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12 Jan 2016

GujaratiLexicon’s 10 Glorious Years – Thank You!

Jan 13, 2016 Marks The Ten Years of GujaratiLexicon !

What A Defining Decade It Has Been !

A decade is an important milestone in the journey of an organisation and a movement. It is easy to start on an idea but difficult to sustain. It is even more difficult to prosper and continue to make a difference with the same passion as the original vision. Thankfully Gujaratilexicon movement has grown from strength to strength. From the first font by Shri Madhu Rye to GL Mobile Apps, Shri Ratilal Chandaria and GL movement have continued to bring world-class technology to the gujarati world. The GL Vision has been vindicated with the hundreds of websites, apps, blogs & gujarati technological resources. GL itself has continued innovation with Digital Bhagwadgomandal, Sarth App, GL Games for children, Learning Gujarati project, Lokkosh, GujaratiLexicon Mobile Apps, Swahili Lexicon, Chinese & Japanese dictionaries etc. The journey continues….Lots of work is still to be done….The creation of new standards, new fonts, digitisation of massive Gujarati content, online platform for Gujarati journals, Audio-books etc.

But today, we wanted to take a pause and thank our community, people and organisations. GujaratiLexicon movement would not be a success as it is today without the active support of the GL user. GL users have been our fans and our ambassadors. The GL user has been the centre point of our endeavours and we are elated by your love, GL usage, feedback, ideas, bricks and bouquets. We continue to aspire to serve to each and every person who wants to use Gujarati Language. Whether you want to find word that is in your mind or confirm the meaning or correct a sentence or play a game or teach Gujarati to your children – GL is there – on Internet or on Mobile.

The GujaratiLexicon Movement is indebted to Shri R P Chandaria and his love of Gujarati Language. When our founder and inspiration, started his journey of GL work, the world was a different place. Internet was not accessible to all and he worked on fonts, keyboard and dictionaries. We worked with organisations across continents. After 20 years of efforts, Jan 13, 2006 marked the online arrival of GujaratiLexicon and it helped the overall Gujarati writing movement. Today smartphones are redefining the world and GujaratiLexicon is ready for the new era.

GujaratiLexicon movement has been helped by our GL Advisory Board and Trustees Shri Uttam Gajjar, Shri Balvant Patel, Shri Mansukh Shah and Shri Vipool Kalyani – Each one is an stalwart in his field and have nurtured GL with the same love and passion as Shri R P Chandaria. Sushri Dhirubahen Patel has been a guiding light for us all across the journey. We are indebted to them. We also have loved the support from Chandaria Family Members, Shri Kumarpal Desai and Ajay Sanghavi.

Finally, GL Movement would not be possible without the love and dedication and work of GL Team. We have been blessed to be helped by selfless and inspiring team members across the years. I can write stories on each one of them and their passion for GL. Thanks to the wonderful members and volunteers.

GL Volunteers & Well-Wishers (In Alphabetical Order)

Alka Chheda
Ankur Patel
Arpit Christian
Ayushi Modi
Bhakti Patel
Bhaumik Upadhyay
Chintan Brahmbhatt
Deval Vyas Talati
Hardik Sarodiya
Harit Kothari
Himanshu Mistry
Hitendra Vasudev
Hitesh Chavda
Hitesh Parmar
Jagruti Desai
Jagruti Valani
Jayesh Patel
Jitendra Vyas
Kartik Mistry
Komal Karania
Kunal Pandya
Matiri Kapadia Shah
Meena Chheda
Minal Mewada
Namrata
Neel Shah
Nirav Mehta
Padma Jadav
Palak Shah
Parth Bera
Payal Agashiwala
Payal Dharnidhar
Piyush Agravat
Prakash Shah
Rohit Barot
Sejal Patel
Shruti Amin Patel
Sumaiya Vohra
Swami Asang
Upendra Gajjar
Urvish Kothari
Vaishali Master Mistry
Vidhi Pandya
Vinod Mehta
Vishal Kothari

(I am sure there are more and more names…thanks to everyone!)

28 Dec 2015

The Forces Behind The Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars – The Force Awakens is breaking records like a pack of cards. It is the fastest movie to reach USD 1 Billion mark and will be the top movie of all time. The movie is a box-office blockbuster that dwarfs every other movie franchise.

How did it happen?

1. Disney’s Smart Acquisition: Disney is an entertainment giant with a sharp strategy of picking a cool movie franchise and rejuvenating it. Disney paid $4 Billion for the acquisition of LucasFilm and started its redevelopment. Disney’s method is to acquire companies with franchise potential, set its strategic talent to make the acquisition work and power it with its marketing and distribution weight. Disney knows how to exploit the IP from the acquisitions – the magic has worked with its acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel. Disney will milk this further with “Star Wars” area at Disneyland.

2. Go Beyond The Creator/Founder: George Lucas is a visionary in every sense of the word. Creating Star Wars when limited technology and meagre resources existed is nothing but a stroke of genius. But Star Wars was stagnating in recent times. It required a passionate J J Abrahams to reinterpret and bring new glory to Star Wars. He understood the masterpiece of George Lucas and what made it work in the first place – maybe even bettering Lucas in some instances. Creator/Founder can sometimes be too close to her work and may not help the cause. Also, the creator needs to switch gears as required – every stage of organisation and movie franchise needs different skills. Hence J J Abraham nurtured the franchise in a professional manner and delivered a mass entertainment product.

3. Product Development: Star Wars – The Force Awakens has succeeded primarily due to the good content. No marketing can help a bad movie – especially in these days of social media and word of mouth power. Even Nostalgia can take you so far – else all other Star Wars movie would have been equally big hits. The chief victory of J J Abrahams and team was to stick to the core USP of Star Wars. They knew what the fans wanted, they knew what made sense, they avoided distraction and stayed loyal to the identified market segment. They stuck to the formula of the original in all aspects. Though some fans expressed disappointment with the movie lack of imagination and innovation and dull length, the overall product play worked.

4. Innovative Marketing: Trust Disney to ensure marketing genius. They leveraged Nostalgia to maximum effect – ensuring that all adults re-live their childhood stories. Disney is expanding its base beyond the children and this was a master-stroke. They also released Star Wars merchandise ahead of time – to create more ambassadors. They carefully planted stories of return from misguided prequels thereby raising expectations of the new movie. The usual marketing template of promotional tie-ups, clothing, games etc. was effectively leveraged as well.

5. Distribution: The distribution strength of Disney ensured a global release on a large scale. Christmas timing ensured that no one could not escape Star Wars. It brought lot of new audience to cinema. So when you have a great product, go all aggressive.

The Force Is On….

24 Dec 2015

The Best Of Bollywood – 2015

Its that time of the year again! The year 2015 delivered unexpected gems, pleasant surprises, formula films and big letdowns. As an optimist, I am happy that real gems were discovered and Indian Cinema is going beyond select camps and limited talent pool. This is the only way for Indian Entertainment to reach its global potential.

The movie connoisseurs lapped up Masaan, Titli and Dum Lagaa Ke Haishaa. It was heart-warming to see Bajrangi Bhaijaan becoming a Universal Hit like 3 Idiots. Bahubali was literally the giant epic of box office and showed the scales we can achieve.

Formula movie stuck to their brand promise: Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Dilwale, Bajirao Mastani, Dil Dhadakne Do, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, ABCD2, Welcome Back

Bombay Velvet, Tamasha, Byomkesh Bakshi were a disappointment to many. Hollywood’s Jurassic World touched the 100 crore mark in Bollywood.

Here is my take on Bollywood’s Top Movies for 2015.

Best of 2015:

1. Masaan: Poetry, pain and beauty against the multicoloured Varanasi. Neeraj brings heart and art into cinema and showcases four lives stuck in Varanasi. Tu Kisi Rail Si Guzaarti Hai – Just Wow ! Subhash Jha rightly mentioned that see Sanjay Mishra in Masaan and then in Dilwale to see how Bollywood kills talent!

2. Titli: A dark cinema about about Delhi’s under-belly and about the dark lanes that we see and we miss. Story of the a father and this three sons who act of self-interest alone. A superb screenplay, excellent direction and great acting. Ranvir’s best performance of the date.

3. Bajranji Bhaijaan: The power of Salman meets meaningful cinema. Clean and Universal hit like 3 Idiots scores on all areas – story, performances, entertainment. Had a prop called Kareena – the laziest actor of late! The movie did more for Indo-Pak relations than official government diplomats.

4. Piku: Deepika-Bachchan rule with great support from Irfan. Beautiful Bhadra-lok and nuances of relationships. Heart-warming. Motion Se Emotion Se Box-Office Collection! Shoojit Sircar brings biology to Bollywood – like Vicky Donor!

5. Baahubali: Lord Of Rings meets Indian Cinema Heroes. Best advertisement for Indian talent. Almost touched 500 crores. The whole India is waiting to find out why Katappa killed Bahubali? Epic in every sense.

6. Dum Lagaa Ke Haisha: Love in times of patriarchy and arranged marriages. Discovering love. Kumar Sanu and Anu Malik relive the magic of times and add the right flavour to Ayushman-Bhumi acting.

7. Tanu Weds Manu Returns: Kangana’s Haryani accent and swagger was a hit across the board. Anand Rai re-created the magic with Madhavan and Kangana.

8. Bajiao Mastani: The grandeur of Bhansali movie with Ranveer’s powerful acting. Only Bhansali can do this!

9. Drishyam: Ajay Devgan and Tabu shine in the Thriller Drama. The remake of Mohanlal starrer created the right impact.

10. Margarita With A Straw: Kalki and Revathy bring the life of a teenager with cerebral palsy. Talk’s struggle with achieving her physical and emotional aspirations with dignity. Emotional experience.

Honorable Mention:
Shamitabh: Homage to Amitabh’s baritone. Dhanush shines in this egoistic battle movie. Piddi Si Baatein…trust Balki to be different!

The Blockbusters List:
1. Bahubali – 470 Crore (All Versions)
2. Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 320 Crores
3. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo – 190 Crores
4. Tanu Weds Manu Returns – 150 Crores
5. Dilwale – Still Collecting…
6. Bajirao Mastani – Still Collecting..
7. ABCD2 – 106 Crores
8. Welcome Back – 97 Crores
9. Tamasha – Still Collecting…
10. Gabber Is Back – 86 Crores

The Forgetful 2015:
MSG: Messenger of God – No Comments!
Roy: First – It is more Ranbir movie than Arjun Rampal movie! Nothing memorable except Chitiyan Kalaaiyan:
Bombay Velvet: Anurag tries to create larger than life Bollywood movie. Perfect paper movie. Forgiven.
Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani: Adhuri ? There was zero Kahaani. Once upon a time Emraan and Vidya used to be…
Ek Paheli Leela: Leveraging the asset called Sunny Leone.

Related Lists:

The Bollywood Watchlist – 2015 Version

The Best Of Bollywood – 2014

The Best Of Bollywood – 2013

The Best Of Bollywood – 2012

11 Dec 2015

Saeed Jaffrey – The Highly Talented & Charming Genius

Saeed Jaffrey passed away on Nov 15, 2015. What a talent ! He was one of the most versatile actor who made a strong contribution to British and Indian film, television, theatre and radio.

He was a rockstar – Check the following facts:

1. He was the first Asian actor to receive the prestigious OBE (Order Of The British Empire) for his contribution to drama.
2. He was the first Indian actor to perform Shakespeare’s plays in the US?
3. He was the first Asian actor to appear in West End in UK and Broadway In US?
4. He has worked with legendary actor likes Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan
5. He played all 86 characters of Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’ on radio. 86 characters!
6. He has acted in more than 100 Bollywood films. The popular ones include Chashme Buddoor, Ram Lakhan, Dil, Ram Teri Ganga Maili
7. He has work across all the mediums: radio, stage, television, movies, children’s audio books and animation films
8. He acted in British TV Series like The Jewel In The Crown, Tandoor Nights, Coronation Street and became a household name.
9. His narration of the Kama Sutra titled The Art of Love (1996) was listed by Time magazine as “one of the five best spoken word records ever made”.

Saeed was passionate and deeply committed to his art. Even for a small 15 minute role of a Paan Wallah in Chashme Buddoor, he researched for it. He spent days to get the right name for the character, the mannerisms etc. And he even exchanged his clothes for an authentic but dirty purple lungi to get the real feel of the character.

He is credited for introducing Merchant and Ivory to each other, which led to the legendary Merchant-Ivory partnership.

Saeed was a highly gifted and talented actor. RIP Saeed Saheb.

Let us celebrate his glorious career and contribution through a glimpse of famous classic and popular Bollywood movies..Thanks To Sushri Margie Parikh For Her Ideas and Inputs!

Bollywood

Chashme Buddoor