Thought for the Day – Super 30

It was Guru Purnima yesterday. And we have a fantastic movie running in theatres right now – Super 30. Quick thoughts on it. This is not a review of the movie; just a few takeaways from it.

1. Motivation: 3 powerful motivators to success – money, fame and passion / purpose. The movie beautifully expresses why passion may the most powerful of them all. As a star tutor at a fast growing and famous coaching centre, Anand had fame and money and love all going with him. And yet, he left all 3 behind to chase his passion and purpose in life
2. Serendipity: Life changes at the strangest of moments. Like it did for Anand, just 1 random interaction (with a poor but studious kid like him) got him his purpose in life.
3. Roles: Every person close to us, has a role to play in our life. And not everyone comes to travel the distance with us.
4. Choices: The road less traveled is always more difficult; the road less travelled though, is always more beautiful. The satisfaction Anand would have achieved when all 30 of his students cracked the IIT!
5. Overcoming Fear: The pivotal moment in the movie is the skit the students perform. It plays the key role of breaking down their fear, and making the challenge to succeed seem that much easier. In life, the key to success is often rooted in the ability to overcome our fears
6. Education needs to be Practical, not Theoretical: The hospital scene, brilliant implementation to explain this concept. The kids had nothing with them, except their brains. And they needed nothing else…
7. Storytelling needs a Medium: How many of us would have listened to Anand narrating this to us himself? Would we have spent even 15 min listening to him? And yet, we spent 3 hours and a lot of money, watching someone else bring his story to life on screen. Everyone has a story to tell, not everyone can get the medium though! Find your story, and find the medium to tell it…
8. The use of Optics / Creative Flair: Not sure if Anand’s real life story was as dramatic as the movie portrays it to be. They have made him into a larger than life character. The choice of actors to do so was very interesting. On one hand there’s a brilliant actor, a superstar in Hrithik. Surrounded by a lot of powerful actors who do their part, but are not big or famous enough to take the spotlight away from Hrithik, who does a fantastic job essaying his character. A powerful narrative with punchy dialogues and creating some cute moments (like the chemistry between Anand’s parents) out of the mundane….super stuff.
9. Content is King, anyone can be the kingmaker: Literally, borrowing lines from the movie, the claim to the kingdom is no longer that of the heirs alone. Anyone can be king. With a land of 1 billion people, finding powerful heroes and riveting stories is no longer a challenge, and our film makers are relying more and more on finding heroes from within the masses. By the way, the reason OTT has emerged to be a game changing alternative to mainstream television for the same reason – interesting content, and delivering what the audience wants, allowing a new breed of film makers and content producers to emerge. The way content is being produced, distributed and consumed in this country is changing, powerfully!
10. And finally, PVR rocks!: PVR is not a buy recommendation. 🙂 just a representative of the sector. Movie exhibition business may be the only discretionary consumption (entertainment) business right now that has the pulls! No other form of entertainment can draw out crowds so consistently. Can’t watch a match in stadium every week, Imagicas of the world are not for everyday thrill either. What other form of entertainment works like movies? None I can think of. 🙂
11. Exponential Benefits: Adding Point 11 on my friend Anand Gupta’s suggestion – The powerful core message of the movie – Education is the best way to lift not just 1 person, but an entire generation out of poverty. Anand Kumar, through his teachings, lifts not just 30 students but 30 families out of poverty and apathy every year. And his work must have inspired a lot of those touched by his generosity, to take up similar goals in their own lives — Exponential benefits, through an initiative started by just 1 individual! Thanks Anand! And thanks, Anand! 🙂