The National Film Awards are considered the most prestigious motion pictures awards in India. Many popular artists have retired from the film industry without getting a National Film Award. For that matter, Shahrukh Khan is the best example who has won the famous Filmfare Best Actor Award so for seven times, but is yet to win the coveted National Film Award.

At the 53rd National Film Awards, the award for the best film critic went to BITSian Baradwaj Rangan (Baddy). During his stay at Pilani from August 1988 to June 1992 as a student, Baddy must have seen about 200 films in various languages in the grand auditorium of the Institute and built up the passion to be a name to reckon with in the film industry.

After getting a Chemical Engineering degree from BITS, Pilani, Baradwaj Rangan (Baddy)  had a copywriting stint at J Walter Thompson, Chennai and then took off to Marquette University, Milwaukee for a Master’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations. He spent a few years with IT industry in USA and then got back to Chennai where he is freelancing now. His film reviews and other articles on arts, entertainment and humor have been published in The New Sunday Express, The Economic Times – Madras Plus, Man’s World, Simplifly and Seminar. Baddy blogs at http://desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/

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"Koffee with Anu" completes 50 episodes

In Tamil television, chat shows are not as popular as Pattimandrams which are more in-your-face and entertaining. So when Vijay TV started remaking popular Star TV shows in Tamil, there were doubts whether it would try out “Koffee with Karan”. But the programmers at the channel were determined to make a Tamil version. After trying out a radio jockey, they engaged a chatty Anu Hassan, who has a few films and serials to her credit, to host the show “Koffee with Anu (KWA)” (Vijay TV, Saturday, 9 p.m.). They packaged the program with designer sets and lots of glitz. The gamble seems to have paid off, as the show is about to complete 50 episodes. The channel has given it an extension, as it is the most watched chat show on Tamil television.

Anu Hassan studied at BITS, Pilani Campus during 1988-1993, majoring in Physics and Management.

Ravinath Menon, General Manager, Vijay TV says: “KWA has become our signature show and has raised the bar in terms of quality of content.”

When stars host shows, their screen image precedes them, which can be a dampener. Anu ever since her debut film “Indira” has got the image of a dignified woman. In real life, she is a happy-go-lucky girl who moves around with friends from her BITS Pilani days. She has hardly any friends in the industry. Then, how does she manage to get so many star guests on her show? Anu says unlike the Karan Johar show where the host himself invites the star guests, in “KWA”, most of the guests are invited by the channel unless it is somebody she knows personally like Madhavan.

She has refused to have her uncle Kamal Hassan or close relatives Suhasini or Mani Ratnam on the show! She says: “They are my family members and it won’t work if the chat show hostess knows everything about them.” 

In fact, “KWA” has enabled Anu to reinvent herself. Now she is all set to play the title role in “Rekha I.P.S” for Kalaignar TV.

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Dr. Krishna Saraswat receives the ISA Techno Visionary Award

The Technovation awards, instituted jointly by the Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) and the VLSI Society of India (VSI) aims at building the Indian semiconductor eco-system and encouraging the academic fraternity for its development.

For the outstanding research work and contributions in nano-technology, three-dimensional integrated circuits technology, single wafer manufacturing for a micro-factory and thin film technology for VLSI inter-connections and contacts, its no wonder that proud to be a BITSian Dr. Krishna C Saraswat has been chosen by the ISA-VSI panel for the first Techno Visionary lifetime award. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 5,00,000 ($12,500).

Dr Saraswat got his Electronics Engineering Bachelors degree in 1968 from BITS Pilani Campus. A detailed biography of Dr. Saraswat can be found at http://cis.stanford.edu/~saraswat/

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B K Das shines at Numaligarh Refinery, Assam

B. K Das graduated with EEE in 1972. Starting with Assam Oil Company, a subsidiary of Burma Oil Company of UK, his experience in the Oil industry in various capacities spans nearly three decades. He is a domain expert in oil industry marketing as well as finance.

He has seen concept to commissioning of the grass root Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL) in the district of Golaghat (Assam) which is a Mini Ratna PSU nestling in the sylvan environs of the Brahmaputra valley where the beautiful rendezvous of water and land throws up myriad colors.

He held the post of Director Finance in NRL and presently he is the Managing Director of this refinery which has won numerous awards for plant safety, excellence in energy and environment management etc.

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Providence Equity buys stake in Purnendu Ojha’s Nextag

Providence Equity Partners Inc. has agreed to acquire a majority stake in comparison shopping site NexTag Inc. for about $830 million.

Under the deal, venture capital firm Morgenthaler Ventures, which first invested in NexTag in 1999, will sell its stake in the company.  Technology Crossover Ventures is also an investor in NexTag.

The agreement by Providence to buy a roughly two-thirds stake in NexTag values the San Mateo, Calif., company at around $1.2 billion.

NexTag operates sites in the U.S. and U.K. that allow consumers to find the best prices on products and services sold online by various Web retailers. The company generates revenue from advertising and related marketing services for retailers. NexTag's Web site says more than 11 million people use its service monthly, and that it recorded its 15th straight quarter of profitability in July 2005.

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BITSian of the month – Yogesh Agarwal

The coveted IDBI Chairman's job is in the rank of a Secretary in the Central Government which is a privilege enjoyed only by the Chairmen of SBI and NABARD in the financial sector.

BITS alumnus, Yogesh Agarwal started off as a probationary officer in 1972 and has held top notch executive positions in State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of India. A decade ago, it was he who pioneered the prestigious Gold Banking Business for SBI.

He is known for his boldness to take tough decisions. With focus on strategy, his preparedness to face tough competitions and his emphasis on well-laid out systems and procedures, he is bound to take IDBI to great heights in the times to come.

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Fairway to Pilani

BITSAA East Coast had its fifth annual BITSAA-TIE Golf Event - 'Fairway to Pilani' on July 14. The weather was a near-perfect 80 degrees.  The food was awesome!  Heineken and Stella Artois flowed from the tap.   The dinner was worthy of the highest Zagat rating. This year's outing marked a series of firsts.  In the absence of senior pros like Casey, Paddy, Davy, and Ravi, a new generation of golfers (if anyone on the other side of 40 could be called that) took the silverware.

The tournament's winners were Renchy Thomas ('89), Arun Ramachandra ('88), Vikram Ramachandra and Krishna Kumar 'KK' Amrithalingam ('83).   The numbers in brackets are a reference to their graduating year from Pilani, not their score.   Thanks mainly to KK's efforts, an incredible 80, the team averaged a match winning 92.  They took home the glittering Best Team awards sponsored by Radiant Systems.

Sandeep Arora ('91), Srinivas Alladi, Samar Mishra ('91), and Rakesh Nangia ('93) won the Second Place Team Prize sponsored by AXA Equitable with an average score of 95.

KK was the best golfer by miles and Arun and Vikram also won the longest drive and closest to pin contests.  But in keeping with BITS Pilani tradition of awarding jobs, degrees, and prizes fairly and equitably to all, the aforementioned gents became ineligible for additional prizes.

Merrill Lynch Best Golfer award was won by Kalyan Gullapallo who ended the day with an impressive 86, just a few drives behind KK.  Nick Nachbur was on hand to give the glitteriing prize to Kal.

Manish Shah received the Longest Drive Trophy from Vipul Mallick whose firm AXA Advisors sponsored the award.    Namitha Kansal, the lone representative of the fairer sex, won the Wissen Inc sponsored Best Lady Golfer award easily.  Perhaps mindful of Namitha's golfing abilities, the only other lady participant did not show up.

Joe Cofone was the recipient of the Closest to Pin sponsored by Wissen Inc.

Sponsors won some of the other prizes - Nick Nachbur won the Ram Tech Systems Back Nine Trophy with an incredible 51.  Ram Tech Systems Front Nine Trophy was won by Krishna Kambhampati, who shot a 46 on the Front Nine.  Krishna was four shots behind Kal's 42 on the Front Nine. Satish Paul won the AXA Advisors Best Putting award for his incredible 38 foot effort on the 16th.

Since the tournament began in 2002, the competition at the bottom of the leader board has been more intense than at the top.  With that in mind, a second trophy was created for the clearly golf-challenged.   The trophy aptly titled 'Most Fore's and Sixes' was sponsored by Dreamcricket.com and Bridge-X.   It was won by Sudhakar who lived by the adage 'grass is greener on the other side' and nearly always aimed at the golfers on the adjacent fairway, in one case even managing to clear the top of the trees behind the hole on the 15th.  The ball traveled around 100 yards into the fairway of the 16th!  This was intended to be a tee-shot for the Par-3 15th.  His team mate Venu spent a ton of time in the sands of Cranbury.

For once, Jay Raju did not get the Worst Golfer award!  Having just become a father, he stayed home and the golf course's bird population rejoiced.  Their joy was short lived, for there emerged a new claimant for Jay's throne.  This special trophy was won by Kiran Hari of AXA Advisors.  Kiran, a sponsor, celebrated the victory by offering to sponsor more such events.

In closing, organizers Sandeep Nalgundwar, Venu Palaparthi, and Perry Venugopal thanked the participants, TIE and the many sponsors without whose help this event would not have been possible. Venu Palaparthi introduced the new chief of BITSAA International, Krishna Hegde, to the participants.  He also thanked the participants for helping BITSAA East Coast to fully endow two merit plus need based scholarships in Pilani.   Golf is just one of the many ways we raise funds for BITSAA initiatives.

In all, some 35 participants enjoyed the scenery, the food, and the golf at Cranbury.

Sandpaper Team would also like to extend a big thanks to the sponsors for this event: Gold sponsor - Radiant Systems, Dinner sponsor – Merrill Lynch, Silver Sponsors – Ran Tech Systems, AXA Advisors, Wissen Inc, AXA Equitable and Special thanks to Bridge-x and Dreamcricket.com

Oh by the way, the BITSAA-TIE Annual Cricket Event is around the corner (mid-September) and Dreamcricket.com has promised a spectacular event on New Jersey's only astro-turf cricket pitch this time.  Knock your bats and get ready!

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Announcement: Silver Jubilee Reunion of 1977-82/83(dual Batch in October 2007 At BITS, Pilani

When: 5 October, 2007 to 7 October, 2007

What: Silver Jubilee Reunion of 1977-82/83(dual) batch

Where: BITS Pilani campus

Details:      

• Leave from Delhi latest by 11 am on 5^th Oct for Pilani. 
• Air-conditioned buses are being arranged, the feedback from 76 batch guys was that those who traveled by Bus enjoyed more than those who chose to travel by their own cars.
• Those arriving from other countries are requested to plan their arrival in Delhi on 4^th October or earlier.
• Accommodation will be arranged at Delhi as required. Staying with batch mates in Delhi will also be an option.
• Arrive by 4 or 5 PM in Pilani. Accommodation in Pilani is essentially spread over three locations – The VFAST Hostel (a new construction opposite the swimming pool), The Circuit House and the Alumni Home. We would first like to fill into the VFAST hostel (50 double rooms with AC, and 8 rooms without AC) and then spill over to the others and finally the conference rooms can be converted to dorms.
• In formal get-together, cocktails/dinner in the evening.
• Formal/cultural functions on 6^th followed by Dinner with VC and senior faculty.
• Departures on 7^th after breakfast and those who want to hangout longer can do so, lunch will be arranged….the good old Sunday Lunch !!

How do you register:
Get your registration form and send it in to Nemi Chand at nchand@cadence.com and Agendra Kumar at agendra_kumar@symantec.com as soon as possible. This will help the team in planning and ensuring accommodation for you at Pilani.

Please send one or two recent photographs as an attachment (jpg, file name should be your name) with the same mail when you send the registration form.

You are requested to signup to the BITS77_SJ group on yahoo by sending a blank mail to bits77_sj-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . This group has been specially created to receive all the details and communications for attending the SJR.  

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