Angels & Demons

The professor of religious iconology and symbology, Dr. Robert Langdon is back to save the day! And this time around the stakes are higher as he tries to stop the unscrupulous Illuminati from destroying The Vatican.

Based on the book by Dan Brown, "Angels & Demons" is a sequel to the 2006 film "The Davinci Code", also adapted from Brown's book of the same name. However the narrative of this story is a prequel to the latter.

Academy award winning Director, Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon ), who directed the 2006 prequel, once again gets behind the camera to bring the book to the silver screen. Also returning, is the critically acclaimed star who portrayed the character in the previous movie, Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Castaway, Sleepless In Seattle). Joining the big names in this movie are Ewan McGregor (A Life Less Ordinary, Moulin Rouge, The Island) and Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point,Munich).

Although the movie has altered many plot elements and characters from the book, the celluloid treatment remains quite faithful to the original book. Viewers will enjoy the movie for it's take on the controversial debate of science versus religion in true Dan Brown style. However critics have panned Howard for being repetitive in his choice of material. Tom Hanks sports a better look in this movie as compared to the last one and seems more comfortable with the character than before. Although McGregor might just steal the show with his performance!

Despite mixed reviews by viewers and critics alike the movie has managed to claim the top spot at Box Offices across the globe in it's opening weekend. Grossing over $261 million worldwide, on a budget of $150 million, the movie has definitely proven to be a box-office success!

Wonder if producers might consider turning other literary works of Brown into block-buster movies!

The Big Layoff!

A few weeks ago, when Satyam found a new owner in Tech Mahindra, this blogger had mentioned that despite all the brouhaha, testing times were certain for the fateful employees of the Hyderabad based beleaguered software firm. With this latest piece of official news that fear has been confirmed!

The new management has identified 10,000 Satyam employees, deemed 'surplus', who will be in the line of fire in the weeks to come as "Right-Sizing" is the order of the day.
It seems the defamed founder, B Ramalinga Raju hired employees with the intention of driving up the revenue and profits. Obviously that will no longer help the scandal hit firm, so the Tech Mahindra executives have decided to start trimming the excess fat.

Targeting mostly middle and junior level employees, Tech M hopes to provide soft options in the guise of sabbaticals and inter-company recruitment via job fairs.Already variable pay has been cut across the organization since April and further pay-cuts would not be surprising.
To make matters worse, Satyam has already witnessed exits from many prominent clients and is in deep crisis as many more are to follow suit. Bottomlines have already become a major concern and further lay-offs seem not just imminent but inevitable.

With 10K employees about to hit the recruitment scene, this exodus is bound to have ripple effects extending across the industry.

IPL 2.0

The second season of the Indian Premier League came to a grand end on Sunday 24th May 2009 with the Deccan Chargers emerging as the champions. The Chargers, who finished in the bottom half last season, rebounded this time with a stunning performance and waged a final battle against another underdog team, The Bangalore Royal Challengers, to win the coveted title for this season.
The final match took place in the capital city, Johanessburg, of the hosting nation, South Africa.

The Delhi Dare Devils and Chennai Super Kings held their respective grounds till the semis while last year's champions, Rajasthan Royals didn't even make it to that stage!

Apart from the adrenaline packed exhibition of new-age cricketing, the tournament is a testament to the financial acumen of the BCCI. The IPL is a money making juggernaut that just doesn't quit. Even with a shift in the venue from India to South Africa due to the lack of security provisions in light of the General Elections, the money from the sponsors just kept pouring in! One can easily gauge the significance of this sporting spectacle from the fact that a major telecommunications service provider scheduled the unveiling of their new mascot to coincide with it!

The six week long cricketing extravaganza has been a grand success in terms of revenue generation and viewership. With everyone including the BCCI, the team owners, the sponsors and the broadcasting partners laughing all the way to the bank, the IPL success story is sure to feature in Management Case Studies sooner or later!

The Indian Elections '09

They must've done something right in the last five years, because they're back with a bang. Yes the Indian Election Results are out and the UPA has been re-elected into government!

The winning alliance secured 256 seats in the LS polls. Their challengers, the NDA came a distanct second with 164 seats. The UPA secured leads in most of the larger states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, strenghtening their hold over newer constituencies.

However the Congress alone,with 200 seats, is a formidable presence in the Lok Sabha. This dominance translates into the much needed freedom to take decisions without the interferene and demands of their allies within the UPA. In fact the degree of their dominance suggests that this time around the pesky allies would have no option but to fall in line. For the people this would hopefully mean a leaner and more efficient governement.

Interestingly, statistics show that the voter turn out this time around has been abyssmally low. This could suggest that the re-election of the UPA is a sign of apathy and the unwillingness of the people of this nation to vote for a change. One can only hope that the new, or rather old governemnt makes good of it's second innings and brings about some much required changes.

Re-electing an administration, that has been successful in it's previous term, is always a good thing. But the measure of success is rather subjective and may be percieved differently by different people. That's what they call democracy! So it remains to be seen whether the re-election fo the UPA is in fact an indicator of its past performance and future potential or simply choosing the lesser of two evils!

Anyhow, the histrionics, pomp and chaos of the elections are over and finally the tamasha has come to an end...or has it?

Star Trek

J.J. Abrams has done it yet again. His rendition of the cult sci-fi phenomenon, Star Trek is nothing short of brilliant!
The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry includes six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films. The franchise also extends to dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and instances of fan fiction, several fan-created video productions, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas.
The 11th movie in the colossal Star Trek franchise is a prequel depicting the origins of the original crew of the USS Enterprise from the 1960s TV series albeit the movie focuses primarily on the back-stories of the captain, James T. Kirk (chris Pine) and his first officer, Spock (zachary Quinto). The other crew members include Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Siomon Pegg), Pavel Chekov(Anton Yelchin) and Hikaru Sulu (John Cho).
The movie is in essence a reboot induced by a time travel accident involving a Romulan, Captain Nero(Eric Bana) and an elderly Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Although Time Travel is not necessarily a spectacularly original concept, this reboot makes for a very good story telling approach. Not only does it introduce a new arc in the stories of our protagonists compared to those featured in previous movies and the TV series, but also provides the producers a great excuse to revamp the entire franchise!
This movie highlights the emotional facet of Spock, something that is not easily visible in the series or earlier movies. Spock's love for his parents, especially his human mother, is endearing and Quinto manages in fact succeeds in portraying this rather beautifully. Kirk's reckless and cynical personality is equally well portrayed by Pine. Also noteworthy is that this Kirk is not as philosophical as the one portrayed by William Shatner. Spock represents the reason and logic whereas Kirk is the embodiment of gung-ho action. The chemistry between these two opposites has been captured well on screen.
Abrams has a few signature sequences in the movie that echo his style of fast paced action with interesting camera perspectives. These include Kirk's birth in space, The car chase sequence involving the younger Kirk and the space dive with Sulu and Kirk, all of which will keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Touted as perhaps the best Star Trek movie yet, the latest flick is a welcome revival to the age old franchise. With the last few Star Trek movies and series not performing well (in fact both the recent series and movie resurrections were considered complete failures), a lot was riding on the success of this one. Abram's Star Trek has received universal acclaim and has been a box-office success raking in over $150 million globally. There are even talks of a possible sequel with the new cast.
For this Trekkie the final frontier just got a lot more interesting!

The survivors of the fateful airliner Oceanic flight 815 celebrate a 100

The cult sci-fi drama series LOST completed 100 episodes on Wednesday 29th April 2009, coincidentally the same day that Barrack Obama’s administration completed its 100 days in office. What began with a plane crash on 22nd September 2004 has now become one of the most watched series in television history.
LOST is the story of the survivors of Oceanic 815 airliner that crashes on a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. However this is no modern day Gilligan’s Island as the island and its inhabitants, both new and old have many interesting secrets. The show combines a milieu of elements which include Egyptian mythology, biblical allusions and even time travel.
The show has spawned a thriving international fan community. These Lostaways or Losties are also active participants and developer of various fansites and other media including the LOST WIKI- Lostpedia.
The show has also garnered critical acclaim and won many prime time awards including the Emmy and Golden Globe awards for outstanding drama series and also several cast performances.
Reflecting its devoted fan base, the series has become a part of American popular culture with references to the story and its elements appearing in other television series commercials, comic books, webcomics, humor magazines, video game and song lyrics.
Over the last four years, ominous mythology, startling discoveries, shocking cliffhangers, buried secrets, and stunning character development have been the significant highlights of the series.
With only 20 more episodes to go for the last episode of the final season, the interest in the series has peaked to dizzying levels and the show promises to deliver even more thrills!