I just came across this clip on a message board. You have to watch it !
President Bush is asked a question about his views on tribal sovereignty, and he replies by saying that a tribal sovereignty is just that, sovereign. There is laughter everywhere. He says the relation between the federal Government and the tribes is a relationship between “sovereignties”.
Disclaimer: I have no personal opinion about this clip except that I find the laughter in the background really hilarious.
I watched Kaal in the evening today, and logging back onto the Internet got me thinking about the effect of the Internet on the Indian movie industry. As everyone is aware, it is possible, and rather easy to download the latest movies from the Internet. Ofcourse, since I do not formally condone piracy, I will keep the discussion on techniques and tools to do this out of here.
It is a sure fact that total numbers representing piracy of Bollywood movies are dwarfed by those of Hollywood movies, and the distributors of Hollywood movies do in fact lose a lot of money on account of piracy. On the other hand, in the case of Bollywood movies, piracy actually leads to proliferation of the industry to other cultures. For example, after the ban of Indian movies in Pakistan a few years ago, the only way to obtain Bollywood flicks is through piracy. As such, Indian movies are very popular in Pakistan, and that country also serves as one of the main “godowns” of bootleg prints re-manufactured for distribution.
Outside India, in the US, although there are cities with impressive cinema hall facilities to watch movies on the big screen, for the most part, expatriate Indians still depend on VHS tapes and DVDs to get their dose of desi entertainment. This mode of entertainment does not serve well to pass on a pie of Bollywood to a typical non-Indian who is either indifferent to anything other than Hollywood, or depends on International film festivals organized at prime locations for broadening his movie experiences.
This is where piracy through the Internet really contributes to extending the reach of our film industry. Anyone with a broadband connection can, practically, download top quality rips of Indian movies to be viewed later at their convenience. My rationale is that in such small international markets, piracy is going to happen one way or the other due to lack of infrastructural support. Keeping online piracy unabated does not really affect Bollywood’s bottom line a whole lot. On the contrary, free access to Indian movies often times motivates expatriates to actually invest in India to make quality movies on themes they deem appropriate for the international audience.
Back home, piracy has always been present, but has never been curtailed with a very high level of zealousness. This is because going to movies is an entirely different social and cultural activity in India. Movies are watched to bring the family together on that odd weekday. Such an event is often times actually planned a lot in advance. It is like a celebration of sorts. Hence, as long as a movie has any appeal, people will spend money to watch it at a cinema hall. Watching it in front of the TV or on the computer just doesn’t cut it. How are you going to throw in the popcorn, the pre-movie shopping, the samosas, and the fun evening out if you sit in your home to “celebrate” a movie.
Hence, I am of the opinion that unlike its Hollywood counterparts, Bollywood should not be rigid about enforcing copyright and anti-piracy laws for its movies. Maybe we could then show the world how not to make the average college student unhappy, and make profits at the same time…
These are words from Thomas L. Friedman in an interview that appeared in The Financial Express last week. Normally, I read Friedman’s “lectures” on globalization with a grain of salt as I do not believe that it is possible to make a positive or negative case for it without observing the economies on a micro level. But, this interview, which was published a little while after his column “Bangalore: Hot and Hotter”, made me really ponder about how globalization has actually helped India win a proverbial war against social and political stagnation.
The stock market is at an all time high, and is actually showing a somewhat linear curve at present. Definitely, if India were a stock, it would be really prudent to buy as much of it as possible. The economic growth fuelled by the very pro-liberalization attitude of our politicians (in general) has made India the preferred investment destination of the world. Ofcourse, being rich in natural resources and having a good agricultural economic model helps. The population growth over the past years has actually placed the current generation in perfect position to leverage the advantages of globalization. There is no dearth of educated smart people willing to work a 35 hour day.
One of the biggest changes I noticed in India during my trip last month was how the youth is running the show in every field. Economic liberalization and public sector disinvestment pushed by the center has forced a “renaissance” of sorts in how companies portray themselves. The corporate ethical code is mature and enforced well, and the standard of living is very high thanks to the availability of labor and the extensively variable social stratum.
All this positive growth has motivated the common Indian man to dream big and achieve bigger. Just look at the business section of any website like Rediff.com and what do you see! “Tata Steel is world’s best steel producer”, “India’s largest FDI deal signed”, “Now, Indians are a confident lot!”, “From tandoori dhaba to Versace”, “Sensex ends at all time high of 7,145”; these are the headlines that are fueling motivation and pride. Something that has eluded us for so long…
-es
Starting now, I am moving to the WordPress software to manage my Blog from the program by PluggedOut. The main advantages of WordPress are a better support, more visible clarity, better options, improved theme support etc.
I would still maintain the old blog at this location.
Best!