India’s first big brand movie to go direct on a digital streaming platform is an average fare.
Juhi Chaturvedi & Shoojit Sircar’s have a history of amazing movies – Vicky Donor, Piku and October. But Gulabo Sitabo falls short.
Fatima Mahal is the protagonist of the movie – a dilapidated and forgotten ruin with rich history and past glory. Amitabh and Ayushmann, loggerheads with each other, share a common love for the mansion. Both excel in portraying the flawed characters – emotions, mannerisms and insecurities. Excellent supporting cast with special mention for Shrishti Srivastava – out-spoken and unapologetic!
Love the slice of life of Lucknow! Amazing writing, humorous anecdotes, great cinematography and nice direction. But the film is slow and stretched and crumbles like the toilet wall of the falling mansion! Can watch it or can miss it!
Wise decision to release on digital platform – movie is not for mainstream multiplexes!
Short Films are trending big time in India and other regions of the world.
The current rise of short films in India can be contributed to the following factors:
1. Digital Technologies:
The proliferation of affordable and reliable internet has created new opportunities for content consumption. The ‘mobile first’ generation is hungry for good content on their personal screens. The cheap internet has opened up the entire nation and regions for consuming short films – one does not need to visit a cinema. And short films are ideally suited for the personal screens and small time window.
2. Demand for Diverse & Innovative Content:
Young Generation is more eclectic in their choices. They are looking for new and diverse content. They are more experimental in nature and reward a good story regardless of the star cast. The young and impatient generation has a short attention span and they are look for instant gratification. Short films are “Any Time Movies”.
3. New Distribution Platforms:
Online Platforms like YouTube gave a big boost to short films. Today, there are numerous platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, ErosNow etc. providing a great distribution reach to these movies. Humara Movies, Pocket Films, Terribly Tiny Tales, Alt-Balaji etc are dedicated to the short films.
Tata Sky has a dedicated Shorts channel which has more than 2000+ movies. Shorts TV is the global leader for short movies and it produces and distributes short movies.
In addition, there are large number of Film Festivals dedicated to the short movies.
4. Creative Freedom:
Film makers love the creative freedom provided by the medium of short movies. There is no big pressure of formula movies and and other commercial considerations to bow to.
Film makers from across the nation and globe can bring their original stories. They do not need censor certificates for these movies – a big factor.
Short movies can be a launching platform for new makers. Existing players can use the platform to diversify their portfolio. Lot of big names have taken a leap in the world of short movies – Anurag Kashyap, Sujoy Ghosh, Neeraj Ghaywn, Jackie Shroff, Irrfan, Tapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte.
5. Monetisation:
Short movies also provide strong monetisation opportunities for unique content. The monetisation opportunities can be: direct brand associations, sale to platforms, film festival reward money and online ad revenue shares. The revenues can be global. The Royal Stag Large Short Films is truly a unique model – which can be exported to the world.
Apart from the monetisation opportunities, film makers get a lot of Finanical support to get started. In US, film makers also get crowdfunding via Seed & Spark, Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other platforms.
The rise of short movies is a great development. Does it send warning signals to full feature films? Not really. Both short movies and full feature movies can co-exist. T20 and Test Cricket both co-exist. The short movies are actually inspiring full feature movies. The rise of content-driven cinema is a positive influence of short movies.
Short Film are the Haiku of the Cinema. Short Films are the Jamun Shots – small but they pack a strong punch. Short Films prove that when it comes to entertainment, size does not matter.
Short movies are an art form in itself – the movies are completing the circle as the motion picture started in form of short movies only!
Open Our Hearts And Wallets For Kerala!
Every Little Help Counts!
Donate Help, Material Or Funds! Many Options Available To Stand Up For Kerala!
Lots of ways to help! Lots of people and organizations helping!
Listing a few options:
1. Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund
The best help right now is monetary help.
Financial assistance can be provided using the CM’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). The donations are exempted from income tax as well as Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010.
Goonj is one of the most genuine organizations that has been helping less privileged. Its founder Anshu Gupta is a Ramon Magsaysay winner. You may have seen him in KBC as well. (I know him via his brother Nishu Gupta, who is my SPJain batchmate). Genuine guys!
All major apps including PayTM and Amazon have donate button. (See images)
5. Common Indians have risen up!
Friends of my friend Sridhar have taken up the mantle of helping Kerala…And so are other Indians…if you know authentic guys, please help. See one example!
We are putting together and organising resources for help for people in Kerala. We request your kind help in any way possible. We need volunteers for collection, transportation, Delivery and Distribution into Kerala. We are also in need of any relief material that you are able to provide us with from the below list:
Materials required:
Water purification tablets
Diapers
Soap
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Towels
Clothes( please dont send us unusable clothes)
Medicines – crocin, antibiotics, cough syrups, first aid etc.
Dettol
Packet food ( biscuits, ready to eats etc)
Sanitary pads
Candles
Matchboxes
Milk powder for kids
Mosquito repellants
Chlorine tablets
Tarpaulin
Rubber chappal
Rain coats
Mats for sleeping
For Chennai collection:
please deliver at
No. 14, 3rd street,
Ganapathy colony,
Teynampet,
Chennai – 600018
For Bengaluru collection
please deliver at
Hermitage Apartments,
No.22, Haudin Road,
Ulsoor,
Bengaluru
You can send the money to the below given account with the transaction comment as “For Kerala Relief”. Account details are:
Acct holder name: Sridhar Divakar
Bank: Citibank
Acct number – 5014973445
IFSC code – CITI0000003
The crowded and the unkind Mobile Handset Market has a new arrival – Amazon’s Smartphone ‘Fire’. Will it herald the arrival of specialized devices or will it be Amazon’s biggest mistake?
The online shopping giant Amazon has been wanting to launch a smartphone for quite some time. It is late. But it has clear intentions. The phone is a e-commerce device. According to SRG, about 56 per cent of online Americans either browse or buy something on Amazon weekly via PC, laptop or mobile phone. It is trying to ensure and evolve more engagement with these American shoppers and also attract new users.
The phone’s most significant feature, called “Firefly,” employs audio and object recognition technology to identify products and present the user with ways to purchase the items through Amazon. Users can simply snap a photo of a book, for instance, and Firefly will offer up its title and author, give more information about it and provide ways to buy it. Thus it is a phone with purpose. With the phone able to scan and interpret printed text, identify songs by listening to them, or recognize movies and TV shows by watching them, it could become the sort of visual search engine that other phones don’t have as a core function. The Fire also has four front-facing cameras that create a 3D-like effect on its screen, which allows users to pan their views by tilting the device. And it has a “MayDay” button that can be pushed to get nearly-instant tech support.
The phone does not allow Google’s popular apps like Maps or Gmail and hence may not cut much ice with normal consumers. The price is also on higher side. The phone has all the standard features but it does not have too many Apps on its Amazon App Store. Though Blackberry has tied-up with Amazon Android Appstore as Blackberry also has similar problem – fewer apps on its App-store.
The phone is clearly on a mission – engaging Amazon shoppers and drive e-commerce. Will consumers put shopping over normal features? Unlikely. But who knows !
