Archives for November 2018

(Attn Editors: Ravi Subramanian’s “Don’t Tell The Governor”, a novel set against the backdrop of demonetisation, arrives on the stands on Tuesday. Below is an exclusive excerpt from the book)

Harsha Ranjan was standing on the balcony of his first-floor bedroom, smoking a cigarette. The official RBI Governor’s residence, a two-storeyed heritage bungalow just off Mumbai’s Carmichael Road, had been his home for the last three years. Parked right under the balcony were the two cars that had been provided by the government for his use.

He sighed as he blew out smoke and glanced at his watch. He was in a pensive mood. The monetary policy announcement was scheduled for that morning, A few unpopular decisions were about to be announced; steps which had been mandated by the state of the economy.

However, what worried him was the government’s reaction to what he was about to unveil. It was no secret that his relationship with the Finance Minister was a strained one. Most of it was a consequence of Harsha trying to chart his own course when the government would have liked him to be subservient. The never-ending battle between the Finance Ministry and the RBI had taken its toll on him.

The Finance Minister had called him the previous night. ‘Remember, Harsha, we have to bring down the interest rates. RBI needs to help the government,’ he cautioned.

‘I cannot commit to anything, sir,’ Harsha responded.

‘Do you remember our conversation that night when we had met with Khosla? We had discussed it that day and you had agreed,’ Pande reminded him.

‘With due respect, sir, I had not agreed. I had only said that I would consider it,’ Harsha argued. But his response hadn’t gone down well with the FM, who had blown his top. This was not the first time the FM had reacted the way he did and it would not be the last.

But Harsha knew that he was nearing the end of his tenure as RBI chief and the government could make make his last days miserable, turning him into the fall guy for their failed economic policies. The risk he was taking and the repercussion it could have on his reputation worried him.

Ever since Independence, the autonomy of the RBI had been a contentious issue. What was the amount of influence the government would, rather ‘should’, wield on the RBI was often a topic of heated debate in the corridors of North Block. At the heart of this conflict were the interest rates prevalent in the economy.

A higher interest rate controls inflation, whereas a lower one fuels it. The Reserve Bank of India controls inflation using one tool — the repo rate. Very simply put, the repo rate, which the RBI decides, is the interest rate at which banks borrow money from the RBI. The RBI announces its stance on the economy and supports it directionally by announcing the repo rate in the monetary policy, which is released bi-monthly. Whenever the RBI lowers or increases the repo rate as a part of its monetary policy, the banks follow suit.

When RBI raises the repo rates, the banks end up paying higher interest to the RBI on the monies they borrow. As a consequence, to make up for that, they charge more from the customers they loan money to, thereby making loans costly. Costlier loans dissuade consumers from taking then.

Even companies avoid taking high-interest loans from banks and reduce their borrowings. This reduces the consumer’s ability to spend. For companies, reduction in borrowing leads to lesser availability of money, lesser investment and consequently, a drop in production. The combined effect of all this is that the economic growth rate slows down and consequently reduces inflation.

In simple terms, high interest rates lead to reduced inflation, but also slow economic growth. Low interest rates lead to growth in the economy, but also inflation. Growth and controlling inflation are often seen as two deliverables at diametrically opposite ends of the same line.

That was where Harsha Ranjan’s conflict with the government lay. The Finance Minister wanted a higher economic growth rate and had asked Harsha to support the government’s cause by lowering the interest rates. Harsha was reluctant to do so because falling interest rates would have made money cheaper, loans easier and hence, fuelled consumption. And increased consumption would fuel inflationary growth. The rising prices would make life difficult for the poor.

Therefore, he was not in favour of dropping interest rates. And it wasn’t like the RBI was an outlier. Central banks the world over are paranoid about inflation and don’t drive the interest rates down just to cater to the whims of the central government. Most of them strongly feel that driving growth in an economy is the government’s agenda and deliverable, not theirs.

Given his stance, Harsha’s new monetary policy was on expected lines. Much against public sentiment and government persuasion, the interest rates were not lowered by the RBI. To add to the government woes, the RBI also brought out an official statement saying that the economy was overheated and it expected inflation to rise. Hence, as a conservative monetary policy measure, it would not reduce the interest rates.

IANS

National Award-winning film editor Sreekar Prasad, known for his contribution to popular films like “Dil Chahta Hai”, “O Kadhal Kanmani” and “The Ghazi Attack”, says there are no ready takers for serious cinema as buyers or theatres focus more on box-office earnings which come with “established actors”.

His name has been long associated with Mani Ratnam’s movies and other films that create fireworks at the box-office. But Prasad is also known for working on indie films like Chezhiyan Ra’s directorial “To Let”.

Earlier this year, the Tamil film, which deals with house rental issues, won the National Film Award. It has also been screened at about 30 film festivals across the world. A few weeks ago, it bagged awards at the first edition of the Pondicherry International Film Festival.

“When ‘To Let’ was made, its target audience was the festival circuit and so every festival that it attends and an award it wins, is a vindication of the film. I am also happy as it has been selected for the Indian Panorama Film Section at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2018,” Prasad, who had edited the Malayalam film “Olu” — the opening movie of the upcoming edition of IFFI, told IANS in an email interview.

Despite being a hit at film fests, “To Let” is yet to release in theatres.

“There are no ready buyers for serious cinema in the market as the buyers or theatres are looking for collections and numbers which come with established actors. These sort of films have to create a brand for themselves with various festivals and awards to create awareness about the film and subsequently, get somebody to back it and release it in theatres,” he said.

“It is a huge task no doubt but in this case, filmmakers are optimistic as it is a relatable story and I too believe it will have its audience in public exhibition too. I wish there are theatres to showcase all types of cinema and not only targeted cinema, even if it is on a smaller scale, Prasad added.

“Otherwise, we will see the demise of pure cinema and filmmakers.”

He doesn’t let a film’s budget “distract” him. “Kayamkulam Kochunni”, touted as Malayalam film industry’s most expensive movie, is one of his most recent works.

“‘…Kochunni’ was a very well-planned effort by the director (Rosshan Andrrews) and it had all the ingredients in it to appeal to the masses. We had a few discussions at the script level and once the shooting started… though it took a lot of time to shoot and execute and edit, I was sure it would sort of work well,” he said.

After making his debut in early 1980s, he worked on films in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Assamese.

Coming from a Telugu-speaking family settled in Chennai, he did not have a plan or preference for editing films in any particular language.

“It was more about getting work to showcase my skills. Chennai was strategically the industry hub for south Indian films and also for the east and northeast part of India. So many filmmakers used to come to Chennai to do their post-production. During that period, I met a few filmmakers from other parts of the country and slowly, I started getting work in different languages,” he said.

His initial independent venture “Raakh”, which released in 1989, got him a National Film Award.

“So people noticed my capabilities, but the beauty of working in different languages, meeting people from different cultures and different types of stories have greatly contributed to my evolution as a film editor,” said Prasad.

But editing bilinguals or remakes is quite a task.

“Huge effort goes into them to maintain the same intensity as the one that was shot first but as time passes by, you get used to this pressure and we do it,” he said.

The last bilingual he made was “The Ghazi Attack” and he is in the middle of editing “Saaho”. “It has been an enjoyable experience,” he said.

IANS