Plumbing Design Engineer ची भरती: एक अनुभव | मराठी

देवाच्या कृपेने आणि आमच्या क्लायंटचा आमच्या अनुभवावर विश्वास असल्यामुळे, आम्हाला आपटे कन्सल्टंट्स(Facebook, LinkedIn) येथे MEP आणि firefighting डिझाइन कन्सलटंसीसाठी बरेच चांगले प्रकल्प मिळत आहेत. त्यामुळे आम्ही डिझाइन अभियंते आणि CAD ऑपरेटर्सची नियुक्ती करून आमची संसाधने वाढवत आहोत. खालील काही परिच्छेद या भरती प्रक्रियेच्या अलीकडील अनुभवांबद्दल आहेत. मी येथे नमूद करू इच्छितो की मी human resources या विषयातला तज्ज्ञ नाही किंवा मला यातील कोणताही अनुभव नाही. तथापि, मागील तीन चार महिन्यांत या भरती प्रक्रियेदरम्यान मला काय अनुभव आले ते मी इथे संगत आहे.

आपटे कन्सल्टंट्समध्ये इमारत बांधकाम प्रकल्पांसाठी प्लंबिंग सिस्टीमच्या डिझाइनचा तीन वर्षांपर्यंतचा अनुभव असलेल्या अभियंत्याची आवश्यकता होती, ज्यामध्ये डिझाइन calculations करणे आणि इमारतींसाठी पाणीपुरवठा, ड्रेनेज आणि पावसाच्या पाण्याची विल्हेवाट लावण्याच्या systems चे डिझाईन करणे, निविदा कागदपत्रांसह रेखाचित्रे तयार करणे ही कामे समाविष्ट आहेत. सोशल मीडियावर आणि ऑनलाइन जॉब पोर्टलवर प्रसारित केलेल्या नोकरीच्या वर्णनात या सर्व आवश्यकता स्पष्टपणे नमूद केल्या आहेत. सर्व सोशल मीडिया प्लॅटफॉर्म आणि जॉब पोर्टलवर संपूर्ण भारतातून आणि आखाती प्रदेशातूनही जवळपास पाचशेपेक्षा जास्त अर्ज आले. तथापि, त्यापैकी जास्तीत जास्त 10% उमेदवार मुलाखतीसाठी योग्य होते!

आपटे कन्सल्टंट्सची प्रशिक्षण शाखा, आपटे अकादमीमध्ये, प्लंबिंग डिझाइनचा एक पूर्णपणे विकसित केलेला अभ्यासक्रम आहे. MEP सल्लागार कंपनीमध्ये काम करताना माहीत हव्या अशा काही महत्त्वाच्या संकल्पना आणि मूलभूत डिझाइन या कोर्समध्ये शिकवले जातात. प्लंबिंग डिझाईन इंजीनियरच्या पोस्ट साठी अप्लाय करणाऱ्या पात्र फ्रेशर्सना आणि बांधकाम साइट्सवर प्लंबिंग कामाचा अनुभव असलेल्या उमेदवारांना या कोर्सची माहिती आणि महत्व सांगितले होते. कोर्ससाठी उमेदवार भरणार असलेली फी हा खर्च नसून कोणत्याही पारंपारिक गुंतवणुकीपेक्षा जास्त आणि लवकर परतावा देणारी गुंतवणूक आहे हेही त्यांना सांगितले होते. ही कोर्स फी भरण्यासाठी सवलत देऊनही हा अभ्यासक्रम घेण्याबाबत उमेदवारांमध्ये मोठी निरुत्साह दिसला. हा अभ्यासक्रम यशस्वीरीत्या पूर्ण केल्यावर, ते थेट आपटे कन्सल्टंट्सकडे प्लंबिंग डिझाइन अभियंता म्हणून नोकरीला जातील हे समजावून सांगूनही ही अवस्था होती.

उमेदवारांच्या इतर काही वर्तनात्मक गोष्टींचाही येथे उल्लेख आवश्यक आहे. जेव्हा या कोर्सचे फायदे पात्र उमेदवारांना सांगितले, तेव्हा उमेदवारांचा सर्वात सामान्य प्रतिसाद असा होता की ते त्यांच्या पालकांशी बोलल्यानंतर दोन दिवसांत त्यांचा निर्णय कळवतील. परंतु जेव्हा या उमेदवारांना हा कोर्स घेण्याबद्दलचा त्यांचा निर्णय विचारण्यासाठी संपर्क केला तेव्हा त्यांनी अतिशय उदवाउडवीची उत्तरे दिली. अनेक ठिकाणी आमच्या चौथ्या किंवा पाचव्या कॉलनंतर नकारात्मक प्रतिसाद मिळाला. उमेदवारांनी काही मूलभूत सौजन्य देखील दाखवले नाही की हा अभ्यासक्रम घेण्यास इच्छुक नाहीत. तरुण इंजीनियर मंडळींमध्ये असे गुण आले ना ही पाहिजेत यावर उद्योगातील वरिष्ठांनी तसेच नोकरीसाठी किंवा अभ्यासक्रमासाठी अर्ज करणाऱ्या नवीन पदवीधरांच्या पालकांनी, तसेच त्यांच्या कॉलेजमधील शिक्षकांनी या बाबतीत विद्यार्थ्याना समुपदेशन केले पाहिजे.

अनुभवी उमेदवारांचेही काहीसे असेच वर्तन दिसून आले. त्यांनी देखील, टेलिफोनिक मुलाखत शेड्यूल करण्यासाठी प्रतिसाद देण्यासाठी भरपूर वेळ घेतला. काही उमेदवारांनी किमान दोन दिवस अगोदर ठरलेल्या इंटरव्ह्यु कॉललाही उत्तर दिले नाही. काही अनपेक्षित घटनांमुळे असा कॉल घेणे अशक्य होऊ शकते ही मान्य आहे. परंतु अशा परिस्थितीत उमेदवारांची जबाबदारी आहे की ते ते नियोजित वेळी दूरध्वनीवरून मुलाखत देऊ शकत नाहीत आणि नजीकच्या काळात ते केव्हा इंटरव्ह्यु देऊ शकतील हे मुलाखत घेणाऱ्याला सूचित करावे. या सध्या चुकीमुळे असे उमेदवार ती नोकरी मिळवण्याची संधी गामावतात आणि दुर्दैवाने यातले गांभीर्य त्यांना काळात नसते!

नाकारलेले काही रेझ्युमे असे होते की उमेदवारांना प्लंबिंग सिस्टम डिझाइनमध्ये आवश्यक अनुभव नव्हता. ते अनुभवी सिविल इंजीनियर होते परंतु त्यांना MEP इंस्टॉलेशन्सच्या अगदी कमी किंवा नगण्य अनुभव होता. इतर काहींना रस्ते, पूल अशा पायाभूत सुविधांवर कामाचा आणि त्यांच्यासाठी ड्रेनेज डिझाईन करण्याचा अनुभव होता. रस्ते अथवा पूल यांच्यासाठी ड्रेनेज डिझाईन करणे आणि इमारतींसाठी ड्रेनेज डिझाइन करणे या दोन भिन्न गोष्टी आहेत आणि डिझाइनचे मानक भिन्न आहेत हे त्यांना समजले नाही याचेच आश्चर्य वाटते!

हे खरं आहे की मेकॅनिकल इंजीनियरसुद्धा बांधकाम प्रकल्पांसाठी प्लंबिंग सिस्टम डिझाइन करू शकतात. आणि म्हणूनच नोकरीच्या वर्णनात नमूद केले होते की त्यांच्याकडे संबंधित अनुभव आणि कौशल्ये असल्यास ते देखील अर्ज करू शकतात. ज्या मेकॅनिकल इंजिनीअर्सचे करिअर प्रोफाईल मिळाले होते ते उत्तम होते परंतु त्यांना प्लंबिंग डिझाईनचा अनुभव नव्हता. तरीही त्यांनी या नोकरीसाठी अप्लाय केले होते. एकदा अनुभवी इंजीनियर अशा आणि कोणत्याही नोकरीचे वर्णन नीट वाचून त्याचे विश्लेषण करेल आणि स्वत:साठी ठरवेल तो/ती या कामासाठी योग्य आहेत का नाहीत, असे अपेक्षित असते. आणि असेही असू शकते की एखादा अनुभवी इंजीनियरला काही कारणास्तव त्याच्या करिअरचा मार्ग बदलू इच्छित असू शकतो. अशा परिस्थितीत त्यांना हे सत्य समजून घेणे आणि पचवणे आवश्यक आहे की त्यांचा सध्याचा अनुभव ते शोधत असलेल्या नवीन भूमिकेसाठी वैध नाही आणि नव्या नोकरीत त्यांना फ्रेशर्स मानले जाईल जीमुळे त्यांना सध्याच्या पगारापेक्षा कमी पगार मिळू शकतो.

आणखी एक महत्त्वाचा घटक म्हणजे नोकरीचे ठिकाण, जे या जॉब साठी पुणे आहे. ही बाब त्या जॉबच्या वर्णतात स्पष्ट लिहिली होती. भारतात कुठेही राहणाऱ्या पण पुण्यात स्थलांतरीत होऊ इच्छिणाऱ्या सर्व उमेदवारांचे स्वागतच होते. त्यापैकी काही उमेदवार स्थळातरीत होण्यास तयार होते परंतु इतर अनेकांनी नमूद केले की त्यांच्या पसंतीचे नोकरीचे ठिकाण ही त्यांचे मूळ गांव होते आणि त्यांना घरून काम करण्याची इच्छा होती. ही आयटी क्षेत्रातील नोकरी नाही, ही एक हार्डकोर इंजीनीरिंगमधली नोकरी आहे ज्यासाठी बांधकाम साइटला वारंवार भेट द्यावी लागते. एखाद्या कर्मचार्‍याने 4 तासांच्या बैठकीसाठी मूळ ठिकाणाहून हजार किलोमीटरचा प्रवास करून पुण्याला यावे हे कोणत्याही अर्थाने व्यावहारिक ठरेल का? अर्जदारांना हे समजले नाही आणि त्यांनी घरून कामाची मागणी केली जेव्हा JD मध्ये हे स्पष्टपणे नमूद केले होते की नोकरी पूर्णवेळ आहे आणि वर्क फ्रॉम ऑफिस आहे? तुम्ही प्रशासनात किंवा मनुष्यबळ विकास किंवा लेखा विभागात असल्याशिवाय इमारत बांधकाम उद्योगात घरून काम करणे शक्य नाहीये. ज्या कारणासाठी लोक जवळपास दोन वर्षे घरून काम करत होते ते आता नाही, हे सांगण्याची गरज नाहीये!

यशस्वी उमेदवारांना त्यांचा वर्तमान आणि अपेक्षित पगार विचारण्यात आला. त्यावर काही उमेदवारांचे उत्तर होते की ते स्वत:च्या चार चाकी गाडीने कामाला जातात म्हणून त्यांना जास्त पगार पाहिजे. हे खरे आहे की एखादी व्यक्ती नेहमी सार्वजनिक वाहतुकीवर अवलंबून राहू शकत नाही आणि अशा परिस्थितीत, स्वतःची दुचाकी (शक्यतो इलेक्ट्रिक) हा कामावर जाण्याचा सर्वोत्तम मार्ग आहे. सर्वसामान्य प्रथा अशी आहे की कर्मचार्‍याने कामावर जाण्याचा आणि घरी परतण्याचा प्रवास पगारात बसवला पाहिजे आणि त्यांना त्यांच्या कामाच्या मूळ ठिकाणावरून मीटिंगसाठी वगैरे अन्यत्र जावे लागले तर त्या प्रवासाचा खर्च मिळतो. बहुतेक अर्जदारांना हे समजू शकले नाही आणि त्यांनी वाढीव पगाराची मागणी केली.

काही अर्जदार देशाच्या विविध भागातून पुण्यात स्थलांतरित होण्याच्या तयारीत होते पण त्यांच्या मागण्या अशा होत्या की ते महिन्यातून एकदा त्यांच्या मूळ गावी विमानाने जातील येतील आणि ते खर्च भागेल एवढा पगार त्यांना हवा आहे. एक गोष्ट लक्षात घेतली पाहिजे की पगार हा कर्मचाऱ्याने केलेल्या कामाचा मोबदला असतो आणि तो त्यांच्या शैक्षणिक पात्रता, अनुभव आणि तांत्रिक कौशल्यांवर अवलंबून असतो. जर त्यांना त्यांच्या मूळ ठिकाणी विमानाने जायचे असेल, तर त्यासाठीचा खर्च कर्मचार्‍यावर अवलंबून आहे, नियोक्ता कंपनीवर नाही!

या नोकरीच्या माहितीत स्पष्टपणे नमूद केले होते की अर्जदारांना प्लंबिंग डिझाईनच्या कामाचा तीन वर्षांपर्यंतचा अनुभव असणे गरजेचे असेल. याचा अर्थ अधिक अनुभव असलेल्या उमेदवारांचा विचार केला जाणार नाही. तथापि, योग्य उमेदवारासाठी, ही मर्यादा बदलली जाऊ शकते. तसेच, जेव्हा जास्तीत जास्त किती वर्षे अनुभव हवा असे जेव्हा नमूद केले जाते, तेव्हा त्या इंजीनियरला जास्तीत जास्त किती पगार दिल जाऊ शकतो ही ही अधोरेखीत होते. तरीही, जास्तीत जास्त तीन वर्षे अनुभव हवा असे नमूद केलेले असतानाही दहा वर्षांपेक्षा जास्त अनुभव असलेल्या उमेदवारांनी रुपये ९०००० ते १००००० प्रति महिना अपेक्षित पगार असल्याचे सांगून अर्ज केला होता. तेव्हा अर्जदारांनी JD पूर्णपणे वाचून नोकरीसाठी अर्ज केला की नाही असा प्रश्न उपस्थित होतो.

आधी सांगितल्याप्रमाणे, या नोकरीसाठी अर्ज मागविण्यासाठी सोशल मीडियाचाही वापर केला गेला होता. आणि त्या संदेशात माझा मोबाइल क्रमांक आणि ईमेल पत्ता होता. ईमेल आणि मोबाइल संदेश या दोन्ही स्वरूपात माझ्याकडे अर्ज येतील ही अपेक्षितच होते. जेव्हा एखादी व्यक्ती ईमेल पाठवते, तेव्हा कमीत कमी त्या व्यक्तीचे नाव तरी दिसते आणि ईमेल पाठवणारी व्यक्ती कोण आहे हे कदाचित त्या ईमेलची अटॅचमेंट न उघडता कळू शकते. पण जेव्हा एखादा अर्जदार मोबाईल मेसेज म्हणून बायोडाटा पाठवतो तेव्हा मला फक्त मोबाईल नंबर दिसतो बाकी काही नाही. येथे अर्जदारांनी ते कोण आहेत, त्यांना या नोकरीची माहिती कोठून मिळाली आणि ते कोणत्या पदासाठी अर्ज करत आहेत हे लिहिण्याची तसदी घेतली नव्हती! त्यांनी फक्त त्यांच्या बायोडाटाची PDF फाईल पाठवली होती. असे अर्ज कचरापेटीतच जाण्याची दाट शक्यता असते!

प्लंबर आणि प्लंबिंग डिझाईन इंजीनियर यातला फरक अनेक अर्जदार समजू शकले नव्हते असे वाटते कारण 'तुमच्याकडे प्लंबरसाठी काम आहे का?' हे विचारणारेही अनेक कॉल्स आले होते! सोप्या भाषेत सांगायचे तर, प्लंबर ही अशी व्यक्ती आहे जी प्लंबिंगची कामे करते जसे की वेगवेगळ्या उद्देशांसाठी पाईप जोडणे, प्लंबिंग फिक्स्चर स्थापित करणे आणि मॅनहोल चेंबर्स इत्यादी बांधणे. तर प्लंबिंग डिझाईन अभियंता त्या पाईप्सच्या diameter calculate करतो, सर्व प्लंबिंग इंस्टॉलेशनचे लेआउट ड्रॉइंग तयार करतो, टेंडर डॉक्युमेंट्स तयार करतो आणि बांधकाम अभियंत्यांना प्लंबिंग इंस्टॉलेशनची कामे कशी पार पाडली जावीत याचे मार्गदर्शन करतो. मला वाटते की प्लंबिंग डिझाईन इंजिनिअरचे काम प्लंबरपेक्षा वेगळे असते याची जाणीव प्लंबरना करून देण्यासाठी प्रयत्न केले पाहिजेत. इथे मी प्लंबरला कमी लेखत नाही. ते प्लंबिंग डिझाइन इंजिनीअर्ससारखे महत्त्वाचे आहेत, परंतु त्यांच्याकडे भिन्न कौशल्ये आणि शैक्षणिक पार्श्वभूमी आहे.

या सर्व अनुभवांमधून असा निष्कर्ष काढता येतो की योग्य उमेदवारांना आकर्षित करण्यासाठी नोकरीचे वर्णन अचूक आणि स्पष्ट ठेवणे नियोक्त्यांची जबाबदारी आहे. दुसरीकडे अर्जदारांनी नियोक्त्याच्या गरजा पूर्णपणे वाचल्या पाहिजेत, समजून घ्याव्यात आणि आत्मसात कराव्यात आणि त्या नोकरीच्या पदासाठी योग्य आहेत की नाही याचे स्वतःसाठी विश्लेषण करावे. यामुळे अर्जदार तसेच नियोक्त्याला होणारा त्रास टाळता येईल.

दिवस तीनशे एकवा

पान तीनशे एकवे

-चेतन अरविन्द आपटे

सिंहगड रास्ता, पुणे

Recruitment of Plumbing Design Engineer: An Experience

By grace of God and because our clients trust in our experience, we at Apte Consultants (Facebook, LinkedIn) are getting lot of good projects for MEP and firefighting design consultancy. As such we want to increase our resources by hiring design engineers and CAD operators. The following few paragraphs are about the recent experiences of this recruitment process. Let me put it here that I am not a human resource professional, nor I carry any experience in recruitment. However, I must share what I experienced in past three four months of this recruitment process.

The requirement was for an engineer with up to three years’ experience in design of plumbing systems for building construction projects, which includes design calculations and preparing drawings along with tender documents for water supply, drainage and rainwater disposal systems for the buildings under design. The job description that was circulated on social media and on online job portals clearly mentioned all these requirements. Some 500+ resumes were received across all social media platforms and job portals from all over India and from the Gulf region as well. However not more than 10% of those candidates were worth interviewing.

At Apte Academy, the training wing of Apte Consultants, we have a fully developed course in plumbing design that teaches basic design calculations along with some important concepts which are required to be understood and to be implemented while working in MEP consultancy company. This course it was offered to eligible freshers and candidates with some experience in plumbing works to be carried out at construction sites. The fee that the candidate would pay for this course is not an expenditure but an investment which would yield returns higher and quicker than any conventional investments. However, a large resentment was seen in the candidates to take up this course, even though they were offered discounts in fees along with payment in instalments. It took lot of time and efforts to explain to the candidates that on successful completion of the course, they would directly land in the job with Apte Consultants as plumbing design engineer.

Some other behavioral things of the candidates also require a mention here. When this course was offered to the eligible candidates stating its benefits, the candidates’ most common response was that they would inform their decision about joining the course, in couple of days after talking to their parents. But the candidates, almost all of them, never responded to calls or text messages asking for their decision about the course. Negative responses were received after fourth or fifth call. The response to most of text messages was in form of two blue ticks! These candidates didn’t even show some basic courtesy to inform that they are no longer willing to take up the course. This is something has to be worked upon by seniors in the industry as well as parents of the fresh graduates applying for the job or for the course.

Similar behavior was observed with experienced candidates as well. They too, took their own sweet time to respond for scheduling a telephonic interview. Some candidates even refused to answer the calls for interviews, which were scheduled at least two days in advance. One can understand that some unexpected events would crop up, but in such case it’s the responsibility of the candidates to inform the interviewer that they cannot take up the telephonic interview at the scheduled time and request to reschedule it. Again, lack of courtesy to inform the inability to take up the interview call. Such candidates are rejected immediately, and they do not understand the gravity in missing such a wonderful job opportunity.

Some of the rejected resumes were such that the candidates didn’t have the required experience in plumbing systems design. They were Civil Engineers but either had experience in building construction works with little or no exposure to MEP installations. Some others had experience in infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and drainage for them. Seems they didn’t understand that designing drainage for roads and for buildings are two different things and have different norms of design.

It is fact that mechanical engineers can also design plumbing systems for building construction projects. And hence the job description had mentioned that they can also apply if they have relevant experience and skills. The career profiles of mechanical engineers which were received were great but did not have the required experience. They should have read and analysed the job description properly and figure out for themselves that they are not fit for the purpose, for the job. They may be wishing to change their career path for some reason. In such case they need to understand and digest the fact that their current experience is not valid for the new role they may be seeking and would be treated as freshers and may end up getting salary lesser than the current salary.

Another important factor is the job location, which was specifically mentioned to be Pune. Candidates from all over India were welcome provided they should be willing to relocate to Pune. Some of them were but many others mentioned that their preferred job location was their native place and wanted to have work from home facility. This is not a job in IT field, this is a hardcore engineering job which requires frequent visits to construction sites. Would it be practical in any sense that the employee should travel a thousand kilometres to Pune from the native place for a 4 hours’ meeting? The applicants didn’t understand this and demanded work from home when it was clearly mentioned in the JD that the job is full time and work from office type job. Building construction industry is not suitable for work from home unless you are in administration or HRD or in accounts department. Not to mention, the reason for which people were working from home for about two years is no more there!

Successful candidates were asked for their current and expected salary. Some of the candidates were like they commute to work in their own car hence they should get higher salary. It is true that one cannot always rely on public transport and, in that case, own two-wheeler (preferably electric) is the best way to commute to work. The standard practice is that the employee should manage his or her commute to work and back home, in the salary and they will get the reimbursement of any travel to work site. Most of the applicants failed to understand this and demanded higher salaries.

While some applicants were ready to relocate to Pune from different parts of the country, their demands were such that they will be flying to their native place once a month and that expenses shall be covered in the salary. One thing has to be noted that the salary is the remuneration of the work done by the employee and it is dependant on their educational qualifications, experience and technical skills. If they wish to travel to their native place by air, it is up to the employee to bare the expenses for that and not the employer company!

The JD clearly mentioned that the experience shall be up to three years. This means that the candidates with more experience may not be considered. However, for the right candidate, this limit can be changed upwards. Also, when the upper limit of required experience in years is mentioned, it also means that there is an upper limit to the salary that can be paid. However, candidates with 10+ years had applied stating expected salary to be in the range of INR 90000 to INR 100000 per month. Again, the question arises whether or not the applicants read the JD completely and apply for the job.

I was wondering what makes people think that a plumber and a plumbing design engineer are the same. Simply put, a plumber is a person who does plumbing works such as joining and laying pipes for different purposes, install plumbing fixtures and construct manhole chambers et al. Whereas a plumbing design engineer is a person who calculates the diameters of those pipes, prepares layout drawings of all the plumbing installation, draws specifications and quantities of various work items and guides the construction engineer as to how the installation works shall be carried out. I think efforts have to be taken on making plumbers aware that job of plumbing design engineer is different than that of the plumbers. Here I don't underestimate plumbers. They are as important as plumbing design engineers, but they have different skills and educational backgrounds.

As mentioned earlier, social media was also used for seeking applications for the said job post and the message contained my contact information. It was certain that I will receive responses in email and as text messages. When someone sends an email, we get to see their name at least and we may be able to know who the sender is, may be without opening the attachment. But when an applicant sends the resume as mobile message, what I see is just the mobile number and nothing else. Here the applicants did not bother to write who they are, where from they got the reference for the said job post and what post they are applying for. What they sent was a PDF file of their resume. Such applications are very likely to see the trash can!

To conclude, it is responsibility of the employers that the job description precise and crisp to attract the right candidates. The applicants on the other hand shall thoroughly read, understand and assimilate the requirements of the employer and analyse for themselves whether or not they are suitable for the said job post. This would avoid any embarrassment on part of the applicant as well as the employer.

Yeh Dil Mange More!

Yes, the wait is over and the Shershaah is roaring loud on your TV screens! This movie Shershaah is more about the life and times of Param Vir Chakra Late Captain Vikram Batra. I am sure most of us have watched it on its day of release. And yes, as promised, this Lekhanacha Udyog लेखनाचा उद्योग  is about the movie and its viewer review.

Some of the snowy peaks in Drass, Batalik and Kargil Sectors of Jammu and Kashmir which are along the Line of Control, the LoC, have their own names like Tiger Hill, Rocky Nock and Tololing and some others are known just by their height from the mean sea level in metres, like Point 5140, Point 4875 et al. The movie starts with a bang showing the attack by the 13th Battalion of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, fondly known as 13 JAK RIF, of Bharatiya Army on the Point 4875 and suddenly we see some kids playing cricket in their colony........

We know Captain Vikram Batra was the identical twin brother of Vishal Batra, so are these kids, Krishnay Tuteja and Kavay Tuteja playing the childhood roles of Vikram and Vishal respectively. They have very small yet very important roles in the movie. They have acted so very well that it does not feel like this is probably their first ever movie. Vikram is shown to have a small fight some elder kids, during that game of cricket. The fighter spirit of Vikram Batra and awareness about own rights as a kid are perfectly depicted by Krishnay. The anger and worry of a father after that is shown nicely by actor Pavan Chopra. Actress Vijay Meenu has played the role of his loving mother. They have very small but important roles in the movie.

In the year 1988, there was this popular TV serial on Doordarshan called Param Vir Charka. which showcased the bravery of all the officers of Bhartiya Army who were awarded with the highest gallantry award, The Param Vir Chakra. That probably was the trigger for Vikram as a kid when he decided to join the Army and after joining the Army, he pulled the trigger of his gun many a times to eliminate the terrorists. Krishnay Tuteja has very well depicted is determination of Vikram Batra as a kid to join the Bharatiya Army.

Here is when we see Siddharth Malhotra as Lieutenant Vikram Batra reporting to his duty at Sopore in 13 JAK RIF and his journey as an army officer started from there. I feel, casting Siddharth Malhotra as Vikram Batra is like making sure that the movie will be a big hit! And the audience can very well feel in his performance, all the training and preps Siddharth had undergone. The way to carry the gun, the way to walk with all the gears is perfectly shown by Siddharth. 
Based on an intel by informers, a company headed by Lieutenant Sanjeev Jamwal, played by Shiv Panditt went to hunt and seize a big bunch illegal weapons and ammunition being transported by terrorists. I really liked the scene wherein these Army men engage with the terrorists in a fire fight. Lately, movie makers have started showing some realistic damage to property during a gun fight. I am talking about holes being punched in vehicles and buildings by bullets and some bigger damages may be due to explosions. It was seen in the movie Uri: The Surgical Strike as well. Earlier what the audience used see was only the wind shields and window glasses of vehicles being shattered and if a bullet hits some wall, only some smoke used to be shown. I think BLANKS are used in all the gun fights in this movie as well. A blank bullet does not have the projectile that exits the gun's barrel to hit the target. They are used in movies to create the real like sound and flash of gun fire. Earlier electric sparks were made in the dummy guns to create the flash of gun fire. These sparks used to be seen at the notch in the gun from where an empty shell of a fired bullet gets rejected, instead of at the open end of the barrel! To be sure about this, I watched and re-watched all the gun fight sequences in the movie, many a times. At least I am convinced that the flashes after a gun fire are not digitally created. I would like to correct myself if I am wrong. All these are some welcome changes for me as a viewer. However, some experts say that hiding behind a car door can not save one from a bullet wound unless the car is bullet proof! I would like to see this change as well in movie action scenes. 

After this action and arresting the terrorists, the team is shown to return to the base where a letter and a gift by his love of life Dimple Cheema is waiting for Vikram. That letter and Vikram's response to it takes the audience in a flashback to year 1995, in the Panjab University, Chandīgarh. One thing has to be noted here that Shershaah is the movie about life of Vikram Batra before and after being an Army officer, till his martyrdom, It is not another movie on the Kargil War. As such the real life love story of Vikram and Dimple has to be an integral part of this movie. A young talented Kiara Advani is a perfect choice to play Dimple Cheema. The way their romance blossoms in college is nicely shown in the movie. The cast and crew of this movie had met the Batra family and Cheema family, as well as all the Army personnel of 13 JAK RIF who are alive now and were fighting the war. This has been mentioned in many online interviews. The movie script must have evolved a lot after these meetings and such a fine product is seen on Amazon Prime Video. The incidences and events shown in this part of the movie are real as mentioned by the crew and cast of the movie. Some statements by Lieutenant Vikram Batra like या तो मै तिरंगा लहरा के आऊंगा या तो उसमे लिपट के आऊंगा, लेकिन आऊंगा जरूर!, or may be, "If you are a फौजी, you live by chance, love by choice and kill by profession!" make a deep impact when Siddharth delivers them.

As the story progresses further the audience watches many anti insurgency operations by 13 JAK RIF in J and K, again based on intel inputs. After successfully retaliating an ambush attack by the militants, Lieutenant Vikram Batra was introduced to the CO Major Yogesh Kumar Joshi later promoted to the post of Colonel, played by actor Shataf Figar. A son of school teacher joining Army had surprised Major Joshi and there develops a unique bond between Lieutenant Vikram Batra and Major Y K Joshi.

Then the movie takes turn to the Kargil War. Some important incidences at the army HQ of our not so friendly neighbour and their Army disguised as terrorists occupying the bunkers of Bhartiya Army, which triggered the war are quickly shown. Not much of time is wasted there because the limitation of the total duration of the movie. The snowy peaks of the Himalay are a visual treat here and I feel, this was a perfect time for an interval, had it been a theatrical release. I am sure that watching those snowy mountain tops on the screens of movie theatre would have been a greater experience. How much ever big a LED TV is, it can never match the cinema screen! However, as we all know, due to the current conditions of surroundings, this movie is released on Amazon Prime video, a popular OTT platform. 

The second part of the love story of Lieutenant Vikram Batra and Dimple Cheema begins here and it is treat to watch Siddharth and Kiara in this part of the film as well. It is shown in the movie that Lieutenant Vikram met his family and friends before reporting back to the duty. I am sure it will touch the audiences when Vikram said to his friend Sunny, "बुलावा अंदरसे आया है!" The scene where Lieutenant Vikram meets Dimple on bus stand before leaving for the Army base, has come up very well. Both the talented actors have really lived the characters, I must say!

As the war had started in May 1999, the then Prime Minister of Bharat, Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had promised to the Nation through a media address that that Bharatiya Army can very well use the power to maintain peace! I really liked it that the real footage of that address was used instead of some actor playing the role of the PM. The army base at Ghumri in Drass sector and it's surroundings are shown very well in the movie and would really have been a great pleasure to watch it on big screen. All the army men are shown preparing their arsenals for the war, cleaning their assault rifles, raising the muzzles of the mighty Howitzers to their respective targets. The director did not forget to show the media personnel moving around with their cameras and microphones. All this happening on the backdrop of snowy peaks of Himalay. And suddenly lot of shells come buzzing on the army base from the same snowy peaks. The explosions of the shells, the shrapnels and splinters spreading out after the explosion look real. The mayhem caused due to that shelling is very well picturised. What I liked here is that soldiers and officers are not shown firing their assault rifles towards the direction of the shelling because it would have been a pure wastage of ammunition firing at the invisible enemy, and the danger of the bullets accidentally hitting Bhartiya Soldiers. It makes sense taking cover in bunkers at such times and it was must that, that scene is captured by drone cameras. That was the incidence when Major Ajay Jasrotia played by Actor Nikitin Dheer, succumbed to the injuries caused by shrapnel piecing his back all the way up to the spine! Nikitin Dheer is a fine an actor as his father Pankaj Dheer, famous for playing Karn in the popular TV serial Mahabharat. 

It was must that the Cheema family is shown watching the news of the war on TV. As we all know, it was a unique televised war, the real footage of news channels is used in  this scene. 13 JAK RIF, or as Major Y K Joshi would call it दिव्य तेरा now came to action with the task of capturing Point 5140. Here we hear Lieutenant Vikram Batra say his victory signal will be 'ये दिल मांगे more!' and that's because he would not stop after capturing Point 5140!

Again it is a real visual treat to watch the teams led by Captain Sanjeev Jamwal aka Jimmy (code name Sangram) and Lieutenant Vikram Batra aka Vicky (code name Shershaah) climbing up to Point 5140 from different directions to neutralise the enemy. It was must to show the enemy using the illumination round and Bhartiya Army men staying steady till the illumination round subsides, and thus not coming in the sight of the enemy. Intercepting the radio communication between Sangram and Shershaah by the enemy and the enemy calling Shershaah in the same radio frequency to threaten him were the things that Vikram Batra himself had told the media after being promoted to Captain from Lieutenant. The action scene of capturing Point 5140 is the highlight of the movie. It is choreographed exactly like what we had seen 22 years ago on TV, specially the explosions of the artillery shells on the mountain top as seen from the fire base. The video interview of Captain Vikram Batra by TV media after winning Point 5140 is available on the internet and it is perfectly recreated in the movie. As such it was imperative that the same words are used as dialogues given to Siddharth during filming if the scene as the proud Batra Family watches it in TV. It would have been a challenge to the crew of the movie to procure those bulky CRT TVs in the era of flat panel LED TVs. 

And then there is the last action scene of the movie where in Shershaah and his team climbs up to Point 4875. The coordination between the soldiers, communicating with had signals without talking a word is perfectly picturised as it would be seen by soldiers taking positions a few meters away from each other. Not using any close up shots for this is an added plus! Again, we see the real like flashes of gun fire, arguably due to use of blank bullets, as I said earlier in this blog post. A hand grenade explodes 4 seconds after removing its pin and it is shown in the movie that it explodes exactly after that much of time! And yes this is also is a plus one for the movie. The fire fight seems to be over with all the bunkers being destroyed but pin pointed shots from an enemy sniper gravely injured Captain Vikram Batra. Here the audience can feel the powerful script of the movie. Like I said earlier, the movie makers have had detailed discussions with the soldiers and officers of 13 JAK RIF. These discussions must have helped the movie makers to re-create the injuries on Siddharth Malhotra, the way Late Captain Vikram Batra might have faced them. No one else but Siddharth could have perfectly shown  the pain caused by those injuries only by facial expressions! I am sure the audience was touched when they hear Captain Vikram Batra said their war cry, 'दुर्गा माता की जय' while the tricolour is raised on top of the last bunker destroyed by the Bhartiya Army, And Captain Vikram Batra succumbed to the bullet wounds...............

As expected we see the funeral procession of Late Captain Vikram Batra in his home town Palampur where Colonel Y K Joshi, Captain Sanjeev Jamwal, Subedar Raghunath anf many others from 13 JAK RIF are seen and their light hearted moments with the slain Captain flash to the audience. Here we again see teary eyed Siddharth Malhotra as Vishal Batra lighting up the pyre.

The movie that had started with Vishal Batra's IN Talks, the movie version of TED Talks ends at the same talks.....

Then we see the real life footages of the TV interview of Captain Vikram Batra after the capture of Point 5140 and his father receiving the Parma Vir Chakra awarded posthumously to Captain Vikram Batra along with some photographs of real and reel heros.

Captain Vikram Batra became a household name for the people of Bharat after that interview which inspired many to join the Bhartiya Army. This was because media could reach to that location. But there were many fronts in this war where media could not reach to interview the soldiers and officers engaged in the fire fight and win the war for the country.

There were many other battalions involved in the war which include but are not limited to 2 Rajputana Rifles, 1/11 Gurkha Rifles, 17 Jat Regiment, 18 Grenadiers, wherein many soldiers and officers laid their lives to protect the mother land. And yes, ये दिल मांगे more! More number of movies and web serials shall be produced telling to the common citizens of Bharat that it's their Army men who are posted along the borders of Bharat, thousands of kilometers away from their homes, because of whom the common people of Bharat can do their routine stuff. It is not required to wear a uniform pickup a gun and stand at the border to show the देशभक्ती! There are many other ways to do that. More about that some time later........

I will stop being verbose hoping that we will soon see the real life stories of the gallant of the Bhartiya Army, not just those of Kargil War but also from all the previous wars.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty Eighth

Page Hundred and Eighty Eighth
Chetan Arvind Apte

Pune.

Other Cast and Crew:
Director: Vishnuvardhan

Screenplay, Story and Dialogues: Sandeep Shrivastava

Producers: Sabbir Boxwala, Apoorva, Ajay Shah and Kran Johar

Music: Tanishk Bagchi, John Stewart Eduri

Cinematography: Kamaljeet Negi

Film Editor: Sreekar Praad

Vikam's sister Seema: Rukman Khanna

Vikram's sister Nutan: Ankita Goraya

Bijay J Anand: Dimple's Father

Kirron Arya: Dimple's Mother.

Vikram's friend Sunny: Sahil Vaid

Rifleman Yashpal: Pranay Pachauri

Rfileman Meher Singh: Atul Verma

Subedar Raghunath: Raj Arjun

Major Subrata Mukharjee: Abhiroy Singh

Lieutenant Naveen Nagappa: Jaykartik

..........and many others

Yeh Dil Can't Wait Anymore!

It was the first ever televised war. It was fought in the summer of 1999. It was one of the unique mountain war. It was a war that has made a mark on each and every citizen of Bharat and for many like me, stories of this war give goosebumps! Perhaps because people of my generation who came to this world just before or just after the 1971 war with the same troublesome neighbor, were in middle of their 20's when Kargil war was going on. And no wonder they were enthralled by the bravery of Indian soldiers on those icy peaks!! The cost of this glorious victory was the martyrdom of over 500 brave hearts of Bharat.

It's those soldiers of the soil, because of whom we the common people of this country can do their routine stuff. Hence it's our duty to give respect to the Bhartiya armed forces in whichever way possible. And the filmmakers do this in their way. Be it the four hour long movie LOC Kargil wherein the Operation Vijay was given all possible mention, or be it Lakshya where the story of the Kargil war was nicely blended with the love story of Lieutenant Karan Shergil and Romila Dutta. 

While the movie LOC Kargil showcased the entire, almost three months long war on the big screen, the individual stories of all the battalions and the troops therein, are subject matter of separate movies or probably web serials. One such story is of Param Veer Chakra Late Captain Vikram Batra aka Shershaah. And this Dil can't wait anymore till the 12th of this month for the release of the movie Shershaah! 

Look for this space for a candid viewer review of this upcoming movie on or after the 12th. 

Till then, read through the other movie and web series reviews I had written earlier:

 

Achanak (1973)

Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)

The Accidental Prime Minister (2019)

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story

 

Page Two Hundred and Seventeen.

Day Two Hundred and Seventeen.

Chetan Arvind Apte

Pune.

Blessings by COVID-19: A Brighter Side of The Pandemic

Ain't it strange? Ain't it unusual to title the blog post like this? I mean in perspective of year 2020? In the perspective of the pandemic? No, it is not!

The entire world, the entire humanity is struggling against this pandemic, and here I am saying that the first of its kind disease is a blessing? Have I lost my senses, you might ask. And my answer is, "No, I am all in my sense. And I have titled this blog post knowingly." Now let me be little verbose to tell you why I say this. 

In the beginning of this year, India as a country had started getting the feel of what the Corona Virus is and what havoc it could cause. Yet we were ignorant about it thinking it won't hit our doorsteps as there are many things in Indian Culture that generally keep our immunity levels high. Yes that is true and that is the reason why the mortality rate due to COVID is so less in India, I feel. However, there were things related to personal discipline which caused the spread of the disease so much, I feel. But I am not here to talk about that, talk about the the dark side of the pandemic. Many others are taking care of that. I am going to talk about the bright side. 

Since I am from the building construction industry, let me start with an example related to that. To construct a full fledged multi specialty kind of hospital, it takes about two years and these two years do not include the time required to prepare its architectural and engineering designs. However, this year we saw COVID centers being constructed and being operational in matter of a few weeks. The engineers and architects were forced to think differently as it was required to have many additional COVID specific treatment centers looking at the spread of the disease like a jungle fire! Many different construction methods were adopted which were never thought of till mid 2019. Can't these methods be used in the future for construction of buildings to save time and many other resources? Is that not a blessing in disguise?

 

India and the entire world was under lockdown, we all experienced it. And it had it's wrath on the small and medium businesses, the way it had, we saw. But I know many instances that loss of job due to lockdown made people think differently and become entrepreneurs, become self employed. Some of my friends who are in IT and engineering field started selling vegetables. Some other honed their culinary skills and started preparing and selling small ready to eat food items. And some others started some different businesses. Now, after unlock, though their jobs are restored, people are earning less salary than usual. However their monthly household expenses are either at the level they were in early 2020 or have increased due to general price hikes! And these entrepreneurial skills are coming handy to them to increase their income. This is blessing in disguise that ordinary people started thinking differently to bridge the gap between their income reduced due to salary cut and increased expenses. 

 

I know one shop owner near my house who is a franchise of a popular bakery brand in Pune and till early this year he was selling only their products and eggs to some extent. At the onset of the lockdown he realised that people cannot go to shops and super stores far away from their homes to buy daily essentials. As such he started selling milk and milk products of different popular brands, other sundry things like wafers, noodles, chocolates along with vegetables. He purchased two large capacity deep freezers to store these items. Here he understood and recognised the need of the time and many daily needs of the people in our locality were available with him from April this year and if anything is not available, he makes sure that it is there the next day! He was accepting only cash payments till lockdown but he understood the importance of being 'touch free' and started accepting payments over UPI by letting his customers scan a QR code displayed in the shop to make payments. Isn't this different way of thinking by this shop owner a blessing in disguise for his customers? Now, people in our locality are so accustomed with this shop that, even in the unlock days, they are depending on his for such products.

Many corporate companies in India were kind of against work from home culture thinking it would reduce productivity and employees also were against it as they thought theirs bosses would expect them to be available on call 24x7 as they will be working from the comfort of their homes. Yes, to some extents it is true. However, work from home became a reality in India due to the fact that one cannot commute for work and yet the business has to run! Not to mention, due to the norms of safe physical distance number of work stations in a company's office also must have been reduced to half, work area or habitable area of the office being the same! Now for those who used to drive their own vehicle to their workplace, they saved a lot of money they otherwise would have spent on fuel. Those who commuted to work using public transport, they saved themselves from getting crushed in the rush of trains and buses. Now, work from home is going to be a prevalent thing and businesses have started adopting themselves for it. 

 

Here I would like to quote example of my cousin who owns a famous furniture shop in town side of Pune. Little over a month ago, I had been to his shop to buy a table and chair for my office. He shared an interesting piece of information. He said that many people came to his shop to buy some office type furniture in their homes as their employer companies had sanctioned a considerable amount per employee to buy such furniture and set up broadband internet at their homes. Thus, those employees did not have to shell out a small fortune from their bank accounts to buy the furniture and the employers could get proper work from their employees. This again is a blessing in disguise that the culture of work from home is growing in India which will save lot of fuel and efforts of employees and employers and yet their businesses will function effortlessly and even more effectively. Isn't it?

I also know a situation where a businessman unfortunately passed away due to COVID and his better half, a house wife till that point of time and mother of a budding engineer, took up the challenge to run the very same business. She is so geared up that she went out to look for some one from the same profession who would teach her basic skills and give her knowledge required to understand and run that particular business. Her husband was the only bread winner for their family and he being not around would have caused a havoc on the family. But she did not loose it. She gathered all the courage required and is now on her path to run the very same business, under guidance of the gentleman who is helping her learn the nuances of the business. That particular type of business requires support from many ancillary enterprises. I also know some other professionals who own and run such similar ancillaries, who are helping this lady in the ways and means they can! Here I must mention that she was not at all involved in the daily chores of that business neither her educational background is what is required for being in that profession. However, it is sheer will power that is driving her to run that business. She goes to their office everyday and in the evenings she is learning that skill and acquiring the required knowledge from that gentleman via online classes. I will not call this as blessing in disguise but it most certainly is a brighter side which I must mention. My good wishes with her and with the gentleman who is guiding her the way he can.

 

By grace of The God and because of the trust my clients have on me and my way of fulfilling their requirements, I got some repeat business from the same clients. I also have to think differently! So I started a Facebook Page of Apte Consultants. There in I wrote a post that I require CAD experts to prepare drawings and I got many responses from there. Two among those were my old colleagues and now they are working for me. One of them is some 200 km away from me and the other is more than 400 km away! Now this distance itself is a blessing in disguise that we are lot away from each other than the recommended norms of the safe distance, yet the internet has brought us closer and is helping us work like we used to work a few years ago.

These are some examples I could think of which to make my point that this pandemic can be also be a blessing in disguise. The only thing required is thinking different, thinking in the way you never otherwise would have. 

 

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going! Cliched, isn't it? It most certainly is, bit at the same time it is the need of the time!

 
I hereby end this blog post with a hope that people will put on their thinking shoes and come up with some brilliant ideas to survive these testing times, and emerge victorious!

 

 

06/12/2020

Pune

Day Three hundred and Forty First

Page Three hundred and Forty First

 

 

 

 

 

Bulls and Bears: the rise and the fall of the Big Bull

You heard some one say, "जेब मे मनी हो ना, तो कुंडली मे शनी होने से कुछ फरक नही पडता, ये मेरी अस्ट्रॉलॉजी है|"  or " रिस्क है तो इष्क है|" or "सब के पॉकेट रॉकेट बन गये है|" or "सब मुझे अमिताभ बच्चन कहते है पर मै वो हू नही!" or may be, "मेहता ना राज मा, मार्केट मजा मा|", didn't you? I bet you did! Yes, these are some of the famous one liners said by the lead character from the popular web series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story streaming on Sony Liv from 09/10/2020.

Pratik Gandhi, a famous young actor from the Gujrati theatre and movies has perfectly portrayed the character of the Big Bull of Dalal Street, Harshad Mehta. The words, 'he has lived the character' will be an understatement of his performance in this web series. While making Harshad Mehta come alive in screens of your TV, Pratik must have gone through lot of preparation and as he has rightly mentioned in online interviews, he has really un-learned everything keeping his acting as natural and being as neutral as possible. Being an Engineer by education and profession, the jargon of finance and stock market must have been a bit difficult for Pratik and thus, probably it would have been easy for him just to make his dialogues by heart and say them while shooting. But this might not have been as real as it is seen in the web series. The mannerisms, the way of behavior, the way of talking (not the way of dialogue delivery) all has been so perfect that it seems to be kind of muscle memory, like he is born with that attitude. A perfect example of 'getting under the skin of the character.' At least I cannot imagine any other actor in his place.

For me, Pratik Gandhi has overwhelmed the entire web series of ten episodes. But this does not mean that the performance of Shreya Dhanwanthary as Sucheta Dalal is something less than that of Pratik. Padmashri Sucheta Dalal was the journalist of The Times of India, who busted the scam, who actually coined the word scam for some big, well, really big financial irregularities in any transactions. This web series is based on the book "The Scam, Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away" written by Sucheta along with her husband Debashish Basu. Talking about the portrayal of Sucheta Dalal by Shreya, again an Engineering graduate, she too has nailed it! Her facial expressions are more effective than her dialogue delivery, I feel. This can be well seen in the very first episode when one Mr. Sharad Bellari, an employee of SBI turns up at the office of The Times of India to tell about the alleged financial irregularity, a घोटाला worth ₹500 Crore or more, happening in SBI. Sharib Hashmi has effectively played this small role the informer. The graph of Shreya's acting has been going up in this web series right from this very first scene! Another example of Shreya's perfect body language is the incidence of Pherwani's death. Shreya has perfectly shown the mental trauma Sucheta must have gone through due to that and probably blaming her article and hence herself for the death of Pherwani. 

Talking about actors, Rajat Kapoor had exhibited the sleuth of K Madhavan, his stature, the urge to solve the case and punish the guilty, in a way that suits the attitude of then CBI Joint Director K. Madhavan, the officer who had investigated many other cases of national importance before probing the securities scam that made the stock market dive. I was fan of Rajat's acting ever since I saw him in Dil Chahta Hai as Mahesh Uncle. I liked it when Madhavan goes to the residence of Pherwani for interrogation and asks him to come to CBI office with him. The tactics of pressuring the suspect by asking him to climb up stairs for 5 floors to reach the interrogation room was nicely depicted by Rajat. But at the same time he lets Khamni to answer his questions in the comfort of Khemani's Cabin. This scam was the first financial scam probed by CBI, as mentioned in the series. As such the investigating team lead by Madhavan must have had tough time understanding the financial jargon making their life little difficult and this has been very well shown in many scenes related to the investigation and Rajat has perfectly shown his frustration due to this difficulty. He had been cool and yet seemed dangerous in the scenes with SBI staff and with Harshad. Especially when he breaks the handset of cordless phone while disallowing Harshad from making any phone calls!

Next in my list is actor Hemant Kher who played Harshad's younger brother Ashwin. Harshad Mehta had three brothers: Ashwin, Hitesh and Sudhir. However the makers of the series have retained only one brother in the series and that is Ashwin, since probably he had played pivotal role in Harshad's company Grow More. Along with that, he had warned Harshad of possible threats in many transactions which could lead them in trouble. In many scenes Hemant has proved that no one else could have done that role better than him. In the sequence when Ashwin tells Harshad that their bank accounts are sealed, Hemant's performance was very real! To me, portrayal of Ashwin Mehta as depicted by actor Hemant Kher is like Harshad's inner voice warning Harshad to stop being bullish.

And the list of the actors goes on! There are many more actors who have made this series look real. If I keep talking about all of them, this blog post will be little too long!! Actually there is no supporting cast, all characters are important. Since this series is based on real life incidences, and many of the persons are still alive and active in their respective professions, it was wise to retain the original names. However, the names of some characters are different than the real personalities, for some reasons, which are not revealed.

The direction of the series has taken it to far higher levels and actually had created bench marks. Director Hansal Mehta has again proved that he is a perfect grip on the making movies and TV shows related to real life characters, be it Omerta, be it Bose: Dead/Alive and my favourite The Accidental Prime Minister. He has perfectly extracted the characters out of all the actors! Also, his vision in creating the era of 1980s and 1990s and showcase Mumbai of those times from his lens in noteworthy. First and foremost, it was the main task of showing the the skyline of Mumbai to look like that in 80s and 90s. Hence the choice of outdoor locations in Mumbai was most important and there is no chance to point out mistakes like some high rise buildings or may be mobile towers being visible in any frame, including those captured by drone cameras. The collection of cars owned by Harshad including the famous Lexus is accurate to the times of the story. Early 90s was the time when landline phones with a cordless handset was a reality, which is nicely captured by Hansal. I wonder from where the directorial team could obtain so many CRT TVs in the era of flat panel LED TVs and those bulky computer monitors, and typewriters? The highlight of the direction, I feel, is the actor playing famous cartoonist Late R. K. Lakshman walking next to the sign of The Common Man in the office of The Times of India as Sharad Bellari enters the office of TOI.

The ring of the stock market where actual trading happens is shown in many episodes and it is shown to have witnessed Harshad's progress, and it is perfectly captured by change in the attire of Harshad from normal shirt and trousers to a suite, which also shows the eventual gain of confidence by Harshad, again, flawlessly depicted by Pratik. The display board stating the prices of all the listed shares is shown to be a blackboard while in 80s and then changed to digital signage in the 90s. Each episode ends with a Hindi movie song which was popular in those times and of course with its lyrics suitable to the main events in that episode. I liked this part very much. I don't have much of knowledge as to how the share market functions. But it is said to have sentiments, emotions. And those sentiments, those emotions in the trading ring are well captured including the sign language used by the traders and then during the crash of market on 18th March 1982, as shown in the series.

There may many other individuals like me who do not know how share market works. However this web series has simplified the technicalities for such viewers who do not understand the nuances of how the Sensex goes up and down, what decides the prices of shares of a company, what is insider trading and many more things. And that is one major success of the series, I feel. 

The epitome of the series is the last scene of the 9th episode which showcases the famous press conference in January 1993. Suggestive usage of the original footage from that press conference has made that sequence really unforgettable!

While I write about this web series, I can be as verbose as I wish, so big is this mini series! During last 6 7 months I have watched many web serials and this one is a class apart! No guns, no action and minimum use of slang, I feel, these three things will take this series to achieve even higher success. 

Also, I do not generally mention the names of the real persons (living or dead) in my blogs. But this series is so compelling that I had to write those names to make this viewer review of this series, look real. I feel this series is just story telling of what had happened in the BSE in those years and it does not glorify whatever Harshad Mehta had done. It would not encourage anyone else follow the same foot steps. Not to mention, the functioning of the BSE must have changed a lot in last 28 years and there must be some stricter rules and regulations now, I am not too sure. As I said I do not know much about how the stock market functions. This blog post is just about what I felt after watching the show and does not intend to defame any persons, living or dead, and/or any institutions, the names of which have appeared in this blog post. Neither this blog post intends to defame any Government institutions and authorities.

I herewith stop this Lekhanacha Udyog लेखनाचा उद्योग with a wish that we the common viewers of TV shows and movies would get to watch such real contents based on the real life stories more often and evolve as more mature audience.

-Chetan Arvind Apte

31/10/2020

Pune

Day Three Hundred and Fifth

Page Three Hundred and Fifth