Kamal Haasan is a Genius!

For all the hype surrounding his movie Vishwaroopam and the premiere show on DTH platforms, the controversy within the industry over this decision, and all the arguments, there is buzz too!  And the buzz isn't about anything in the movie.  Kamal Haasan is a genius!

The cost of the movie is 95 crores says Kamal Haasan.  Nobody knows if this is true, but if he says it is, it must be.  Not that anybody has come forward to buy it, but there are so many things nobody wants to buy at cost price, so if you're not able to sell the new house you built, you can always rent it out, or lease it out.  There are other alternatives, and Kamal Haasan is going after them, because he is a genius!

Here is his interview:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-oncampus/viswaroopam-will-hit-homes-first/article4188964.ece

and another article: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/marketing/airtel-dth-to-premiere-viswaroopam-on-jan-10/article4235220.ece

He has spoken about some people fighting a war against technology.  It must be some sort of amazing star wars technology if more than fifteen lakhs of Indians have been watching TV through DTH for a while now.  So, it must be a WAR out there against this "technology" if more and more people are buying DTH systems for their homes.  Wow!  Kamal Haasan is a genius!

All DTH systems in the country have been delivering movies for a long time now, but surely they will need a new set of microprocessors, software, upgrades and modifications if a movie has to be aired before it comes out in the theatres.  After all, this "technology" has to be "embraced", not just used, says Kamal Haasan, genius!

Kamal Haasan expects 40-50 percent of a target 15 lakh DTH subscribers, that's a good 6-7.5 lakh subscribers, to watch this movie one day before its theatrical release, by paying Rs.1000.  He also says there is no way this can be pirated, while humbly accepting that there is no way to really fight "technology".  There it is again!  But here is the recorder you can use to pirate it - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/703341-REG/Elgato_Systems_10021040_EyeTV_HD_DVR.html.  But who knows?  Maybe it won't work when you and I connect it.  Kamal Haasan is a genius!

Kamal Haasan expects this movie to make 150 Cr. rupees.  That's the equivalent of every single resident of Tamilnadu, all 7 crore people, including children and old, poor and rich, shelling out 20 rupees each and then some coming from somewhere else.  How many of them want to see a Tamil actor in a film of "international importance", jumping, shooting, saying things like, "I'm the villain and the hero, both!", that keeps a serious, if fat, tired and sleep deprived face while saying so, is beyond some of us mortals in this population, but then, Kamal Haasan is a genius!  He must know.

The movie contains kamal haasan, guns, white guys, kamal haasan, muslims, kamal haasan, explosions, kamal haasan, a young chick, terrorism, kamal haasan, and some kind of plot involving all the above and Kamal Haasan.  It must be important to get the viewpoint of an actor from Alwarpet about these burning topics, because he is a genius.

The movie itself, of which there has been no talk, is billed as a spy thriller.  Here is the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3a-cQ19Og

And here is a trailer of another spy thriller, that came out years ago - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD-uQreIwEk

And its sequel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-HqyyfBbSo

But maybe you like Kamal Haasan's English accent better?

- BSK.

The Nucleus of the TN power shortage.

Kudankulam is hardly the root of the problem with the acute power shortage in Tamilnadu - it is corruption and rank inefficiency of the TN government and its politicians.

I was at a gathering in Erode, where grievances were put forward.  An industrialist with a sizable investment and hundreds of employees in his spinning mill made this request - "We know there is shortage of power and power plants are coming up.  Can you ensure you supply us the same 8 hours of power, but do so in one stretch, so we can be productive?  We have some machines that take 20 minutes to get up to speed, so we get only forty minutes per hour, if you cut off electricity every one hour.  How can we pay wages for 8 hours to our workers, when only 3 hours of work get done?"

Then came some revelations - Tamilnadu has been encouraging investments in wind power for sometime, and there were many takers, who put up windmills.  Their windmills supply power to the grid, and TNEB or what is called TANGEDCO is contracted to pay the suppliers.  Of late, nobody has got paid, and if you are one of them, and you asked for your payment, a bribe is demanded.

So, many windmill owners have decided to switch off their windmills, since they at the very least, don't have to incur maintenance costs!  So, even when there is wind, there is no production, because the government is unwilling to make payments without officials being bribed!

If you want to set up a new windmill, the going bribery rate for approval is 18 lakhs!  For your own willing investment of around 1 Cr., which is beneficial to the whole nation, a bribe is being demanded!  One can imagine why no new investments in wind energy are coming forth!

The Tamilnadu government recently announced some incentives for new solar power projects, with subsidies around 30%, which the providers will discount right away when you want to purchase the various components for your home or industry.  None of the suppliers have got any notification, so none are able to offer the subsidy.  It has been about two months, and considering this notification is only a piece of paper, one can bet some money that it can be "obtained" if a bribe is paid.  But there is no guarantee these solar providers will be paid for the units they put on the grid if they choose that scheme.

Maintaining the shortage is actually beneficial to the corrupt officials and politicians, because they can collect bribes.  In other words, denying a full supply of electrical power is a cash cow at various levels.  First, you have to bribe to get a new industrial connection.  Then you have to bribe to keep your supply coming reliably.  Industries are even willing to do this!  Since the government has promised uninterrupted power supply to twenty new industries that are investing in the state, one can imagine they must have paid bribes too.  Even if they did, those are the shining industries with brand value so they cannot be ignored.

The loss of productivity is compounded in several ways and is impacting the nation in so many ways.  Diesel is burnt by many to run their generators, and almost all of them are bigger in capacity than they need to be, simply because there would be no point in having a generator supplying less than required.  So, almost all of them are burning diesel needlessly, and producing power that is not used, because the excess power doesn't go beyond the captive unit.  It is simply wasted.

By forcing small and medium sized industries and institutions to invest in new technology like solar power, with or without subsidies, that money gets sucked out of their core activities, and contributes to more expensive products and services, reducing competitiveness.  Those that invested in wind power are severely regretting their decisions now, because they could have used that money elsewhere.  Money getting sucked out of the economy in ANY way is an illness, and the corruption and inefficiency cycle is exacerbating every single problem.

People are buying UPS systems for their homes in large numbers.  UPS systems do not provide power, they merely store energy in batteries, to release later.  There are latent inefficiencies in such systems, and all that is happening is an increased consumption when there is supply!  A UPS system draws power even when it may not be used on those miraculous days when there is no power cut.  These units are not cheap, considering how many homes are buying them.  More money sucked out of the economy!  But these are much smaller crimes compared to windmills that are not spinning even when there is wind.

Now the Chief Minsiter Jayalalithaa wants all the power from Kudankulam to be given to Tamilnadu.  If this happens, the rest of the nation is to be denied power from KNPP not because TN is suddenly needy from its incredible economic growth, but because it doesn't have its house in order. 

People who supply transformers to TANGEDCO have not been paid in several months.  If they choose to start a litigation, the ruling will undoubtedly be in their favour - to be paid all dues, with interest.  But since they have invested crores of rupees in their manufacturing units, they don't want to be unofficially "blacklisted" from future orders.  So they will not sue.

I spoke to an (AIADMK) Ward councillor at the same gathering, and this is what he had to say, rephrased only for translation - "No matter what we do, you're going to kick us out in the next elections, so why do you want to stop us from making some money?"

- BSK.