Release Date: 15th August, 1975, Cinema only source of Entertainment for people…political situation very tumultuous in the country (emergency is already on since 25th June, 1975)
Starcast: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Jagdeep, A.K. Hangal
Starcase Introduction:
1)Sanjeev Kumar gave Khilona in 1970, Seeta aur Geeta in 1972, Koshish (1972), Aandhi on 13th February, 1975)- Well established and well known in industry.
2)Dharmendra: Bandini (1963), Anupama (1966), Satyakam (1969), Naya Zamana (1971), Mera Gaon Mera Des (1971), Seeta aur Geeta (1972)- Well established in industry. Rated one of most handsome men of world in mid-seventies (year and date unavailable, thus assumption it was before 15th August, 1975). Very well established in the industry.
3)Hema Malini: Johnny Mera Naam 1970), Paraya Dhan (1971), Seeta aur Geeta (1972)
4)Jaya Bachchan: Guddi (1971), Zanjeer (1973), Abhimaan (1973)…Married to Amitabh Bachchan at the time of Sholay (1975)…married in 1973, an established and famous couple (on and off-screen)
5)Amitabh Bachchan- Zanjeer (1973) that established him as Young Angry Man, Abhimaan (1973), Namak Haram (1973), Roti Kapda aur Makaan (1974), Majboor (1974)…Very well established in the industry.
Why was Sholay Unique:
1)New Experiment of multi Super-hit star cast…3 main lead actors and 2 main lead actresses
2)Carried all flavors of a commercial Masala movie-Comedy, action, tragedy, drama, emotion, romance (explicit-Basanti and Veeru and implicit-Jaya and Radha), revenge gabbar’s from Thakur, Thakur’s and Veeru’s from gabbar), sacrifice (Jaya’s for Veeru by having head on both sides of coin, basanti for veeru by dancing for his life), cruelty (gabbar killing sachin when he going out of Ramgarh for job)…
a)This helped project movie to all kind of audience-Those who like Comedy, Those who like Action, Those who like Emotion etc. Thus, movie didn’t have a specific segment where to position it, but it could be generally positioned across all the segment of society and across all age-groups…This helped expand audience base of the movie, thus made it a success… I find it the biggest possible reason for Sholay’s success…
b)Missed Sex part: Movie didn’t have Sex or even innuendo part at all. This could make it a family movie, could make it for all age-groups, could make people talk about it at homes…Remember it’s 1975 and not 2010! Thus audience base widened and movie SOLD!
3)Killing Hero (Jaya) in the end- This didn’t use to happen too often in 1970s, as that era was known for Happy-ending. Killing Jaya in the climax was the trump card for the success of movie. This helped spread the word for Sholay like forest-fire.
4)Subtle love between Hero and a Widow: Radical, unorthodox, revolutionary, very suitable and apt during radical Emergency era of 1975 (imposed by Indira Gandhi)…CHANGE WAS THE KEY in people’s mindset in emergency and this Subtle Love unintentionally got the opportunity to SHOLAY to leverage it.
5)Re-defining the Villain: Till now, villain used to be white-collared. This means they used to be respectable people of society doing smuggling under-the-blanket…They used to be refined, sophisticated, having savoir faire (Ajit, Pran, Prem Kumar, Madan Puri)…but then Sippy introduced Gabbar Singh-crude, unrefined, brutal, cruel, unforgiving…He was introduced killing his 3 loyals…This was innovative!
6)Repeat-Value of dialogues: Dialogues in Sholay were one-liners and had repeat-value. This could help common-man remember it and use it once-and-again. This helped spread word-of-mouth and was 2nd biggest reason (after movie’s positioning for all audience) for its mega-success.
Sholay Story, screenplay, direction and Creativity (most important):
The story starts with Thakur looking for Jaya and Veeru to take revenge from dacoit Gabbar. This is because Jaya and Veeru, though rougues are brave and human. Thakur has already witnessed their bravery once when they combated the dacoits on their own and even saved life of Thakur when they could instead flee.
Creativity:
Movie proceeds with creative comic punches of Soorma Bhopali, Asrani (Hum Angrezon ke zamaane ke jailer hain), aadhe daayain (right) jaao…aadhe baayain (left) jaao…baaki mere peeche aao…when there’s no one left, then keshto mukherjee as informer of Asrani, then jaya-veeru playing pranks with Asrani through Keshto mukherjee, these were very creative, well-thought, humorous and full-enough to make people talk about these when out of the theatre.
Then Thakur invites them to Ramgarh…hence Basanti is introduced. Very fine characteristic of the movie which Ramesh sippy very subtly showed was the characters’ character. Veeru is shown shrewd, Basanti very talkative though saying she is laconic, Jaya very forward and to-the-point…which is apparent from his one-liners like “Tumhara naam kya hai basanti”, “Thakur Baldev Singh ke ghar jaana hai”, “Putting cotton in his ears by Jaya”, “basanti saying tumhari baton main raaste ka pata hi nahi chala and Jaya immediately responding –“Haan hamain baat karne ki aadat zara jyaada hai” are so humorous that one surely carries them back home from Theatre.
“Jaya taking basanti to back of temple where Veeru is trying smart with Basanti”, “Jaya’s conversation with Mausi”…these punches make audience stay awake, alert, attentive, attracted, interested to the movie, and on top of that, it made them carry memories of the movie with them when out. And yes, “That famous water tank scene where Veeru is murdering English” is very funny.
Dichotomous character of Radha came out very well. Showing that 3 minute scene when Thakur Baldev Singh going to meet Radha’s father(Iftikhar) showed jovial character of Radha very apparently. This came out very realistic.
“Kitne aadmi the kaliya” gave common man a dialogue so that when he is with his friends in his office, canteen or street, he would very often use this “Kitne aadmi the” and that made Sholay talk-of-the-town and hence very famous.
Sholay Songs: Sholay was on top not only in creative dialogues, funny punches but also in songs. “Yeh Dosti hum nahi shodenge”, “Koi haseen jab rooth jaati hai”, “Main naachoongi”, “Mehbooba mehbooba”, “Holi ke din” are songs that people kept singing every now and then led to Sholay’s success.
Sholay Festival Strategy: 1975, life is still not very fast paced, festivals are still being celebrated. And as Holi is India’s very special festival, Sholay showcases Holi twice (one when Thakur goes to meet Iftikhaar and 2nd when Gabbar asks Holi kab hai, kab hai Holi). This strategy did the trick and people could connect with this festival very well.
What Sholay missed:
1)One scene that I would have loved in the movie would have been Veeru talking to Thakur asking Radha’s hand for Jaya, but that scene is missing. When Jaya went to Basanti’s Mausi asking for basanti-veeru marriage, Sippy showed that as a very funny scene. But when Veeru would have gone to Thakur to ask for radha-jaya marriage, it could be shown as a very sincere serious scene, encouraging widow marriage. This is what he missed, and we had to wait till Baabul (2006) to come to showcase this. That could be a great for social-reform through Sholay!Movie seriously missed a great ending. Giving Gabbar back to police so that he can flee the jail again was a faux pas in the movie, that too when he has already delivered the dialogue that no jail can keep gabbar in jail for 20 years. Ideal ending would be Thakur killing Gabbar despite police appeal and then crying for the first time, which Veeru, basanti, entire village, and on top of that, Ram Lal and Radha are witnessing for first time. Then Radha coming to Thakur and both hugging and crying…Radha for Jaya and Thakur for his family which Gabbar killed. And police rewarding Thakur (coz Gabbar is wanted Zinda ya Murdaa)…current ending was Anti-Climax.
2)One memory this movie missed big time…and that is 1-minute or 30 second conversation between Radha and Jaya. Had I been a director, I would have had a 1 minute conversation between both where Radha opening up her pain for first and last time in the movie. This could probably be a legendary conversation like of Amitabh Bachchan and God in Deewar “Aaj khush toh bahut hoge tum” or Amit ji and Shashi Kapoor ji’s “Mere paas Maa hai” conversation.
3)I would have loved another 30-60 second interaction between Basanti and Radha in the movie, may be in the temple. Basanti’s talkative nature and talk-talk-talk would have reminded Radha of her old-times. I wanted to subtly show Radha’s pain, Thakur’s pain portraying it classically…
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Review: Deewar (1975)
Released on 1st January, 1975.
Contemporary period: Tumultuous politically (leading to emergency on 25th June, 1975 itself), country poor, only source of entertainment is Cinema. Amitabh is already established as a angry young man thro’ Zanjeer (1973), Namak Haram (1973), Abhimaan (1974), Majboor (1974)…thus Amit ji is quite hot in the market and his movie if good will surely sell!
Movie: guess first time an actress shown in live-in…which was quite a big thing in 70s. This established Praveen Babi and the movie itself as a radical movie with the youth of 70s.
As movie revolves around an impoverished family which comes to Mumbai after the union leader fled away from home. Here’s a first big flaw in the movie: Union Leader is inside a house negotiating with the factory owners, but factory owner kidnaps union leader’s wife and children and blackmails him. This Union Leader has 200 odd workers waiting outside this house…How could this factory owner still blackmail the union leader? He could simply come out without signing the deal or he could even come out and say that he signed the deal because his wife and children are under-seize by the factory owner…For sure, 5 people inside the house (the owners) could nowhere counter these 200+ odd workers. Still this is the way movie was progressed!
Next scene was the Coolie scene where Amitji thrashed the weekly money-grabbers. Going into their house and beating them up was something that probably became talk-of-the-town in 75…could be yet another factor in its popularity.
What made Deewar famous/talk of the city: Movie has great/very famous dialogues and songs which people carried away with them when they left the hall. One was “Main phaike hue paise nahi uthata”...This along with “Keh doon tumhe” song, “Mere paas Maa hai” conversation, Shashi Kapoor saying to Neetu ji “meri kamyaabi main bhai ka paseena hai” are somethings people really carried away with them…And this retention made Deewar talk-of-the-city to attract many more audience into the Hall.
Amitji going into the temple and that famous dialogue “Aaj khush toh bahut hoge tum” conversation was yet another thing that would have made Deewar talk-of-the-city…and people would have carried as retention of the movie…to make others watch the movie.
70’s were not a very pratical era in the sense people have ordinary lives, standard of livings were normal and way-of-thinking conventional. Someone going to Temple for begging his mother’s life and on top of that, such a beautiful dialogue delivery would have made many people connect with it.
Where movie Lacked: Movie lacked in few things…One was to showcase 2-3 minute struggle of Amitji in his childhood along with his mother…this would have reflected soundly how he was behind Shashi Kapoor’s studies…And how he himself didn’t study but made Shashi Kapoor go to school and take education. This would have also helped establish why Maa (Nirupa Roy) was near to Amitabh Bachchan than Shashi Kapoor because of that collective struggle to make Shashi Kapoor study…and how he faced challenges in his childhood due to “Mera baap chor hai” written on his arm..This would have established why Amitji chose this smuggling line (coz then it would have a history of those childhood struggles).
Creative Punches in movie: For me, Deewar had few amazing greats…One was killing Praveen Babi. That was very untraditional. Second was that great punch of how Amitji took 5 lacs from Madan puri also and also manipulated that Madan Puri’s minions brought the Gold worth 50 lacs than Amitji taking any chance…These were creative punches and kept people stick to their chairs. Then “Mera baap chor hai” was yet another creative punch.
Shashi Kapoor Ji’s dichotomous character where he’s so jolly in first half before becoming police inspector and then becoming damn serious in second half makes audience connect with the character.
Conversation of Shashi Kapoor with A.K. Hangal and his wife and then his yet another famous dialogue “Yeh shiksha ek school teacher ke ghar se hi mil sakti thi” and then Neetu Kapoor Ji’s and Shashi Kapoor Ji’s conversation on Geeta, Arjun and Krishna…and Shashi Kapoor ji’s compulsion saying “Main Arjun nahi hoon” are something that people find very very realistic.
Yet another scene which makes movie classic was Shashi Kapoor Ji’s stopping his Maa from putting Vermilion (Sindoor) in her head. That was a very very unique way of conveying death of her husband. If I were a script writer, I would have better preferred to make Amitji’s Dad (Union leader) to commit suicide like school teacher did in Agneepath…And reason is this would have established even better why Amitji had so much grief inside him which made him tread the wrong-path.
Direction great as always by none other than Yashji himself…Music 1 song a great soundtrack…but guess this was one such movie where not much effort was put on music…that too intentionally. More emphasis was on creative dialogue delivery and screenplay.
No doubt, Deewar received Filmfare award for best movie in 1975, best Director for Yashji, best dialogue for Salim-Javed, Best screenplay for Salim-Javed and ofcourse best story to Salim-Javed.
Contemporary period: Tumultuous politically (leading to emergency on 25th June, 1975 itself), country poor, only source of entertainment is Cinema. Amitabh is already established as a angry young man thro’ Zanjeer (1973), Namak Haram (1973), Abhimaan (1974), Majboor (1974)…thus Amit ji is quite hot in the market and his movie if good will surely sell!
Movie: guess first time an actress shown in live-in…which was quite a big thing in 70s. This established Praveen Babi and the movie itself as a radical movie with the youth of 70s.
As movie revolves around an impoverished family which comes to Mumbai after the union leader fled away from home. Here’s a first big flaw in the movie: Union Leader is inside a house negotiating with the factory owners, but factory owner kidnaps union leader’s wife and children and blackmails him. This Union Leader has 200 odd workers waiting outside this house…How could this factory owner still blackmail the union leader? He could simply come out without signing the deal or he could even come out and say that he signed the deal because his wife and children are under-seize by the factory owner…For sure, 5 people inside the house (the owners) could nowhere counter these 200+ odd workers. Still this is the way movie was progressed!
Next scene was the Coolie scene where Amitji thrashed the weekly money-grabbers. Going into their house and beating them up was something that probably became talk-of-the-town in 75…could be yet another factor in its popularity.
What made Deewar famous/talk of the city: Movie has great/very famous dialogues and songs which people carried away with them when they left the hall. One was “Main phaike hue paise nahi uthata”...This along with “Keh doon tumhe” song, “Mere paas Maa hai” conversation, Shashi Kapoor saying to Neetu ji “meri kamyaabi main bhai ka paseena hai” are somethings people really carried away with them…And this retention made Deewar talk-of-the-city to attract many more audience into the Hall.
Amitji going into the temple and that famous dialogue “Aaj khush toh bahut hoge tum” conversation was yet another thing that would have made Deewar talk-of-the-city…and people would have carried as retention of the movie…to make others watch the movie.
70’s were not a very pratical era in the sense people have ordinary lives, standard of livings were normal and way-of-thinking conventional. Someone going to Temple for begging his mother’s life and on top of that, such a beautiful dialogue delivery would have made many people connect with it.
Where movie Lacked: Movie lacked in few things…One was to showcase 2-3 minute struggle of Amitji in his childhood along with his mother…this would have reflected soundly how he was behind Shashi Kapoor’s studies…And how he himself didn’t study but made Shashi Kapoor go to school and take education. This would have also helped establish why Maa (Nirupa Roy) was near to Amitabh Bachchan than Shashi Kapoor because of that collective struggle to make Shashi Kapoor study…and how he faced challenges in his childhood due to “Mera baap chor hai” written on his arm..This would have established why Amitji chose this smuggling line (coz then it would have a history of those childhood struggles).
Creative Punches in movie: For me, Deewar had few amazing greats…One was killing Praveen Babi. That was very untraditional. Second was that great punch of how Amitji took 5 lacs from Madan puri also and also manipulated that Madan Puri’s minions brought the Gold worth 50 lacs than Amitji taking any chance…These were creative punches and kept people stick to their chairs. Then “Mera baap chor hai” was yet another creative punch.
Shashi Kapoor Ji’s dichotomous character where he’s so jolly in first half before becoming police inspector and then becoming damn serious in second half makes audience connect with the character.
Conversation of Shashi Kapoor with A.K. Hangal and his wife and then his yet another famous dialogue “Yeh shiksha ek school teacher ke ghar se hi mil sakti thi” and then Neetu Kapoor Ji’s and Shashi Kapoor Ji’s conversation on Geeta, Arjun and Krishna…and Shashi Kapoor ji’s compulsion saying “Main Arjun nahi hoon” are something that people find very very realistic.
Yet another scene which makes movie classic was Shashi Kapoor Ji’s stopping his Maa from putting Vermilion (Sindoor) in her head. That was a very very unique way of conveying death of her husband. If I were a script writer, I would have better preferred to make Amitji’s Dad (Union leader) to commit suicide like school teacher did in Agneepath…And reason is this would have established even better why Amitji had so much grief inside him which made him tread the wrong-path.
Direction great as always by none other than Yashji himself…Music 1 song a great soundtrack…but guess this was one such movie where not much effort was put on music…that too intentionally. More emphasis was on creative dialogue delivery and screenplay.
No doubt, Deewar received Filmfare award for best movie in 1975, best Director for Yashji, best dialogue for Salim-Javed, Best screenplay for Salim-Javed and ofcourse best story to Salim-Javed.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sneaking into a b-school (Part-3)
“Papa kehte hain bada naam karega, beta hamara aisa kaam karega,” quadie next door was playing this song when I woke up the day my first mid-terms had to start. Why the hell it’s only Dads who want their names big when Moms have no issues with their names. Unnecessary stress on us by over-ambitious Dads, and why this guy had to play this song damn first thing in the morning!
*************************************
“You may start now,” one butcherous voice announced during Econ exam in the exam centre and all of us promptly came into action like trained machines.
I was quite good at Economics (at least I used to think so) and all these 3 weeks in Economics class, I had felt me a great Economist, the Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia kind, you know, so this exam should me a cakewalk for me.
“What are you doing here Anand? Go and do some research on recession-proof Economic models in the States. That’s the best place for you…Don’t waste your precious talent here. And yes, don’t forget to go and meet Montek Singh Ahluwalia in term break discussing new CST/GST policy for India with him” I thought while writing my name, PGId, Section on the Economics answer sheet.
Tuple was sitting diagonally right to me not having any butterfly clip tying her hair today. She was looking a fairy in her open hair!
“All the best,” I thumbed up guessing she was looking at me. And all she reacted was by looking back at her answer sheet. God, why I feel she’s always looking at me!
It was a 2 hour paper, I strategized to finish it in some 40-45 minutes and go back to prepare for the evening Marketing exam, and opened the question paper.
In all these were three questions with 10 marks numerical each and I started solving with first question.
1st and 2nd question had TR, TC, MR, MC given…I had to calculate elasticity “n” and then draw some snail-alike curves such as economies of scale, economies of scope, average fixed cost, average variable cost etc. etc. etc.
“It’s TR=TC (1+ 1/n)..no…no”
“It should be MR=MC (1+1/n)…no…no”
“Probably it is TR=TC/(1+n)…no…no”
“Guess it is MR=MC/(1+1/n)…no…no,” I thought. I was damn confused!
Head had started spinning…I had forgotten the formulae to solve 2 fucking 10 mark questions.
Sweat on forehead was quite apparent…already had been to drink water thrice…and if I go again, butcher invigilator will make butter chicken of mine and eat inside the exam centre only!
“Anand, relax! Remember you are a great Economist. You have to do it. What would you tell Manmohan ji otherwise?” God knows what all I was talking to myself.
Finally, I counted Om Namah Shivay once, and as these were 3 words, I chose 3rd equation and solved 2 numericals of 10 marks each and went to drink water fourth time!
“Calculate producer surplus of the new market Walmart is entering,” read the 3rd question, which had given some etta, betta, theta, some equations, some random numbers and God knows what.
“What the hell is this Producer Surplus! I never read it,” guess I was the only one sweating in this damn cold air-conditioned basket ball court where our exam was being held!
“What a misery! I can’t even call Manmohan ji or Montek Singh Ahluwalia at this moment” I thought and started laughing. What else to do, only God knew what all I was thinking. What’s happening to me!
Everyone in the room was busy scratching their answer sheets and all I was doing was laughing.
I closed my eyes, chanted Om Namha shivay in closed eyes, opened my eyes, and picked first 5 maths numbers and first 2 equations I saw on opening my eyes.
“I would solve this numerical with only these numbers,” I told myself. If this question was stubborn to be tough, even I was stubborn to solve it with my chosen numbers and equations. Who knows it increases Wal-Mart’s producer-surplus in new market!
I managed to finish this question in next 3 minutes and winded up the answer sheet.
“Sir, answer sheet!” I offered my answer sheet to the butcher when it were just 30 minutes into the exam.
Butcher surprisingly looked at me as if I am giving him my marriage card invitation with his daughter but very generously accepted it, and I ran away before he finally made my butter chicken in exam centre!
**********************************************
“Hey mid-term grades are out. I got an A+” I excitingly told Tuple when met her outside the cafeteria. I was so happy wished could take her hand in my hands, but alas, desires are only desires!
“What did you get?” I curiously asked when she was merely gazing at a corner and tapping her fingers on table next to her.
No reply from her side!
“Even Swami and Veenugopal in our study group got A+. Our study group is the best study group,” I super-excitingly told Tuple, and had to forcefully bring my hands back from almost half-way when they were already on their way out to Tuple’s hands.
“So you A or A+ Miss Tuple,” I winked.
“D,” only alphabet she uttered and again starting gazing at some corner.
I was anyways wanting for an opportunity, and now immediately grabbed her hand in my hands. Nothing could be a safer moment than this!
Man! What a great moment it was…So here was Tuple who was D standing in front of Anand Malhotra A+…
“Now she would marry me,” I drooled. After months had got some good news.
“God, should have given her E or may be even F,” I complained to God. Greed has no limits dude!
“Hey, must be evaluation problem, we would file for re-evaluation or may be, we would study even harder for final terms. And I won’t listen to you now anymore, now we would study together all the times…All the times,” I leveraged the market opportunity like a domain-expert marketer repeating “all the times” making double-quotes in air twice just to make sure she didn’t have something else going on in her mind.
Tuple sounded well-entrapped. Even the idea of studying with Tuple "all the time" was arousing butterflies in my stomach...
I wiped her face expecting their would be some tears. Damn, there was none! Why this girl doesn’t cry, I had missed yet another chance of emotional soap opera with Tuple!
May be next time! I cursed myself for giving her this re-evaluation idea!
Tuple was tapping her fingers on the table and then the sound of tapping increased…increased…increased unless I realized it was my “Papa Kehte Hain” quadie knocking at my door making me wake up as had told him the previous night.
I woke up but still had that great feeling of Tuple always studying with me…all the time…and jumped off the day to hug “Papa kehte hain” quadie.
**********************************************************************8
“Hey mid-term grades are out. I got an A+,” Tuple told jumping and holding my arm in her both hands when she met me outside the cafeteria.
Don’t know why these girls have to jump when they are happy! And, does she want to tell me that our mid-term grades are out or that she has got an A+. You know these girls-say something else and mean something else!
“What did you get?” Tuple asked, she was still jumping.
No reply from my side!
I looked all around, many more girls were jumping in different parts of the hall, while guys had both their feet touching the ground like me.
“Even Swami and Veenugopal in our study group got A+. Our study group is the best study group,” Tuple excitedly told. This girl has got some energy, jumping for last 5 minutes.
“So you A or A+ Mr. Anand,” Tuple winked.
Since the time I have learnt alphabets, first time I wished E to come before A!
“E,” only alphabet I uttered and went back to gaze at some corner. My fingers were still tapping on the table next to me.
Jumping to the halt and hands off the arm!
“Oh aren’t we getting late for our Econ class? Let me grab some sandwich, see you in the class,” Tuple monotonously told and went off the scene. Girls in other corners had also stopped jumping and went for their sandwiches.
A, B, C, D were the villains between me and Tuple. Wished could change alphabets taught to us in kindergarten to E,D,C,B,A,G,H and so on…
Tuple won’t marry me now...
*************************************
“You may start now,” one butcherous voice announced during Econ exam in the exam centre and all of us promptly came into action like trained machines.
I was quite good at Economics (at least I used to think so) and all these 3 weeks in Economics class, I had felt me a great Economist, the Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia kind, you know, so this exam should me a cakewalk for me.
“What are you doing here Anand? Go and do some research on recession-proof Economic models in the States. That’s the best place for you…Don’t waste your precious talent here. And yes, don’t forget to go and meet Montek Singh Ahluwalia in term break discussing new CST/GST policy for India with him” I thought while writing my name, PGId, Section on the Economics answer sheet.
Tuple was sitting diagonally right to me not having any butterfly clip tying her hair today. She was looking a fairy in her open hair!
“All the best,” I thumbed up guessing she was looking at me. And all she reacted was by looking back at her answer sheet. God, why I feel she’s always looking at me!
It was a 2 hour paper, I strategized to finish it in some 40-45 minutes and go back to prepare for the evening Marketing exam, and opened the question paper.
In all these were three questions with 10 marks numerical each and I started solving with first question.
1st and 2nd question had TR, TC, MR, MC given…I had to calculate elasticity “n” and then draw some snail-alike curves such as economies of scale, economies of scope, average fixed cost, average variable cost etc. etc. etc.
“It’s TR=TC (1+ 1/n)..no…no”
“It should be MR=MC (1+1/n)…no…no”
“Probably it is TR=TC/(1+n)…no…no”
“Guess it is MR=MC/(1+1/n)…no…no,” I thought. I was damn confused!
Head had started spinning…I had forgotten the formulae to solve 2 fucking 10 mark questions.
Sweat on forehead was quite apparent…already had been to drink water thrice…and if I go again, butcher invigilator will make butter chicken of mine and eat inside the exam centre only!
“Anand, relax! Remember you are a great Economist. You have to do it. What would you tell Manmohan ji otherwise?” God knows what all I was talking to myself.
Finally, I counted Om Namah Shivay once, and as these were 3 words, I chose 3rd equation and solved 2 numericals of 10 marks each and went to drink water fourth time!
“Calculate producer surplus of the new market Walmart is entering,” read the 3rd question, which had given some etta, betta, theta, some equations, some random numbers and God knows what.
“What the hell is this Producer Surplus! I never read it,” guess I was the only one sweating in this damn cold air-conditioned basket ball court where our exam was being held!
“What a misery! I can’t even call Manmohan ji or Montek Singh Ahluwalia at this moment” I thought and started laughing. What else to do, only God knew what all I was thinking. What’s happening to me!
Everyone in the room was busy scratching their answer sheets and all I was doing was laughing.
I closed my eyes, chanted Om Namha shivay in closed eyes, opened my eyes, and picked first 5 maths numbers and first 2 equations I saw on opening my eyes.
“I would solve this numerical with only these numbers,” I told myself. If this question was stubborn to be tough, even I was stubborn to solve it with my chosen numbers and equations. Who knows it increases Wal-Mart’s producer-surplus in new market!
I managed to finish this question in next 3 minutes and winded up the answer sheet.
“Sir, answer sheet!” I offered my answer sheet to the butcher when it were just 30 minutes into the exam.
Butcher surprisingly looked at me as if I am giving him my marriage card invitation with his daughter but very generously accepted it, and I ran away before he finally made my butter chicken in exam centre!
**********************************************
“Hey mid-term grades are out. I got an A+” I excitingly told Tuple when met her outside the cafeteria. I was so happy wished could take her hand in my hands, but alas, desires are only desires!
“What did you get?” I curiously asked when she was merely gazing at a corner and tapping her fingers on table next to her.
No reply from her side!
“Even Swami and Veenugopal in our study group got A+. Our study group is the best study group,” I super-excitingly told Tuple, and had to forcefully bring my hands back from almost half-way when they were already on their way out to Tuple’s hands.
“So you A or A+ Miss Tuple,” I winked.
“D,” only alphabet she uttered and again starting gazing at some corner.
I was anyways wanting for an opportunity, and now immediately grabbed her hand in my hands. Nothing could be a safer moment than this!
Man! What a great moment it was…So here was Tuple who was D standing in front of Anand Malhotra A+…
“Now she would marry me,” I drooled. After months had got some good news.
“God, should have given her E or may be even F,” I complained to God. Greed has no limits dude!
“Hey, must be evaluation problem, we would file for re-evaluation or may be, we would study even harder for final terms. And I won’t listen to you now anymore, now we would study together all the times…All the times,” I leveraged the market opportunity like a domain-expert marketer repeating “all the times” making double-quotes in air twice just to make sure she didn’t have something else going on in her mind.
Tuple sounded well-entrapped. Even the idea of studying with Tuple "all the time" was arousing butterflies in my stomach...
I wiped her face expecting their would be some tears. Damn, there was none! Why this girl doesn’t cry, I had missed yet another chance of emotional soap opera with Tuple!
May be next time! I cursed myself for giving her this re-evaluation idea!
Tuple was tapping her fingers on the table and then the sound of tapping increased…increased…increased unless I realized it was my “Papa Kehte Hain” quadie knocking at my door making me wake up as had told him the previous night.
I woke up but still had that great feeling of Tuple always studying with me…all the time…and jumped off the day to hug “Papa kehte hain” quadie.
**********************************************************************8
“Hey mid-term grades are out. I got an A+,” Tuple told jumping and holding my arm in her both hands when she met me outside the cafeteria.
Don’t know why these girls have to jump when they are happy! And, does she want to tell me that our mid-term grades are out or that she has got an A+. You know these girls-say something else and mean something else!
“What did you get?” Tuple asked, she was still jumping.
No reply from my side!
I looked all around, many more girls were jumping in different parts of the hall, while guys had both their feet touching the ground like me.
“Even Swami and Veenugopal in our study group got A+. Our study group is the best study group,” Tuple excitedly told. This girl has got some energy, jumping for last 5 minutes.
“So you A or A+ Mr. Anand,” Tuple winked.
Since the time I have learnt alphabets, first time I wished E to come before A!
“E,” only alphabet I uttered and went back to gaze at some corner. My fingers were still tapping on the table next to me.
Jumping to the halt and hands off the arm!
“Oh aren’t we getting late for our Econ class? Let me grab some sandwich, see you in the class,” Tuple monotonously told and went off the scene. Girls in other corners had also stopped jumping and went for their sandwiches.
A, B, C, D were the villains between me and Tuple. Wished could change alphabets taught to us in kindergarten to E,D,C,B,A,G,H and so on…
Tuple won’t marry me now...
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