Conversations with Consumers

Working around shifting is a moving goal post! As soon as one completes one area, a totally new one stares in your face and quietly takes the weekend away.

Last week, I attended many FGDs for a client project. While I am not an ardent admirer of this research tool, a lot of our insights are mined this way. Was giving some tips to my junior. Sharing the same...They are not in any particular order/ emphasis.

1. Capture more verbatims(as many as possible) - the actual consumer quotes. There are two purposes it serves.
(a) it's more evocative /rich/ has a nuance which may have been overlooked earlier
(b)it helps you later to weave a better narrative...

(Remember the first notes are like an FIR. Just write all the stuff, don't analyse at this stage or try to give structure to the discussion/ thoughts.)

2. Even before one enters into a GD as observer/ moderator, it's important to have a POV. Don't be rigid on your point of view(POV) but ask questions to vet it/ or drop it.

3. Compare stuff - with what you know before the FGD and what gets said during the FGD. I believe research is a dynamic, on-going conversation which we must have with consumers/ people. Also they are just 6-8 normal people in the room. You don't have to treat their word as gospel. They are capable of lying, speaking rubbish, rant because they are bored...Over time, one learns to separate the wheat from the chaff!!

4. The Importance of the Deviant/ Stray Comment
- Never underestimate the importance of the small comments, stray comments. They can lead you to places your original discussion guide couldn't have/ never intended!

5. Stories
Capture real life stories as vividly as possible. They are rare. They are true. They often are stranger than fiction...They give you a glimpse into the shifts and the drifts as nothing else can.

Then later during the analysis phase try to find out what - the motivations were
- Why they recounted those stories.
- Any hidden/ deeper meaning.
- What could a brand/ your brand learn from that story.

Good researchers and planners are story collectors and raconteurs!!
Keep mulling over the thoughts. Reflection when the FGD is done is very important. Research(any research) is not a power-point to be made, presented and archived...It's an on-going conversation with the consumer and with oneself!!

Lin-storm : the new digital model!

Among the first signs of a formal analog and digital media company courtship(to my knowledge) is the tie-up between Lintas Media Group and digital agency Pinstorm.

Linstorm will offer a pay-for-performance model for digital platforms like the internet and mobile phones. This will mean that the client will pay for the advertising only if the campaign meets pre-determined targets which could be in terms of the number of clicks, impressions or conversions.

You can read the complete story here.

Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm, had this to say- “The idea is to bring the share of digital in the total Indian advertising scene to the tipping point of 7% from its current levels of 3-4%.”

The Linstorm model would be interesting to watch for the nascent digital advertising market in India!!

Time-Poverty : Jame Raho!!

Got an early morning mail from Jo who now works for the Henley Centre Headlight Vision(the WPP global trends and insights company).

Anyways, few clicks later I was reading this post by Josh Hunt on the HCHLV site on time-poor consumers! Read the post here...

Marketers/ advertisers often lament about consumer time-poverty but the fact is most often clients and agencies are equally time-poor. Of course this is largely a case of self-infliction.

We have a chk-list in our minds and we want to tick-them off asap! Whither listening, whither deep probing, whither better questions:-)

Kas Ke Joota Kas Ke Belt, Khons Ke Andar Apni Shirt
Research Ki Chali Sawaari, Planners Pe Bhaari Zimmedari

Haath Mein Brief Man Mein Dum, Insight Nikaalke Rahenge Hum
Har Eyeball Se Takrayenge, Tas Se Mus Na Honge Hum

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho, Boss Ka Ishaara Jame Raho
Planning Ka Naara Jame Raho, Clients Ka Ishaara Jame Raho

Ye Sote Bhee Hain Attention, Power-point Ki Hai Tension
Mehnat Inko Pyari Hai, Process Bilkul Sarkaari Hai

Ye Research Par Hi Jeete Hain, Ye Insight Saare Peete Hain
Deadline Pe Sote Deadline Pe Khate, Taan Ke Seena Badhte Jate

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho...

(Sincere apologies for bastardising TZP lyrics...But hey it's UGC and I can surely get a reprieve and a laugh:-)

Javed Saheb Ki Baatein

This is my second post in the past few months on/about Javed Akhtar. I am kinda enamoured by the man. Amidst all the mediocrity that floats in Bollywood he still manages to pen down beautiful lyrics, share great thoughts and imbue a poets sensibility to all things around.

In fact some time back when I took an Incubates session, I put Javed Saheb in my top 5 planners list outside of advertising!!

Over the week-end read an interview of his. Two of his comments are worth noting from the interview.

Q. What's the flip side of being a judge?
JA. When somebody with great hope comes to me with very little capability, I feel very awkward to break that illusion. On one hand you are irritated by this person's high opinions, but, on the other hand, you feel bad. Is it right to break their illusion and make them unhappy for the rest of their lives is one question I grapple with. In hindsight, I think that's the right thing to do though it makes me very uncomfortable.

It's a dilemma one often faces in work life as well...But it's tough to take a call and pass judgement. Many years back, one of my early bosses advised me to give up planning as he felt I was not good enough. Luckily, it just made a small dent in my pride/ego. I stuck to my conviction:-)

Q. What are the challenges involved in writing for a period film like Jodha Akbar?
JA. - You have to understand the ethos of any story whether it's set in the modern time or the past.

- I try to understand the wavelength of a film, its temperament and ethos, the intellectual and social level of its characters, and then try to bring the right vocabulary to the songs.

I love the way he approaches his lyrics. His nuanced understanding, depth of research never fails to impress me. If you can lay your hands on do pick up Javed Akhtar's Talking Films - his conversations about Indian cinema. I think it's the best 'branding book by an Indian'!

In case you are interested you could have a dekko at my Oct 16 post - Branding Gyan from Javed Akhtar!

Picture courtesy www.bbc.co.uk

Great Train Journey 2

Another long train journey in just over a month...This time around I had my wife too to care care of Neo. So did manage more sleep and few thoughts:-)

Some random observations in no particular order or significance...

1. The humble newspaper is the one true community product. Especially in a railway coach. This is perhaps the only place where people sometimes don't even bother to ask for the paper. They just take and browse. The thank you is implicit, seldom verbalised!

2. Adjust kar lenge. Is perhaps the opening line of most train journeys as passengers begin to arrange their luggage in the compartment. The sweetness of the 'adjust kar lijiye' is directly proportional to the available luggage space!

3. T-bags : the bland equaliser. Till the Taj Mahal and the Tetley tea bags came into circulation, different stations had their own tea flavours and vendors had their distinctive sales andaaz. My favourite was 'Choudhary ki chai' - the adrak spiced milk-tea that I used to get ahead of Bhusawal on train journeys to my college in Surat. Choudhary was a ritual we used to look forward to. He had amongst the most lyrical sales pitch that memory recalls. Had character. A big smile and most importantly good chai.

No disrespect to T-bags; but in one swoop, they have managed to homogenise the tea drinking experience. It's the same bland sugary stuff wherever you go!

4. Graveyard shift As I have gradually migrated to the AC 3/2 tier, the buzz of the sleeper is gone. I never realised that as a nation we are so sleep deprived. A majority of the passengers sleep for the better half of the journey.
Rarely have I encountered the loud conversations/ debates on national politics, cricket and other topical issues which were an essential part of the long 'sleeper' journeys of the past!

5. Purdah-hai-purdah. The other public obsession in the AC 2 tier is the attachment to the purdah(curtains). For an otherwise open, loud, display-friendly and sociable nation, I find this cocooning inside the train purdah quite perplexing! Any insights here? Reminds me of the 'purdah' people had in the good ole Ambasador!

6. The Charger as ice-breaker. Saurabh in his post had pointed out on the ice-breaking qualities of the Nokia charger! I too had first hand experience when a portly Auntyji intruded our purdah with a warm -"Beta tumhara charger kaam kar raha hai kya". And thus ensued a relay race. Between the saas and the heavily sindur-ed bahu, they charged 3 mobile phones! Like good train Samaritans, hum thoda sa adjust kar liye:-)

But for the techno-social effects of mobile phones, mp3 players and laptops...many of the rituals of the train journey are intact...

However, the journey itself has irreversibly changed. With the constant beep of cell phones and the tracking by anxious family members, you are never on your own/ alone.

Yet again I missed the timelessness and the lost in wilderness feel...Promise to myself - Will keep the cell phone switched off for all the 30 hours next time!!

New Age Brands Have a Different Ning!

A little late in the day(48 hours back to be precise), I discovered the online social networking brand Ning introduced to me by my new digital partner and co-conspirator(John Lambie)!

Okay, back to Ning. After 48 hours I try to discover more about it. Google for the site but find that it's down for repairs. However, I still end up liking it. Because it's got a sense of humour and a message that's warm and human. It's also got a cute little bear trying to repair the site...

Ning like a person apologises for the technical snafu and directs me to the Ning blog and enthusiastically gives me an approx. timing when it would be up and running...

In fact this is what the message reads - At midnight tonight, we're going to take Ning offline to add a few new features. We'll be back in action by the time the bars in California close and you'll be free to resume your late night social networking.

Guys my 10 year old credit card company, 7 years old mobile service provider company, my 8 year old bank none talk to me like this - in a normal voice that's full of life, zest and quirkiness!

I like the brand feel of Ning...Here's the post in 48 hours for Ning...Never wrote one for my bank or the credit card, etc.

I guess as we step into this new age/ digital lifestyle era, brands even while they ride mass media vehicles need to have a human voice. Stuffiness of the analog, hierarchy driven marketing era won't get brands love marks from customers!!

Flash Promos Ki Khareed Mein Samajhdaari Hai?

When Flash Brands/ branding is here, would flash promos be far behind.

Flash promos are single day promotional(invariably price-off) offers. Often they might last for just a few hours!

I guess they stoke the growing acquisitive and impulse-led buying patterns in much of urban India.

Shopping for a small part of cash-rich urban India is now an acquisitive sport. However, under intense time constraints, there is no stamina to do a 'Lalitaji' kind of detailed 'samajhdari' purchase.

Instead, there is just enough time for a quick McPuchase. Enter the flash promos. When they are from trusted brands. They reassure quality. They entice with their slashed prices. And their 'buy-now-or-regret-later' proposition gives it the veneer of 'samajhdaari'.

Last month, I was almost pulled into one such offer from HP. A heavily discounted flash offer from HP on a Laptop + Printer combo. Even though I had no real need for the printer!

But for the lack of a convenient physical demo of the product, I would have been a victim of the Rs. 39,999/- flash offer!

It's just as I flipped the Mumbai Mirror today, I once again saw the HP flash offer -'Hurry, offer valid between 8am and 8pm today only':-)

But I am becoming 'Flash Smart'!!

Brand Hype Vs Consumer Retaliation

Amongst the most hyped commodities in India is the Indian Cricket team. Other strong contenders being 'The Economy', 'Mumbai' and 'India's Software Prowess'...
Talking of cricket - the ads, the media crescendo and the moolah almost always outshines the actual performance of the cricket team...

Media of course gets the TRPs, either way! On the up-swing and the downward-spiral...
But the advertisers really get screwed when on top of the hype, the team fails miserably!

One of the brands that repeatedly doesn't learn from this is the lost-its-sheen-a-long-time-ago Pepsi in India...

And when the hype gets punctured, the consumers get back at the brand and the endorsers...Earlier it used to be localised conversations and pent up anger. But UGC(User-generated-content) has taken over.

Today, consumers talk back, make fun and de-pedestal their icons almost instantly and then share with the world!! Technology is a great tool to retaliate against the hype...Sample this( got it on mail just a while ago).

Snacking on English

Saurabh had this interesting post on thotblurb on the exploding market for self-help books(in English) in India!

Since like many others, I have traversed the path from small town India to Mumbai, the city of dreams, I have lived through this fast-track booming India and its fascination for self-help. My addendum to Saurabh's pointers...

1. India may not be unique, any fast-track economy will have a huge demand for 'fast-track literature'!

2. I disagree with the premise that most of the non-textbooks till now have been bought for leisure reading...a visit to any wheelers book-store even a decade back wud have revealed a fat proportion of 'kaamyaabi kaise paayein' books! Competition Success Review has been a best-seller since the 80s...

3. The new change has been the translation of English sub-titles into Hindi/ regional languages...but a change under-way for at least a decade...It's of course accelerated with the economy. I myself have been a sucker for such books for a long time:-)
I had an old copy of 'How to win friends and influence people' in Hindi which i read and re-read although studying in an English medium school!

4. The real change that has happened is the SEC C-ization of the English language...the language of success & station. Nothing new here as well...just deeper penetration...the net is doing its own bit in democratising the access to English.

5. Yes Meraj - I too have read somewhere about the rise of the Hindi/ regional language blogs and other portals of indie expression...

6. I feel one of the primary reasons why self-help books are in great demand is their snack friendliness. Long fiction is not. In an attention deficit economy short tips on anything > twists and turns of long narrative...
Picture: The famous Wheelers bookstall at 'Katni' railway station during the great train journey...

Are we incapable of building iconic youth brands?

When I look around, all I see are 'phoren' brands that attract the youth.
Limca, Gold Spot, Campa Cola, Citra, Thril( the cool Indian brands of the 70s and 80s) have long been bought and killed by Coke.

Thums Up is the lone survivor among Indian cool drink brands!. In beers - Kingfisher is the market leader, but lacks edginess of any sort...

In cosmetics, Lakme had lost its sheen but seems to be on its way back. Elle 18 is visible but is it cutting edge?

In watches - Titan was a cool brand yesterday...but with the entry of Swiss and other foreign brands, its relegated to being a mass player...but again don't think has the attitude, the advertising edginess to be called a 'cool' brand...

All the hip jeans brands are 'firang'...

Actually these thots came while reading the interview of Shailesh Chaturvedi in ET - the CEO of Tommy Hilfiger India.

He lists a few reasons why there are no iconic Indian youth brands to talk about...with a dash of my own two cents!

1. The issue of sustainability - "Youth market demands constant innovation. Many Indian brands like Proline, Titan, Woodlands, Flying Machine, Liberty shoes started with energy and unique product and communication ideas but most of them could not sustain the tempo and the Indian youth migrated to the 'sexier', innovation-driven phoren brands...

2. The fear of loss of existing core customers - As the existing core users of a brand start to age(Papa-isation), their tastes change incrementally/ gradually...But the newer, younger users may want a complete make-over...Most Indian brands in order to protect their current franchise change incrementally and thus fall off the youth radar...

3. Universal Common Language - In a wired world, the young follow the same language offline, online, in gaming and chat rooms, on the cricket field...In a Bollywood meets Hollywood world, they are more comfortable with brands that traverse seamlessly in the connected eco-system...Indian youth brands clearly are not spending enough to create that aura/ texture around them!

4. Older youth icons in India - For a nation that boasts the largest percentage of youth in the world, our icons are strangely quite old.
In most researches, its Sachin(in 30s), Amitabh(in 60s) and the Khans(all in their 40s) who top the ratings!! I have always wondered why all youth Congress/ BJP leaders are in their late 30s and 40s:-)

And while all of them have mass appeal, none of course have the attitude of an 18 year old...

5. Cool brands are created by cool people with artistic sensibilities - Maybe, with our ultra emphasis on analytical skills and data-dependency, many of our brand and marketing managers are becoming purely analysis/ research driven and risk averse...

6. In fact there isn't an exact word for 'cool' or 'attitude' in Hindi! Don't think there exists one in regional languages as well. It's as if we have reconciled that 'cool' is an import item...

We can copy cool but seem unable to create them anymore...Ramesh Chauhan of Parle was the last cool creator it seems...Maybe Kishore Biyani, when he upscales might create a 'cool Indian youth brand'!!

The Disposable Culture

Read this write-up in Brand Equity yesterday(14Mar) on the rising disposable culture. Nothing really new...It's just that the change has been dramatic and quite rapid...

As a child in a middle class house-hold, I remember we used to preserve everything - old newspapers, Amul Spray tins, plastic milk packets, old stationery, diaries, ball-point pens, old clothes(to be exchanged for new utencils) ...

Contrast this with today when relatively expensive cellphones are upgraded in 6 months to a years time!!

1. Its clearly been a move from a 'mindset of scarcity' to a 'mindset of consumerism'

2. As Santosh said in the article, as a nation we are going through a 'I am what I have' syndrome.

3. Perhaps the change is best captured by the middle class iconic brand Bajaj Auto's tagline. It changed from - 'Value for Money for years' to 'Inspiring Confidence'!

4. In under a decade, the replacement cycle for TVs and other consumer durables has come down from 8-10 years to 4-5 years!

5. However, we haven't lost our VFM mindset completely. Rarely would an Indian throw a durable. He would most likely upgrade to a newer durable/ gadget by exchanging the old one. The mindset still is 'Iska kuch toh mil hi jayega'!

6. Of course, the disposability index will vary widely within the same family. While the youngest members would believe in the use-and-throw religion, the grand-mother would still be using Amul Spray tins for keeping the pulses even while she might have upgraded to a new camera phone:-)

7. On a personal note, my new Nokia E-50 is my 6th phone in 7 years and yet when it comes to raddi(old newspapers), I hate to give it away free:-)

Ironic then how even with a new disposable mindset and with vastly shortened durable upgrade cycles, Gillette is still facing problems with its disposable razors in India!

Happy Holi

Had a great Holi today! Few thots before I hit bed...

1. It's the best Indian festival for a 3.5 year old...As you can see, my son Neo freaked out!

2. Increasingly the diyas for Diwali, the small Ganesha idols for Ganesh Chaturthi and now 100% of the pichkaris for Holi are made in the factories of Guangzhou...
BTW, the ecosystem of colours, pichkaris, etc. around Holi could be a possible candidate for a 'flash brand'.
So, flash meets a flat world:-)

3. My father, a late adopter of new technology(not because he was slow, but because technology was slow when he was younger) but a 'fast-and-furious' learner sent this 'Holi Game' though SantaBanta.com:-) And Neo had the best of the physical Holi and a taste of the digital-Holi.
End of day best scores...Baba(255), Neo 310 and me(410):-)


4. Many of us are life-caching our experiences with a vengeance. This post, the e-mail I just sent to my parents are part of my digital auto-biography...Even 5 years back, it would have been beyond my radar or reach!!
Hope all of you had a great time...

How T-Shaped Are You?

I discovered Paul Isakson's blog today...He is a planner at a small agency in Denver, US. A click at his blog-roll led me to Giles(Rhys Jones)'s blog who happens to be a director at Ogilvy London! Giles has this very interesting blog on interactive marketing trends, a subject that I am very keen to explore and have 0.5 people around me to talk to!!

That's the thing I like the most about the blogosphere. I can escape the tyranny of 'proximity'. I can operate like a department of one. More about it sometime next week...

Now Giles has this interesting post on Mr.T-shaped People! A small search on wordspy.com led me to this ...

"T-shaped" communications planners, with a background in media, have a deep understanding of media, and a broad understanding of the other disciplines within the marketing spectrum. They might not have a deep understanding of the minutiae of direct marketing, but they would broadly understand the repercussions of its inclusion in a through-the-line campaign.

To continue the alphabetical analogy, if the ideal communications planner is "T-shaped", then a classic media agency employee is "I-shaped" — with a deep understanding of their discipline, but not necessarily of any other — and a classic client-side employee "hyphen-shaped", their role requiring a broad understanding of many disciplines rather than specific knowledge of one.

"The worry is that media agencies are trying to do a "T" job with "I" people." - Angus Bannerman, in Marketing Week, October 2, 2003

The earliest citation on T-shaped people is by David Guest in "The hunt is on for the Renaissance Man of computing," (The Independent (London), September 17, 1991)
*This type of rounded personality is also sought in other branches of science which prize individuals known as T-shaped People. These are a variation on Renaissance Man, equally comfortable with information systems, modern management techniques with an unusual set of interests."

After the unbundling of media in India and elsewhere, I suspect, the creative and media agency systems have promoted the I-shaped guys...Many of the planners of the last decade I suspect are also more 'I' than 'T'!

At least that's my experience being a planner in a small agency! And now how do I cross my 'I' every day?:-) Any suggestions? Giles?

Luxury Jeans - A Cross Over Canvas

They sound like two ends of the scale! Therefore, I was curious to read this India Today article(Feb 19 issue) under Society & Arts fashion.

Like elsewhere in the world, India is ready for designer jeans. Looks like the days of jeans-as-only-workwear is fast getting over! Even though, most people still care less about the label and more about the fit!

Even Indian designers are fast catching the luxury jeans band-wagon.

Rocky S, the Mumbai designer was the first to launch a jeans label Rocky S in 2002.
Designer Arjun Khanna's - 'Rockstar in Morocco' was a success!
Though even now, only a very small section of the buyers can afford to shell out 8K or more for luxury jeans.

Levis has its own Diva line endorsed by Sushmita Sen and the Redwire DLX jeans that are iPod compatible. There are also talks of a Levis-Manish Arora collection...

Wrangler has it's own 'John Abrahan by Wrangler' collection at the top end.

Designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed is set to showcase his signature jeans at the Lakme Fashion Week in March.

Then there is the Sevens brand detailed in Swarovski and the Jap-gone-global brand Evisu's hand painted jeans and stuff from Diesel!

I guess 'Luxury Jeans' would be yet another example of 'Massclusivity' - the marriage of 'mass' and 'exclusivity'!
I also feel jeans is the perfect canvas for cross-over adventures in India where...
East meets West
Denim meets Designer
Casual meets Party-wear
Blue/ Mostly White-collar meets Pink/No-collar
Ubiquity meets Fashion/style statement

Luxury jeans(and its various mutants/ avatars) would see an increasing rise in popularity as it would also in a way fall in the category of 'personalised' stuff. The growing digital, connected and participative world loves 'personalised' themes - be it a $20,000 car or a blog or a 'personalised' jeans!

And therefore I think the timeless blue denim has once again re-invented itself for the next decade!

Or am I reading too much:-)

PS. Images sourced from gettyimages.com & India Today

Flash Brands. Flash Thoughts

Like most of us, I have been privy to the out-of-work Bollywood actor Shilpi Shetty's bizarre turn-around in fortunes through the British reality show Big Brother! It's been a 100m sprint towards famedom for Shilpa...

From 'nowhere' to 'everywhere'
From relative joblessness to a flood of Bollywood offers(a report said 74!!)
From a 2nd rung Bollywood star to an 'overnight diva'
From an ill-dressed actor to an icon of 'fusion clothing'
From a 'dumb bimbette' to an 'Indian Icon'(of course debatable and with large dollops of media frenzy!)

Over the last 12 months, I have viewed few such Flash Brands, built solely by media who rise to prominence and share of mind and then fade away. But while they last they are a brand no less!

Some other flash brands( if I can say so) would be 'Prince'(the Haryana boy who fell in a hole and shot to national recognition, Budhia, the Orissa marathon kid who generated TRPs for close to a month for all the Indian news channels and of course Laxmi Niwas Mittal...

Unlike Shilpa, of course, Prince and Budhia did not generate commercial opportunities(at least I am not aware of). Was wondering if there could be a science/ art of the flash brand. In our attention-deficit world, can we create them...Or do flash brands happen only by chance?

I think flash brands might have the following traits...
1. They have a strong topical core. In the case of Shilpa it was 'Resurgent Indian Pride'. More about it here. Budhia = Super Kid Archetype...

2. Built by PR and media reportage and not by advertising.

3. Largely unpredictable. But the flash-timing has to be right. The media must be relatively free to build stories and feed the public. So. flash brands are unlikely to be created in the week preceding KBC's launch or the Union Budget week:-)

4. Indian Flash brands(Shilpa, Budhia, Prince, LN Mittal...) in the recent past have mostly been human. As opposed to the Western/ Japanese ones - Harry Potter(a fictional character), Rubiks Cube, Pokemon, Sudoku!!

5. Flash brands generally follow a story, a quick trajectory of facts, fiction and spice...They ride on a wave of media frenzy and 360 merchandise(Harry Potter, Sudoku)

6. While the origin of a flash brand might be serendipitous, it needs sustained interest by media to keep it going through its relatively short shelf-life...


7. Flash brands might happen with greater frequency today. In the digital age, with the democratisation of technology tools and creative expression, if a flash brand core has an appeal, it encourages an active participation from the masses rather than a passive, push-only communication strategy of most conventional brands...

Would love to hear of more examples, counter-views, other flash brand traits...

Mishraji Ki Baatein

Subhash K Jha in one of his film reviews had said about HAZAARON KHWAISHEIN AISI - "HKA has been Sudhir Mishra's most complex ambitious and politically driven film to date. He minces no words while castigating the Nehruvian "ideal" that modern India adopted, a model for governance that generated a social order that's unjust and degenerate.

Subsuming the murky and incoherent politics of Kolkata, Delhi and the Bhojpur district of Bihar between the decadent decade that falls between 1969 and 1977, HKA takes us on a strange stirring and reverberant journey into the erosion of the collective conscience in modern India."

Post HKA, I have always waited to hear and read more about Mishraji. Found this interview of his on PassionforCinema.com...

Loved some of the nuggets from his rant...

1. "Every time you make a film it is a humiliating experience for me - within myself, because you have a notion of yourself and every time you feel you will be caught out this time. There’s so much mediocrity that comes out from within us. And every time you begin a film and you try to write, the first draft is so bad."

2. "Don’t make what the marketers tell you to make. Make something that you want to make and then market it."

3. "In the 1986 World cup Gary Lineker scored the most number of goals. So, they asked Gary Lineker, who scores the maximum number of goals. Is it the person who is at the right place at the right time? He said, “No…You have to be in the right place all the time. Then, sometimes the ball comes to you.”

4. "Do I think these times are any better for Indian filmmaking? This is again a very stupid notion. A notion born out of illiteracy. ‘What is the past is not necessarily a classic, what is the present, is not necessarily modern."

5. "Today, again young people say that we are changing. C’mon, every one was modern according to their time. So Guru Dutt was modern according to his time and hopefully somebody will be modern according to our time. The best films are those that cross time. The only way to know what was a good film is twenty years after it was made."

The planner in me is often searching for unique Indian voices. I find Sudhir Mishra to be one of them!