Jhoota Hi Sahi: Lacks the vital element of emotional engagement

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Judging by the number of names of lesser known philosophers touted around, you’d have expected the characters in "Jhootha Hi Sahi" to be a tad more realistic and matured. Instead most of the characters are conveniently written to pack in as much quasi pop philosophy as possible in two and a half hours. John Abraham is Sid, who runs a second hand book shop with his friends Omar (Raghu Ram) and Amit (Omar Khan). Thanks to a misprint on a suicide helpline number, Sid begins receiving calls on his home phone from people about to commit suicide. The chance connection results in Sid talking to Mishka (Pakhi) and they develop a strong bond.

Mishka coincidentally drops in to Sid’s bookshop, the next day and soon enough Sid fall in love. But complications are created by the existence of Mishka’s ex-flame (played by R Madhavan in a sketchily written role), Sid’s girlfriend, Krutika (Manasi Scott) and the fact that Sid has been cooking up fantastical stories about his life to keep Mishka upbeat about life on the phone.

The film has a few cute as well as hilarious moments but is terribly slow in its build up and is not cinematically engaging. A R Rahman’s music is decidedly below par and only helps jar matters further. Performances wise, there isn’t even a single one that stands out. At one point in time, Sid refers to a sketch made by Mishka as a painting. The film suffers from a similar flaw.

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Letters to Juliet: Enjoyable, but too conventional

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“Letters to Juliet” is one of those romantic comedies which comes right out of the canvas of a painter madly in love. You can safely place your bets on each guess you make on the next ten scenes or rather the next fifty. Vanessa Redgrave as Claire is totally stunning and so are the locales of Verona where the film is shot. The letters in question are letters written and pasted on the walls under the balcony of the star-crossed lover Juliet Capulet of “Romeo and Juliet” fame. Amanda Seyfried, playing Sophie, discovers a fifty year old letter written by Claire and makes her embark a journey to find the love of her life, Lorrenzo (played by Franco Nero). During the search for Lorrenzo, Charlie (Claire’s grandson) and Sophie fall in love. Though, the movie could not quite portray why. One just accepts it in the sun bathed cinematography which makes everything seem romantic. At the end, it’s all rather pleasant, but it’s also all rather conventional.

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Mobile handset production in India has seriously lagged the telecom services revolution.

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Current trends provide an opportunity to rectify this anomaly. Can India take it up when it matters?

Post liberalisation, the grand telecom story has been a flagship of India’s corporate prowess, and has developed business models that are benchmarks for players across the world. However, the flip side of the story is that while players, both Indian and international, have lined up in good numbers for the telecom services space, a similar exuberance wasn’t visible in the telecom handset manufacturing space in the initial years.

Slowly but surely, the MNCs that saw India as a market also started seeing its potential as a manufacturing hub. LG has manufacturing facilities for handsets near New Delhi and on the outskirts of Pune. It is further planning now to set up a facility in South India to export handsets from here to European and CIS countries. Its Korean counterpart Samsung also manufactures mobile phones at its facility in Chennai. Market leader Nokia set up its plant at Sriperumbudur, Chennai, with a manufacturing capacity of 5,00,000 units per day. The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) came out with a report titled ‘Enabling the mobile handset and component manufacturing value chain in India’ in 2005, where it had mentioned that indigenous design and manufacturing would help companies achieve higher localisation.

Considering the present scenario, the field is expected to split wide open now with the right impetus. India has become the world’s second largest mobile handset market with the sales expected to reach 140 million units in 2010 and grow to 206 million units in 2014, a CAGR of 20% (Gartner). Trends could soon change, considering the thrust being provided by the emerging domestic players who have eaten up a substantial market share from established international players in a short time. As was reported by IDC some time back, market leader Nokia saw its market share drop alarmingly to 36.3% in 2009 compared to 54% in the previous year due to players like Micromax, Spice, Lava, Karbonn and G’Five.

They are likely to follow the trail of the MNC giants before them and get into full fledged manufacturing. Sure enough, Micromax is expected to invest half of the money raised through its upcoming IPO to set up a manufacturing unit in Chennai. Other players like Videocon, Lava, Wyncomm and Karbonn are planning to start manufacturing operations, while Spice has commenced trial production. In fact, even Chinese players like ZTE and Huawei feel that the 5-10% of benefit on shipping from China is attractive enough to set up operations here. “With most local companies including ourselves seriously considering manufacturing in India, the country seems to be emerging not only as the second biggest EMS location but also a mobile manufacturing hub,” says Arvind Vohra, Co-Founder & MD, Wynn Telecom Ltd.

There are major reasons for visualising India as a global manufacturing hub or production factory. Firstly, the cost effectiveness of manufacturing in India. Ganesh Ramamoorthy, Analyst, Gartner, states, “The opportunity is very high to set up a manufacturing base in India. Two factors are involved for decision (to manufacture) – volume targetted by companies and business model used.” Mobile connections in India will grow by 27.3% in 2010 to reach above 660 million with revenue of $19.8 billion to be generated (mobile services). Along with this, mobile penetration for 2010 is projected at 55.9%, which is expected to reach 82% by 2014. Mobile production revenue in India is expected to grow from $10.14 billion to $28 billion at a CAGR of 18.1% (Gartner). According to Pankaj Mohindroo, President, ICA, “Around 135 million phones were manufactured in India last year, which is 11% of total global manufacturing. Out of this number, around 70 million were exported.” The plan is to take the share to 20%. There are people who contest these figures, saying that manufacturing in India is actually more of assembling.

S. N. Rai, Co-founder & Director, Lava International Ltd. admits, “In the long-run China will not be too competitive as compared to India. In order to get the ball rolling for manufacturing in India the players need to achieve a ‘Critical Mass Production and Market Base’ which will make manufacturing here profitable.” Now it’s up to the government to seize the opportunity and ensure that the local handset industry gets the required force and capability to meet the demands in future. One of the key demands of the industry is to be provided STPI as was done for the IT industry. For a manufacturing sector to grow, the most vital aspect is the ecosystem and supply chain, where China has a huge advantage. Presently, very little component sourcing is happening in India. Only electrical and mechanical parts are made here whereas electronic components are all imported. Just as handset manufacturers are showing interest, the government needs to attract component vendors to set up production here, which will help keep the handsets competitive. A thrust at this critical time can do wonders for mobile handset manufacturing in India. It is a bus we can ill afford to miss.

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Amma makes her moves

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With three mammoth rallies in different cities of Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK Supremo is scripting a comeback to power in the state where Assembly elections are due in May next year

Madurai has witnessed many great political shows. The city, billed as the bastion of MK Azhagiri, Union minister for fertilisers and chemicals and elder son of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, saw another one on October 18. The temple city was stormed by power-starved AIADMK cadres led by Jayalalitha who, after a four-year hiatus, spewed fire against DMK in a bid to recapture power.

Before Madurai, she held mammoth rallies in Coimbatore and Trichy. The Coimbatore rally was held in July, days after the government organised a hugely successful International Classical Tamil conference boycotted by AIADMK.

Both rallies pulled in the crowds. In Trichy, overwhelmed by the lakhs who had gathered, Jayalalitha exclaimed she had never seen such a huge crowd in her life. Sections of the press also went overboard with reports about the success of the rallies. Consequently, the DMK was forced to arrange public meetings at both places to prove its strength.

Karunanidhi himself addressed crowds there and responded to Jayalalitha's accusations. The fact that DMK had to follow Jaya's rallies with its own meetings, demonstrates that the party is shaken.

The mother of all rallies was in Madurai where zhagiri's writ runs unchallenged. In the run-up, the AIDMK chief received 16 letters threatening her with unpleasant consequences if she made it to Madurai. The Tamil Nadu government has said it will hand over these letters for inquiry to the CBI. Meanwhile, cadres of both parties put up posters in Madurai taking digs at each other. Karunanidhi himself intervened and wrote to his party members not to be carried away by the pricks of the opposition and follow the words of C. N. Annadurai who said: Vaazhaga Vasavalarkal! (long live those who abuse us!).

At the Madurai rally, Jayalalitha spoke for a record two hours. She criticised the policies of the government on many counts but her powerful and best punches were reserved for Azhagiri. ''By participating in this rally I have proved who really has a brave heart (Azhagiri is often called Anja Nenchar, a brave person). There are two governments in Tamil Nadu: one is led by Karunanidhi and the other in the southern part of Tamil Nadu is led by Azhagiri,” she thundered.

Later Jayalalitha claimed 50 lakh people had come for the rally but due to diversions by the police only 25 per cent could reach the venue. However, newspapers peggged the crowds at about 6 lakh.

These rallies have undoubtedly rejuvenated the party. Dr. Maithreyan, Rajya Sabha MP from the AIADMK, is jubilaint. ''The mood in the party is upbeat. We are inching towards Fort Saint George (the building where the Tamil Nadu assembly is located)”, he told TSI.

However, a win will come only with good alliance partners. The current DMK-Congress alliance is very strong as has been proved by the combination's win in the last Assembly and Parliamentary elections. Hence Jayalalitha is trying to pull Congress back to her fold.

''In all her rallies, she did not utter a word against the central government. The reasons are obvious.” comments Solai, a veteran political analyst.

AIADMK is also trying to get the support of actor Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). The party has a considerable vote bank of around 10%. Though MDMK and the Communist parties are with the AIADMK, they can't make a winning combination. It is less likely that the people will rise above the alliance arithmetic and vote in favour of the AIADMK.

But Dr Maithreyan exudes confidence. ''In Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai our leader has proved the people are with us. At the right time, she will take the right decision with regard to the alliance. Our party cadres know it very well,” he says.

Earlier Jayalalitha was quoted in an interview given to an English daily as saying that the Congress has to get out of the DMK alliance. A few days later, Karunanidhi and Stalin were seen waiting at the Chennai airport to welcome Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi who was on her way to Trichy to attend a party function. Karunanidhi even sent his daughter Kanimozhi to Trichy airport to receive Sonia.

Political observers indicate that though Sonia has been warm to the DMK, Rahul Gandhi has been consistently giving the party the cold shoulder. He has never gone to meet Karunanidhi even once in the last five years although he has visited Tamil Nadu many times during this period.

But to dislodge the DMK from power, the AIADMK would need to make herculean efforts, as the party's rule has directly benefited the poor through heaps of freebies.

On the day of her Madurai rally, the chief minister was busy reviewing the ongoing free housing scheme. Jayalalitha would need something more in addition to these huge rallies. But she has taken a step forward. A very bold step indeed.

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