worthwhile to engage the audiences. Till then all I could find was posts saying 'Working Stills', 'Hot Pics' or 'Audio launch photos'. The movie in itself had a team that always had a trademark for themselves, and were ready to experiment. The director Anish Kuruvilla, the hero Sarvanand and the versatile Sri Hari. When such people come together, sparks were bound to fly. Whether the movie would set off sparks or not was something that needed to be seen after the silver screen test. But the run to the silver screen was quite a story on Facebook and Twitter. 

On the course of the countdown to the movie, the movie took an approach that was bound to engage audiences with the characters, the theme and establish a connect to the story. It had an effect that would immerse you into the dress of the story, and build your mindset about the movie. Maybe that is what a marketing campaign means. Sell your product, but tell a story to sell it. 

The movie was centered around a group of people looking for shortcuts to make quick money. They called themselves 'Dongre'. So, the Facebook campaign revolved around that. What a dongre is, what a dongre says and how a dongre behaves was the essence of the initial run on Facebook. Fans on the page were then invited to even contribute to the building up of the "Dongre Tips'. The drive behind this move would be to steer the audiences towards a set of thought processes that a movie watcher would have while watching the movie. Elegant move, isn't it?

A Dongre Tip from their Facebook page

Then came the actual face of the movie: The audio. The usual formula in the industry is to unveil the audio on a public stage. A brilliant move by this team was to release each song online, simultaneously when announced onstage, building a seamless first of its kind real time experience!.At a time when internet downloads and piracy ruled the crib of the internet's music industry, Ko Antey Koti took a very bold step to provide the music for free! They even had a mobile version of the music website, which meant an organic, healthy music listening community building!

The music website for mobile

When Twitter was considered to be a tough nut to crack for an industry like tollywood, these people made even that experience a breeze. The people behind the movie ran a contest T-5 days from the movie release, and engaged users to talk about the movie by asking them to send in what Dongre means for them. The campaign generated over a 1000 conversations on Twitter from  over 300 followers in a very short period of time! Really phenomenal for a movie with no big names to back it! Looking at the scale of things, though the numbers might not seem big as the biggies. All these things happened at a time when the social media presence for Tollywood was almost nonexistent. Given such nascent state of issues, it truly is commendable! Have a look all those tweets -> Tweetslist

Some of the tweets generated

A twitter winner

I think these kind of healthy engagements originating from our very own industry sets an example and encourages even all other filmmakers to deliver superior experiences to movie lovers on Facebook and all other social platforms too! The agency behind Ko Antey Koti is to be lauded for such a brilliantly executed campaign, setting the stage for a lot of other movies to emulate the same.





Agency Name: FirstShow Digital 

Bring in a little tradition for your better lives

I'm no granddad when it comes to experience and wisdom in the world of nurturing kids or even the world of ayurveda. For that matter, you do not need to be a granddad who has had experience hands-on with herbs and other homegrown cures or medicines. For a science so pure, ancient and efficient it does require a very deep understanding of what the application of the science could do for us. Thankfully, we've fortunate to have initiatives like Dabur from the ayurvedic fraternity around us that such a wonderful science is at our everyday disposal.

From a personal perspective, my ancestral lineage all comes from a very traditional Indian village background. Farming, community businesses, homegrown vegetables, woven clothes all come interwoven into the fabric of my family. Owing to my dad's profession, I've been only a tourist face to my native place, and have lived only in cities all my life. That's where the juxtaposition shows up. The cities are a tad opposite to what the more traditional villages adopt in their daily lives. While my mom and dad have made traditional habits a daily part of their lives, I've been a mix of both.

A mix of lemon and honey with water marked the start of the day. It would be followed by a bath with herbal elements like Shikakai, besan on a completely oiled body! A very low fat, green breakfast marked the first meal of the day. Such were the practices followed in my family, until I started college or so. Once I took my daily habits into my own hands, things have taken a different turn altogether! Gymming folloed  protein shakes, synthetic cereals made their way onto the breakfast table. Once they were skipped for a few days, the difference would be greatly visible. Burping gastric gases, improper bowels and what not! Then my mom would chirp in, 'Listen to me, have good food like the ones I feed you :)'.

I would helplessly nod at her suggestion and then revert to the tried and tested natural foods. The same with my bathing habits. Until I reached the teen mark of my life, I was given a regularly periodic body massage with some Lal Tail, and then the hair would be washed with Shikakai and some Amla Shampoos. Once I was exposed to the world of chemically strong shampoos, the shine in the hair would be wonderful for an hour after the bath. After that, it would turn frizzy and appear unwashed at all! Though those were a few negative impacts of the improper habits that I brought into my life, I fall sick very rarely. A common cold that comes to me, leaves within a day. The last time I was down with fever was ages ago! Looking back, I realise all this was a gift of the immunity I built up within me over a period of time, thanks to my mother's traditional habits at home.

The point I'm trying to make here is, though we undervalue the effects and importance of traditional and nature based products, they do good like no other. After my college was over, my sister had a baby boy and that made me even more aware of their values. I'm really close to my kid-nephew and would be a part of every ritual followed for him, everyday! Then did I learn that, the red coloured oil used for massage called Lal Tail was more of a common household, generic and trusted name that was passed on from generations.My mom knew of it, my grandmom recommended it and maybe even her mom would have used that.

More than my own life, since I have had a first person account of bringing up my baby nephew, the traditional habits got into me even more. He would be given a nice oil massage around the head, which my mom referred to as 'Siro Dhara'. I also remember his cute face when he would be given a teaspoon of Honey and ginger mixed together. As he grew up around me, I noticed that he was growing up faster than kids around him, with a sharper level of intelligence. He'd spoken his first words by his 10th month, started walking within the same time. He could greet people by his first birthday, and could recite the alphabet by the time he was two!

So, was he born with an extra set of intelligent organs? No, we are all born with the same kind of body compositions and the way were are brought up in our formative years decide how and what we shall grow to be. Its absolutely important that we take into our daily habits, atleast some part of the good values that our forefathers have set for us. So, have a little peek into the traditions at home, and you shall find a very visible, difference in your lifestyle!

With this little article, I've only given a little insight into what I've seen at my home, and how good they've been. There are many resources out there to enlighten you about the usage of ayurveda, and my little job here is to do my bit in driving you towards them! Thanks to this initiative by Dabur, I've reflected on a topic that I haven't thought about or written about in a very long period of time.

#ThankYouSachin from a very silent admirer

Personally, I've never been able to achieve a tangible connect with any form of sport watching. Maybe its the way I've been inherently wired or brought up. The fanaticism creeps into you when people around you exhibit such levels of fanaticism when you are a kid. When I was growing up, I kept changing places owing to the nature of my dad's job. That way maybe I haven't ever been able to connect with people having that 'radiant' fanaticism.

Though that was the case, schooling was something that somehow needed you to have some avocation so that you keep with discussions happening around you. Then came the cricketing bug, that started biting me a bit. I was a guy who was totally into fantasy, cartoons, comics, novels and all other mystery land books. Every day at school when I would hear India would be playing a match, I would sneak into the living room and try to catch a glimpse of what's happening in the game.

Then something eyecatching would happen onscreen. Silken cuts placing the ball into spots that fielders couldn't spot or those mastery strokes that would fly the ball out of the stands would happen. Those were things that would catch me awestruck for brief spasms of time. Learning that those strokes were off the bat of a little master called Sachin, the game would keep me glued for sometime. Once the master was off the field, my cartoon cravings would start kicking in! So, in those days cricket for me meant only the times when Sachin would bat or bowl. It was very heartening enough for a guy who wasn't into sport watching. I even had a theory those days that whenever Sachin would bowl his spinner spell, a wicket was destined to fall!

Later as years progressed, my fascination for cricket was very limited, but confined to Sachin and a few Indian matches! As I grew I didn't feel the 'need' to watch the game as a compulsion, but when people at school would be discussing about any match, I would quip in between 'Sachin ne kitna maara?'. Sometimes, it would be embarassing and awkward for me when I ask the same question even when Sachin was not part of a match. Then I would be caught unawares by my friends, that I was really poor at following cricket! Even very recently when the T20 world cup was on, I would very confidently ask the question 'Sachin ne kitna banaya, India jeeti?'! So ignorant I was that I did not know Sachin doesn't play international T20!

Speaking of all these, Sachin's farewell to the cricket playing and cricket watching fraternity is truly sad. For a person like me, watching cricket was mostly defined by Sachin's play. When you have a whole country of circket worshippers with Sachin as their god, the feeling is truly inexplicable. Maybe it was never about the game or the runs made, it was only about his presence that brought a sense of aura to the game happening! For the cricketing world, Sachin was the superstar who brought glamour to the stage he stands on. Such honour I believe can be earned only when you are truly grounded. There are very few countable number of people who bring such active difference across multiple living generations. If you take the analogy of Bollywood with Sachin, the greats like Bachchan sir or any other were active when we were probably kids, and we did not directly get to watch their greatness on the silver screen.

But with Sachin, we've had the privilege of watching him play when you have you mom,dad or even granddad rooting for the same person! How many people can you mention with the same kind of fame across generations? Not many that I know of!

So, that sums up the Sachin effect for me. Many people now feel cricket watching shall not be the same without him. But for me, I can probably say cricket watching would not even exist for me! On that note, #ThankYouSachin for that very little and fond memories I have of you. Thank you!