The Go-Giver

I'm generally not a fan of the business parable book-dumbed-down, poorly-written stories that equate cheese with change (for one obvious example), and are meant to spur us into new attitudes and actions. Mostly they inspire for a few minutes and then are forgotten. If I remember any for an extended period, it's usually due to the awfulness of the writing. I read one recently that was so bad I didn't know if I should feel worse for the book's writer or the publisher that had decided to waste paper on it.

Which leads me to my review of The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg and John David Mann. While it may be faint praise, this book is decidedly better than most in its genre.

The story's plot centers around ambitious young Joe, who is spinning his wheels professionally despite his hard-charging attitude and generally likable personality. In keeping with his bold spirit, he decides he's going to meet a powerful local businessman, Pindar, and convince The Chairman (as he's known) to help Joe land a big account. To Joe's surprise, Pindar is easy to get a meeting with. However, Pindar's goals for Joe are not necessarily the same as Joe's goals for Joe, and thus this unlikely parable unfolds with Pindar taking Joe under his wing and teaching him a series of success lessons. Each lesson involves Joe meeting a new, successful person and learning what led to their successes.

(Spoiler: The root of success is giving, not getting - thus the title The Go-Giver instead of The Go-Getter.)

Each meeting teaches Joe one of the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success. There's The Law of Value, The Law of Compensation, The Law of Influence, The Law of Authenticity and The Law of Receptivity. After learning each Law, Joe agrees to try to put it into practice before the next meeting with Pindar, where another Law will be unveiled. Despite my somewhat cynical nature, the book continually kept me curious as to the next law, the next person to meet, and how Joe would put it into practice. While the whole premise of the book is a bit corny, and the writing isn't exactly Tolstoy, I read it quickly and eagerly.

I think my favorite of the laws, in terms of offering something new or fresh (and in terms of sticking with this blog's money theme), is the Law of Compensation, which states: "Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them." The example used is a schoolteacher who invents a line of educational software, thus trading her schoolteacher salary for a much larger income due to the fact that her company's software reaches so many more people than she ever could have as a teacher in a single school.

There's nothing genius about this concept, but I don't know that I've ever heard it stated that way, and it made me think. If you want to make more money, how can you get yourself on a bigger stage where you serve more people? I think any of us could come up with ideas on how to serve more people, whether it's taking on more work responsibilities, adding new volunteer tasks, raising our entrepreneurial sites, or whatever. The benefits may not be immediate, but the more people you touch in a way that makes their lives better, the more you're known for being that type of person, the more chance there is that money is eventually going to flow to you.

Anyway, despite my initial skepticism, I like this one. If you're a go-getter, or would like to be, the concepts in The Go-Giver will help you ensure that your time is spent doing the right things with the right spirit.

8 x 10 Tasveer

Well, here’s another new genre of ‘Supernatural Thriller’ persistently hitting screens sans a pause. Glimpse through previous weeks’ releases. ‘13b’ dealt with a phenomenal idiot box, ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ – about a mysterious camera unveiling future’. Here goes, ‘8 X 10 Tasveer’ right on similar notes. This time it’s all about a ‘photograph’ that will unravel the frizzled scenario.

It’s really surprising to watch Nagesh Kukunoor taking up a new avatar of treating an unparalleled script – ‘Murder-Mystery’. He takes off with a perfect narration all throughout the show and naturally holds onto a perfect climax. What else should a film possess to carry the label of best verdicts? Obviously, Nagesh seems to have focused more on technical aspects that helps a lot for a positive approach on audiences.

Perfect cinematography – sleek editing – dazing locales of foreign countries; here’s the mantra of delighting audiences with a visual treat.

But the film stops an inch from reaching the destination of triumph. It all goes with a slight stumble in the latter part and the reasons justified for murders. Nagesh Kukunoor sports himself bounded with amateurishness on dropping such motifs on the screen.

‘8X10 Tasveer’ is a story about young man named Jai Puri, (Akshay Kumar), who possesses supernatural powers. Jai is of Indian origin who works as a forest ranger in Canada. His life is shattered by the loss of a very important person in his life, his father (Benjamin Gilani). This personal tragedy leads him to use his unique supernatural power to unravel the mystery behind the murder. ‘8x10’ is a supernatural thriller with a nail-biting finish to come up with startling answers.

Getting on with performance, Akshay Kumar excels with his decent show. Perhaps, if you ever felt that Akki had overdone acting in many of his previous flicks, here’s something that proves his adeptness. Be the sequences, where he’s woe-stricken by his father’s loss or the part where he shares elated moments with his sweetheart, he’s cool. Ayesha Taakia goes about with her middling act and Nagesh could’ve depicted her characterization that would’ve had a better impact. Man who steals the show is Javed Jaffrey. He’s sure about sparkling smiles on your faces when he says ‘My name is Happy… Happy without ‘I’ and you are pulled in more with his witty mannerisms, particularly ‘Aaj Mera Happy Birthday Hai’ quotient works out well. Sharmila Tagore, Benjamin Gilani, Ananth Mahadevan and Rushaad Rana score 5/5 for their best take. Credit goes to Nagesh for a perfect casting.

Vikas Sivaraman’s cinematography is scintillating. As mentioned earlier, his works on the stunning locales are sure to carry your senses straight to those places. Songs are quite mediocre and it could’ve been done better while the background score by Salim Sulaiman has been done stylishly.

On the terms of scripting and narration, Nagesh excels with extraordinary skills. Of course, you are bounded with so much of suspense that you’ll really get mystified about the murderer. But then, if you’re really a wizard, the mystery is disentangled right before the intermission.

A gratifying entertainer.

Ayan

It’s not everyday that you get to watch a gangster movie, with double-crosses, skillful smuggling, mother’s love and a romantic story tossed in, without having to squirm or probably having to end up with a headache. However, Ayan’s screenplay does the trick – brilliantly choreographed stunts and car chase sequences, cleverly planted twists at every nook and corner of the plot and some good music. Ayan proves to be an absolute time pass fare. For a little more than two hours, it would be an offense to call Ayan just another commercial potboiler.

Suriya, who proved his credentials as a versatile actor doing varied roles untill recently, has taken a litmus test of doing a mass commercial hero in ‘Ayan’. In the end, he emerges out as a clear winner leaving his impression all through the film.

The striking feature of the movie is Suriya’s amazing screen-presence. He is right there delivering his best. Be it romance, action or comedy, Suriya is at his crackling form serving the very basic purpose of purpose of entertaining the masses.

Suriya’s rendition of ‘Chennai Thamizh’, his youthful looks and body language are the major strengths of the movie. His onscreen chemistry with Tamannah is good. Amazing to see Suriya performing acrobatic stunt sequences, who has been hitherto considered as a 'performing' actor. His dedication and involvement could be seen in every frame.

Equally appealing is Tamannah. Though she has no major role to play besides a couple of songs including one in alien land, she is convincing. Prabhu as Das is apt fit for the role. He handles the role with much-needed maturity. He renders grace and charm to his role. Jagan and Karunaas play the supporting roles well. Specially Jagan with his one-liners is impressive. Akashdeep Saigal, the baddie from Mumbai, lends solidity to the role. His dubbing by ‘Kolangal’ fame Ajay is appropriate.

The spine-chilling chase in the streets of Congo, choreographed by stunt master Franz Spilhaus deserves a special mention. M S Prabhu capturing the mood of film in various shades and tones is a pillar of strength to Anand. Harris Jayaraj’s songs are peppy. Watch out for the opening song “Pala Palakura”, which is racy. However the real scene-stealer is editor Anthony. His slick work manages to sustain interest all throughout.