Battle has gone worse. Google+ (G+) has taken on Facebook (FB) by opening up the gates to the world 2 days ago. Now anyone can join G+ without an invitation. Also, FB has redesigned its user interface to “better express who you are” & have added many features such as subscription, ticker. Google has been trying hard for past 3-4 years to crack the puzzle called “Social Networking” with attempts such as buzz, Google wave. It’s been more than 3 months G+ has come into picture with a controlled release through invitations. Paul Allen (G+’s unofficial statistician) puts recent G+ user base at around 43 million. FB is at 750million. There is no comparison right now. FB has been enjoying sheer dominance in Social Networking space for a considerable time now. Social Networking has become a place to be. Businesses have realized this too. FB has been able to make inroads into Google’s play ground - “Internet Advertising” & that’s making Google uncomfortable.
If features are to be compared, both the sites are almost neck to neck with the exception of Privacy controls (Lists in FB, Circles in G+), Group Video chat (Hangouts in G+). The wall looks almost similar. FB has a strong developer community & application base. G+ has just opened their API (Application programming Interface) for developers to try out the platform. G+ has strong parent, Google, which has many more services like Calendar, Docs, and Reader to integrate with Social Network.
Both entities are facing challenges. With the huge user base FB is catering to, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to introduce changes especially the way user interface works. If it decides to discontinue some feature which is even if used by a small fraction of users, these users go crazy. Satisfaction index goes down. It will be interesting to analyze how the change in an interface has gone down with the users. On the other hand G+ is having its own set of issues. There are very few things to engage users on G+. The stream of updates seems quiet with very few updates. It’s boring for someone who has just shifted from FBs happening wall. There are just 16 games available. Games have been the most scintillating thing on FB with the games like Farmville, City Ville from Zynga.
There are people with different psyche. Some people like changes in day to day things. Some don’t. There are people who are complaining about new FB look. Some might have shifted G+. Some like to try out new things. Some like to stick with existing ones. G+ users are excited & very receptive to changes they are making. The people who are reluctant to try new things will continue to use FB in the whatsoever form it is. FB changes always look like a knee jerk reaction of something, but people have got used to it. The war is on & it’s not going end anytime soon.
Where this all is heading? My sense is that, Social Networking sites will no longer remain the way to connect with your friends. Social Networking is at its nascent state. Opportunities are abundant. Currently it’s being injected in our life one small droplet a day and its overall effects are still to be felt. Remember how difficult it was to raise money for a social cause? Now it’s just few clicks away. Social revolutions are being planned, propelled through networks. Every business is having an icon on their packing saying “Like us on FB.” Networks are going to be the way in which we all will be reached by everyone – living & non-living things.
No one knows who is going to win this. My take - FB is going to stay but G+ will also its own say. For us it’s a good thing. Competition has got healthy.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Lost in Ghat
How many people have tried to frame the flavour of Mumbai? How many writers she has seduced? How many dreams she has bolstered? Myriad is the only word which can count all of these. But still Mumbai questions everybody. The transitions she has been witnessing throughout her existence make her so much alive every other day that one just cannot pay any heed towards her growing age & decaying features. Kiran Rao (Mrs. Aamir Khan) is the latest prey which she has engrossed. I went for the movie (Dhobi Ghat) with hell lot of expectations. Don’t know why, but I was under the preoccupied mindset that it will be a nice entertainer. As soon as the movie started my impression was shattered into pieces. There was a warning displayed after the titles “Smoking is injurious to health.”
Arun, who is a painter by profession & loner by nature, shifts to a new apartment for his next canvas expression. It’s an old house in the mess of Mumbai. (You can smell what is been cooked in the apartment in front of you.) He meets a charming investment banking consultant, Shai, who is on sabbatical to do a research on small businesses, in the party arranged to float his new paintings. Third character is Munna. He does all the filthy chores one can imagine. His shanty depicts the true image of Mumbai by all means. In a room (?) of the size little more than a toilet, 4 people are trying to change their destinies - Munna, his 2 brothers, & their mom. Forth character is Yasmin. It’s the most intriguing character. She has got married newly & has shifted to Mumbai with her husband. Dhobi Ghat is interweaving of these 4 & Mumbai acts like a silent observer.
Munna is Dhobi (in a daytime), a typical yokel, trying to resonate on multiple frequencies. His aspiration to become actor & the efforts he takes amaze us. You will be definitely stunned to see how he lives, exercises, eats, works, safe-keeps his money; in his 70 square feet shanty. His interaction with Shai as her Dhobi, friend & one-way lover is excellent to watch. Shai is an amateur photographer & is shown capturing any thing which you would imagine. Black & white, Colour photos of Mumbai, characters, Dhobis is not only artistic but paints the image of the film inside you. She is in love with Arun because she feels there was more than a sex when they met after party which threw open Arun’s work. She always enquires his whereabouts to Munna, as he is a common link (Dhobi) for both of them. Yasmin, which we see only through her recordings with husband, keeps haunting us. Arun has got these recordings in his new home & has got attracted towards it. He is painting his new work – recordings of Yasmin are running side by side. Yasmin’s videos keep showing us flavours of Mumbai, beaches, crowded shops, Yasmin’s own messages to his brother, etc. These recordings are filled with mystery, curiosity, uneasiness.
The performances are mind blowing. Yasmin (Kirti Malhotra) has done a stupendous job. Her eyes speak lot more than anything else. Shai (Monica Dogra) has managed to show ambivalence arising out of situations quite well. Munna (Prateik Babbar) has played an innocent folk. But at the same time he is shown to handle strange situations with quite stubbornness. Arun (Aamir Khan) has acted well to adjust himself to not so core role. Background score is awesome & makes necessary impact when required. Cheers to Gustavo Santaolalla. Entire movie is shown in frames. Arun is painting – Scene is cut to show recordings of Yasmin - Scene is again cut to show Munna washing cloths. It has some strange effect on the psyche of viewer. It can’t be expressed so well in words. In the film too, Silence speaks more than words. This is where Kiran emerges as Kiran Rao & not as Mrs. Aamir Khan.
What happens to Arun & to his paintings? What about Munna’s love for Shai? Will Shai tell Arun what she is feeling? What about Yasmin? Do her recordings reach their destination? What is her story? Why one old lady, a neighbour of Arun, does not speak at all. She just looks messed up. Hmmmm. Some of these questions will get answered once you watch the movie. But you will have lot many questions left unanswered.
One thing is for sure – The texture & the feel of this movie is very different. You are always made to think the missing. This very effect i had witnessed after a Marathi movie Vihir, which has been acclaimed internationally.
I came to know why warning was shown after the titles.
Prasanna Vaidya.
Prasanna.vaidya@gmail.com
29/01/2011
Arun, who is a painter by profession & loner by nature, shifts to a new apartment for his next canvas expression. It’s an old house in the mess of Mumbai. (You can smell what is been cooked in the apartment in front of you.) He meets a charming investment banking consultant, Shai, who is on sabbatical to do a research on small businesses, in the party arranged to float his new paintings. Third character is Munna. He does all the filthy chores one can imagine. His shanty depicts the true image of Mumbai by all means. In a room (?) of the size little more than a toilet, 4 people are trying to change their destinies - Munna, his 2 brothers, & their mom. Forth character is Yasmin. It’s the most intriguing character. She has got married newly & has shifted to Mumbai with her husband. Dhobi Ghat is interweaving of these 4 & Mumbai acts like a silent observer.
Munna is Dhobi (in a daytime), a typical yokel, trying to resonate on multiple frequencies. His aspiration to become actor & the efforts he takes amaze us. You will be definitely stunned to see how he lives, exercises, eats, works, safe-keeps his money; in his 70 square feet shanty. His interaction with Shai as her Dhobi, friend & one-way lover is excellent to watch. Shai is an amateur photographer & is shown capturing any thing which you would imagine. Black & white, Colour photos of Mumbai, characters, Dhobis is not only artistic but paints the image of the film inside you. She is in love with Arun because she feels there was more than a sex when they met after party which threw open Arun’s work. She always enquires his whereabouts to Munna, as he is a common link (Dhobi) for both of them. Yasmin, which we see only through her recordings with husband, keeps haunting us. Arun has got these recordings in his new home & has got attracted towards it. He is painting his new work – recordings of Yasmin are running side by side. Yasmin’s videos keep showing us flavours of Mumbai, beaches, crowded shops, Yasmin’s own messages to his brother, etc. These recordings are filled with mystery, curiosity, uneasiness.
The performances are mind blowing. Yasmin (Kirti Malhotra) has done a stupendous job. Her eyes speak lot more than anything else. Shai (Monica Dogra) has managed to show ambivalence arising out of situations quite well. Munna (Prateik Babbar) has played an innocent folk. But at the same time he is shown to handle strange situations with quite stubbornness. Arun (Aamir Khan) has acted well to adjust himself to not so core role. Background score is awesome & makes necessary impact when required. Cheers to Gustavo Santaolalla. Entire movie is shown in frames. Arun is painting – Scene is cut to show recordings of Yasmin - Scene is again cut to show Munna washing cloths. It has some strange effect on the psyche of viewer. It can’t be expressed so well in words. In the film too, Silence speaks more than words. This is where Kiran emerges as Kiran Rao & not as Mrs. Aamir Khan.
What happens to Arun & to his paintings? What about Munna’s love for Shai? Will Shai tell Arun what she is feeling? What about Yasmin? Do her recordings reach their destination? What is her story? Why one old lady, a neighbour of Arun, does not speak at all. She just looks messed up. Hmmmm. Some of these questions will get answered once you watch the movie. But you will have lot many questions left unanswered.
One thing is for sure – The texture & the feel of this movie is very different. You are always made to think the missing. This very effect i had witnessed after a Marathi movie Vihir, which has been acclaimed internationally.
I came to know why warning was shown after the titles.
Prasanna Vaidya.
Prasanna.vaidya@gmail.com
29/01/2011
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