Telegu Remake Opens My Eyes

A confession.  A disease or addiction affects my blogs.  Not content with watching a film, my computer, music collection and household chores vie for my limited attention.  Occasionally some subtle point in a film might get missed.  Sometimes I might never catch on to the missing details, but sometimes with a little luck my awareness is expanded.

 Recently a remake of masterful original film made me conscious that paying attention does pay off.  Multi tasking is a risky, but hard to discard habit and I am aware of that.  The Telegu film industry was impressed by a very profitable Bollywood movie, "Andhadhun" (2018) and decided to make a project of converting the script from Hindi to Telegu. The remake, "Maestro" (2021) convinced me the original was better than I had acknowledged.  Watching a familiar movie a subsequent time usually yields deeper understanding and appreciation and this worked well for me.  Both are available on Netfllix.

The original inspiration was a 14 minute French film, "L'accordeur" (The Piano Tuner 2010) written and directed by Olivier Treiner about a pianist who despairs and becomes a piano tuner.  He pretends to be blind so that he can gain better understanding of his customers.  As a blind man he sees things he shouldn't. 

Why would anyone pretend to be blind?  Even the explanation seems weak.  A musician felt he would focus better.  Under his guise in quick succession he witnesses two murders, but maintains his pretense in a quick response (don't worry it is all subtitled).  In short order there was another twist (one that I missed) that complicated the plot which not only involved staying alive, but also a little romance.  The complications result in more twists and you are constantly wondering when it will unwind.  Very enjoyable journey.

It is comedic, but often in a macabre sense, apparently inspired by "Fargo" (1996).   It begins in mysterious fashion that seems unrelated to what you anticipate.  It becomes a thriller with lots of twists.  It does eventually tie into the main thread and will jog your memory a bit.  

A charitable cause, organ donations, weaves naturally into the plot (more so with "Maestro") and hopefully make you aware of a great need.  My father-in-law had one friend who had frightening heart problems that worried the friend's brother as well as my father in law.  Ironically with a heart transplant he outlived the two worriers and enjoyed another grandchild.   Inspired me to sign the donor line on driver's license. 

The strength of both films are the people behind them.  Obviously an overlap of writers is a key factor, but the Telegu film makers were prepared to take advantage of the Bollywood groundwork.

Sriram Raghavan with a writing crew including Pooja Ladha Surti, Hermanth M. Tao, Yogesh Chandekar and Arijit Biswas all of whom also worked on "Maestro".  Additional experienced writers, Merlapaka Gandhi and Sheik Dawood G. were brought in for the Telegu version.  Sriam wrote and directed " Ek Hasina Thi" (2004), "Agent Vinod" (2012) and "Badlapur" (2015).

Ayushmann  Khurrana was not the first choice for the lead role of Akash in "Andhadhun", but he was exceptionally suited.  He has great comic timing and some musical experience.  He had appeared in some good socially relevant movies such as "Vicky Donor" (2012), "Dum Laga Ke Haish" (2015), "Shubh Mangal Savdhan" 2017) and has gone to do "Badhaai Ho" (2018) and "Article 15" (2019).   Ayushmann praticised piano under the guidance of Akshay Verma for two months.  Check more:http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/12/ayushmann-khuranna-actor-to-watch.html

Tabu plays Simi, the adulterous murderer.  Seen as very strong woman in such films as "Maqbool"  (2003),"Fanaa" (2006), "Drishyam"(2015) and "Talvar" (2015).  But she also illustrated a deft comic touch in such films as "Cheeni Kum" (2007).  She with Irrfan Khan was a winner of an award for "Best Seduction" in the American film, "The Namesake" (2006).  There is an easy to miss reference to her Lady MacBeth role.  Check for more at:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/12/tabu.html

Radhika Apte played the romantic interest.  She graduated with a degree in Economics and Mathematics.  She began acting in theatre and moved into film.  She has performed in Hindi, Bengali, Telgu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and English (where she spoke some French).  Her films include "Lion" 2015), "Manjhi:  The Mountrain Man" (2015), "Pad Man" (2018), "Sacred Games" (2018),  and "A Call to Spy" (2019)

Merlapaka Gandhi directed the Telegu version for his second effort.  He was better established as a writer for the Telegu market and was also involved with script additions to "Maestro".

Nithin plays the piano player Arun.  His father was Sudhakar Reddy, a noted Telegu film producer.  He has been in films since 2001.

Tamannaah Bhatia has appeared in "It's Entertainment" (2014), the block buster, "Baahubali:  The Beginning" 2015) and Baahubali 2:The Conclusion" (2017).   She has appeared in Telegu, Hindi and Tamil films.

Nabha Natesh plays the love interest Sophie.  She has appeared in Kanada and Telegu films.

Which of these two is better?  They are both very enjoyable to watch.  I admit I am a very big fan of both Ayushman Khurrana and Tabu and have been noticing Radhika Apte as she builds her career including in English.  Also one of my favorite songs from my favorite male singers Arijit Singh appear at the end.  On the other hand  Maestro has the advantage of the same crew of writers plus a few additional Telegu scripters to add in their own twists.  You can't go wrong. 

Remakes are a fairly common way of reducing risks in the expensive film making business.  Some earlier blogs on some good examples.

Ayushmann has experienced one of his movies being remade as in:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/vicky-donor-cf-dharala-prabhu.html    

Bollywood gets some of its most profitable ideas from the regional markets as in:   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/arjun-reddy-and-kabir-singh.html

Personally multi-tasking has its limitations.  That is the problem in today's world; there are too many interesting and even important things to pay some attention to.  I apologize for having slighted some things I have blogged about, but will continue to try to cover a wide range of interests.

TIME MANAGEMENT FOR SALES & OTHER PEOPLE

Does this sound familiar? Like many people these days I find I am a multi-tasker, often when I am procrastinating from a top priority.

We fool ourselves into thinking we can do different tasks at an acceptable level of competence at the same time.  A favorite example of why this is wrong is a very common practice that I indulge in myself; listening to music while eating. It certainly is more pleasant than gobbling food between tasks. If you are really honest you will admit that you are not quite catching all the music which might be better enjoyed laying down in the dark with earphones. On the other hand the music can distract you so that you eat more than you might otherwise or you don't chew as thoroughly as you might otherwise or you might not savor the flavors quite as much. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but don't kid yourself, you are not getting the most out of either activity.

There are only two things you can do at one time giving them both justice. They are waiting and anything else. If we are really honest most salespeople are really waiting for that easy order--the huge one that comes over the phone and for the whole package with no questions asked. Once in awhile you might get that, but more than likely, success was achieved while doing some work while waiting.  The same thing happens with any task--you can hope someone else does it while giving you credit or do something while you are waiting for that to happen.

Waiting demands patience. Don't jump the gun or you might disqualify yourself or delay more productive efforts. At the same time you have to be ready to leap at what might be a very time sensitive window.

The two most important focuses of a sales person are first to communicate directly with a realistic prospect (a customer is a prospect for a future sale or referral) and the second is to be prepared for that opportunity. Preparing can take an infinite amount of time. It involves knowing all about what you are hoping to sell, identifying reasonable targets for the effort, persuading someone with some influence to let you make your case, presenting in the most optimal manner and following up. If you do all those things fairly well you might do more than sell a few products to one person; you might start a chain of repeats and referrals. Eventually you might receive that mythical phone call (or email).

We all know that some things are more important than others. Some of us have thought deeply and developed goals that tie into what we most value. Having a goal and a purpose is vital to deciding what you should do at any moment. What tasks will contribute to that goal/purpose? How would you rank them in importance?

You want to talk to some important decision maker, but she is busy or on vacation or just not able to give you proper attention. Determining a more acceptable time should be a priority.  If possible you might want to talk to some other person. If that is difficult or not quite the right time you can check your other priorities--identifying other people to talk to, information to master, presentation skills to master, following up on those you talked to before doing the paper work.

A priority that often gets overlooked is rest. You know when you are not rested you don't think quite as clearly, you get irritated more easily and you miss some details that could make a difference.  Two other priorities that get overlooked is the need for exercise and to eat properly. An unhealthy person is handicapped and will find it difficult to keep pace with all the demands of selling (or much of anything else).

There is usually some kind of trade off between time and money.  After all, you want to have some time to enjoy whatever it is you value most.  If you make more money in less time that seems to be the ideal solution, but others feel they not only need to make more money in less time, they need to work longer to get the really precious things they desire. Maybe you have that sort of choice.

A lot of people on a "normal" job are really just waiting for that cheque at the end of the week that will solve a few problems (like food, clothing, shelter and FUN). While they are waiting they might do better to concentrate on doing a good job which to me means being both efficient and effective. If you can satisfy the one paying you, you just might end up not only getting to work more, but to work at something more challenging and rewarding.

Several times a day force yourself to answer this question, "What is the best use of my time right NOW?" Have it flash on your computer, have a note on your desk or on your calendar. If you have done all the preliminary sorting out of what your goals are this question will direct your actions in a productive manner. Maybe all you need is a picture that symbolizes your goal.

For a salesman the real boss is the customer. You don't need to turn everyone into a customer, but you do need to find enough customers to make the effort worthwhile. Everyone should remember that nothing happens until somebody sells something.

A boost to your preparation is to better use data bases.  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/10/using-data-bases-for-selling-part-one.html

The photo is of Sharon, my wife in front of a Veradero sunset. I hope to arrange my time in such a way that I can have that view a few more times.