Movie: Kidnap
Director: Sanjay Gadhvi
Cast: Imran Khan, Minissha Lamba and Sanjay Dutt

IndiaFM

When you carry the baggage of super-successful films such as Dhoom and Dhoom 2, the expectations from your subsequent outing is bound to be gargantuan. Unfortunately, Kidnap falls short of expectations. You expect a seven- course meal, but you're served mere crumbs.

Where does it falter? The boy versus man concept holds tremendous scope and writer Shibani Bathija could've come up with an enthralling revenge drama. But Kidnap fumbles, stumbles and falls on its face. The cat-n-mouse game is hardly enticing and that is its biggest drawback.

Kidnap comes close to Zinda in terms of plotline. There're similarities between the two films. But Kidnap isn't as dark and gruesome as Zinda. Also, Kidnap loses focus after a promising start.

The hallmark of any revenge fare is the suspense quotient. In this case, there's a motive behind what Imran does. And money is definitely not the motive here. So far, so good. But the purpose of kidnapping the billionaire's only daughter as also the chain of events that lead to the culmination is such a put-off. Things keep deteriorating as they reach the finale.

The culprit? Obviously, the writer of this lifeless, unexciting and tedious drama. Shibani seems to think that the audience is pea-brained.

Silver lining or just dark clouds? Imran Khan's splendid act acts as a soothing balm, but if the pudding is tasteless, no amount of dressing can salvage the situation.

When Dr Mallika (Vidya Malvade) asks her daughter Sonia (Minissha Lamba) what she wants for her 18th birthday, Sonia tells her she wants to meet her dad, Vikrant Raina (Sanjay Dutt). The mother and father of this kid have separated, we're explained at the very outset. After a spat between the mother and daughter, Sonia walks off in a huff and doesn't return.

Mallika panics when she gets a call from a stranger that he has kidnapped Sonia. The kidnapper, Kabir (Imran Khan), has only one demand -- he will negotiate with nobody but Sonia's father, Vikrant.

Reluctantly Mallika brings Vikrant back into their lives to save Sonia. But Vikrant chokes at the thought of taking orders from a criminal. But Kabir holds the trump card - he holds Sonia - and Vikrant knows he has no option but to toe the line.

Kabir tells him they are going to play a game - just the two of them. Vikrant has to play by the rules set by Kabir and he has to play alone. He has to play to save his daughter. If he even utters the word 'police', it will be bye-bye for Sonia!

Because his daughter's life is at stake, a reluctant Vikrant agrees to obey Kabir's orders…

Never judge a book by its cover. This adage suits Kidnap to the T. One look at its promos and you know what the story is, but the screenplay is so amateurish, even lifeless at times, that you scream in pain!

Gadhvi and Shibani open the cards at the very outset. The sketches at the very beginning as also Minissha's kidnap within 10-minutes of the start compels you to think that the follow up should be equally exhilarating. But things start going wrong from this part onwards.

Imran's clues for Sanju, the first in a train and later at an engagement ceremony, make no sense. Later, Sanju and Vidya Malvade's entry in the jail is bizarre. This part takes you back to the cinema of 1970s and 1980s, when nonsense dominated.

Later, when Sanju refuses to take Imran's call, Imran lands up at his house. Which kidnapper, in his right senses, would ever do that? Even the flashback - Imran's childhood portions - are just not impactful. The same goes for the climax. The shootout at the New Year party is ridiculous. Seriously, the writing is pathetic!

Sanjay Gadhvi is letdown by a script that easily ranks amongst the worst of 2008. Pritam's music is another sore point. Barring the Mit Jaaye track, the remaining songs are lacklustre. Bobby Singh's camerawork is first-rate.

Kidnap belongs to Imran Khan. Watch this youngster take giant strides and you know that he has arrived. He carries the cold look effortlessly. Sanjay Dutt looks disinterested, as if he is about to break into a yawn. Minissha Lamba is miscast. She doesn't look like a 17-year-old in the first place. Also, the generous dose of skin show doesn't gel with someone who's held captive.

Vidya Malvade is efficient. Reema Lagoo is a mere prop. Rahul Dev's character looks forced.

On the whole, Kidnap fails to grip you and that is its biggest flaw. At the box-office, Kidnap, being teen sensation Imran Khan's immediate release after the blockbuster hit Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Na, would ensure a strong opening weekend but the poor merits are sure to take a toll once the initial euphoria subsides. Disappointing!

verdict: two stars...

Hemal Shah

India's answer to Warren Buffet. The stock market’s ‘big bull’. The pin up boy of the markets: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

He made a fortune by investing in the stock market. From an initial amount of Rs 5,000, as it is rumoured, he has made Rs 5,000 crore in just over two decades!

Jhunjhunwala once said humorously, "Markets are like women; always commanding, mysterious, unpredictable and volatile." And yet he lorded them. There is a lot I learnt from his investing quotes, and there's something in it for you too.

-- Invest in a business and not a company.
Jhunjhunwala identified and invested in Pantaloons much before the market discovered it. Today, he is gaining from that investment. That's because he invested in the potential of the underlying business (of organized retail in this case) and it's first mover advantage.

-- Maximise profits and minimise losses.
Cut losses and move on with life. At the same time, hold on to winning stocks till their business has achieved its full potential.

-- Always have an independent opinion. Observe and read relevant information with an open mind.
Jhunjhunwala believes in doing his own research before investing. A good example: he was lapping up the ignored Indian Public Sector (PSU) stocks when the herd was after the IT stocks during the late nineties. He made a fortune investing in PSU stocks, while many lost their shirts during the dot com led market crash in 2000.

Be opportunistic but wait for the right moment.
Don't jump to buy all at once. The market always gives a chance to buy more at a lesser price if you wait for the right moment.

-- Be happy with your gains but learn to accept losses with a smile.
Jhunjhunwala has had his share of dud investments. A good example is Mid-day Multimedia. But that did not deter him.

-- Study the markets thoroughly. Refer to history.
There have been many a bull and bear markets but in the long-term, the market is always trending upwards

-- Do something you love.
Jhunjhunwala went on to pursue his passion for investing right after he completed his Chartered Accountacy. He also had the option to go abroad but he chose to do what he loved.

-- Patience may be tested but your conviction will be rewarded.
Many of his holdings like Praj Industries, Hindustan Oil Exploration, Pantaloon, did not move for quite some time. However, he had the conviction in their business models and their potential to become multibaggers, which they eventually did.

-- Market is always right. Markets cannot be taught, they have to be learnt.
According to him there are no kings or kingdoms in the stock market. Mr Market is the only prime force.

-- Be an optimist!
I feel his genuine optimism rubs across the businesses he backs and they achieve success faster. For example: Bilcare, a clinical supplies management services, has suddenly become a hot story out of nowhere.

-- Aspire, but never envy.
Jhunjhunwala believes in sharing his investment ideology and thought process in this highly secretive industry.

-- Begin whatever you dream. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
No wonder he has backed many a first generation entrepreneurs like C.J. George (Geojit Financial), Mohan Bhandari ( Bilcare), Pramod Chaudhari (Praj Industries) etc.

And some more...
-- Build a fighting spirit; take the bad with the good.
-- Balance Fear and Greed
-- Invest for the long term
-- Be paranoid of success; never take it for granted. Realise success can be temporary and transient

Recently, while addressing an audience in Hyderabad, he predicted that the bull market is intact and the current phase is just a significant time-wise and price-wise correction.

Let's hope he is right this time around too and we see the resurgence of the India bull market soon....

I think the markets have hit an bottom... i don't think it will go further than this... ...

I found this blog by Vivan Fernandes on ibnlive

For us from Mangalore it is hard to accept at a Catholic monastery could have been attacked. On Sunday (Sept 14) morning, I got an SMS from a friend there that St Clarie's Monastery had been attacked by about 20-25 youth, presumably belonging to the Bajrang Dal. The nuns there belong to a cloistered group. The monastery is in the city centre and the hoodlums apparently pulled down the sacrament, broke a cross, tore hymn books, damaged a statue encased in glass and beat up the worshippers. Around that time a Church of South India outfit a few kilometers away, in Lalbag, was attacked and so was a New Life Centre in the adjoining district of Udupi. As I write , my friends tell me that people have thronged Milagres Chuch (the parish where St Claire's is located) in response to the emergency pealing of bells.


It was with a sense of disquiet that I returned from Mangalore a few days back. The previous week, a statue of Mother Mary installed by Bondel Church on a hillock was vandalized, again by the Bajrang Dal. The statue was on public land that had been encroached by the church, apparently for the past 60 years. That was wrong. But if the Bajrang Dal had an issue it should have filed a police complaint, not got into freelance action itself.


While Hindus are the majority in Mangalore, Christians and Muslims have a sizeable strength and peace had held all along, even though the Konkani-speaking Hindus (more than the Tulu-speaking ones) have a particular affinity to the RSS. In fact, I have held the chicken, mutton, pork and beef stalls located next to each other as a symbol of communal living.


Yet ever since the days of the NDA government, and the BJP's association with two state governments, the Sangh Parivar has sought to disturb social peace in Dakshina Kannada district. For the first time in our history, in 2006, curfew was imposed following communal rioting between Hindus and Muslims. Rivalry between the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its break away group, the Ram Sena, stoked the fires.


At the feast of our Lady's Assumption on 8th September, which is like Onam for Mangalorean Catholics, I was appalled to see the Mass being conducted under police protection.


The priests respond to every attack on Catholics with a call for prayer and fasting. Some Catholic youth that I spoke to disdained this namby-pamby (though civilized) approach and said the community should take up arms. They admired the eye-for-an-eye response of the Muslim community. There was approval also of Muslim terror acts, which they felt, was the only check on extremist Hindu outfits like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.


The mass conversion activities that are said to be responsible for tension in Orissa are missing in Mangalore. Hindu, Muslim and Catholics are settled communities. Of course, cults and sects like Jehovah's Witnesses, New Life etc are aggressive, and they have been converting even the Catholics (causing strife within families).


The communal events leading up to today are a call for rethink and action. So far Mangalorean society has been more of a salad tray than a soup bowl. While maintaining our identity, we need to engage with each other so that we get a better understanding or each other's culture. In a casual chat with Karnataka Home Secretary Upendra Tripathy last week I had broached the idea of inter-community dialogue.


The BJP wants strong anti-terror laws. It should first address the lawlessness within its own affiliated groups. A forked approach will be self-destructive.


The vast majority of people in Mangalore are peace loving. We must all come forward and isolate the extremists. We are a very enterprising people. Many Mangaloreans are leaders in their respective fields. We have a stake in India's rising prosperity. We cannot allow Mangalore to slide. ...

What is subprime crisis? How it caused financial mayhem?

The current upheaval in the global financial markets has caused more mayhem in a fortnight than the world has seen in its entire economic history.

Although there are many reasons responsible for bringing the world to the doorstep of financial doom, the main cause of this financial disaster is said to be the ?sub-prime loan.'

So what is this sub-prime loan? And why has it caused global panic? If it is related to the American housing sector, why should it affect Indian and other markets?

A sub-prime loan

Sub-prime mortgage loans (or housing loans or junk loans) are very risky. But since profits are high where the risk is high, a lot of lenders get into this business to try and make a quick buck.

Sub-prime loans are dicey as they are given to people with unstable incomes or low creditworthiness. These individuals are not financially sound enough to be given a loan when judged under the strict standards that should normally be followed by a bank or lending institution.

It all begins with an American wanting to live the famed American dream.

So he seeks a housing loan to give shape to his dream home. But there is a slight problem. He doesn't have good credit rating. This means that he is unable to clear all the stringent conditions that a bank imposes on an individual before it sanctions a loan.

Since his credit is not good enough, no bank will give him a home loan as there is a fear that the chances of a default by him are high. Banks don't like customers who default on their payments.

But lo!, before the American dream can fade away, there enters a second American -- usually a robust financial institution -- who has good credit rating and is willing to take on some amount of risk.

Given his good credit rating, the bank is willing to give the second American a loan. The bank gives the loan at a certain rate of interest.

The second American then divides this loan into a lot of small portions and gives them out as home loans to lots of other Americans -- like the first American -- who do not have a great credit rating and to whom the bank would not have given a home loan in the first place.

The second American gives out these loans at a rate of interest that is much higher rate than the rate at which he borrowed money from the bank. This higher rate is referred to as the sub-prime rate and this home loan market is referred to as the sub-prime home loan market.

Also by giving out a home loan to lots of individuals, the second American is trying to hedge his bets. He feels that even if a few of his borrowers default, his overall position would not be affected much, and he will end up making a neat profit.

Now if this home loan market is sub-prime, what is prime? The prime home loan market refers to individuals who have good credit ratings and to whom the banks lend directly.

Now let's get back to the sub-prime market. The institution giving out loans in the sub-prime market does not stop here. It does not wait for the principal and the interest on the sub-prime home loans to be repaid, so that it can repay its loan to the bank (the prime lender), which has given it the loan.

So what does the institution do?

It goes ahead and securitises' these loans. Securitisation means converting these home loans into financial securities, which promise to pay a certain rate of interest. These financial securities are then sold to big institutional investors.

Many investment banks (or institutions like the ?second American' in our story) sold complicated securities that were backed by debt which was very risky.

And how are these investors repaid? The interest and the principal that is repaid by the sub-prime borrowers through equated monthly installments (EMIs) is passed onto these institutional investors.

The institution giving out the sub-prime loans takes the money that it gets by selling the financial securities and passes it on to the bank he had taken the loan from, thereby repaying the loan. And everybody lives happily ever after. Or so it would have seemed.

The sub-prime home loans were given out as floating rate home loans. A floating rate home loan as the name suggests is not fixed. As interest rates go up, the interest rate on floating rate home loans also go up. As interest rates to be paid on floating rate home loans go up, the EMIs that need to be paid to service these loans go up as well.

With US interest rising, the EMIs too increased. Higher EMIs hit the sub-prime borrowers hard. A lot of them in the first place had unstable incomes and poor credit rating.

They, thus, defaulted. Once more and more sub-prime borrowers started defaulting, payments to the institutional investors who had bought the financial securities stopped, leading to huge losses.

The problem primarily began with the United States keeping its interest rates very low for a very long time, thus encouraging Americans to go in for housing loans, or mortgages. Lower interest rates led to buyers wanting to take on bigger loans, and thus bigger and better homes.

But life was fine. With the American economy doing well at that time and housing prices soaring on the back of huge demand for real estate and bigger and better homes, financial institutions saw a mouthwatering opportunity in the mortgage market.

In their zeal to make a quick buck, these institutions relaxed the strict regulatory procedures before extending housing loans to people with unstable jobs and weak credit standing.

Few controls were put in place to handle the situation in case the housing ?bubble' burst. And when the US economy began to slow down, the house of cards began to fall.

The crisis began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble.

A slowing US economy, high interest rates, unrealistic real estate prices, high inflation and rising oil tags together led to a fall in stock markets, growth stagnation, job losses, lack of consumer spending, a virtual halt to new jobs, and foreclosures and defaults.

Sub-prime homeowners began to default as they could no longer afford to pay their EMIs. A deluge of such defaults inundated these institutions and banks, wiping out their net worth. Their mortgage-backed securities were almost worthless as real estate prices crashed.

The moment it was found out that these institutions had failed to manage the risk, panic spread. Investors realised that they could hardly put any value on the securities that these institutions were selling. This caused many a Wall Street pillar to crumble.

As defaults kept rising, these institutions could not service their loans that they had taken from banks. So they turned to other financial firms to help them out, but after a while these firms too stopped extending credit realizing that the collateral backing this credit would soon lose value in the falling real estate market.

Now burdened with tons of debt and no money to pay it back, the back of these financial entities broke, leading to the current meltdown

The problem worsened because institutions giving out sub-prime home loans could easily securitise it. Once an institution securitises a loan, it does not remain on the books of the institution.

Hence that institution does not take the risk of the loan going bad. The risk is passed onto the investors who buy the financial securities issued for securitising the home loan.

Another advantage of securitisation, which has now become a disadvantage, is that money keeps coming in.

Once an institution securitises the first lot of home loans and repays the bank it has borrowed from, it can borrow again to give out loans. The bank having been repaid and made its money does not have any inhibitions in lending out money again.

Given the fact that institutions giving out the loan did not take the risk, their incentive was in just giving out the loan. Whether the individual taking the home loan had the capacity to repay the loan or not, wasn't their problem.

Thus proper due diligence to give out the home loan was not done and loans were extended to individuals who are more likely to default.

Other than this, greater the amount of loan that the institution gave out, greater was the amount it could securitise and, hence, greater the amount of money it could earn.

After borrowers started defaulting, it came to light that institutions giving out loans in the sub-prime market had been inflating the incomes of borrowers, so that they could give out greater amount of home loans.

By giving out greater amounts of home loan, they were able to securitise more, issue more financial securities and earn more money. Quite a vicious cycle, eh?

And so the story continued, till the day borrowers stop repaying. Investors who bought the financial securities could be serviced.

Well, that still does not explain, why stock markets in India, fell? Here's why. . .

Institutional investors who had invested in securitised paper from the sub-prime home loan market in the US, saw their investments turning into losses. Most big investors have a certain fixed proportion of their total investments invested in various parts of the world. So... Once investments in the US turned bad, more money had to be invested in the US, to maintain that fixed proportion.

In order to invest more money in the US, money had to come in from somewhere. To make up their losses in the sub-prime market in the United States, they went out to sell their investments in emerging markets like India where their investments have been doing well.

So these big institutional investors, to make good of their losses in the sub-prime market, began to sell their investments in India and other markets around the world. Since the amount of selling in the market is much higher than the amount of buying, the Sensex began to tumble.

The flight of capital from the Indian markets also led to a fall in the value of the rupee against the US dollar.

Any other reason, apart from sub-prime crisis?

Of course! Sub-prime crisis alone could not have caused such mayhem, although it is to blame for the beginning of the end.

This crisis is spreading from sub-prime to prime mortgages, home equity loans, to commercial real estate, to unsecured consumer credit (credit cards, student loans, auto loans), to leveraged loans that financed reckless debt-laden leveraged buy outs, to municipal bonds, to industrial and commercial loans, to corporate bonds, to the derivative markets whose risk are indeterminate, etc.

It has been a total systemic failure that has its roots in the US real estate and the sub-prime loan market.

"The United States is so broke, its people at every level -- from the Federal Reserve on down -- don't know whether to shit or go blind," wrote James Howard Kunstler an American author and social critic - in one of his blogs.

But what unprecedented events led to this great financial catastrophe? As an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal puts it, "With the benefit of hindsight, everyone can see that the US economy built up an enormous credit bubble that has now popped. . . this bubble was created principally by a Federal Reserve that kept real interest rates too low for too long. In doing so the Fed created a subsidy for debt and a commodity price spike."

The Fed's 'cheap money' policy created artificial demand for housing which drove prices to unsustainable levels. As greed took over, dubious sub-prime liabilities were sold to hedge funds, insurance companies and foreign banks. And then the American financial markets were hit by a severe liquidity and credit crunch. High oil tags, lower spending by the corporate sector, rising unemployment, etc added to the woes of not just the Americans, but the entire world. ...

Nice message .. very thought provoking.......

Hi,

I donot know why unncessary tension and divide is being created in the community... boarders please comment...

Immetured, hypothetic and a baseless article. I am also a Mangalorean not a once upon a time even now. But I find many of the obeservations here are partial and prejudice...

Rather than discussing any more i would like to brief that christians want unlimited right to convert Hindus into chritians in this country. If some individual or organisation tries to stop conversion, it is termed as a terrorism against them. Money-hungry journalists and sold-out media support them. Recent happenings in orissa is a classic example. When chritians tried to murder no. of times and finally murdered one hindu saint who was resisting conversion activities, nobody bothered. But when in the rection to this murder, few Hindus were out on the street, it was branded as violence and terrorism. Killing someone innocent in his own home is not violence? And you are fooling our poor tribals and try to emerge as their saviour???? They are taking advantage of tolerant and humble Hindu society. I challenge all the ...

Dear all boarders Having trouble with what is state of affairs in india Please dream india 5 years hence. let us all middle class talk of real issues and force political parties to work on it. My demands will be 1)what are your targets to reduce population growth??? 2)what are you doing on gdp growth,inflation,and bop situation. 3)last but not least HOW MANY DAYS you will take to reduce POVERTY IN bottom 30% population and bring them in middle class . (AFTER 60 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE POLITICIANS CAN ONLY DREAM OF PROVIDING DIGGING OF TALABS ,WELLS MANUALLY TO PROVIDE MINIMUM INCOME UNDER ROJGAR GUARANTEE YOJANA- NEEDS BETTER BRAINS FOR RUNNING COUNTRY) ARE WE GOING TO ASK POINTED QUESTIONS TO ALL PARTIES???? PLEASE GIVE YOUR POINTS TO IMPROVE INDIA....

Dear santa claus, I have seen your long msg, in which you have been blaming Sangh Parivar and Bajrang Dal as a whole for all the attacks against Christians. I want you ask a question - Have you seen any of the so-called Sangh Parivar or Bajrang Dal people attack Christians? Whatever reports published by a print media or channel in India have the colour of political interest they themselves have in it. I have been an eye witness of my own family members in Kerala blindly believing in whatever is published by communist organisations, without knowing what it is. As far as I am concerned, I am not a communist nor a contributor to any political outfit. I hate these political parties as they are the destroyers of an emerging India. So I seldom notice any such reports. We should keep our eyes open. When we do that we will know most of these sensationlised issues are of not much to be picked up. I am not confronting you. I hope you can take it sportingly. knair ...

Friends, I have not read this message in detail nor I am interested in politics including BJP nor in Christianity. I would like to share a few thoughts of mine. There might be flaws in Hinduism but so are they everywhere. The depth wise Hinduism offers the greatest and deepest flights in the religion in Upanishads. In the old days may be upanishadic knowledge was not available to all people, but now it's readily available to every one if one is interested. Upanishads are like jewels of religion compared to which Christianity or Islam pale. I don't see any need for any Indian to be identified with religion by getting converted. Real conversion happen when godliness is experienced through out our life, other wise it's a battle we fight in the name of religion. Don't get identified with any religion including Hinduism. Read Upanishads, Buddhism, Yoga, etc take good from all religions but like a honey bee takes honey from various flowers. But don't be identified with any religion as such. Not required. They even by reading books godliness cannot be experienced. Reading books may help. Finally experience is what matters not what Gita says or what Quran says or what bible says! What do you say as a man? Forget what all people who died said, tell me what is the truth you have experienced in life ? Forget all this old nonsense of all the religions. -Satya...

I would be more comfortable if folks like tou said "indians practising the catholic faith" instead of catholics similarly for hindus we need to spell out to these jokers india and indians come first. Faith is a function of belief and cannot and will not divide us. Long live India - One India and United one with people following what they beleive in - for that itself is the Idea of India and its freedome...

Yes santaclaus, Rakesh jununwala said SEE I GOT RICH WITHOUT CONVERTING......