Movie Review: 2 States

This movie has been a matter of excitement for me ever since I saw the first promo on TV, featuring the beautiful LKP lawns of the IIMA campus. As an alum who has never got the chance to visit campus after graduating three years back, I really wanted to relive the memories of those two years. Also, I’ve read most of Chetan Bhagat’s best sellers including the one on which this movie is based, and I find him an entertaining writer. His involvement in the creation of movies based on his novels has increased exponentially, from Three Idiots, through Kai Po Che, to ’2 States’. This made me happy for him, and also made me want to watch the movie as early as possible. And simply put, it did not disappoint me.

For the uninitiated, the movie is about a guy from New Delhi and a girl from Chennai who are in the same class at IIMA. They fall in love on campus, and decide to marry each other at some point. Because of cultural differences in their families, they realise that them loving each other is just the beginning, and there is a mammoth battle to be fought in order to get their families on board.

The first half starts with vibrant scenes of campus life. There are many comic scenes, and I liked both Alia’s and Arjun’s acting in this part. Of course the highlight for me personally was, glimpses of the campus – the library, the mess, classrooms, lawns etc, truly nostalgic! Just like in the novel, the love affair starts in a very straightaway manner, and I liked that fact that this part wasn’t elongated unnecessarily. Alia looks stunningly pretty in every scene, and is able to portray a Chennai girl well. There are few melodramatic turns in the first half, but on the whole, its a pretty plausible and enjoyable start to the movie.

After intermission, the story takes a much more serious and heavy turn. This is the part where Arjun Kapoor is not able to do justice to the character of the hero. The parents of both the guy and the girl, act well and convey strong emotions throughout this half. The pace is not too slow and not too fast, and keeps your interest alive. There are much more dramatic turns in this part of the movie, and some of them not too believable. If you’ve read the novel, you’ve already been through that feeling. Just like most of CB’s novels, the movie has a happy and somewhat cheesy ending.

I did not understand the need for interspersing the movie with a conversation between Arjun and a psychiatrist. If the reason was narration, it would have been much better to limit that to simple narration rather than a conversation. The psychiatrist thing just seemed like a failed attempt to do something, no idea what.

What I liked the most? Ronit Roy’s acting (he plays the guy’s father), followed by Alia’s acting.

What I hated the most? Arjun’s acting in the second half.

The music, by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, is pleasant and worth listening to.

To conclude, I would recommend watching the movie if you would enjoy watching a family flick with some good laughs that is slightly behind in time.

Bangalore - What a Surprise!

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.” – Socrates

One of the few things that I like in the movie ‘Wake up Sid’ is the way Konkana Sen feels about having moved to a new city, rediscovering herself, and establishing new relationships and identity. Having moved to Bangalore six months back with a lot of apprehension and uncertainty, I can now relate to some of Konkana’s feelings in that movie.

We wanted to move to India, but which city, was the question. I’ve always liked Northern India. And from the 2-3 months I had spent in Bangalore a few years back as an intern, I remembered a few anecdotes of racist violence against North Indians. This is all that I had to form an opinion. Luckily the better half knew better, and she dismissed these fears immediately. She had spent a good two years here, which she still relishes as two of her best years.

So we took the plunge and moved to Bangalore. I was immediately astonished by people’s willingness to cooperate on the smallest to the biggest of things and get on with their lives. Compared to what I had seen a few years back, Bangalore had become a truly multicultural city with open arms for every one. This is true not just in terms of the population mix, but also the things you can opt to do while you live here. Name any kind of music, theatre, sport or art, you will find its followers here. And in ample numbers, ever ready to meet new people with similar interests.

Next, I fell in love with Bangalore’s love for technology. While it was always said to be India’s silicon valley, I never realized the extent to which this was true, till I actually settled here. Sit at a CCD with ears open for 30 minutes, and you would easily come out enlightened about the latest in Hadoop, Big Data or Cloud. Because that is what Bangaloreans seem to have for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner!

I also marvel the ease with which non-Indians can live a pleasant life in this city. No language problems (most of the people you need to talk to, can speak sufficient English), relatively safe for women, a well-connected airport and very accepting people make it a haven for expats to settle down or visit.

Last but not the least, Bangaloreans know how to make merry. The city is full of great pubs, restaurants and other fun hangout places. What adds to the fun is peoples’ happy and optimistic nature.

Of course the city has its own negatives. Bad town planning, bad roads and poor traffic sense are the leading causes of daily distress for me. Often greedy auto-drivers who want all your money add to the misery.

But the greatest thing about Bangalore, I think, is the fact that it is the clear frontrunner of India’s entrepreneurship scene. Folks here are early adopters of everything, especially technology. A lot of people would agree, that if you’ve got an idea that is probably ahead of its time, try it in Bangalore and there are less chances of failing!

New job, new life, fresh perspective!

It's amazing how a job change can change so much about you!

Since I left my high-profile trading job in search of something more meaningful to myself, I have experienced a certain sense of freedom that I had last experienced when I was in college! The feeling of being free, being able to choose what path you want to walk, being able to choose your pace, being able to choose what you work on. I am not even sure if I can properly express what exactly it feels like.

After a month of interviews, I joined the company that I was in awe of and the only company I interviewed with: InMobi. I get an intense feeling of satisfaction when I think about this decision to change. A couple of days back, my wife actually complimented that I have started seeming younger. No, not by looks (I wish!) but by mindset. That comment made me so happy, I can not tell! To give you some context, I am a computer engineer by training, and more recently, an MBA. While I really like what an MBA does to a person in terms of packaging, brand value and personality development (apart from the usual suspects - business insight and understanding), there is one side effect it has (or at least, had on me) - templatization. I felt this urge, while doing my MBA, to fit into one of the 'templates' created by the Indian B-school universe. The Consulting template didn't suit me as much as the Banking one, and the Marketing one was not even in my consideration (I laugh to think about this now!). And technology? Well, that was never the hot stuff anyway!

After two years of trying to reconcile myself with the Banking template, I realized that I was just trying too hard and it wasn't working. Mind you, it's not that I wasn't doing well at my job - in fact I was doing quite well according to people around me, including my manager. But I was not doing well according to myself. And doing well according to myself was not even a consideration when I was a student. It only came up when I had worked for some time, and kept gaining more and more importance as I tried to answer to myself questions like 'What am I meant for?', 'How am I adding value?' and 'What am I doing that I can always cherish and be proud of?'

I learnt several things about myself and life during this career transition. The most important one, I just love technology! Building new stuff using technology, and enabling the world to accomplish their tasks more efficiently, is too exciting for me! And after having been almost out of deep touch with technology for a few years, it almost feels like I've arrived. Actually, more like, I'm back! The second, glamour is overrated. You could be in the most sought-after place, doing the most sought-after job, but if it doesn't kick up your heartbeat and make you feel like you're onto something great, it's probably not worth your time. The third, and a very interesting one: Risk is underrated! Taking risks (calculated ones, of course, and risks not just for the sake of taking risks) is really exciting. Today I almost want to go back to the time, 5 months back, when I had no job, and was uncertain where I would end up. I am not encouraging you to be jobless, but trying to convey that uncertainty keeps your heart beating fast, and also makes you introspect regularly, making you a much more mature and thoughtful individual.

While this feeling or undercurrent of satisfaction that I now feel is really deep inside, there are some surface events every now and then that make you realize the undercurrent. I recently took part in a Hackathon (and finished runners up, though that's beside the point, but then I love to boast don't I?), something that had moved out of my comfort zone over the past few years. Or shall I say, my comfort zone had shrunk? I now read a lot about technology, music and cars - three things that interest me a lot. And I now blog :-) (though I am still not as frequent as I would like myself to be).

I have attributed quite a lot of the change in my feelings and situation, to the decision of moving back to the tech world. However, I must say that a lot of credit also goes to the particular workplace I am lucky to be a part of, and my team. It is an intellectual workplace of sorts, with such a high percentage of smart and stimulating minds, that even if you went with a closed mind to the office, you would learn something! It is so important to be in such company, that I would give up a lot for it. I was complimented in my previous job for 'single-handedly raising the average IQ of the workplace'. I'm not sure if I am still doing that, but the opposite is definitely true now. Kudos to InMobi for being able to attract and retain such kickass talent at such a large scale. They must be doing something right in terms of hiring, which most companies don't know how to do.

Another change that happened along with my change of job, was my move back to India, and to a fantastic city called Bangalore. So lest I put it off like I always do, I pledge here that my next post will come up very soon, and will cover how that move has turned out, what's great about being back in my own country and what I miss about London.

PS: If you are an entrepreneur, you will probably read the above and say 'But at the end of the day it's a job. What kind of job can give you as much satisfaction as running your own company?' You are likely right, I have heard this from many people. But that does not take away the fact that even among the many jobs I could be doing, there are some that suit my persona and passion much more than others. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur, and not everyone can take the associated risks and pains. I have a lot of respect for those who do. Some day, I may be one of you. Just saying :-)