Mausam

I watched "Mausam" and wanted to write a film review. But then I came across this and instantly knew that this is exactly what I wanted to say. Even more than what I wanted to say.

I insist everybody out there to watch this movie. But don't go there with wrong mood or expectations. Read the review so you know what you are going to see there.

For those who are dumb enough to not to realize that the word "this" in the very second sentence was the link to the review, here is the same link again. And to make it work, you are supposed to click on it.

http://news.worldsnap.com/entertainment/movie-review/mausam-movie-reviews-shahid-kapoor-stands-tall-110665.html

The Art of Banner Ads

Banner ads have become more and more important from past few decades. If you place a proper ad at a proper place, it may be very helpful in boosting your business. And on the face of it, it looks like we are thinking enough about those. But it we examine it in result oriented fashion, we see the scope for improvement.

I never could understand why people strive so hard to put their ads in the crowd of other ads? I mean, when you go to a mall, or a busy street, you see endless stream of ads. In many cases, two rival products are boasting about their quality while hanging together. What’s the point? If we talk about malls, there are too many lights and too many other “physically present” products, to make your two-dimensional advertisement really matter. And these ads are costly too.

And when it comes to a busy street, well the banners become even more illogical. For God’s sake, that’s a busy street! People are supposed to be busy there! People don’t WANT to see your ads there. For them, those are just obstacles and a reason to make that place look more cramped. Even when people stop on a busy road, all they want to see it open space, which they can see only in upward direction. But your ads block their view. What do you think this makes them think?

There’s another (though not so serious) mistake we tend to do. When it comes to place the banners, we prefer posh areas (again malls) over the slums. But again, we forget something. When the surrounding is as beautiful as (or even more) than your banner, why would people look at your ad? And again, you are creating a slightly negative impact by standing in the way of their beautiful view. And on top of it, this option costs more!

But if you erect a banner in a dirty area, say a slum, people are just looking for something good they can stare. If your ad happens to be the most beautiful thing in the eyesight, naturally it will get some long stares and the small details you so painstakingly have put in your ad will get noticed. And this package costs cheap. I did a small research and found that ugly sites earn more through Google ads than their pretty counterparts. And this is for the same reason. When you land on an ugly webpage, you just want to get away. And of an advertisement happens to be the neatest thing on the page, you tend more to click on it!

So when next time you want to place a banner for advertisement, make sure you are getting long enough stares from a person in right state of mind for your product.

The Art of Creativity

Oversimplification kills the fun.

But who will tell this to our Bollywood people? They just don’t realize that people like it when they have to think while watching the movies. They like to decipher, to solve the mystery. They like to interact.

Any experience of art should be both ways. It’s not just about the artist reaching out to the viewers. But also, it’s about the viewers reaching out to the art. And the ultimate height of any experience of art is when all three points artist-art-viewer form an equilateral triangle.

This is why computer games, puzzles, fantasy novels are so popular. In each of these cases, you have to interact. But all we have to do while watching the typical Hindi movies is to dumb-down your mentality. Let alone taking efforts for thinking, we have to take efforts for not to think!

If you want your piece of art to be heart-touching, make sure that you hit the point of perfect balance. After all, travelling to the Disney Land is also part of the fun!