They say about close matches ‘it doesn’t end till it ends’ but what’d one say of persisting to watch the Kanpur Test Match after two and half days were lost to weather and a sheer draw was on the cards. Die-hards (and cricket buffs essentially retired) will never say die and sit down and watch players going through the motions. But there’s a twist in tales these days , ever since the ‘Hitman’ philosophy of attacking cricket has gained traction ! 

In the post match presentation, Rohit, winning captain of an incredible turnaround win talked of the strategy adopted and the targets set for everyone to follow, eyes wide open ! The Bangla Desh batters who didn’t know what hit them in the last two days, first the blitzkrieg from the openers led by Rohit himself with the unstoppable Jaiswal and then the bowlers doing the bundling job with deadly acumen in Bangla’s second innings. The crowds got their money’s worth but ‘leadership’ trainers can take a leaf out of this.

It reminds of the financial ‘targets’ that would be set for Branch Managers in terms of key parameters in the Bank during our time around a decade back. While a certain  annual rise from the previous year’s figures is reasonable, authorities would demand rhetorically ‘Any target that’s easily achievable isn’t worth taking’ and exhort BMs, to their utter dismay, to take up ‘challenging targets’ along with normal targets. It was a clever ploy that if you aim very high, then you land up at least above the ground level ! What about the pressure of failure on Managers that given targets were unattainable ?

However, coming back to ‘Rohit’s challenging target for his batters’ there was cushion that failure to score wasn’t considered poor as long as the right intent (efforts) showed on the field. His rationale for high targets was attaining the ultimate goal of qualifying high for the WTC and that was shared in spirit by all players. Targets mean nothing but higher figures if there isn’t an underlying corporate philosophy of growth with quality.   

In the ‘Rohit’ (and Coach Gambhir) case study is the trust and belief that was reposed by all the stakeholders in each other’s commitment and having the other’s back to fall on. While cricket is a team game where collective brilliance matters more than individual excellence, leaders in organizations look for big players and don’t emphasize role that team bonding, empathy, close camaraderie plays in putting together a great business result. Low performers will change to great with conducive and supportive environment.   

Stars :  Harry Connick Jr., Agni Scott & Ali Fumiko Whitney

Watch on :  Netflix

In the famous play ‘Julius Caesar’, Shakespeare had said ‘There is a tide in the affairs of men..’ and somewhat in the same vein, we have gotten into the romance-drama genre of films of late and in continuation of the several delightful ones we’ve been excavating from the plethora of OTT films, came ‘Find Me Falling’ that’s funny & heart-warming.

Usually one finds Bollywood movies often taking the cue from English/foreign films (some are disclosed as adapted from the original) but this one was quite Hindi filmy being set in an idyllic Greek locale like Cyprus that’s as dreamy as an old ‘Yash Chopra’ movie setting. There are all the ingredients of the Bollywood style mushy romance – a story with emotions, lost love, misunderstandings, drama and yes, even soulful songs ! However, here the characters look cool, funny, laid back and don’t resort to melodrama. 

It’s about a American rock star who wishes to get away from it all after his last album bombs and finds a remote beach-house that’s on a dreamy Mediterranean island to get peace and tranquility. Little does he know that his new cliff-side home for all its scenic calm beauty is also an infamous spot that drives people to take their lives by jumping off the cliff. Caught in a situation he’s not ready for yet instantly feels about, he’s befriended by the local police chief who introduces him to his family. As they visit the local bistro or pub, and meets new characters, a huge surprise awaits him like in a ‘blast from the past’.

As the macho looking, aging rock-star, Connick Jr is endearing playing the charming celebrity the locals wish to know more about but who wishes to remain as low profile as possible. Things start to happen and secrets start tumbling out as two attractive Greek women (beautifully portrayed by Agni Scott & Ali Fumiko Whitney) enter the scene. The Bollywood ‘family drama’ is there, yet it’s not a tear-jerker and has many fun moments and you do come up ‘smelling of roses’ and sunshine with a proverbial happy-ending ! 

‘Ask no questions and you will be told no lies’ is an oft quoted idiom while Hamlet‘s famously problematic line ‘To be or not to be, is the question’ has been part of our literary education that has raised questions on questions ! Asking questions in quest for knowledge and understanding has been a part of growing up. We’ve been asking them at all stages in life & work and answering them all the time as parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, workers, managers, guides, directors etc and surely as ruling political leaders !   

Senior executives in leadership roles have much of their workday is spent in asking for information from HR brass & other Depts., requesting status updates from team leaders on competitors, pushing sales guys for targets or marketing efforts. Unlike professionals lawyers, journalists, accountants and doctors, who are taught how to ask questions as an essential part of their training, few people and bosses in general, think of questioning as a skill that can be honed or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive or provoke discontent. So, Communication courses and Soft Skills experts have sessions on ‘asking questions’ that emphasize that you’ll get the right information based on what and how you ask, as questions are of various types.  

I recall a gentle ragging session in our College – the fresher knocks ‘Can I enter ?’ Seniors correct him with ‘Kind Sirs, may I please join your esteemed company !’ If this is painfully didactic, then people while proposing may have quirky styles, but popping the ‘big question’ needs some tact. ‘You are an amazing catch’ isn’t polite even if exciting but ‘My name is Chance, do I have one ?’ isn’t bad ! Sure, in the new world it sounds archaic. In job interviews, questions posed may sound irrelevant but test one’s presence of mind. Biggest challenge is with generations so apart, one doesn’t have answers to their questions.

Some of us who have been teachers, trainers or well versed in the art of public speaking, aren’t afraid of any questions thrown at them by the audience. In fact, after a session, a confident speaker will say ‘If there are no questions, it means that you’ve either not got anything or understood everything !’. But here’s the catch, experienced ones discern the ‘wrong uns’ that are meant to hijack the main theme or create confusion for others ! For that one needs to be a good listener and get the drift for answering without discomfort.

Ideally speaking we teach- be a good listener, don’t be afraid of questions, do your research, use silence to advantage, ask probing questions, keep the questions short etc. It’s different with the current the trend of public debates that are aired on prime time TV, where angry speakers and aggressive anchors slug it out on political issues. There’s little listening, lots of interjections, personal barbs exchanged and diversions from the topic, so that their parties are not shown in bad light at any cost. At times, the anchors ask such long questions that the concerned speaker loses track of what’s being asked !   

Let’s set right examples to Gen X, Y Z for choosing the best type, tone, sequence, and framing of questions and for deciding what and how much information to share to reap the most benefit from interactions, not just for themselves and their employers but for the society at large !

Stars : Hilary Swank & Alan Ritchson

Watch on :  Netflix

If despite years of movie binging, a film can warm the cockles of the heart in a story of compassion, goodness & unconditional service to humanity, then its gotta be a mighty fine one. As the quiet evening yesterday had rains descending in a downpour, we saw in the beautifully moving film ‘Ordinary Angels’, an outpouring of warm emotions too. For those who seek ‘feel-good’ movies that are heart-wrenching, this is the one !    

The story in ‘Ordinary Angels’ centres on a struggling hairdresser Sharon who finds a new sense of purpose after reading about a tragic story in a Kentucky newspaper. Ed, played by Alan Ritchson, is a recently widowed father of two daughters – one of whom is waiting for an organ transplant. Sharon a mid-aged alcoholic and who’s life is adrift after a failed marriage and being estranged from her young son, lives aimlessly till she makes her life’s mission to help the hard working father Ed, the small time builder, with his mounting medical bill and financial problems so that he’s able to save his daughter.

It’s an inspirational tale of a devoted father who’s lost his young wife and is struggling alone to find means for the medical treatment of his little girl and like a ‘angel’ Sharon barges into his family life and starts sorting things out for them one by one, putting aside her own professional commitments like a crusader, which confuses Ed at first. In a selfish world who gives up anything for others – he finds Sharon’s continuing presence and help difficult to accept but Sharon explains her life too is getting changed with this !  The last 20 mts thrill & uplift –it’s an indomitable show of human spirit of compassion.

The film is based on real events that occurred in Kentucky in the early 1990s that saw a local hairdresser step in and launch fundraisers to help the family with their medical debt and finally organise the child’s journey via private plane whenever a donated liver became available. Locally named the “snow baby”, Michelle Schmitt and her father were helped by a stranger, Sharon Stevens and their community, to get from Louisville to Nebraska for an organ transplant during a historic snowstorm.

As for the main actors, Hilary Swank as Sharon is awesome in a role different from her rave performances as Brandon Teena in Kimberly Peirce‘s Boys Don’t Cry (1999) and as Maggie Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood‘s Million Dollar Baby (2004). Both performances earned her widespread critical acclaim & two Academy Awards for Best Actress. As Ed, Ritchson battles all the way & is very impressive and understated as a wonderful Dad !

Stars : Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Kumar & Nanda

Watch on : Prime Video

For lovers of old classics from the 1960s era of Hindi movies there is some good news ! Prime Video has now in its collection ‘Kanoon’, considered as a masterpiece of all times in crime thriller genre from the renowned house of Director BR Chopra. Not only did it receive critical acclaim for superbly taut screenplay and powerful performances of lead actors but created a path breaking cult of a Hindi film made sans any songs in entirety.

There’s also considerable nostalgia involved with the film for cinema buffs like us who first saw it at the age of ten and yet the impact of its gripping story telling of an amazing murder mystery played out in a tense courtroom battle, still lingers after six decades !  For the present day viewers it may look dated in its wordiness and rhetorical style yet here’s a thriller that’s perplexing and carries ‘edge of the seat’ suspense till it’s very end.

The brilliance of the film is raised by its superb star cast led by thespian Ashok Kumar as the learned judge who’s confronted with the most trying case of his life and Rajendra Kumar his protégé and ace lawyer, caught in moral dilemma while defending his client. Young Nanda plays the female interest opposite Rajendra Kumar as she’s caught in the crossfire of conflict of moralities between two people she loves dearly. The plot is about a court trail of the murder of an unscrupulous moneylender who blackmails for money.

The huge ensemble cast has many known faces – Om Prakash, Mehmood, Manmohan Krishna, Shashikala, Iftekar. As the petty impoverished thief who accidently stumbles over the crime scene and gets accused of the killing, Nana Patekar steals the show & if I recall rightly, he also bagged the Filmfare award of Best Supporting Actor for this film. Another interesting feature is the edgy and taut background score that has come from none other than the great Music Director, Salil Chowdhary, known for his lilting songs.   

‘Kanoon’ wasn’t just a crime thriller film that simply entertained us. It was a great social commentary on the judicial systems and the criminal jurisprudence wherein guilt was proved based on material evidence that could be wrongly presented or interpreted. In essence the film was a strong indictment of the law of capital punishment at its core.   

As dramatic events unfold globally, life moves on at a rapid pace yet the past has a habit of catching up with us. Call it ‘deja-vu’ and the today’s youth might term it as – ‘a blast from the past’ ! With TV’s big fights, fiery debates, analytical discussions & prescriptive discourses of varying intellectual capacities and ideologies are engulfing most netizens & our friends (few have turned fr-enemies!), I’m reminded of an interesting real-life event that I was privy to witnessing some two decades back as a fledgling trainer in the Bank.

In a forum for test launch of a new scheme of the Bank, two experienced trainers were on the floor deftly articulating highlights (hardly anything on any de-merits, for obvious marketing reasons ) of the good things to come, for the benefit of an august audience of senior bank officers and executives. Post-session analysis was done by the senior-most executive trainer and our ‘Training Boss’. While evaluating the training performance, he asked the trainee interns like us – were the two trainers in sync and moving in tandem ?

Not getting fearlessly frank responses he was looking for, he gave his considered views. The two trainers were not quite on same page – while trainer 1 was talking about ground level, operational issues and the nitty-gritty of execution, trainer 2 was expounding on the great mission, a utopia that was in the making ! Since both were talking on the same issue, they appeared to operating in different spheres and the gap was not really bridged till the end of the session. The lesson learnt-  think big but with your feet on the ground !

This program happened many years ago, but the events look astonishingly similar to the present scenario where debates (heated political ones) are the flavor for all seasons and find favour with TV anchors and media for the TRPs they generate. Notice that while the issues for discussion mostly relate to people’s problems (inflation, jobs, civic amenities , education, health), inevitably the blame-game and fault finding of their predecessors starts and spokespersons defending the shortcomings, astutely resort to ‘Whataboutery’ by listing out achievements in unrelated fields and quote data that’s global and holistic.  

Keys to improving debating skills and quality are facing up to hard facts with objectivity, and being realistic on both strengths and weaknesses pointed out. Accepting and acting on unbiased feedback, that’s not favourable and laudatory, but honest and factual is vital for all parties concerned. To be ‘shown the mirror’ is democracy’s gift to all the leaders !   

As it happens in most issues, it’s takes a human tragedy for serious talk to emerge on long working hours, pressure and work related stress of workers as ruthless part of the unstated corporate policy in the commercial and business world but has long existed in our socio-cultural ethos. The best examples to emulate were those who’d slogged it out.

As much retired bankers, our clan can claim that banking system has had ‘long working hours’ since times immemorial. One joke related to us by our senior executive went like -‘One late night, the wife shakes her husband awake asking fearfully ‘Why are the dogs on the street barking’. Hubby nonchalantly replies ‘Must be a banker returning home !’

This wasn’t overstating things one bit. A vital advice I’d received from Loans in Charge after joining the Bank in 1977-‘Our real work starts in the evening after customer hours.’ The very concept of  ‘10 to 5’ job for bank officers like us, became surreal from the start. During our time in 1980s, there a rural tenure that each officer was required to undergo. I recall ardous experiences travelling 35 kms by road to my rural Branch daily – starting early at about 8 am and not returning home before 8 pm, as a ritual for four long years !   

Some time in early 1990s, I was heading a South Mumbai Branch located at the other end of town from where I stayed and my local train & road travel time was average 90 mts each way. A normal working day meant 14 hours grind including the travel time in horrendous traffic. To add to our woes, Bank decided to introduce the concept of ‘8 to 8 Banking’ as pilot project in key branches- I was an unlucky Br Head to get that honour. To enable its success, I’d leave home at 7.00 am and return by about 9 pm, just to sleep. It was good fortune Bank called off this misadventure in a few months of its inception.  

Apart from the long hours which everyone (including the families) got used to over time, the culture of ‘late sitting’ percolated from Top Down since officers in both branches & administrative offices were not supposed to leave before ‘Boss’ departed and important meetings and discussions would be scheduled late evenings. Some Bosses didn’t have families with them and the Bank became their second home. If one showed inclination to leave early than usual, commitment was questioned despite his/her proven efficiency.       

Finally, the last but not the least was the immense pressure to achieve set targets and scare of being labeled as non-performers that made many stretch themselves to absurd limits. No one then really bothered about time or said that working long hours could have a number of negative effects on health & well-being of the officers. It was survival of the fittest in a mad maze of work – achieving goals, promotions and future prospects mattered most ! 

Stars : Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin

Watch on Netfix

Let’s put a caveat here for serious viewers of thriller genre movies – this is one with a difference where there are two very senior looking women ( never can we call them ‘old’ !) who happen to be old school mates, decide  to kill the husband of their departed friend when they meet at her funeral ! It isn’t a spoiler because their noble intentions are stated at the very start.

What appealed to me was the film had been marked as a ‘Comedy’ and has redoubtable Jane Fonda in a revengeful ‘avtaar’ looking smashing and out for some mean action !  What comes as the surprise in the pack is amazing Lily Tomlin, who looks as lethal as any scheming villain but is actually a frail lady with ominous gleam in her eye and lots of gumption and ideas. Together, they whip up a truly hilarious escapade that’s best enjoyed with no further reviewer notes that can become a giveaway for this fun watch !

It’s a bit reminiscent of the kind of vintage comic-thriller films with senior actors that we’ve enjoyed, like ‘Victoria No.203’ (1972) with veterans Ashok Kumar (Dadamoni) and Pran bringing the house down with their antics. What it tells us is that when it comes to sheer comic timing -‘old is gold

One doesn’t have to be a cricket enthusiast to hail something ‘great with a difference’ happening on the field, just as one appreciates an outstanding movie that has a first half that’s dull and unspectacular and a second half that makes one sit up for it’s spunk, audacity, class & brilliance. The shining stars aren’t the lead players (batters) but have risen to the occasion & how !

Another analogy for the incredible batting show by Ash & Jaddu on Day 1 of the 1st Test against BanglaDesh was sheer fluency and beautiful cohesion in their partnership, akin to ‘jugal bandi’ between two virtuoso masters like Ustad Zakir Husain and Pandit Hari Prasad, one complementing the other. All were enthralled as the two regaled us with ‘cricket’ at possibly it’s best.

It would be inopportune to compare two iconic innings from two different eras but yesterday’s master class from Ash and Jaddu in their unbeaten and record-breaking 7^th wicket partnership of 195 runs is reminiscent of the epic Laxman & Dravid 2001 show in Eden Gardens, Kolkata against the Aussies. While experts were reminded of Laxman’s style by Ashwin’s timing & wristy stroke-play(recording a 6^th hundred), Jaddu showed Dravid-like resilience !

Also apart from saving India the blushes after tottering at 144 for 6, lessons in batting strategy, attitude and playing in perfect tandem came from these two veteran all rounders, never in awe of the situation & counter-attacking Bangla bowlers and dominating them. Teamwork & maturity was the key. And remember the two are not done yet and Jaddu deserves his century !   

Wordy parlance has caught the fancy of today’s netizens and anchors who swamp the media with impressive verbiage of words ranging from ’canard’,  ‘hubris’, ‘bigotry’, ‘algorithms’ to ‘whataboutery’ and ‘shifting goalposts’ in TV debates and chats. Yet a simple word ‘Process’ is holding fort with same impact & enjoys the widest usage, so remarkable that it’s worth looking at.  

The word ‘Process’ came to us early since our teachers taught us about the five senses and the way ‘processing’ is constantly going on inside us, as we respond to external stimuli. In our academics we used another name for it, called ‘funda’, which essentially meant understanding basic concepts & processes (steps), be it in subjects like maths & chemistry or relating to how human body or machine’s function as taught in medicine & engineering.

Dictionary explains the ‘noun’ word ‘process’ as a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. We also have the ‘verb’ as the performing of a series of mechanical or chemical operations on (something) in order to change or preserve it. In an abstract sense, we know that if we follow the established processes the results are generally favourable. That’s why a great leader like MS Dhoni (and later Dravid, India’s exemplary Ex-Coach) had always stressed on focusing on process and not the outcome.

Why is it so important to follow the laid down and given processes ? I recall trainers who explained assembly line operations to us – repeating the same operations continuously day in and out, brings skill & perfection to the job, becoming a second-habit to workers. The same applies to hours of practice for sportsmen on the field and on-the-job training on shop floor & services. Of course there’s need for changing the systems to adapt to new situations.   

Finally there’s ‘legal’ process, prescribed by the laws of the country such as summons or writ requiring a person to appear in court & the proceedings on dates that are fixed, refixed and deferred several times while the lawyers endlessly argue the case before judgement is given after countless hearings.

Since due process of law must be adhered (or any act can be termed illegal), there’s this long, protracted nature of the entire ‘judicial’ process that lead to cries from an aggrieved class ‘justice delayed is justice denied’! So many opine that if ‘process’ (we include disciplinary action rules of organizations) itself  becomes the ‘punishment’, it needs urgent an relook, re-fix & reform !