Now, produce a movie with one rupee only

 B S :Digbijay Mishra  |  Kolkata  February 11, 2013 Last Updated at 15:10 IST

How crowd-sourcing is catching up among the film fraternity

At a time when headline inflation is close to7%, a rupee may not fetch you much but it will certainly give you a chance to co-produce a movie.

You can now contribute as less as one rupee and 

become a co-producer of Kolkata based filmmaker's 

independent film―Diamonds In The Sky.

Anamitra Roy, an aluminus of the film studies department of Jadavpur University, floated The One Rupee Movie Project on Facebook on February last year where one can contribute as less as Re 1 and get their names on the credit list as a co-producer. 

It has already raised more than 50% of the total production cost, estimated to be around Rs 2.5 lakh― and the film is set to be released in May this year. 

Two promos of this unique movie have already gone viral on the net.

The concept, according to many experts can be termed as crowd funding, and is quite popular in foreign countries. This the first time that a independent movie is being made by contribution of just one rupee.

Though there is no upper limit to what one can pay, you could become a producer by paying only a rupee.

As a return, all the contributors will get a copy of the DVD and their names will feature as co-producers in the credit list. The filmmaker has already collected around 1.65 lakh in and hopes to release the film in May. The budget of the film is Rs 250,000.

Roy's wife Sriparna Dey also is the part of the project as co-director.
 
For making contribution to the film the director has created a blog, apart from the Facebook page,  athttp://onerupeefilm.blogspot.in where the details are given. You can send it to a certain mentioned bank account or use Paypal to send money to the director.

The idea came out of nowhere and once we floated the page on Facebook it started receiving good response. I was very sure of the creative content and was not ready to compromise on with that so funding from mid-corporates as out of question. Infact many investors approached on our Facebook page but the typical investor mentality clashed with our motive. So, just to try out we launched the One Rupee Film Project and since then the going ha been good,” said Roy

Roy has created multiple slabs for the people and based on the amount of their contribution one may also get to be the associate producer of the film. For example, if one gives Rs 10,000 then the person will be the honorary associate producers.

Long back in 1976, when celebrated filmmaker Shyam Benegal made Manthan, he had got a substantial amount of funding of the film from the Gujarat Milk Co-operative members. Slowly and steadily crowd funding is catching up in other regions of the country as well.

In South too, John Abraham, not the bollywood actor but a famous theater artist, had made a film named Amma Ariyan which was also received critical acclaim. According to Roy, some independent directors are trying to make short films in Assam, Bihar through crowd funding.

Going forward the director duo plan to send the movie for global film festivals which would propel into a bigger  release domestically. We have some plans to participate in various film festivals.  We don't have heavy connections but we are hopeful that the content of the movie will sail through,” added Roy.

Experts on film making cite  Onir's example for his  National Award-winner 'I Am'. Onir which tapped into social networking sites to find prospective people to  'co-produce' the film by pitching in with small contributions. But Roy feels treating his film and other films such as  Onir in the same category would not be fair as those people have got big names attached with them.


Roy's film revolves around a young filmmaker who works in the fringes of the industry to earn a living. He is passionate about films and believes in creative independence more than anything.

Wipro’s Premji may be preparing for a generational shift

Earlier this year, Azim Premji became the non-executive chairman of a company unit when Wipro hived off its non-IT business into Wipro Enterprises, a sign that he’s started putting together a plan to formally step down. Photo: Aravind Teki/Bloomberg

Live Mint :Pankaj Mishra :Mon, Feb 11 2013. 09 53 AM IST

Premji has started preparing to hand over responsibilities to professional managers,
 elevate son to board seats

Bangalore: It’s difficult to imagine Azim Hashim Premji , 67, not actively involved in the company he transformed from a vegetable oil maker into a nearly $7.3 billion conglomerate. He still reviews allWipro Ltd businesses every quarter and travels across the globe meeting hundreds of customers and partners every year. Last month, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he attended more than 40 meetings in three days.

But Premji, the billionaire chairman of Wipro, may have begun setting the stage for his retirement, according to people working directly with him and several others tracking him from outside.

Premji has in the past few months started preparing to hand over executive responsibilities to professional managers and elevate elder son Rishad to board seats across different company units before 2015, people working directly with him said.

“He’s started switching off from many things,” said a person who works closely with the Wipro chairman, but requested anonymity because Premji has not publicly spoken about his retirement plans. “From the way he’s going about everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if the big succession at Wipro happens within two years.”

Earlier this year, Premji became the non-executive chairman of a company unit when Wipro hived off its non-information technology (IT) business into Wipro Enterprises, a sign that he’s started putting together a plan to formally step down. An overhaul of Wipro’s board, adequate grooming of Rishad to manage ownership across the businesses, and an established family office to manage the endowment for his philanthropic activities are his top priorities ahead of stepping down, three people tracking him closely said.

“At the 32,000ft level, it’s quite clear that all of this—hiving off non-IT business, stronger push for family office and endowment—are pieces of a bigger succession plan,” said a second person, requesting anonymity. “In the current context, I would imagine another two years at best for this transition to happen.”

Premji was not available for an interview, a Wipro spokesperson said when Mint approached his office last month.

People who have worked with Premji and are still associated with Wipro say his legacy will be a tough act to follow for anybody who takes over.

“There are three things that stand out about him—his value system, the autonomy he gives to people, and his systematic approach to work,” said Shankar Jaganathan, who worked directly with Premji during his early years and spent nearly two decades with Wipro as corporate treasurer. “These are personal traits tough to replicate for anyone.”

Already, Premji is considering naming Rishad as a director on the Wipro Enterprises board to represent family ownership. If this happens, it will be the second time the Premji scion gets on the board of a Wipro business unit; he joined the company as a manager in 2007 and is now the chief strategy officer of Wipro’s IT business. Rishad already sits on the board of Wipro GE Medical Systems Ltd. If he joins the Wipro Enterprises board, it will be the first business completely owned by Wipro where he gets a board seat.

Before joining Wipro, Rishad, 35, who has an MBA from Harvard Business School, worked at GE Capital in the US for four years and with Bain and Co., London, for two years.

A non-executive role for Premji that will allow him to ensure sufficient grooming for the next generation looks a possibility now, said Kavil Ramachandran, a professor at the Indian School of Business who specializes in family businesses and wealth management.

“I am sure he would move on and continue to be on the board as chairman emeritus or non-executive chairman for some time till he is sure that this young man (Rishad) is able to carry on,” Ramachandran said by phone. “I think this process is very much on; sometimes the 60s kind of time is good because you can start preparing well and even compress the grooming period required for the next generation. Now he has to accelerate the process of transition.”

Another person who also worked directly with Premji until a few years ago and is still in touch with him said the Wipro founder may have already delayed the transition.

“If I were him, I would have stepped down by 2003. This notion of the next gen not being prepared does not always make sense—when Premji took over Wipro, he was just 19 years old,” this person said, requesting anonymity because he did not want to upset Premji by making a public comment on this issue.

Other experts said Premji must retire from executive roles now if he wants to take his philanthropic initiatives to a higher level.

The Azim Premji Foundation works in the area of primary education and has been receiving financial support from the Premji Trust. In December 2010, Premji transferred 213 million shares, an 8.7% stake in Wipro out of the 79.5% he held at the time, to the trust. The transferred shares were then worth Rs.8,846 crore.

“I completely agree that over the past few years, he’s been increasingly getting involved in education and other philanthropic activities. And he put the best talent he had to back these projects,” said Rishikesha T. Krishnan, who teaches corporate strategy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. “It’s very clear he is working towards that transition. And if he wants to build the university and the foundation in his lifetime, he would need enough time to do. Logically, in two-three years would be the right time.”

The bigger issue, though, is whether Wipro will miss Premji and even face any business issues when he steps down, especially at a time when the company is attempting to regain double-digit growth rates in its IT business.

Some experts said Wipro may actually benefit if Premji’s over-arching presence takes a back seat.

“Azim Premji has always been firmly embedded into everything Wipro does—it is his DNA. I find it hard to see him pulling back much while he is still on Planet Earth,” said Phil Fersht, founder of outsourcing advisory firm HfS Research in the US. “However, if I am to be proved wrong and he is genuinely taking a back seat, this may prove to be a blessing for the firm.”

“We are entering a new age in the services industry where firms like Wipro need to invest more in its consultative and business alignment capabilities—not solely the old-world outsourcing model of low-cost labour and efficient performance,” Fersht added. “Wipro needs to assert itself in the market and having some fresh blood up top could well provide the answer. Moreover, TK (T.K. Kurien, chief executive of Wipro’s IT business) needs to be given the freedom to drive Wipro forward without Azim looking over his shoulder every minute of every day.”

Kurien is trying to help Wipro regain the momentum lost after several years of lagging rivals in revenue growth by collapsing old management structures and hiring senior executives from other firms. The December quarter net profit for Wipro’s IT business beat estimates, but the volume of business declined, a sign that the turnaround is still a work in progress. The company is hoping to catch up with its rivals in the pace of growth by the April-June quarter this year.

For now though, the question is whether Premji may delay this transition further and wait for 2016 when he will complete 50 years at Wipro, apart from spending more time in the business while Rishad is still being grooming. “He will need a much stronger board with a mix of leaders who understand Wipro and its values, apart from some folks from the industry who can bring fresh and bold perspectives to take the company to next level,” said another person familiar with Premji’s thinking, also requesting anonymity.

Chapattis..Lifebuoy..Maha Kumbh Mela... Brilliant advertising idea.

Kumbh Mela: Of clean hands and rotis

Ogilvy Action tied up with over 100 dhaba owners in the vicinity of Kumbh Mela and handed out more than 2.5 million chapattis stamped with the Lifebuoy message.

'B T :Ajita Shashidhar February 9, 2013  | 09:55 IST

Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?' 

That was the message, in Hindi, stamped on over 2.5 million chapattis at the Maha Kumbh Mela , the largest congregation of human beings on the planet. 

The unusual advertising medium certainly had pilgrims taking notice. The campaign enabled Unilever, the company that makes the soap, to reach a large audience in a low-cost but effective manner.

Rotis with a message

Unilever has the advertising agency Ogilvy Action to thank for the brilliant advertising idea. 

Vipul Salvi

Vipul Salvi, the 34-year-old National Creative Director of Ogilvy Action, is the one of the people behind the campaign. He says the idea needed to be big and innovative. "The obvious options were to put up stalls and play games around health and hygiene, but that would have been too gimmicky," remarks Salvi. 

Those ideas were rejected since the Maha Kumbh is a spiritual affair. The mandate, therefore, was to look at other ways of getting the consumer in touch with the brand. 

The ad agency deliberated over the campaign for close to eight months and came up with over 200 ideas before zeroing in on the roti campaign. 

Rotis being stamped with the message

A heat stamp was specially made to make an impression on the chapattis. The agency tied up with over 100 dhaba owners in the vicinity and handed out more than 2.5 million chapattis stamped with the Lifebuoy message. 

The heat stamps used to make an impression on the chapattis

Lifebuoy achieved its aim of increasing awareness and getting people in touch with the brand. And many of the millions at the Maha Kumbh Mela ate with cleaner hands.

Words of Wisdom - Albert Einstein-01

Learning the Basics

 B T :Dipak Mondal  :Edition: February 2013
Tips to know your financial literacy quotient

Knowledge can make all the difference between financial success and failure. For instance, what happens if a person, the family's sole bread-winner, buys insurance in the name of his wife and children instead of himself? If he were to die, his family would not get a penny from the insurance company.

Every time such cases of imprudence are highlighted, the lack of understanding of financial products among people comes to the fore.

Even if the reason for the wrong choice is mis-selling by intermediaries, investors cannot put the entire blame on others, as a part of the problem is their reluctance to know about their finances or financial products, in short, their lack of financial literacy.

Here is what a person must know and do if he wants to keep himself financially safe and sound.

Keep track of cash flow: 
With multiple credit cards, there is always a chance of spending much more than you earn. There is high likelihood of falling into a debt trap if you do not assess your income and expenses. Knowing your cash flow is the first step towards financial literacy.

Basically, being financially literate means knowing how much money you have and how much you need," says Anil Rego, chief executive officer and founder, Right Illustration: PRAGATI Horizons, a financial advisory firm.

"Financial planning is not only about investment planning, it's about money management as well," says Jitendra Solanki, a New Delhibased certified financial planner.


Maintaining a note book with income and expenses entered into different columns is an age-old way of keeping tabs on cash flow. If you are not alien to computers and internet, you can do so with the help of online personal finance applications such as myuniverse.co.in, perfios.com and arthyantra.com which are available for free.

Charting out financial goals: 
Setting financial goals is the second-most important indicator of your being financially evolved.

In the absence of clear financial goals, investments become just a tax-saving exercise or thrill-seeking speculative stock trades. Knowing how much to invest and for which goals helps you plan better.
Maintaining a note book with income and expenses entered into different columns is an age-old way of keeping tabs on cash flow. If you are not alien to computers and internet, you can do so with the help of online personal finance applications such as myuniverse.co.in, perfios.com and arthyantra.com which are available for free.

Charting out financial goals: 
Setting financial goals is the second-most important indicator of your being financially evolved.

In the absence of clear financial goals, investments become just a tax-saving exercise or thrill-seeking speculative stock trades. Knowing how much to invest and for which goals helps you plan better.


"Set financial goals, save for them and make good investment decisions," says Arup Mukherjee, assistant vice-president, strategic business unit education, National Stock Exchange.

If you know how much you will need for, say, your child's education, in 10 years, you can invest regularly for the goal. The investment will depend on the product you invest in. In fixed deposits, your post-tax return will be 6-8%. In equities, you can expect to earn 10-12% a year over the next 10 years.

To know how much you need to invest, you can use online calculators on websites of mutual funds, insurance companies and banks.

Know the financial products: 
A person buys just Life Insurance Corporation's traditional schemes as they serve his tax-saving, insurance as well as investment needs. He is, however, unaware of the fact that the schemes will give him just 6-7% return a year, which may not be enough to meet all long-term financial goals.

Choosing financial products that suit you is important . "Understand the financial products you may need throughout your life, including bank accounts, mortgages, retirement savings plans and basic instruments such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds," says Ambarish Datta, managing director and chief executive officer, BSE Institute.

Equally important are the benefits and risks associated with a product. Equities have volatility risk, bonds have interest-rate risk (bond prices fall as interest rates rise), fixed deposits have default risk (the borrower may be unable to pay back), while real estate has liquidity risks.

"Understanding the risks and benefits of a financial product by talking to the agent or conducting basic research is an imperative before taking an investment decision," says Bimal Gandhi, chairman, Ameriprise India.




"Most of the times, investors look at just the past returns, but it is equally important to understand the risks the product carries," says Rajesh Kothari, managing director, AlfAccurate Advisors.

Importance of asset allocation: 
Don't put all the eggs in one basket. You should allocate money to different assets-equity, debt, fixed deposits, gold and real estate- based on your needs, risk-taking ability and age. Diversification limits losses when one or more asset is not doing well.

"Investors must understand the importance of asset allocation. They must invest in different assets whose benefits and risks they understand," says Deepak Kumar Chatterjee, managing director and CEO, SBI Mutual Fund.

Know the charges:
Issuers and sellers of financial products charge different fees that affect the cost of purchase and hence long-term returns. It is, therefore, essential to know how much you are being charged.

Banks charge for most services such as online money transfer, loans and issuing demand. These can have a huge impact on your monetary outgo.

Similarly, investment products such as mutual funds, insurance and unit-linked insurance policies come with multiple charges such as fund management fee, mortality fee and distributor's fee. Buying shares requires payment of brokerage and demat charges. Real estate involves brokerage and registration charges while buying gold involves making charges and taxes.

Tax implications: 
Tax can take away a big chunk of your investment and salary if you do not plan well. Other than the salary, returns from investments-interest, capital gains and dividends-are also liable to tax. Then there are service tax, stamp duty and securities transaction tax (STT).

While you cannot escape some such as service tax and STT, you can lower the tax on capital gains or interest earned by tweaking your portfolio.

All you need to know is the applicability (or non-applicability) of tax on different financial products.

Know the basic financial math: 
This can be a little tough, but when it comes to managing your money, you can go that extra mile. All you require is understanding of basic financial mathematics such as compound interest and Rule of 72.

You may have a mental block when it comes to numbers, but with all kinds of calculators and financial applications available online, mastering a few basic formulae is not tough.

"Many people understand the benefits of compounding and the difference between simple and compound interest. The reason is simple- they understand banking better than, say, a mutual fund," says Chatterjee of SBI Mutual Fund.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
If you know the things mentioned earlier, it helps if you ask the right questions about the product you are being sold. This way there is less chance of you being sold a product that does not suit your needs.

So, if an insurance agent tells you about a "savings plan" with "free" insurance, ask about the different charges that you will have to pay and the returns that can be expected and compare them with what other products are offering.

Financial literacy is a vast subject and the more you know the better it is. However, you can be a successful investor without being a financial wizard. All you have to do is get the basics right.