2018 Bollywood Superstars

After a long long time, I see superstars being produced in Bollywood. This is in this year, 2018. These are the times, when we, the public are moving away from Khans, Bachhans and Kapoors; and ready to explore, give a chance to new generation of actors.

In around 2000-2004, when we saw Hritik and Abhishek coming in, there was hope that they can displace the Khan superstars of that time. However, that euphoria fizzled out very soon. While Abhishek could not establish himself as an actor, leave aside star status. Hritik showed some promise, but a few wrong choices and judgement did not allow him to sustain the momentum. He has picked up his act in last few years, however not enough to bring back the glory for himself. It was the same period, when an average actor Akshay made some right choices, did the right movies, improved on his acting quotient, exhibited consistency and he acquired the superstar status. His name is now taken in parallel with some of other superstars of Indian cinema.

This year (2018), we saw the coming of Rajkumar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana. Public has accepted their acting talent in last few years; but giving them the well-deserved 100-crore superhits establishes them as superstars in the Indian Bollywood industry. This is really a good sign for Indian cinema.

I simply love the way, how public is becoming more aware of what interests them, and what they want to watch. There were those days, and those years; when films were hit or even superhit because there was a particular actor in the movie, or it was a movie from a particular director. However, now a film cannot sustain itself, if the so called actors don't perform, if the movie is not backed by strong content, if the story is not holding together a movie. We have seen bigger blunders, and disasters from the actors and directors who were reckoning once.

Todays moviegoers crave for watching meaningful cinema has given rise to Rajkumar's and Ayushmann's of the world...Also, another crop of good actors such as Vickie Kaushal are coming up. These are indeed good times for Bollywood.

For now, let us welcome these new age actors of our times. May the good work shine, and create place for itself. May the public become more demanding.

Have Differences, Resolve It Soon!

We get into conflicts at work, and in life. Humans do think, and each one is unique in their thinking. Everyone is not necessarily seeing something the same way. When the interpretations are different, there are bound to be differences between individuals, teams and societies at large.

Life is so unpredictable. It is as short, as it can get. Why to carry the old baggage, and carry on with a territory of dispute for long.

One must try and do their own best to resolve the differences in their lifetime.

Initiate a Talk

Yes, talk it out, and you will more or less understand each other. Talking helps resolve differences.

It takes lot of courage to step up, and initiate conversation with someone. Someone, with whom you do not agree, or you do not share the same set of principles, or thought process.

Remember, it is only the initial effort that you take, and reciprocity from the other side then makes it easy.
If you hear "Yes", then it is first step towards resolving your differences. If it is "No", then don't attach this to your prestige, and lose your sleep over it.

Go with an Open mind

You must get into a discussion with a right frame of mind.

Prepare well on arguments, and counter-arguments. But, be ready to be surprised with something new. Do not be judgmental. Be respectful of each other.

Understand perspectives

Be sure of yours. And, appreciate the one, that the other one has.

Be ready to listen. Appreciate the fact that there is a difference of understanding, and opinion. The other party is not seeing the situation with the same pair of eyes.

Encourage Facts

Encourage fact based discussion to reach to a conclusion.
Clarify if there are any observations. Observations are nothing but interpretations. It is important to knock off those interpretations or observations, which are not facts.

Try to conclude

This is an extremely important step. Be flexible in arriving at conclusion.

Apply the various conflict resolution strategies to arrive at conclusion. The famous conflict resolution model is "Dual Concern model", which is based on concern for self and concern for others.

• Avoidance - Avoid engagement into conflict.
• Competitive - win/ lose. Maximizing favorable outcome to you. No concession to others.
• Accommodate - Give in to the others wish.
• Compromise - Give and take of resources..
• Collaborate - Work together to mutually agreeable solution

During your discussion, it is important to maintain respect for each other. When you sense a destruction or deterioration of discussion, try to calm things down. Note the topic of conflict that you both can take up at later stage.

If it looks difficult to reach to a mutually agreeable decision, then the best conclusion would be to schedule the next meeting for discussion.
Isn't it always good to end your meeting with phrase "We'll talk soon".

Do the Leaders follow, what they preach?

Do you take inspiration from a leader? Do you follow someone very closely and seriously? Do you want to become like someone?

I'm sure, many of us take the learning from many such leaders. Some of the traits that these leaders have exhibited all their life, which has given them all the fame and adulation; they tend to write something contrary, when they write their autobiography; they speak of the person living an idle life.

Sample the below:

Work-Life balance: These are the folks, who put their sole into everything that they do. Don't care of days and nights. Don't care for relationships. Even forget their families. But, after having lived a (so-called) successful (let me call, famous), and tensed life; they believe in preaching to public on the importance of work-life balance.
On the contrary, it is the ONLY truth. You have to go above and beyond, put everything that you have got (time, and effort) to get success, and achieve the fame.

Being Truthful: Ah. This is the most boasted falsehood statement being made. They tend to hide all the sins that they have committed to reach to, where they are today. And, when it is time to retire, they wear the mask of "Being Honest, Being Truthful". This is nothing but all their plans to retire on  the legacy of high morale grounds.

Leading thru Vision: They tend to hide all their decisions made just on the basis of their guts. Just taking a chance is many a times the reason why they are so successful. They tend to hide their ability to take risks, and going with the flow as two important facets of their success. Many a times, they want to be perceived as a leader with brain, then a leader with instincts.

Caring for People: That's the uncharacteristic thing that they claim for. After having committed all the blunders in life, tossing people around for financial gain; it is like they have achieved Nirvana, and ultimate psychological satisfaction towards end of their work life.
They claim to be caring for people. There have been several times, when they took decisions based on what they thought is right; biased by their own judgement and ideas.

What I follow, and advice to people around me, is be your OWN Leader. Be objective. Be aligned to your own goals, and aspirations. Do RIGHT, what you think is right. And, whatever is the outcome, you will feel happy about it, and take lot of learning from it.

Back to Mumbai, very briefly - After 4 years!

Finally, I was in Mumbai, India after close to 4 years on Jan 1, 2018. Really a long time. I understand it is subjective...But to me, within my heart this really took so long to be back in your country.

I stepped out of Airport early in the morning. It was 3:30 AM. And, witnessed what is true to Mumbai. It was packed like any other time during the day. 

Truly AWAKE, and LIVE. I've seen several cities and its airports. Very few come close to what Mumbai is. Always ALIVE, non-sleep, dynamic, vibrant, and MOVING.

Experiencing the population, buzzing traffic, pollution. Feeling was pretty much the same. Olden days are still in memories.

Very warm people. It was great to meet my own family and friends. People on roads, in buses, in guest-house, others are ready to mingle, get into conversations. Topics are endless:)

Then got to face the heat of Andolan (strikes) as well. Roads were blocked, trains were not running. You could not move, it was crippled for hours. But, Mumbai being Mumbai; no-one can bring it to ransom. In this situation too, there were people ready to help each other, caring for each other. It was quite a adventure for me to reach my destination though.

So what has changed. I found more people talk in English than Hindi. You go to banks, go to offices (non-governmental), people prefer communication in English. They mix it with Hindi.

Work on Mumbai METRO is on full swing. Everybody I met was very appreciative of the speed at which the construction was going in. There is a positive wait for it. It will ensure better connectivity across the city, and gives the HOPE of easing traffic congestion.

On departure from Mumbai, I could see the beauty of Mumbai Airport. I did not notice at the time of arrival. It has changed much, 'n changed for better. At par or better than many of worlds best airports.

Will get back soon, Mumbai!

India Visit - What a common man thinks!

During my India visit, I happen to spend some time with a scientist. A scientist in his own thinking, and approach was this auto driver. It was an insightful discussion with this individual, and relate to his passion towards growing India.

This is a Muslim man, who is very passionate about our country, India, our prime minister Mr Modi, and future prospects.

 

One of the important things that he said is he believes in logic. Science is all about applying logic instead of blindly believing it.

 

Some of the logical explanations were:

1. Were we monkeys, NO...Were their dianosours, NO. Human beings were never monkeys, or dinosaurs. Just that human beings were larger in size creatures, and with time their size 
2. Once he found someone who has been having medicines for past 3 months, and still having cold and fever. He asked a basic question - Do you sleep on the floor, do you take bath in the morning with cold water. And, there were reasons why he was not being cured quickly.
3. Body is like a machine...It needs to be oiled, and nurtured. Sleep and Food provides the fuel to the body. It is important to take care of body the way you would take care of Car. Right amount of sleep is important. And right diet (quantity and content) is very important.
4. There is one GOD, and that exists...Everybody else has expired...If something has expired, then it cannot be God. I will not get into further details here. But he has explanations around what exists even today, and that is permanent. And, that is GOD.
5. He justifies why was it important to go away with Triple Talaq. This is not only good for Muslim women, it is equally good for Muslim me and in general for Muslim society. He gives kudos to PM Mr Modi on strongly implementing this. Other governments had a chance to do it several years ago, however they did not.
6. He touched upon population control too. Does not agree with We "Two", and Our "One"...He wanted to at least keep it to "Two". He attributed several reasons to it. Primary being allowing two siblings be the support for each other, and also they can act as back-up to each other for ageing parents.

There are three key take always, and innovative solutions that he talked about:

1. We all need to continue to learn and be in present times. Same applies to religious literatures...It needs to be updated based on current context.
2. Today's Traffic problem can be resolved. He had several suggestions. His prime suggestion was to limit the cars based on how rich the person is. It must be on tax declarations. Allow only two cars, if his annual income is above Rs 10 lakhs...limit it to only 1 car, if it is between Rs 5 Lakhs and Rs 10 Lakhs...And, so on.
3. To secure India, one needs to provide right salary to Police, and some of the key roles in middle income society such as watchman and drivers. Police definitely plays a key role in the society. Had it not been to Mumbai police, things would have been really bad in Mumbai with the population, and variety who lives in the city. He gives thumbs up to Mumbai police for doing their job so diligently. He also clearly articulated that some of the regular daily job earners watchman, drivers need to be paid adequate salary to not caught into corruption. They have extremely important role in securing the society.
4. Employment Generation would not be a bigger problem in India. There are ways to generate employment. His biggest suggestion was to implement three shifts. Instead of 8 hours shift including lunches and breakfast time; limit a shift to only 6 hours. A shift should be rigorous without having lunches, breakfast...That way you can introduce three shifts in the day, or four shifts if it is 24 hour working office.

He anyways concludes that Mr Modi is the best PM that India can have...It is after a long time, that our country has gotten a world level leader. He also says, that we being a democratic country; we need to have a next rung of competing leaders..So, it is time either Rahul steps up as a leader, and passes the baton to another qualified leader in Congress party.