Movie Excerpts I found Inspirational

Of the many movies I have watched, I never realized there were so much of learning that the script writer had put for the audience. After watching them many times I learnt some important life and business lessons out of which a few I am sharing below.

From the movie Catch me if you can I like this line:  "Two little mice fell into a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned, but the second mouse, he struggled so hard that he eventually churned that cream into butter and he walked out. Amen." --- Frank Abagnale Jr. after he was asked to say grace 

 Movie:Boiler Room (2000)

Although I have not watched this movie, I came across a very interesting line -Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi), lured by the promise of “a million dollars in three years,” takes a job at brokerage firm, J.T. Marlin, but soon finds out the true nature of their business.Quote: "A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close?" --- Jim Young (Ben Affleck) in a tyrannical sales-training session. 

Movie: Steel Magnolias

Ever heard about this line "Smile it enhances your face value"? It was from this movie

Set in the fictional, Louisiana suburb of Chinquapin Parish, the movie follows the journey of six women and how they cope with what life throws at them.Quote: “Smile. It enhances your face value.” --- Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) 

This one is from one of my favorite movies "American Gangster"

True story of the 1970’s heroin kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the cop seeking to arrest him.Quote: "The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room." --- Frank Lucas to his cousin Huey (Chiwetel Ejiofor). 

The next movie is a delight comedy from comedy king Eddie Murphy! it talks about how many of us think. That we work hard and then we grow in the ladder and become something in the company and then we become rich! the dumb and the most illogical picture of richness that we tell ourselves is highlighted here

Movie: Coming to America 

Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) of the fictional African Country, Zamunda, seeks real life experience (and an escape from his arranged marriage) by moving to Queens.Quote: "I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now...now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. And pretty soon, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in." --- Maurice (Louie Anderson) to Prince Akeem and Semmi (Arsenio Hall) while they clean the kitchen at McDowells fast food restaurant. 

Another true eye opener is from the movie Citizen Kane. I havent watched it, its an old movie. But I love the theme and the line

Traces the life and times of Charles Foster Kane (Orson Wells), a fictional newspaper tycoon based loosely on William Randolf Hearst. The movie is about the relentless pursuit of wealth and power -- and what, in the end, it's all worth.Quote: “It’s no trick to make a lot of money, if what you want to do is make a lot of money.” --- Berstein (Everett Sloane), Kane's business manager 

The below excerpt is about competition and opportunity from another person's want! From the movie Scarface

Hardscrabble Cuban refugee Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, strikes it rich as a cocaine king in Miami.Quote: "Don’t underestimate the other guy’s greed." --- Frank Lopez (Tony’s Mentor) to Tony 

You wont believe me if I say, even Star Wars had a lesson to learn for all of us

The second installment of the sci-fi epoch, including Luke Skywalker's Jedi training under master Yoda.Quote: "Do or do not, there is no try." --- Yoda  

What is the most important thing we need in this life to be loved, to be succesfull, to be rich, to be happy?? Talented? Skilled? Knowledgeable? NO!! Not in the Long run. It is the Attitude that helps and nothing else! check out the movie a true story called "Miracle" released in the year 2004. I loved this one

"Miracle" is the true story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s quest for a gold medal. Quote: "You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone." --- Coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) to team USA before their game against the Russians.  

How can I not include Pursuit of Happyness? You all know about this movie, but one dialogue in the context of my blog here today stands out!

Based on a true story of Chris Gardner (Will Smith), a struggling salesman trying to make it as a stockbroker and support his son.Quote: "You got a dream you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you can't do it." --- Gardner, to his son Christopher (Jaden Smith)  

Many find it silly and stupid to be a grown up and yet watch cartoon movies! I despise that and opt to differ. I have a different perspective to animation movies, its afterall made by grownups. I loved this line from Finding Nemo

Pixar's instant classic about a clown fish’s quest to find his son, Nemo, who was swept away by a fisherman.Quote: "Just keep swimming." --- Dory, a blue tang fish, trying to cheer up Marlin (Nemo’s Dad)  

How can I not put my favorite persona in the world of Hollywood the great Tom Hanks. My wife would not be surprised if I write a book on Tom Hanks. I am a huge follower of his wit, character and overall charisma, the grounded to earth attitude and lots of them. i can go on, but here is an excerpt from the movie You've got Mail... yes the one with the beautiful Meg Ryan

Romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks as Joe Fox, and Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly, about two business competitors' anonymous online romance. Quote: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino." --- Fox to Kelly, in an ironic email exchange.   

The Last one has to be The GodFather! Many lessons from the learned DON - this is perhaps how the HR things at the job interview and many of us dont negotiate :D (Just kidding) no offense if any... This is just a post for fun..

The definitive mobster movie.Quote: “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” --- Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) to Johnny Fontane, hinting at the grisly way in which he will convince a film producer to give Johnny some time off. 

One more quote to end this blog from the movie "The Secret of My success"

Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) is a young man from Kansas trying--operative word--to make it in the world of New York City big business.   Quote: "Everywhere I've been today there's always been something wrong--too young, too old, too short, too tall. Whatever the exception is, I can fix it. I can be older, I can be taller, I can be anything." – Foster, after being told he may not be right for the job. 

Any Given Sunday - Wow what an inspiring movie! Have you guys checked out the video I had shared about Al Pacino's inspirational speech from this movie? The below excerpt is a short one in addition to that video.

About a crumbling NFL team plagued by injury and infighting. Mostly known for Tony D’Amato's (Al Pacino) famous "peace by inches" speech.Quote: “No intensity, no victory.” --- Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), owner of the Sharks, to D’Amato.

Thank you for reading the article. Hope you enjoyed it. Please dont forget to subscribe and/or click on +1 below. Feel free to share

thank you.. 

- Maddy

Quote Credit: Forbes
Image Credit: Forbes

Chinmuladri, Chitradurga, Childhood - This Diwali Special!

Oh Boy! the three Cs! Chimnuladri National High School, Chitradurga where I spent my most exciting years of Childhood! I am sharing a brief story of how I spent the last 2 days of Diwali vacation!

I decided to visit Chitradurga after 13 years, to visit my best friend from childhood, spend some time with him, talking, go back to school days' memories and drive back to Hyderabad.

It was a drive I never imagined can get so exciting. The 200 km from Bangalore to Chitradurga was a breeze, one of the best roads ever. Then meeting Dr. Sree Harsha, my bestest pal, one of my oldest friend, and his family was a blessing from God!

We roamed the roads of Chitradurga after meeting Harsha's family. Talking to Harsha has been so soothing, so calming, so pleasant, I have no doubt he makes an amazing Doctor. I enjoyed being with him, he took me to CNHS, a small government school where I have a huge book of memories, memories of fun, friendship and freedom!

Meeting all my teachers, who still recognized, loved and embraced our visit.  Treated us with a lot of grace and respect. The whole Aura of the school, to have studied there made me feel ecstatic. Its a small school at the end of the village, and our school uniform was a white shirt, a blue pant and hawai chappal!

Nothing much had changed but the school had started mid-day meals. Then the fees was about 600 rupees for a whole year, now its 700. That's it.
 I can relate to some posh school in a metro city, where the teachers would not be so down to earth, so humble and welcoming. They got us coffee and remembered our school days. We spoke in length about a lot of things before I bid adieu to them.
I also ate the Tomato masala made by Maulana near the school gate. He is a small shop vendor, sells some amazing snacks. Years have passed, but the taste was still the same. 

Then we had to drive via Hospet, Gangawati, Sindhnur, Manvi, Raichur, Mehboobnagar to finally reach Hyderabad. Pachu, my little brother was driving very carefully on the bumpy road while I took a nap in the car. We exchanged the wheel frequently to avoid fatigue and tiredness.

While driving from Hospet, on the way, near a place called Gangawati (I think), I came across something which I am not able to forget.

 Which is probably why I am returning back to the spectacle of a nice vacation, and every now and then frequenting that one incident that happened on the way back. That incident is the reason why I am perhaps compelled to write this blog.

 On the highway, I saw two men. I felt very bad looking at one of the men, young and strong, looked a son, holding the neck of his drunk father, the other man, on a cold night, pushing him on the street, dragging him home, in a violent way. The father was all wet and muddy, porbably he had fallen in a water hole or something, my heart just melted, thinking what could have been going through the old man's mind. Its his own son, whom he had raised, through all the hard ships, who was a kid not so very long ago, playing in his laps, whom he loves so much is dragging him today on the middle of the road! i couldn't do anything! but I have no clue why, but I still keep thinking about that incident. I feel very sorry for him, i pray it all gets better! addiction could have been his mistake but he or nobody deserves a violent inhuman treatment for any reason. I wish I could gather enough strength to help such troubled people, I know I will soon.

I am back to work now with a whole new perspective! But found out that my best office buddy, Rajat, has gone to Lucknow due to a family emergency, a demise of someone very close to him, dented a hole in my chest. Everyday, as I see his empty seat, I feel terrible for him, I feel very sorry.

Every year, Diwali has been very special to me. Ounces of learning, bounces of life, a trillion rockets of thoughts in my head, flower pots of learning, and yes, the dhamaka of bombs has kept me longing... Happy Diwali to everyone.

Below are some of the pics from my school

Harsha Bhogle on Excellency

Excerpts from Harsha Bhogle's speech at IIMA - this speech was part of a series of seminars at IIMA called 'Face to Face with Achievers of Excellence'.

You can check out the entire speech here:
http://vimeo.com/1746368 - Part 1 of the speech
http://vimeo.com/2104109 - Part 2 of the speech 

Excerpts:

* I had this feeling of inadequacy - of how everybody else was better than me. But IIMA accepted me for who I am. That is a huge feeling.

* I will talk based on what all I have allowed to come into my system over the years.

* Ambition needs a driver - sometimes the 'ends' provide the driver.

* There are 2 approaches -
1. the end as a driver of ambition
2. the journey as a source of joy

* The end as a driver of ambition often is a source of anxiety - adds to the degree of turbulence / entropy.
Sometimes, the focus on the end removes the focus from the means - are we treading the right path?

* They gave Yuvraj Singh a different set of goals which helped him succeed.

* People come to IIMA to build careers - not to earn a starting salary.

* One of the easiest ways to excellence is to work as hard as you can and to do your best whenever you can.

* Harsha Bhogle on the tour of Australia - worked for free, wrote ghost columns for Border. Take care of the runs - the dollars will take care of themselves.

* Chase your performance goals - chase your professional goals - let the result take care of itself.

Perfect the process of performance - dont allow the pressure of the result to choke your performance.
Eg. of the above concept: The swimmer in lane 4 has no control over what the swimmer in lane 5 is doing. If he starts worrying about it (something he has no control over) then he's spoiling his performance.

* Everything I have done is because I have loved it.

* Adherence to ethics helps you to have peace of mind.

* Focus on execllence in preparation and performance. Set yourself perfromance goals, not result goals.

* Give everything your 100% - give every moment 100%.
You never know who's reading what - you never know who's watching what - you never know where's the next big opportunity is coming from - that's the beauty of giving your 100% every single time.

* Quran: Lord helps those who give their best.

* When we lose - we seek excuses. People who are excellent never say - I was great BUT..
That just means you are putting the blame on somebody else. This means, you are not great already.

* If 'being wrong' is in your possibility map, then you do go wrong..

* Never grudge anyone their success - cos when you are successful, they will grudge your success.

* How do you motivate yourself to do No. 40 after you have done 39 eisodes? You tell yourself that No. 40 is all I have wanted to do!
There is a certain pride is giving everything a 100% every moment and to everything.

* Always seek people who are better than you. The moment you surround yourself with people who are NOT better than you - you stop growing. For a very selfish reason, always surround yourself with people who are better than you.

* When I started out, I had no one to look up to. I had no heroes. So I hung around with the crew. My hero was the was cameraman who said 'I have never missed a stumping in my life'. My heroes were all technicians.

* When we reach a certain level, we start surrounding ourselves with smaller people. Or - we start hating criticism. on the path to excellence, it is always very crucial to have people around you who can tell you whether you are doing right or wrong.
DONT EVER MARRY A FAN. Marry a girl who will tell you whn you are wrong. Only then will your marriage survive.

* Arrogance often comes in the way of excellence.

* Playing non-striker:  I was willing to be a non-striker. I wanted to be extremely good at something - I knew I couldn't be the best batsman. I genuinely wanted to be a great fielder. I wanted to be a very good fielder.

* Initially I tried to compete with the other commentators. They all asked 'How much cricket have you played?'
But I dropped my ego and said that what I want to prove is that I understand the game very well - and for that I dont need to have played a lot of cricket.
Besides, if I make my guests on the show more comfortable, they perform better.
So, part of my job is to make Sunil Gavaskar look better..

* If you have ego and anger on your side, you dont need an opponent. I try not to have an ego.
Subjugate the self - lose the EGO.

* I love what I am doing. I have the greatest job in the world.

* Beyond a certain level, ability or talent is the most useless virtue to have. What matters is attitude. Beyond a point, talent is not useful as it doesn't solve problems - it breeds an ego. Its important what you do with that talent.

* Some people have always used their talent to succeed. So they dont know how to succeed in case you failed.

* Everybody in the top 10% will have the same talent. So what's your USP?
You work ethic and attitude counts for far far more than your talent.

* Sachin played 55 days in a row - that's attitude! Tendulkar's work ethic, attitude and passion produced the 55 hundreds. Talent might open the firt door, second door - but surely not the last door.

* When you make a mistake, what's the first reaction? The more mistakes you make, the more you know what not to do. Excellence is as much about knowing what to do - as about knowing what not to do.If you can be excellent at not knowing what NOT to do, you will know what to do.

* Everybody in life is allowed to make mistakes - it is the second or third mistake that you are not allowed to make.

* Excellence is about desire: 'I'll not let a single ball go past me.' ; 'Hit one more to me'

* To excel in a profession, you need to know everything about the profession -
When I entered television, I told myself - I will learn everything that is needed to be learnt.

* What is luck?
      You make things happnen for yourself.
      It is a combination of preparation and recognition.

* Are you willing to work your backside off when no one is watching? It not only means you are ready for the opportunity when it comes - but it also means that you are earlier to spot the opportunity.

* 'During the football worldcup in 1986, Gary Linekar happened to be in the right position because he knew what the right position was.'

* Lance Armstrong: I dont win the Tour De France on the last day. I win it when I am riding in thee mountains in the winters when nobody wants to ride.

* Are we willing to work even when the opportunity is not obvious?

* Excellence raises its game when the moment comes. Excellence is about humility. If you are not humble, you will not be willing to hang around, to do the things it takes to seize the opportunity when it comes.

* Did I make my luck by calling?

* Being excellent is also about having the confidence to share knowledge - if you are not comfortable sharing knowledge, you are insecure. Excellence is not insecure.

* Some of us never know how good we can be. People who have achieved excellence have always been ready to stretch their own limits. (When will you be ready to take chances? When you are ready to face the results - when you are sure of yourself.)
'Let me try and see what happens. What is the worst thing that will happen? You'll fail. Are you scared of failure? You will also know what you cannot do. All of us learn by trying.

* Excellence is always in the present. Sometimes, we are too anxious about the future - sometimes we are too caught up in the past. You must make the most of what you have now. People for whom the past is more glorious than the present will never succeed! Excellence lives in the present.

* 'Khudi ko kar buland itna,
   Ki har taqdeer se pehle khuda tujhse pooche,
   Ki bataa teri raza kya hai?'