J.R.D. TATA The life of JRD (1904-93) spanned almost the whole of the twentieth century. He was born in Paris and he died in Geneva. In between, he spent over seventy years of his working life in India. During that period, he brought to India the gift of civil aviation in 1932 and later, in 1948, helped the country spread her wings abroad by launching Air-India International. Thirty years later, when he was removed as Chairman of Air-India, the Daily Telegraph of London, among others, credited him with making Air India one of the world’s most successful airlines. Had he achieved nothing else his place in India’s hall of fame would still have been securer, but he did far more. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. For fifty-two years he was Chairman of the largest industrial group in IndiaTata-which produced everything from steel and electric power to chemicals and automobiles. Apart from Air-India (which was nationalized), Tata Chemicals and TELCO, both started under his Chairmanship, became two of India’s top ten companies in both sales and assets. On the social scene, he was the first national voice to call for family planning. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed with him and said that the country’s strength was its people. Undeterred, for forty years he pursued a campaign to promote family planning, especially through the agency he founded-the Family Planning Association of India. Belated recognition came to him for this effort: the last of the many international awards he received was the UN Population Award. Two national institutions-the Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA)-were started because of his support and vision. A third, the National Institute of Advanced Studies, was inaugurated by him two years before he died. For thirty years, JRD raised his voice against the misguided policies of a controlled economy that stunted the country’s industrial growth and destroyed his own dreams for India’s industrial future. His joy lay not only in what he personally achieved, but also in the achievement of the other individuals whom he had groomed and who worked for him. When he stepped down after fifty-two years as Chairman of Tata Sons, the press noted that he was the only eminent industrialist in the country who had nurtured, within his own organization, people who had grown into corporate giants in their [...]
Archive for August 17th, 2007
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INDIAN FILMS: THE HIT AND MISS
August 17th, 2007 
Deepak INDIAN FILMS: THE HIT AND MISS Although ‘hit film’ and ‘successful film’ are terms that are used very lightly in the film industry, there is a marked difference between the two. A hit film is one in which a distributor doubles his investment. If a distributor acquires a film for Rs 1 crore (including print and publicity cost), and it does a business of Rs 2 crore, it is termed a hit. However, if the film does not reach the Rs 2 crore mark, it is termed a successful film but NOT a hit. For instance, if the film in question does a business of Rs 1.25 crore, it will be termed a commission earner (20 per cent of Rs 1.25 crore or, in other words, Rs 25 lakh is the commission). If the film does a business of more than Rs 1.25 crore but less than Rs 2 crore, it is termed an overflow film. In other words, a commission earner or an overflow film is termed a successful film. HOUSE FULL: In filmi (film related) parlance ‘opening’ is a term used to describe the first show and, to an extent, the first day’s collections. In the good old days, a fantastic opening denoted house-full shows everywhere. But full houses are a thing of the past now. With the number of cinemas in which a film is released increasing manifold and with multiplexes not restricting the shows of a new release to three or four a day, there is easy availability of tickets for every new film, even on the Friday of its release. So a fantastic opening today may not necessarily mean full houses. What it does mean is “lots of money on the opening day because of the total attendance in all the shows put together at all the cinemas”. And so if you hear that a particular film has opened to bumper houses, don’t assume that tickets aren’t available at a cinema close to your house. Tickets may be available openly in current booking and yet, it may be construed as an extraordinary opening or initial. Now let’s have a look on the value of some of film stars. AKSHAY KUMAR: Akshay Kumar can take solace in the fact that he was part of Namastey London but two things must’ve come in the way of his celebrations: Firstly, Namastey London just about managed to scrape through [...]
