Leadership/Business Insights from the movie "Imagine That"

“Only those who can see such signs of life are able to find treasures”

The above quote from Paulo Coelho well acclaimed “The Alchemist” stresses the point that the signs are always around us. If we can recognize, understand them and act accordingly, then our lives will far better. Often I have found that movies are a good source of motivation and the reel lives contain many insights which is applicable in our real lives. I have always found when I watch movies (maybe, not all yet some), they depict the reality of life and the humdrum which we lose ourselves into. If we look closely enough, then there are certain gems waiting to be taken and embellish our lives.

So, here we go, with understanding some insights from the movie “Imagine that”, a 2009 American comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. It centers on the relationship between a workaholic father and his daughter, Olivia, whose imaginary world becomes the solution to her father's success.

Disclaimer: This is not a movie review, I don’t have the skills to write movie review hence if you are expecting that you can read the movie plot here. The movie bombed at box office, though let that not keep you away from the amazing insights which it had.

Insight 1: Remember to have fun, not be serious always

It is interesting to note that the main protagonist of the movie, Evan is a top financial advisor ,a job which can be as serious as it can be. The pressure to be on the top and to be perfect is very high in all our work. However, it is important to have fun as we focus on work. The metaphor in the movie where Evan accepts his daughter imaginary world and starts doing childish things like dancing to please the guarding dragon etc, is an indication that fun should be an integral part of our work lives. When was the last time you had fun/real fun with your colleagues and most importantly, spending quality time with your family too.

Insight 2: Important to package your work differently to be noticed

Evan’s competitor Johnny Whitefeather has the whole company under some spell as he shares his views which sounds like nonsensical idioms filled with Native American mumbo jumbo. While, it is important to have strong content, this aspect shows why it is important to package our content with stuff which attracts the audience attention. Packaging can mean lot of things, how you structure your content, how do you deliver it, how to brand your initiative or position it to your target members. While focusing on packaging, ensure the content is solid and has value addition, without which the process will fail, which leads to our next insight, which is.

Insight 3: Air talk doesn’t win always, hard work matter

Evan gets used to his daughter’s help with her blanket “Go-gaa” to get financial investment tips. When the golden opportunity of leading his firm comes up, he and his competitor has to crunch numbers and present their analysis. Both Evan and his rival Johnny end up looking for help from imaginary sources instead of doing the hard work. Johnny tries to impress the client by talking mumbo jumbo, which gets called out as Air talk for lacking any meaning. Fortunately for Evan, his daughter ends up spending time at her friends and isn’t available, so even though he forcibly gets the “Go-gaa”, he eventually ends up working late through night to crunch the numbers and make solid analysis, which helps him make a better impression to win the coveted deal.

Bottom line, all said and done, if you are really keen to win, ensure you don’t compromise on hard work. Hardwork after all is the secret to success.

Insight 4: Family matters, focus on quality time with family

Everyone has pressure to prove at work. And everything comes at a cost. Most often, people run behind material success, money, fame at the detriment of their family relationships. Work is important no doubt about it, and there is nothing wrong in aspiring high and working hard for the promotion. Yet, it is wise to realize that all said and done, our true (invaluable, if I can add) possessions will be our family relationships with our spouse/kids and parents, and true friends/dear ones.

It is unfortunate to see people spend their peak time of their lives in making money and not being there for their kids and when they are ready to spend time with kids, they have grown and gone out to make their own lives. Look back at your life and ask this question, how much quality time you are having with your family and dear ones.

Insight 5: Find your style, don’t copy others blindly

Johnny assumes that Evan is using a shaman technique to make hit guesses about whether to buy or sell company stock, which has led to his popularity. So, when the big moment presents itself, where both are given a task to analyze portfolio holdings of the legendary investor, Johnny resorts to forcing his son to the medium to get shamanic insights, in the process, forgets to do the required analysis of the holdings, where as if he had done it properly, he would have walked off with the prize.

At work and life, we may sometimes be amazed by others style of doing things. While it is good to derive inspiration from others, one should blindly copy someone else style, at best it will give you mediocre outcome and worst, leave you looking like a fool. In business too, this becomes important, when companies try to adopt other’s best practices without customizing it to its own culture.

Hope you found the above insights useful and relevant. What other insights have you had from the movie. Would love to hear your thoughts, leave them in the comment section.

Stay Safe and Sound.

When the Gods said ‘Oh My God’

Disclaimer:  I was inspired to write this post after a long hiatus. Initially I was skeptical about writing the post as I wasn’t sure to what extent this would be helpful to others. But eventually, I went with my gut feeling on expressing my thoughts lest someone finds it helpful.  Just in case you don’t find it useful, don’t blame me. My disclaimer is that I have pre-warned you. 

Three things are sanctimonious in India. Religion, Politics and Cricket. Anyone having different belief or thought against the wildly held belief on any of these three will be straightway declared as rebellious misfits in a best scenario to outright madmen in the worst case scenario. Hence, anyone courageous enough to touch on any of these subjects could be labeled a misfit or madmen, depending upon his good deeds in his ‘Purnajanam’ (last birth). Rarely there comes a movie which deals with the subject of religion and manages to convince people in terms of driving across its message.  Oh My God (OMG) is one such movie. I loved OMG not only for the entertaining dramatized script but also due to its direct take on the way religion is blindly followed by people. 

It’s about the journey of a protagonist from being a non believer to a believer in God.  Paresh Rawal has done an awesome job of donning the protagonist role of Kanshi, who is a businessman who sells God idols in his shop and tells far-fetched tales to sell his idols, the ones which we hear in Haridwar, Rishikesh. He considers the God idols just as stone pieces and tells white lies to lure unsuspecting customers to buy his goods, who completely fall for his trap.

To keep it short, a small earthquake destroys only his shop. He approaches the insurance to claim the damage amount, who tells him that earthquake being an act of god, doesn’t fall under the claims. Having no other option to get funds to save his collateralized home, he files a case against God accusing him of intentionally destroying his shop and seeks compensation for that. The Godmen, being salesmen agent’ of God represent and fight the case on God’s behalf. What follows is a funny account of how the media, society ridiculing the insanity of Kanshi, later start supporting him in his case. Also, enters Akshay Kumar as God Kanhaiya who stays with him and supports him towards the end, making him realize that there exists God, not in the sense people think and worship him, but in a different way.

This article is not a movie review of OMG; rather it’s the sharing of my main learning’s in the movie. These are my own personal opinions and; not intended to hurt anyone sentiments or religious belief. [But if you still insist on getting hurt after reading some of my views, by all means be hurt. After-all, we live in a democratic country]

 In the movie, Kanshi argues in the court that the beggars outside the temple aren’t allowed inside and they go hungry, but there is a big line of devotees waiting to do ‘Pal Abhishekam’ [Bathing God’s idol with Milk]. My major contention is with the wastage of gallons of milk, oil used for the Puja’s and God preparations, which could be used to feed the poor and the hungry.  Add on to it the temple entry charges, special ‘darshan’ tickets; it seems to be one of the most profitable businesses next to politics. As Kanshi says in the movie, this is the only business whose growth rate doubles during recession.

The other point which is beautifully captured in the movie is about the role of Godmen, the self proclaimed messengers of the Almighty and who claim to know the right way to worship God. Some Godmen have moved onto the next level. They proclaim themselves as the God’s avatar and bless devotees prostrating at their feet asking for their blessings. What madness. People who believe in Godmen, falling for their magic acts can think about what Akshay donning the role of Krishna says in the movie "Mein Kishan hoo, isliye Chamatkaar karta hoon. Mein Chamatkar karta hoon, isliye Kishan nahi hoon. [Iam Lord Krishna & hence i can do miracles, I do miracles but that doesnt makes on Lord Krishna]

My take is that if you want God, you need to look within, because God is in everyone, he is everywhere. Instead of blindly following and prostrating before Godmen who become rich with your money and dictate to you how and when to worship God. As Kanshi says, they have copyrighted God who is available to all. For instance, a saint in the movie says that Sai Baba of Shirdi died with lack of water and oil with not much followers. But post his death, people found a way to worship him and collect crores of money to run a trust in his name, thus making the trust owners wealthy. 

I have much respect for the belief people have in God. I too believe that God exist but he doesn’t exist only in temples. He is omnipresent. But sometimes in times of despair or unfavorable situations, I have found myself turning to an entity called ‘God’ and blame him for the unfavorable circumstances and asking him to help me out. As if, crying and petitioning will work out. On introspection, I have realized that I have done that mostly because I want to shift my accountability to him, so to feel pity for myself and have less guilty about ‘projecting an image’ of helplessness. I don't intend to say don't reach out to God. We certainly need the support of the superpower to help us wade through the crisis, but what is required at the crisis time is undying faith and a positive belief that things will turn out well, rather than visiting temples and giving chunks of money as donations and expect things to turn better.

Just to bring a scientific angle, which I felt could have been dealt in the movie but was surprisingly missed out, I believe the reason why our prayers are answered is that because of our earnest belief to make something happen and due to the power of our sincere thoughts behind it. As someone – “When you truly want something to happen, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it.”  It’s your earnest desire which makes thing happen, rather than God sitting in his office who keeps approving or disapproving your applications request. 

My sincere appeal to my fellow friends who are die hard theist are - If you spend Rs.1000 towards temple visits and puja’s, please spend at least 10% of that amount for feeding a poor person. Just in case, if you are able to spend the entire Rs.1000 in feeding or helping a needy person, Iam sure you will meet or experience God in real life. 

Diving a little into spirituality, wise people have said that everyone is a God. There is a Tamil song whose lyrics goes like ‘Manidhan enbavan deivam aagalam’ (Man can become God) and goes on to share ways in which a human can become God through his deeds, hence everyone is God. Even actor Kamal Hassan says the same in his movie ‘Anbe Sivam’ where he says ‘Love for Humanity is equal to God’. When a stranger helped you in times of distress, they were being a God. When a teacher motivates or inspires a child to aspire for the best in his/her life, the teacher is being a God to the child. When your friend gives you a helping hand in difficult moments, he is being a God for you. Every-time we are helping a needy person, we are representing the God through us, through our actions.

In the climax, when people realize the true nature of the Godmen and they had to run away to save themselves, one Godmen makes this comment to Kanshi. "People are God fearing and not God loving. Hence, no matter what the awareness, eventually they will seek asylum in the temple because that is how weak they are."  

I can only hope and pray that even if we continue to visit temples, we continue seeking God through our actions, by being a Samaritan first, Devotee later. 

As a said before, if you are an Atheist, this is a good to watch movie. You will love it as it reinforces many of your beliefs. If you are a Theist, this is a MUST watch movie as you will have an opportunity to experience the way real GOD exist among us. 

That's all I had to share about the movie. I hope you found something useful in the post.  I would like to hear your opinion too about the movie and your beliefs. Look forward to hear your thoughts. 

God speed to all in our journey of life.

Lessons from the movie 'Charlie & the Chocolate factory'

Iam sure many will like this post at-least for the name ‘Chocolate’, if not for the lessons from this movie. Still, this is one such movie which has a good amount of creativity, fun as well learning integrated in it. A friend  of mine liked the movie because of the subtle messages which sensitized the audiences on finer values of life. We will see some of the learning, but before that for those who haven’t seen the movie, here is a brief description of the plot. (Of course, the suspense has been kept secretive as much as possible) 

The movie is about Charlie Bucket a kind, loving boy who lives in poverty with his mother, father, and four bedridden grandparents. Directly across the street from their house is a world-famous chocolate factory, the owner of which, Willy Wonka, has long since closed access to the factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage that ultimately led him to fire all his employees. One day, Wonka announces a contest in which five Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory, as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. One ticket-holder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour.

The first four tickets are found by Augustus Gloop, a greedy, gluttonous eater from Germany; VerucaSalt, a spoiled girl from Buckinghamshire; Violet Beauregarde, a boastful, competitive gum chewer from Atlanta; and Mike Teavee, an arrogant, aggressive video-game addict from Denver. The rest of the movie details the tour of the chocolate factory (which wows the audience with every new scene) and how each of the bad children disobeys Wonka's orders after being tempted by something related to their individual character flaws. I hope that you have some idea of the movie plot. Let’s move forward with the lessons from it.

Spoiling children with too much pampering:

The movie shows in a typical way how today’s children are spoiled by too much pampering. The girl Veruca initially asks for the Golden ticket so her father buys hundreds of thousands of Wonka bars to find the Wonka ticket. After 3 days of effort, when the Golden ticket is found, he gives it to his daughter who immediately after having her desire fulfilled, asks for a new pony.

Pampering a child will lead to bigger & greater disappointements as the child's expectations grows with each fulfilled wish. The child not only begins to demand things to happen (because they want it) & expect all things to be delivered to it in a silver platter, which surely prepares it for failure later in life. The idea here is that many parents think that if they pamper their child with money, toys and other thing which they desire, the child will be happy and that they will like them. Unfortunately, that is far away from the truth. What a child truly requires is the love, care of his parent. Hence, the parents should try to instill values in their child rather than spoiling their childby fulfilling all the child's wishes.

Value Character over Champion:

The girl Violet is a very competitive person and her mom states that proudly in the interview that Violet has won more than 200 trophies till date. She says to Violet “Eyes on the prize, Violet; Eyes on the prize” to win the big prize at the end of the tour. The movie shows that her competitive & boastful character, results in her failure during the tour.

This is very prevalent in the current generation too. Parents want children to be a winner in life. There is nothing wrong with that. But the sad thing is that children have become a medium to be show cased as victory trophies. The parent proudly display their child talent in literary, sports, and arts to other people. Not to mention that the child becomes adamant, egoistic as he grows up which contributes to his downfall.  A simple look at our mythology as well as on the life of great leaders reveal that during childhood, it’s the focus on character which matters greatly rather than upbringing a child to be a winner. Winners evolve with the right values but right values don’t evolve by winning in life. (Just to clarify, Iam not advocating not to win in life, but to have a good set of values rather than just  a desire to win. If you have a good set of values, there is no way you won't win :))

Taking Chances in Life:

When Charlie gets the Golden ticket and shows it to his parents, he feels that they can sell the Golden ticket in exchange for money so that the extra money will help them in some way.(His father loses his job adding to their existing poverty).  That’s when his grandpa says “There is plenty of money out there. They print more everyday but this ticket; there’s only 5 of them. And all that is ever going to be. Only a dummy is going to leave something like this."

Extrapolating this to our lives, imagine the ticket to be our lifetime in this Earth. We get only one chance at living, still we spend all our waking hours running after money at the cost of neglecting our dreams, family etc, thinking it will provide us some security. The idea which I want to emphasize is that money is present in abundance out in the world. But your dreams, your ambitions are unique and few. Hence, don’t exchange your dreams for money. Chase your dreams/ambitions which will give you lasting happiness & peace (and unimaginable monetary surplus), rather than chasing money.

Holding on to the past or a thing:

In one of the rooms where chocolate is made, the kids are told that they can eat anything they like. The girl Violet plucks a candy and to eat it, she takes the gum which she is chewing from her mouth and saves it for chewing at a later time.  Charlie asks her “Why hold on to it. Why not start a new piece.” For which she replies that if she did that, she would be a loser like him”.

I believe that most of us too hold on to something, similar to the girl Violet holding on to the chewing gum. it can be our past or a thing; The past could be an incident, experience; the thing can be your home, car or any material possession and as long as we hold onto it, we not only hold back ourselves from growing, we shut ourselves from experiencing new things in life. So, just give a thought to it. Are you holding yourselves to something which isn’t benefitting you?

The quality of your thoughts determine the quality of your life:

This is one of my favorite lessons. In the end, when Wonka proposes an offer to Charlie and he rejects it, Wonka is disappointed & hence begins to feel terrible. When wondering, why his candy isn’t tasting as good as before, he realizes that “I make the candy I feel like, but now I feel terrible so the candy I make is also terrible”.

That is so true in our life. Everything which you do in your life will be of the quality similar to the quality of your thoughts. This is similar to the law of attraction. That’s why the wise people have always said that to achieve Enlightenment ; look inside yourself. All the problems of the World can be solved by looking inside ourselves & searching for the truth. Once you attain peace within yourself, automatically you will transcend greatness. Genius is what you do and how consistently you do that, and it can be achieved by realizing your inner selves. Your thoughts create your destiny, hence always be mindful of the quality of your thoughts.

Those were the 5 learning which i had derived from the movie. I hope you found it to be useful. If you havent watched the movie, i strongly recommend you to see it once. As always, have a enjoyable time absorbing the values in your own life for a better living.

Learn, Integrate, Empower.

Happy Living!

Lessons from Harry Potter Saga

I guess the post title might seem attractive to a Potter fan. And who wouldn’t feel so. JK Rowling did weave a magical net which had all enclosed in it. The journey had been a pleasant one which had come to an end with the release of the HP and the Deathly Hallows-II.  A memorable journey indeed. Keeping away the nostalgic recollections of HP journey let me get down to what this article is about. I have put down my thoughts on the learning from the movie i.e. few snippets of wisdom (if you can call it that way) or motivational stuff which I believe will inspire us to live a better life ourselves.  Before I start, it goes without saying that you will appreciate the article much more if you had read the book or seen the movie ‘Harry Potter series’ or at least have an idea about what the series is about. Nevertheless, you can read the article and appreciate the lessons shared. Let’s begin.

One meets his fate in the path one takes to avoid it: The first learning is the fact that one meets his fate in the very path which he takes to avoid it.  The reason Voldemort tries to kill Harry is because of the prophecy that he will meet his end at the hands of a child. So he finds out Lily and James hide-out, kills them and while killing Harry, it backfires on him. The very thing which he wanted to stop resulted in him initiating it. If Voldemort hadn’t attacked Harry, neither would have Harry became as popular and ended up being a threat to Voldemort. Similarly in our lives too, we take extensive measures to avoid something and in the end, no matter what we do, we end up in a situation which we wanted to avoid (I know the above sentence was confusing to read. To put it simply, don’t run away from things which are your primary responsibility. Things have a way of getting onto you, no matter how hard you try to avoid it)

Respect everyone for what they are:  Another recurring theme which keeps coming up in Harry Potter is the fact ‘Respect others for what they are and not for what they have’.  Harry showed respect for characters like Dolby, Hagrid when many people disliked or hated them for the way they were like. In exchange, Dolby, Hagrid and many others were ready to do anything for Harry’s well being. It’s not just about getting favors from people but the fact that you respect people for what they are and for that they will be eternally grateful. In our lives too, sometimes we may get carried away by status and power. Not that it’s wrong to respect power or status, but if we respect people irrespective of their status, position or power, your stars will prove lucky in due time :)

A Parent's true responsibility: Though Iam not qualified (yet) to make this judgment either by experience nor by credentials based on what the wise people have said, I can safely claim that the best thing parents can do for their children is to trust in them & allow them to make their own choices in life. In Harry Potter if you take the case of Frank & George, Hermione, their parents had given them the freedom of choosing what to become. In real life most of the times, Parents try to live their dreams though their children which is a good thing if the child also wants it. But if the child aspirations are different and if he is forced to live his parent dreams, then it only leaves the child living in a hopeless world inhibiting him to reach his truest potential. All a Parent can do is to convey to your children that you love them for what they are and no matter what happens, you will be for them.  

Hope; a light during dark times: In Harry Potter, many times Harry and his friends had no clue of how things will turn out yet they continued to go on by hoping for the best. Instances like when Dumbledore being killed, Harry caught by Death eaters etc seemed like the end of the world for them. But they continued to persist to see circumstances change, new help arrive at the most uncertain times. Similarly in life, we may not know what may happen, how the future will turn out, but if we just continue to belief that the best will happen more often than not, things will turn out to be better. Hence, no matter how circumstances are in your life, Hope for the best and stand your ground.  

Love is the Ultimate power: In Harry Potter, the weapon which eventually kills Voldemort is his lack of understanding of the power of Love. It is the same thing which continued to save Harry Potter from Voldemort most of the times, the love of his mother for him, the love of Snape for his mother, Lily which  led Snape to look out for Harry and love of his teachers & friends for him. In real life, the solution to most of our problems is to understand the true power of Love. As someone said, Love can move mountains and any obstacles. Hence, it will do us well to remember that as long as we share, embrace and exchange Love with everyone around us, we will continue to live in harmony and continue to evolve to higher states of being.

That’s just few of the learning I had from the Harry Potter saga which I hope were useful to you. I would love to hear your own lessons from the movie. 

On an ending note, a question had popped up which I thought I will put it to you. If you had followed Harry Potter, take a pick at the question --> “What is the star sign of Harry Potter?” ;)

Lesson’s from the Movie ‘Spirited Away’

If the Americans (Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney etc) are good at making animation movies, the Japanese are the experts. Directors like Hayao Miyazaki have set high standards in terms of the animation as well as imaginative story telling. Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine (Ayan Adak) and it turned out that he also was a great fan of Anime movie, especially fantasy ones. He suggested a movie to me, Spirited Away, whose lessons I will be sharing in this article. One thing I have observed in Japanese Anime as well as Manga (comics originally published in Japan) series is that apart from a creative storyline, it represents various aspects of human behavior/ relations in a subtle manner. ‘Spirited Away’ is one such movie in which apart from the animation technicalities, the story touches you in a sweet way.

The following trivia should be good enough to increase your curiosity level. Spirited Away is the highest grossing film of all time in Japan. It is also among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14 (Source: Wiki)

Spirited Away is a story of ‘Chihiro’, a sullen ten-year-old girl who is moving with her parents to a new town when they become lost and find what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro's father decides to explore it while a reluctant Chihiro and her mother accompany him. They soon discover a stall with food, and Chihiro's parents sample the food in-spite of Chihiro’s protest to get back. Chihiro soon realizes that she is in a magical world when she sees her parents literally turn into pigs. Chihiro finds a boy, Haku who smuggles her into a large bathhouse and tells her to find a job so she can stay there until he can help her recover her parents and escape. He instructs Chihiro to see Kamaji at the boiler room to ask for work. Kamaji, a six-armed, grumpy, but kind-hearted fellow, says he has no work for Chihiro and entrusts her to Lin to take her up to Yubaba, a cranky, elderly witch who runs the bathhouse, agrees to let Chihiro work for her, but takes all of Chihiro's name except the first character of her first name which Yubaba calls "Sen." Sen later learns that Yubaba controls her servants by taking their names. The rest of the story chronicles her adventures in a world of spirits and monsters and how she brings them back to human form & rescues them.

Here are the lessons from the movie… Fasten your blog belts and enjoy! ;)

1. Hope & Believe In The Best:

When Haku gets hurt and Chihiro goes to Zeniba (twin sister of Yubaba) to save Haku, Zeniba asks Chihiro to recall how she is connected to Haku in order to find a way to save him. After trying hard, Chihiro exclaims that she isn’t able to recall anything from her past. She starts crying because she is unable to save Haku, her parents are still in the pig form and she may not reach in time to save them. At that time, Zeniba says “Wait, just a little bit longer”. After sometime, Haku turns up there safely and both of them return to save her parents. The same can be compared in our lives too. Sometimes we feel that we are overburdened by many things and nothing is turning out as expected. At those moments, it is wise to just hold on for a little bit longer. Though we assume that things are not happening as we want it, they will turn out to be good eventually. So the best we can do is to hope for the best and believe that the best will happen. Having this attitude really helps.

2. Perseverance Pays Off

There is a part in the movie where Haku tells Chihiro to find a job with Kamaji, the boiler man; otherwise she will be turned into a pig. Kamaji tells Chihiro to go to Yubaba and get a job. She goes to meet Yubaba and asks her for a job. Yubaba initially refuses any job and insults her and tells her to go away. But Chihiro persists and asks for a job repeatedly. Finally, Yubaba relents and gives her the job. Albeit, a well known fact, it is worth repeating that persevering in-spite of odds makes impossible things, possible. Many of us relent at the signs of smallest obstacles. But success comes to those who not only face the obstacles but also persists until the end. As the saying goes, the difference between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary is the little “Extra”!

3. Small Acts Of Kindness Count

There is an instant in the movie when Chihiro sees ‘No Face’ outside getting drenched in the rain and leaves the door open for it to come inside the bathhouse. ‘No Face’ instantly gets a liking to Chihiro for her act of kindness. The same holds true in real life where small acts of kindness does wonders may it be our workplace or anywhere. People respect you for what you are and how you made them feel. Hence, no matter how high you go in your life, having concern for a complete stranger may benefit you in ways you wouldn’t have imagined

4. Free Money Doesn’t Stay Long:

In the movie, a character named ‘No Face’, a masked spirit enters the bathhouse and starts giving gold nuggets to the staff there. All the staff gets greedy and starts hailing and suck up to him to get the gold. Though ‘No Face’ offers gold to Chihiro, she doesn’t accept it because she doesn’t see any reason for accepting the gold. In the end, while examining the gold, the staff realizes that it was just dirt which was appearing like Gold. Hence, anything which one gets without having worked for it in the right way is bound to disappear or go away faster than it had appeared. I recall a dialogue by the Superstar Rajnikanth in a movie ‘Padaiyappa’ where he says that “Without doing hard work, one doesn’t get anything, things obtained without doing hard work, never stays in the whole lifetime”

The movie is filled with many more important insights. I have explained the major lessons which I felt would be motivating to many. I leave it to you to see the movie for yourself and enjoy it the way you would want. Finally a note of thanks to my friend, Ayan for referring this wonderful movie. Thanks mate.

Float like a Cadillac, Sting like a Beemer – Lessons from the Movie ‘Cars’

I got to see this movie quite late when compared to other animation movies. I used to think that it was another random racing car movie. But once I watched it, there was a whole new gamut of insights which the movie had. Pixar had lived up to their reputation for producing a wonderful entertainer with a human touch. As always, my learning series will just provide the important lessons in the movie and provide the broader aspects.

Before we start racing, some background detail of the movie, so to put things in perspective.

Cars takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic motor vehicles. The film begins with the last race of the Piston Cup championship, which ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip Weathers aka The King, perennial runner-up Chick Hicks, and rookie Lightning McQueen. The tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later. McQueen and Chick Hicks are in a race to take the King’s place in the Dinoco team, which is a highly lucrative, sought after team. So both of them want to win the Piston Cup, and the King wants to win his last race too. McQueen touted as the next star racer is ashamed of being sponsored by Rusteze as he thinks it hurts his super brand image. Lightning McQueen wants to reach Los Angeles soon so to meet the founder of the lucrative Dinoco team. He forces his big rig, Mack to travel all night along, though Mack wants to sleep. Mack starts nodding off while driving and due to mischief by a road gang, the sleeping McQueen rolls out of the back of the trailer unnoticed & he gets lost, and ends up in the run-down town of Radiator Springs. A mishap with the local sheriff causes McQueen to inadvertently tear up the town's main road. He is arrested, and is sentenced to repave the road as community service. The movie showcases his stay in Radiator Springs & ends with the final tie-breaker race which has an interesting climax. (Watch the movie to see it for yourself) Now onto the lessons.

1. Everyone has something to offer:

McQueen considers himself to be a class apart from other cars. When he lands up at Radiator Springs, he looks down condescendingly on the other cars. But gradually as he spends time with them he realizes that each of them has something to teach him, things he doesn’t know himself. He learns a new trick from Mater, the cable guy about reverse driving style. Luigi, the assistant to Guido, (the Tire shop owner) has always dreamt to be a part of the pit stop & change tires for a racing car. In the final race, Luigi changes the tires in a record time pit stop even though he is mocked initially by the other racing teams. McQueen who initially is a very self-obsessed individual gradually learns to think about others and to care for others and most importantly to respect others for their skills, however small it might be.

2. Realize the worth of your close ones:

Most often in life, we don’t realize the worth of what we have. We spend our life going after things which we perceive to be worthy. The movie stresses on the importance of having true, loyal friends. In the beginning of the movie, McQueen is a loner with no friends. He has his Sport agent who has no time for him but is only concerned about his performance. He even neglects his big rig and his pit crews as he doesn’t recognize their value. But his short stint at Radiator Springs makes him understand the importance of true friends. Everyone at Radiator Springs showcase interest in his well being and want him to win the Piston cup. He initially hates rusted cars but gradually he starts to appreciate people for what they are, rather than what they have. This is showcased in the end, when he is approached by Dinoco to be his team lead car when he politely rejects his offer and decides to remain with Rusteze, his old sponsors who had given him the first break.

3. It’s not always just money, honey!

Another aspect the movie dwells upon is the fact that money is not everything. While his stay in Radiator Springs, he keeps on cribbing about reaching Los Angeles in time for the race. He wants to win the Piston cup race at any rate, so that he could get the sponsorship of Dinoco. One day, he learns that the Doc is actually the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three-time Piston Cup champion who was forced out of competition after a serious accident ended his career over 50 years ago. McQueen is amazed at the Doc winning 3 piston cup, but the Doc tells him that in the end, it is nothing than a cup. The doc points out people at Radiator Springs are good folks who care about one another. McQueen realizes how artificial his profession had been, which had neglected the Hudson Hornet after an accident and had written him off. McQueen’s realization is showcased in the final tie-breaker race which makes him win the hearts of everyone.

4. Everything happens for a reason:

I felt this is one of the most important learning in the movie. Sometimes in our life, we crib about things not happening according to our plan and curse our fate for it. The movie helps one adopt an optimistic attitude towards life and believe in the best. McQueen is initially disgruntled about getting lost in the Radiator Springs. But over the course of his stay, he learns many important things, finds his true self and also ends up becoming a person loved by one and all. Hence, no matter where you are now in life, it always pays to think that it is happening for a purpose. You never know what you might end up finding which can change your life forever!

To sum it up, Iam sharing a soundtrack from the movie called “Find Yourself’ which tells about finding our self in the course of racing arena called ‘Life’.

"When you find yourself in some far off place
And it causes you to rethink some things
You start to sense that slowly you're becoming someone else
And then you find yourself

When you make new friends in a brand new town
And you start to think about settling down
The things that would've been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell and you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

When you go through life
So sure of where you're heading
And you wind up lost
And it's the best thing that could've happened
Cause sometimes when you lose your way
It's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

When you meet the one that you've been waiting for
And she's everything that you want and more
You look at her and you finally start to live for someone else
And then you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

We go through life
So sure of where we're heading
And then we wind up lost
And it's the best thing that could've happened
Cause sometimes when you lose your way
It's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself"

Source of Soundtrack Lyric: http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/country/bradpaisley/057.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cars

Hope you liked the lessons. As always I suggest you to watch the movie, not only to have a fun time but also to reinforce the lessons. If any of you has watched the movie, it would be great if you can share any good aspect/insight which you had from the movie.

May the power be with you! ;)

Be Dazzled !

Here, comes another movie review from a not so ardent movie watcher. And yea, as always the review isn’t just about the story line, acting, music… It’s more about obscure lessons present in the movie. Going by the popularity of the movie, I guess most of you must have seen it for 2 reasons 1) It’s Brendan Fraser movie 2) You simply couldn’t have missed it. Well, that’s what I was told by my friend while conversing with him when we stumbled on to the movies subject. He had a long list of movies and I was wondering which one to see. My friend would tell me the summary of each movie, and I would decide if I want to see it or not. What hooked me to this movie was the fact that the actor plays seven roles in the movie. Now, any movie that has the actor doing dual roles is always interesting. For seven, I needn’t think twice… So that’s a preface on how I came across the movie and got beDaZZled.



Just a brief outline of the movie. The movie is about an innocent, over eager man,Elliot (played by Brendan fraser) who leads a mundane life. He doesn’t have any friends and his coworkers avoid him. Still just to be a part of a group, he allows himself to be taken for granted by his friends. He likes his colleague, Allison but is shy to ask her out. In a bar, due to his friend’s insistence, he approaches her to have a conversation with her. But she excuses herself while he is still talking to her looking elsewhere. He comments that he will give anything to have Allison with him. At this point of time, the Satan (played by Elizabeth Hurley) enters the scene and offers Elliot a deal – 7 wishes to make anything come true, in exchange for his soul. Elliot doesnt believe her. The satan asks him to make a trial wish. He wishes for a big Mac and a large coke. The Satan takes him to a Mac Shop and buys him that and makes him pay for it too. Cynically, Elliot dismisses her, for which she says ‘There aren’t any free lunches’. Somehow, the Devil convinces Elliot to sign the contract.



Elliot wishes to be a powerful, rich person and married to Allison. He ends up being a Columbian drug lord, whom Allison doesn’t like at all. The devil then says he hadn’t wished for Allison to love him. Elliot then wishes to be a sensitive, emotional man who, Allison likes. He turns to be extremely sensitive guy who starts crying every-time he admires nature. Allison leaves him for another guy who is strong and callous.



Elliot’s third wish is to be a famous, strong, tall person and he becomes a famous basketball star. Yet, he ends up having low IQ. Elliot then wishes to be a famous, intelligent, well built person and he becomes a highly famed writer. But then he turns out to be a gay. To balance that, he wishes to be a famous, intelligent, powerful person – the President of America. The devil makes him Abraham Lincoln at the Ford’s theatre just before his assassination.


The devil reminds him that he has only 1 wish (taking into account the Mac and Coke trial wish) left. Elliot accuses the devil of cheating him but he gets imprisoned when he tells a Church father about the deal with Satan. The devil dressed as police officer locks him in cell and tells him he doesn’t have any choice now. His cell inmate tells him that the soul of a man truly belongs to God and that the devil is just confusing him, yet in the end he will realise who he truly is, and what his purpose is. Elliot decides not to ask any more wish but the devil threatens him to teleport him to hell, and pushes him into the hell’s chasm. While falling he wishes for Allison to be happy. Surprisingly, he finds himself in the staircase of the courthouse, and the devil explains that a selfless wish voids the contract. Elliot then a refined, wise person approaches Allison and conveys his love for her. She replies that she is seeing someone. He goes ahead with his life, in a cheerful manner. When he reaches home, he meets his new neighbor Nicole, who looks and personality matches Allison’s. They begin a relationship and end up being a lovely couple.

Well, now coming to “The learning’s from the movie”. I would like to share 3 main lessons in this movie. The first one is about Self-awareness. Most of us, look at other’s life like film stars, sport person and yearn their life style and feel jealous of them. Yet what we neglect most of the time is that our life is unique in some way. Every person’s life has his/her own challenges which other people aren’t aware off. Stardom or wealth or fame, though it looks attractive at first glance, there is more to it that what appears in the surface. As someone said “The grass always looks greener on the other side”. In the movie, even though Elliot has the power to make anything come true, there is a challenge, obstacle which each character faces which isn’t oblivious to the outside world. Finally, only when Elliot’s outlook towards his life changes, he begins to live a happy life. So, for anyone who is fantasizing about living someone else’s life, it’s time to take a reality check and realize your own uniqueness.

The second learning is for people who are looking for their soul mates. In the movie, Elliot longs for Allison and considers her to be his perfect soulmate. He even gathers the courage at the end of the movie to approach Allison and express his feelings for her. Yet,she rejects his proposal. But when he goes ahead in his life with an optimistic attitude, he meets Nicole who is the perfect partner for him. Similarly, many of us assume we know who the right person is for us. And going behind the person and getting cheated makes us think that everything is lost for us. Yet, the important thing to remember in life is that no matter what we think, there is someone who is outside there for you, the Perfect one. :)

The final lesson which I want to share is the kind of choices we make in life. It always come down to the choices we make in our life. The devil finally tells Elliot that the whole thing about Hell and heaven, is all nothing. Hell and Heaven is always present around us. It’s our choice whether we want to choose Hell or heaven. One can either keep cribbing about the situation, relationships, health, wealth etc. and he would make a choice to live a Hell’s life. Alternatively, one can also decide to have an optimistic outlook towards life and look at the happenings as experiences to empower oneself. By doing so, we ensure that we live in heaven while still on earth. Hence, its always ALWAYS the choice we make in our life that determines how we end up in life.

That’s it for now. I hope the post was useful to some of you in some way. And yeah, don’t miss out the movie. Brendan Fraser acting is awesome and simply can’t be missed ! Happy learning and Happy watching. :)

Twelve Management Lessons from "3 Idiots" Movie

Came across a forward which had these lessons. Thought it fit to share with you all.

1. Never Try To Be Successful
Success is the bye-product. Excellence always creates success. So, never run after the success, let it happen automatically in the life.


2. Freedom To Life
Don’t die before actual death. Live every moment to the fullest as you are going to
die today night. Life is gifted to humankind to live, live & live @ happiness.

3. Passion Leads To Excellence
When your hobby becomes your profession and passion becomes your profession. You will be able to lead up to excellence in the life. Satisfaction, pleasure, joy and love will be the outcome of following passion. Following your passion for years, you will surely become something one day.



4. Learning Is Very Simple
Teachers do fail. Learners never fail. Learning is never complicated or difficult. Learning is always possible whatever rule you apply.


5. Pressure At Head
Current education system is developing pressures on students’ head. University intelligence is useful and making some impact in the life but it cannot be at the cost of the life.




6. Life Is Emotion Management Not Intelligence Optimization
Memory and regular study have definite value and it always helps you in leading a life. You are able to survive even if you can make some mark in the path of the life. With artificial intelligence, you can survive and win but you cannot prove yourself genius. Therefore, in this process genius dies in you.

7. Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention
Necessity creates pressure and forces you to invent something or to make it happen or to use your potentiality. Aamir Khan in this film, 3 idiots, is able to prove in the film by using aqua guard pump at the last moment.



8. Simplicity is Life
Life is need base never want base. Desires have no ends. Simplicity is way of life and Indian culture highly stresses on simple living and high thinking, and this is the way of life: ‘Legs down to earth and eyes looking beyond the sky’


9. Industrial Leadership
Dean of the institute in 3 idiots is showing very typical leadership. He has his own principles, values and ideology, and he leads the whole institute accordingly. This is an example of current institutional leadership. In the present scenario, most of the institutes are fixed in a block or Squarish thinking.


10. Love Is Time & Space Free
Love is not time bound and space bound. It is very well demonstrated in this movie same love was demonstrated by Krishna and Meera. Love is border free, time free and space free.


11. Importance Of One Word In Communication
If communication dies, everything dies. Each word has impact and value in communication. One word if used wrongly or emphasized wrongly or paused at a wrong place in communication what effect it creates and how is it affected is demonstrated very well in this movie.


12. Mediocrity Is Penalized
Middle class family or average talent or average institute is going to suffer and has to pay maximum price in the life if they do not upgrade their living standards. To be born poor or as an average person is not a crime but to die as an average person with middle class talent is miserable and if you are unable to optimize your potentiality and die with unused potentiality then that is your shameful truth. One should not die as a mediocre. He/she has to bring out genius inside him/her and has to use his/her potentiality to the optimum level