Ustad Hotel - Smacking good.

 

The DVD version of this new age malayalam movie was released last month, and torrent sites all over have picked it up.  I finally got to enjoy perhaps the other best movie of this year Diamond Necklace being the first).  And my verdict : It’s a keeper. The plot of the movie is fully on Wikipedia. And there are a lot of themes and ideas in the movie which have been borrowed/inspired from others though.

The move is centered around good food, and good times, and feel good music. There are mouth watering shots of signature malabar cuisine, lazy strolls by the beach, and different genres of music in songs and in the background. But at its core, it is a story of relationships. A gentle mixture of the old and new, and about change.

Three different generations of a family are present in this movie, and the rift between them is presented without the usual melodrama you see in normal tear jerker movies.  There is the beautiful story of how five children grew up without a mother, the elder sisters bringing up their youngest brother. There is the rebellious daughter of an orthodox muslim family, who first rejects the boy, and then realizes her mistake late, but not too late.  And then there is Karim’s philosophy that inorder for something to be special , you simply have to believe it is special. A nice borrow from the Kung Fu panda.

The visuals are awesome ! I have been living in the malabar area of Kerala for the four years while I was in college, and I was amazed at how artistically the familiar sights and sounds of the area has been captured on film. The background music beautifully accompanies the visuals without over powering it. The strings beats and vocals in the BGM are a fresh relief from the usual cacophony one finds there.

A lot of colorful characters further enrich the movie. There are some characters here who do not have single dialogue, but still show us why they are important in their roles. The character of Narayan who is a tamil social worker is a gentle nod in the direction of selfless service of humanity.

But the highlight of the movie is the brilliant acting of Thilakan. Nobody else (barring Nedumudi Venu perhaps ?) could have played that character. The moments between Karim and his grandson discussing various ideas of luck, fate and success, sipping sulaimani tea by the beach side really stand out. He speaks the idea that “anyone can fill a stomach, but a truly gifted person can fill the soul” twice in the movie. The first time, it is not meant to register, the second time, you come to really appreciate it.

What stood out:

1. At the airport, a character mentions that Faizi has a good Mammootty look (19:14). It is actually Mammotty’s son who is playing the character.
2. Shahaana praises Faizi’s superb dialogue delivery (1:20:58). Good for his second movie.
3. Most of the female characters in the movie are muslims, and they are fully veiled when they step out of their houses. In the wedding photo of Faizi’s parents, the bride is completely veiled, only her eyes are visible.
4. The boys start their days playing football on the beach. Football is a fever across Kerala, something different in this cricket crazy nation.
5. The scene where Faizi brings a live chicken to the GM’s table (1:52:00)  is from the climatic scene in Hollywood movie ‘No Reservations’, where Catherine Zeta-Jones drops a raw steak at the table of an annoying customer.  The next scene where the live rooster pecks on the pieces of cooked chicken gave me jitters, you could say it is forced cannibalism there.
6. Towards the end of the movie (2:17:54), in the scene where Faizi prepares the biriyani, there is a beautiful piano piece which is a straight lift of Nemo’s theme, from the movie Finding Nemo. The OST of that movie had got composer Randy Newman and Oscar nomination.  The songs in the movie really make you sit up and listen, it’s a rarely found fusion of Arabic and new age rock sounds.

Well now this mouth watering review has certainly made me hungry again, so Im gonna munch on my Diwali sweets.

Happy Diwali everyone !!

iPhone 5 inspired by October Sky / Rocket Boys

 

I was watching October Sky (one of my favourit movies) the other day and I noticed a scene which inspired them at Apple !!  So I put together this original creation….

8 Secrets of Pulling Your Team to Greater Productivity

8 Secrets of Pulling Your Team to Greater Productivity:

How do you get your team to get more done?
How do you get them to go beyond their limits?
Do you drive them? Do you push them hard?
And then push them harder even once they are resenting the efforts?
You may get the work done, but you probably won’t have much of a team afterwards.
If you want your team to be successful, you can’t push them… you have to pull them.

Pushing Your Team

True story.
When I was an officer in the Navy, one of my first Captains coached me during my annual review by saying…

“You don’t yell enough.”

What? Excuse me? What do you mean?

“You don’t yell at your team enough. I’ve never heard you raise your voice at them, I think you need to be harder on them.” 

After sitting in stunned silence for a moment, I decided to answer with a question or two…
I asked,

“Do we get our work done?”

and then

“Do we finish projects ahead of schedule?”

and finally

“Didn’t we get an overall grade of “Excellent” on our most recent operational evaluation?”

It was obvious that we had differing styles of motivation and leadership.
Getting your team to work hard is not about pushing them.
Rather, it is about pulling them.

Pulling Your Team to Productivity

There is an old leadership maxim that dates back to the early 1900s.
It says…

“You can’t push a string.”

Think of a physical string on the table. If you push it, it simply bunches up and goes nowhere.
If you pull it, it lines up and goes wherever you gently direct it.
It means that to make progress, you can’t push a string. You have to pull it forward.
The same is true for high-performance teams.
You can’t push them incessantly. You will only cause friction and discord.
You may get them to the finish line, but they will be a jumbled mess.
Instead, try pulling your team to success.
Motivate them by pulling them forward to accomplish new things and reach levels they did not know they could reach.
This is was good leaders do.
Here are 8 Secrets to Pull Your Team to Greater Productivity:

1. Tell Them What You Want Done, Not How to Do It - Motivate your team by letting them determine how to get the work done. Tell them the objectives and goals, and let them impress you with their creativity and initiative.
2. Praise Your Team - Surveys show that most employees are lucky if they receive any praise during the course of their job. Recognize hard work and success and make sure that you call it out. Publicly praise your team members. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be sincere.
3. Make Them a Team – Make sure your team is a team. Pull them together. Do activities and events to allow them to bond as more than just co-workers. Trust and understanding are things that have to develop, you can’t force them. On a side note, if someone is not part of the team, you may need to remove them in order to let the core team thrive.
4. Give the Team the Authority to Make Decisions – Some managers don’t let their team make any decisions without their approval. This does not lead to a productive environment. You should trust your team to make day-to-day decisions on their own. Good leaders don’t lead by giving permission on each simple task. They lead by knowing when to gently course correct their team along the way.
5. Keep Them in the Know – Let your team know the big picture. Don’t withhold information unnecessarily. Your team can’t perform at their best if they are wearing blinders.
6. Let Them Have Skin in the Game – In many companies, teams feel like they are simply working to make the boss more successful. Great companies know that teams produce better results if they are vested in the outcome. Make sure the team has incentive in the overall outcome… win or lose.
7. Hold Them Accountable – Pulling your team does not mean not holding them accountable. In fact, they want to be held to high standards. Teams suffer if a leader does not hold all team members accountable for their role.
8. Positive Attitude – As a leader, you set the tone for your entire team’s operation. The team takes their cue from the top. If the boss is having a bad day, so is the entire team. Bringing a positive attitude can be crucial to your team’s success.

Pull Instead of Push

Pushing your team only goes so far. In the end, it causes discontent and strife.
You might get the work done, but it will take double the effort and produces half the results.
If you want your team to get more work done and be more productive…. pull them.
Pull them to greater limits. Pull them to greater achievements.
And of course, pull them to success.
Question: Do you push or pull your team to get work done?

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prostopleer.com New site for MP3 listening and sharing

Its amazing what you find on the net. I was searching for a copy of an old song and I found it shared on a new site : prostopleer.com. It’s a new site where people can upload and share their song collection, and also download for free ! The interface is super smooth and fast, no need to provide email/facebook details, at least not yet.

Use the services before this site is also taken down like other mp3 sharing sites !!!

tv.burrp.com–Best site to view Indian TV channels listing

 

I have been using this tv.burrp.com to find out programs on TV channels in India. It is the only site I found which displays a comprehensive listing with customizations in a gantt-chart applet. All the programs are displayed next to each other and shows are classified into kids/sport etc.. You can create your own listing of favorite channels and even setup SMS alerts for your favorite programs.

 

For instance, here is a part of my favorite list at the moment of writing this.