It's not Personal; It's Strictly Business

Ranbaxy is being sold to Daiichi for $4.6 Bn as Malvinder cannot succumb to the family saga.
The Ambani brothers are back at fighting it out over the MTN deal.
There's rumors that the Sanghi brothers might split....

Hearing all these news within a week makes me wonder... I can think of two quotes:

It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business ~ God Father

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply... ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Do these quotes really hold true today!!!


The family business seems to be killing the family relationships as well as the business prospects. It takes deep commitment to stay in business and also maintain relationships.

Business is turning to be massive corporations listed on stock markets across the globe and owned by desperate investors. On the other hand, the family managed firms is often portrayed as an early part of a corporate lifecycle that is soon bound to outgrow the ability for the family to finance and manage.

The reason most business tend to split is because the families are not making a mental leap to separate management from ownership. In the world of Mergers & Acquisitions, competitive pressures and rapid rate for Concept to market is extremely important. The search for talent and ability to retain talent is the key to success. Well educated and hard working people can outperform the staff brought in on grounds of nepotism.

To be continued....

Star Dust

The Bollywood tinseltown seems to be at it's glory as it did the IIFA awards in Bangkok this weekend. I couldn't help but think about the politics within the Tinseltown. I seem to be at a loss to understand what is the definition of Bollywood and what constitutes a Bollywood movie.

SRK seemed to rule with Chak De and his home production Om Shanti Om. Of course no award ceremony is complete without the Bacchan family being there. However, what seemed amiss was the Best movie of 2008 - "Taare Zameen Par". Amir Khan has been the rebel in Bollywood who hasn't cared for the Filmfare award and I guess hasn't been to one in over a decade. He is an idealist who does not care for the fancy publicity stunts. He is now ostracized not just from the Filmfare but also from IIFA!!!

Is it fair to not consider the good movies because of the politics or is the award just another staged reality show!!!

Funny Ad - iBeer

IPL - Viva La Carnival

Indian Premier League (IPL), the mega melodrama starts this April and will go on for 6 weeks at prime time. The franchise for the eight city has been sold to some of the most respected names in the Business and Bollywood. The best of the players have been bought in auctions and the media rights have been sold to Sony for a sweeping 1 billion USD for a decade.

The advertising slots for the main sponsor is about 2.5 crores with a 200 min ad slot and the last minute ad slots might be as steep as 4-5 lakhs..

The matches will be held across India with entertainment package in the intervals. You can see shows from the bollywood stars, some of whom own these teams to the cheer leaders. If shah rukh can perform for his team.. am sure Vijay Mallya can hold wine tasting sessions during the break or organize a fashion show with the KF calendar gals...

The cricket is packaged to be a family entertainment than a sport.. welcome to the carnival.


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Match Schedule

History ka Mystery - Jodhaa Akbar

Definition:
HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
- Ambrose Bierce

Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake.
Robert Penn Warren

Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
- David Ben Gurion

I happened to watch Jodha Akbar this weekend inspite of all the controversies around it.
After awesome movies like Lagaan and Swadesh, I had better expectations from Ashutosh Gowrikar. The movie was worth a watch but not as thought provoking as Swadesh nor had the chutzpah of Lagaan.

The movie has been banned in Rajasthan, MP and a few other states. Historians (read politicians) claimed that history has been distorted in this case.

History definitely is not one of my strong points and I used the tool I use the most for my research.. Google :)

While Wikipedia showed Jodha as Akbar's wife and Salim's mother; other sites talked about the controversy being discussed. I could not get a real site that has documented history.

Some excerpts that I found are:

Abul Fazal wrote the Akbar Nama, Abdul Qadir Badayuni wrote the Mutakhabutawarikh and Nizamuddin Ahmed (also called Nizamuddin Bakshi) wrote the Tabqat-i-Akbari. None of them have mentioned 'Jodhabhai' in their books.


None of Akbar's 34 wives were named Jodhabai. Akbar married the former maharaja of Amer, Bharmal's elder daughter Karkbai alias Heer Kumar in Fatehpur Sikri on Feburary 6, 1562. Prince Salim was born in 1569. Jodhabai was the daughter of Moteraja Udai Singh and she would have been three years younger than Salim and hence, in no way could she have been his mother.

With all these controversies, I guess the movie should start with the disclaimer:
All roles played in this movie are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is just co-incidential ;)


On the other lines, it is true that Akbar did bring in a lot of reforms for the aam admi (with the budget a week ahead aam admi and taes are in everybody's mind). He tried to bring in religious harmony. His openess for the quest of truth in religion led to his founding of Din-i-ilahi.
Was Jodha bai the woman behind the tranformation of Akbar and the thought process leading to Din-i-ilahi!!!