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8 things you didn’t know about Amitabh Bachchan

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Did you know that he dislikes the epithet Big B? Or that Harivansh Rai Bachchan considered Amitabh his greatest poetry ever? The author lists eight facts that you simply must know about one of the most influential actors of all times

3 I remember when I was studying at Sherwood College, Nainital, I won the Kendal Award (which was instituted in the memory of Shashi Kapoor’s father-in-law) for dramatics. Everyone expected me to win again the following year, but I went down with measles. My father on hearing that I was in the hospital came to be with me and slept next to me. He tried to distract me from the play that was being staged in the main hall and in which I was to play the lead. He used to say, “mann ka ho toh accha hai, na ho to aur bhi zyada accha.” It kind of sums up the philosophy of life – that if you get what you want it’s great, but if you don’t then it’s even better as you getting what god wills.

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Etc., Online video, Strategy

Entertainment battle moves to the web

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The explosion in online video consumption is pushing TV and film companies to fine-tune their internet strategies

Ditto TV offers 60 Indian TV channels such as Colors, Sony and Zee TV online – on the mobile, tablet or laptop. If you are a Vodafone, Airtel or BSNL subscriber, you could pick and choose what you want and get billed by the mobile operator. After a year of its launch, Ditto TV has 292,000 active users paying anything from Rs 10 to Rs 100, depending on what they buy. And here is the surprising bit: Ditto TV is the OTT, or over-the-top, arm of the Rs 6,350-crore Zee Group, one of India’s largest media houses.

T-Series, India’s largest music company, got more than 90 per cent of its March 2013 revenue of Rs 450 crore from “non-physical” formats. Some of that is the fees from restaurants for playing its music, while the bulk comes from scores of streaming and download services such as Saavn and Gaana.com or from YouTube. T-Series has remained the most viewed channel on YouTube for over three years now.

The others among the top ten on YouTube include the Rs 1,074-crore Eros International, India’s largest film studio, the Rs 6,100-crore Star India, Shemaroo Entertainment, an erstwhile video company which is now a digital content firm, and Rajshri, the digital arm of one of India’s oldest production houses.

The who’s who of the Rs 83,000-crore Indian media and entertainment industry is back online, and with gusto. The growth in mobile devices coupled with an improving bandwidth has liberated millions of Indians. This in turn has led to an explosion in online video consumption in one of the world’s largest internet markets. From liftmen and security guards to college students – more than 227 million Indians are online. They could be watching films, cricket matches, TV shows, yoga and cookery lessons, among other things, on their mobiles, laptops, tablets, phablets et cetera. According to comScore, a digital anyalytics company, more than 59 million people went to one video site or the other in November 2013. The actual figure is larger as the comScore sample doesn’t yet include mobile devices.

Click here for complete article at Business Standard.com

Directing Business, Etc.

Why Knowledge is Not Power

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Today, knowledge is not power, but sharing knowledge is. If you look at the traditional business hierarchy—the same one adopted from the militaryyears ago—the top of the pyramid represents the C-suite, the founders, or those who have the most influence by way of sheer rank or tenure. But does this make sense? Executives at the top of the pyramid must (theoretically) know as much as possible about the company in order to run it effectively and to make the most informed decisions. But what happens as you traverse downwards through the ranks toward the lower levels of the pyramid?

Knowledge sharing is what empowers people to make accurate and timely decisions.

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ET, IT…and the rest