Sunita Williams: Indian media went berserk

I personally feel TV channels and media in general did go overboard with Sunia William story. NDTV was a bit restrained but CNN-IBN, Star News, Times Now simply wanted to squeeze whatever they can absorb out of the event which was made out to be not less than a time-tickling action packed Hollywood flick. The less said about the Hindi news channels the better, Aaj Tak, IBN 7 and India TV even sent correspondents to distant relatives of Sunita Williams in different parts of the country.

However, alls well that ends well, when everyone is wishing her safe return to earth, can God be far behind from His blessings?

Vote for Taj

An Indian performs a dance with a model of the Taj Mahal and burning candles as he campaigns for the Taj Mahal in Allahabad on Monday, June 18, 2007. The Taj Mahal is among the leading contenders to be the new Seven Wonders of the World as a massive poll enters its final month with votes already cast by more than 50 million people, organisers say. The seven winners will be announced July 7, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Rajni the boss--mass hysteria

Left: The real Rajnikanth. Right: Rajnikanth in superhit Sivaji (movie)LOL.

The real megastar of the week is, no, its not Amitabh Bachchan, but a 58 year old man who acts in Tamil films. For the last couple of days, all the TV channels have been running full stories about the amazing Rajnikanth- whose latest film opened in theatres on Friday.

Stories of the astounding advance booking, the fan frenzy (see the picture above, only Gods in India are worshipped with milk, that in not with this much quantity, remember this is only a sample, Rajni’s craze go well beyond that, people throw money on screen and what not, try to pick up sunglass like him, light cigarette, see video) the staggering of amount of money involved etc. etc.




TV Today has carried a story on Rajnikanth vs Amithabh Bachchan (Amithabh’s Jhoom Barabar Jhoom also opened this Friday with mixed trade repsonses) and served us some mouth opening news, that Rajnikanth is paid Rs. 35 crore for this movie. Amithabh on the contrary gets only 3 crore.

The critics may call him a scrawny dark-skinned actor who lacks in dialogue delivery, but for Rajnikanth the craziness knows no bounds. Sivaji-The Boss is truly creating hysteria among masses. Delirious fans of Rajni have lined up outside halls before dawn to catch the first show of the movie. Reports say tickets for the film, are sold out for the next three weeks in advance at theatres in Chennai.

The movie has not only released in Southern part of India but also in Delhi (North) and Mumbai (West) and Malyasia and other parts of South Asia and doing superb business. In Malaysia the film has released in 52 theatres and already been advance booked for next couple of weeks.

DLF IPO: Should we or should not?

Yes, DLF outdoor campaigns have wrapped all the metro’s major crossings. The advertorials and mentions in all the media notwithstanding, people are still a bit skeptical about the issue.

The rumor that floats around about the biggies like Unitech and DLF is, even before in the board room the management committees zero in on a project, investors from all the quarters and all the sizes (mainly from Northern part of India) start chasing them with pot full of money.

Over the last few months, Indian real estate sector has undergone a sea change. Appreciating rupee, the central bank’s (i.e; the Reserve Bank of India) measuring up of the sector with strictest of guidelines broadly to check the unrealistic boom is taking its toll supremely on a market which mostly ran on speculation and rosy prediction from vested interest group which includes a certain section of the mainstream media.

No wonder, in the recent past the investors have had a love-hate relationship with the sector. Remember, before DLF some other big realtors have not yielded the anticipated success with their IPO offers (including those who listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and have been trading at a discount of 8-20%. News here)

DLF, earlier also (if I remember right in last August) wanted to issue its IPO but could not do so, firstly, because it could not resolve the issue with its minority shareholders and secondly, the regulatory body, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) raised question about its ridiculous disparity in the valuation of it’s land bank plus the quality of its disclosures.

Some also feel that the IPO is over valued. Let’s take a look at who is saying what,

Brokerage house Edelweiss

We arrive at an NAV (net asset value) of Rs 512-517 per share. The IPO at the price band of Rs 500-550 is at two to minus six per cent discount to its NAV.


Brokerage house Enam

At the upper band of Rs 550 the stock trades at a significant premium to our base case valuation of Rs 404. We believe the stock is overvalued and initiate coverage with Sector Underperformer rating and a price target of Rs 404.

Angel Broking said

On the basis of the prevailing property prices in the cities where DLF has its projects and also considering that DLF would realistically be able to develop all this property we have arrived at a net asset value of Rs 475/480 on the lower and upper end of the price band.

Does Shahrukh want Bollywood to throw out Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan from Mumbai?

image: Shahrukh Crooked King Khan

It’s no secret that Shahrukh wants Amitabh’s stature in Bollywood. He has been following Amitabh, be it films, TV shows or advertisements blindly for that elusive numero uno slot. Shahrukh can blindly take Big B’s route in Don, KBC, ICICI, Navratna Tel, Dabour etc. but he will never acknowledge the fact the he is copying Big B, the brand.

I don’t blame the stammering Khan, as Amitabh is aging, the dynamics of market also needs an alternative to Amitabh. But it seems the game is taking its toll on Shahrukh, he is trying too hard to dethrone Amitabh from where he is now. Remember, Shahrukh is a clever fox, he knows how to manipulate media, and he bloody well knows how to put Amitabh in a bad light. After all, Shahrukh studied Media Studies and Mass Communication at Jamia Milia. He has been relentlessly attacking Amitabh through media whispering campaigns.

He has support from Congress and Sonia Gandhi.

He has support from rest of the Bollywood who were not invited at the Abhi-Ash wedding.

Amitabh is also to be blamed. Abhishek is no superstar like Hrithik. He should understand the fact but he is picking fight with Hrithik Roshan also. Obviously Shahrukh Khan will take advantage of that.

Right after Abhi-Ash wedding, Shahrukh showed his strength in the industry by inviting more than forty superstars of Bollywood, from yesteryears to next gen, to perform an item number for his home production.

He is playing more game with Amitabh now. Karan Johar wants to start his next movie with Abhishek and Aishwarya. But it seems Sharukh, Karan’s best buddy is not supporting him in his endeavor. In fact it is rumored that Shahrukh Khan has asked Saif Ali Khan to opt out of Karan’s project. Saif obliged. Now Karan is on a look out for a new search.