Vedanta is building bauxite plants there. See what damage they have already done to the nearby village. How the company be trusted and given mountains and forest?
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Youtube opens a new distribution channel
Ten years back when I was in the university, I was much in debt of my tech savvy friends who could download any movie for free from somewhere. They knew all the tricks how to download from Chinese or Russian websites. Indian websites were not known in those days. Then came the Google that helped common net man to search "Bollywood movie online" and result was remarkable. Anyone could find any movie, particularly Bollywood, easily within one week of release. Lots of websites having "desi" or "bollywood" in their name became instant hit among Indians.
People were watching more and more for free, thanks to youtube, but the movie business in India was still controlled by a few untalented families. Promotion budget became huge and multiplexes, media houses, production house all became partners. Issue based movies, called art movies, started finding it difficult to get cinema halls for their release and then the global recession came that changed everything.
Google that was working as a philanthropy work, everything free for user, had to rethink its strategy. Their investors forced them to generate money from the biggest database they have - Youtube. Though the 3 Idiots were the first to announce the release of movie on youtube but Studio 18 became the first company to release their movie "stricker" online on youtube for free for non-US people. US people are rich and they can afford to pay $5. They might have commercial reasons to release online as there is no SRK in the movie that sells overseas but it is a game changing moment. If the producers are ready to release movie online for free or for a small charge why someone would watch illegal movie copied with a hand camera in cinema hall.
But it is a new channel for the independent, small budget, producers to release movies online at least for the overseas market. Do little math, that is what I know best. If one million (10 lakhs) people watch movie online for free, producers can definitely earn over a crore rupees from advertising. Much more than what a "art" or "parallel cinema" movie would ever earn in India.
I wish good luck to the talented artists to make movies that they like and believe in rather than making rubbish that no one likes but sales.
People were watching more and more for free, thanks to youtube, but the movie business in India was still controlled by a few untalented families. Promotion budget became huge and multiplexes, media houses, production house all became partners. Issue based movies, called art movies, started finding it difficult to get cinema halls for their release and then the global recession came that changed everything.
Google that was working as a philanthropy work, everything free for user, had to rethink its strategy. Their investors forced them to generate money from the biggest database they have - Youtube. Though the 3 Idiots were the first to announce the release of movie on youtube but Studio 18 became the first company to release their movie "stricker" online on youtube for free for non-US people. US people are rich and they can afford to pay $5. They might have commercial reasons to release online as there is no SRK in the movie that sells overseas but it is a game changing moment. If the producers are ready to release movie online for free or for a small charge why someone would watch illegal movie copied with a hand camera in cinema hall.
But it is a new channel for the independent, small budget, producers to release movies online at least for the overseas market. Do little math, that is what I know best. If one million (10 lakhs) people watch movie online for free, producers can definitely earn over a crore rupees from advertising. Much more than what a "art" or "parallel cinema" movie would ever earn in India.
I wish good luck to the talented artists to make movies that they like and believe in rather than making rubbish that no one likes but sales.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Why so many (Indians) visit Indian High Commission?
Recently, I had to go to High Commission of India, London, to renew my passport (Yes, it has been ten years I am carrying this blue booklet. I had no idea where I would be after ten years when I got it at first place.). I was thinking it would be like any embassy in India. Lots of local people in the queue to get Visa and I would get priority treatment and the embassy would let me in as soon as I would be there. I had seen hundreds of Indians (local) people queue outside all the embassies in Delhi. However the scene was much different what I had expected but same as I was used to. Lots of Indians in the queue. I was amazed. Why on earth, so many Indians were outside Indian embassy in the chilling morning of London. There was no one to get Indian Visa.
After spending almost half an hours when I could get in the embassy, I saw there were hundreds of like me and there was only one counter for Visa. It was clear that very few people come for the Visa. Rest seven counters were for various services that the Indians required. It was as chaotic as it could be in Passport office in Delhi or Lucknow. There were not enough seats to accommodate the flux of people. If they had printed (on the entry ticket) waiting time then many people would not go inside the embassy to create crowd there. But once you are in then you know that it might take almost one to two hours before your are called.
Apart from everything I also came to know the reason of the crowd. People need four services. After coming here, in a few years, their passport expired (like mine) so they naturally have to go to get new passport. There visit does not stop there. In another couple of years they find that they are eligible for British citizenship so they need to surrender Indian passport to get British (red) passport. Then they realize how much they love India. So they need PIO or OCI cards to say that they have Indian (dual) citizenship. Many of them would rarely say (in public) that they are British except in the legal or other papers where they need to to get benefits or whatever. If you think that the process ends there, you are wrong. By that time they would have kids. Now they would come to get PIO or OCI cards for their kids.
And the process keeps going on and they keep coming every two to three years to crowd and complain "Why Indians cannot work efficiently even in London and make the whole process online?"
After spending almost half an hours when I could get in the embassy, I saw there were hundreds of like me and there was only one counter for Visa. It was clear that very few people come for the Visa. Rest seven counters were for various services that the Indians required. It was as chaotic as it could be in Passport office in Delhi or Lucknow. There were not enough seats to accommodate the flux of people. If they had printed (on the entry ticket) waiting time then many people would not go inside the embassy to create crowd there. But once you are in then you know that it might take almost one to two hours before your are called.
Apart from everything I also came to know the reason of the crowd. People need four services. After coming here, in a few years, their passport expired (like mine) so they naturally have to go to get new passport. There visit does not stop there. In another couple of years they find that they are eligible for British citizenship so they need to surrender Indian passport to get British (red) passport. Then they realize how much they love India. So they need PIO or OCI cards to say that they have Indian (dual) citizenship. Many of them would rarely say (in public) that they are British except in the legal or other papers where they need to to get benefits or whatever. If you think that the process ends there, you are wrong. By that time they would have kids. Now they would come to get PIO or OCI cards for their kids.
And the process keeps going on and they keep coming every two to three years to crowd and complain "Why Indians cannot work efficiently even in London and make the whole process online?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)