Scenes I loved - Interpretting the german officer

The Italian movie "La vita è bella" ( Life is beautiful) is one of the best dramas I enjoyed watching...haven't seen the movie yet? ..I would strongly recommend this movie .....

I have attached the scene where Roberto Bennigini , his son and his wife will be sent to the Jew concentration camp. Roberto insulates his son from the horrors of the concentration camp by making him believe that the camp is a game .The champion would win a real battle tank. In this scene , Roberto interprets the german officer's command as the rules of the game. The acting by the small boy is awesome here ..he enacts his excitement with the new game...all others in the camp keep wondering whats going on ...I dont know what the german officer is saying ..knowing that would be more hilarious :-)...

Scenes I loved - Gandhi's speech on non violence

I have planned to post the "scenes I loved" in my blog.I would be posting similar blogs under the title "Scenes I loved" . To start with I have chosen the scene from the movie Gandhi.

Here the movie maker's requirement is to show how Gandhi convinced the enslaved and angry Indians in south Africa to take up non violence. And yeah..all these in 5 minutes!!
This scene is the base , the scene should explain the intensity of the concept i.e ahimsa on which the whole movie is to be built.

The challenge couldn't have been executed more perfectly. The dialogues couldn't have been written better ...awesome acting from Ben Kingsley ....couldn't beleive in this get up that he is a non Indian ..the direction , screen play ..and the crowd ..every one in the crowd acts ....

" I am asking you to fight against the anger , not to provoke" and "We cannot lose. They can torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then, they will have my dead body. Not my obedience" are awesomely written and perfectly delivered.....

A old guy slowing getting up after Gandhi's speech looked little sentimental ..which I think could have been avoided :-) ...

I attended a personality development class sponsored by my company 3 years back...this scene was shown in that class as an example for good communication and leadership qualities....

Articulation is mistaken for accomplishment-NM

I have always been a great fan of Infy Narayan Murthy. I enjoy reading/hearing his interview more than any other thinkers. Yes, I see NM more as thinker than as an entrepreneur. Today,I read an interview of him in rediff. His answer for the question on Knowledge commision ( I have pasted below) stands as a testimony of his thinking.Catch the complete interview in rediff : http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/apr/24slde8-narayana-murthy-interview-part-2.htm.

Rediff:
Talking about higher education... even the recommendations made to the Knowledge Commission have not been implemented? Why does this happen?

Narayan Murthy:

The Indian society is a society of ideas. It is a society that has revered talk. In this society, articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We are quite satisfied with our voice, with our writings. This is not a society that is focussed on execution.

Frankly, the problem is due to our caste system and the dominance of Brahmins in our society for long period. The Brahminical system said my job is to think of the higher worlds. My job is to think of connecting you people with God. I don't want to do anything that has a relationship with the real world.

Now that is a problem that has played havoc with the Indian culture. So, here in this culture, if you do anything with your hands, it is considered less honourable that anything to do with your brain.

Here everybody wants to be an engineer, nobody wants to be a technician. So when a society does not value implementation, execution, what happens is you create more and more reports and nothing gets done.

For example, (Reliance Industries Chairman) Mr Mukesh Ambani and I gave two reports on how to improve the higher education system: one to (then prime minister) Mr Vajpayee and one to Dr Manmohan Singh.

Second, there has been the Knowledge Commission. Nothing has happened. Third, in 1998 I was a member of the IT Task Force -- which was headed by Mr Jaswant Singh -- and that task force submitted its report somewhere in 1999 0r 2000.

Nine years and I don't think even one suggestion has been implemented. And we made 108 suggestions! So that is why I am not a big fan of ideas in India.

My brother-in-law is a famous professor of physics at Caltech and he tells me it is very easy to come out with an idea. But to validate that idea he and his doctoral students will have to work hard for six months, one year... sometimes two years. That takes 20 hours of work each day for two years. So it is important to come out with new ideas, but it is even more important to execute them.

We are not a nation of doers; we are a nation which believes that our articulation is our accomplishment.