TGLife
Why do we watch films? Asks filmmaker and film curator Arvind Sivakumaran and expects us to say that we watch films for various reasons “for entertainment, as escapism, for inspiration or to learn about an issue and sometimes because they capture.“We stand today at the crossroads of disruption and disruptive technologies whether it’s an unconventional political candidate, Uber, Netflix, Air BNB, Jio. Disruptors are everywhere and seem to be the future. We can dislike them but we cannot ignore them as that would be ignoring the reality of things. Should we embrace them openly? That’s something I will let you make up your mind about,” asserts Arvind who recently conducted a masterclass at Gallery Gitanjali in Panaji, discussing the American baseball film Moneyball and its relevance in today’s economic and political context.
The masterclass, Moneyball: The Film “ A Modern Business Zeitgeist was organized by the Goa Management Association where Arvind spoke on this 2011 film starring Brad Pitt as a baseball manager who uses sabermetrics to turn the fortunes of an underperforming baseball team. Pointing out how the team, initially ridiculed for their methods, goes on to compete against the biggest teams and enjoys an unprecedented winning streak, Arvind maintains, “It is the film for our current age as it captures the spirit of our times in an age of economic and political disruption. Its message is loud and clear “ when you find the good idea, listen to it or hire it and back it. Ignored talent is always cheaper and works harder because they have something to prove.”
Moneyball is a befitting example to talk on the current economic and political situation across the globe, feels Arvind. The 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, authored by Michael Lewis narrates about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Arvind describes the book as modern Bible for disruptive technology. The film which is based on the book, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, has vividly and aptly depicted this entire game. Its focus is the team’s analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team despite Oakland’s small budget.
In this film, one of the teams has lots of money, and the other, nothing. It also lacks the talent and techniques to win. So how can it win? The team hires an economist and based on his statistical theory, they arrive at a strategy of gaining wins through statistics. People over rate the players. But if you can value what is undervalued, great results can be achieved. The weaker team starts winning. There are wins after wins. How does this happen? With the help of logic and mathematical calculations! Calling the film relevant in today’s age of disruption, Arvind quips, “It’s a new idea, a new way of looking at things instead of the conventional way.”
“In real life, such things do happen. One has to find a creative solution and hunt for out-of-the-box ideas. Where we stand today, be it India or the world, we need to look at our issues with a new perspective and conquer the situation,” advocates Arvind, also a facilitator at Sunaparanta Goa apart from being a film consultant and film doctor.
Arvind graduated in both, in film production from Victoria Motion Picture School, BC, Canada and in English literature from St Xaviers College, Mumbai. Aparently, he is a guest lecturer in Film with a focus on American film and editing / sound. It is noteworthy that his screenplay ‘Middle of Nowhere’ (co-written with Steven Hanulik) was shortlisted for the Quarter-finals of the Nicholl (Academy of Motion Pictures Science and Arts (AMPAS) Fellowship, Hollywood California. It was one of only 368 scripts that were selected from 7197 submitted entries.
Opining that sometimes you don’t know you’ve won or changed the way things are done, Arvind expresses, “We under-rate ourselves and our disruptive ideas and over-rate those who the establishment tells us to rate.”
A talented filmmaker, his short film ‘J’aurais Toujous Paris’ (I’ll Always Have Paris) has been screened at Alliance Francaise Panjim and Mumbai and was in ‘The Viewing Room’ at IFFI 2016.
It also played at the Goa Mental Health Film Festival at the ESG and won ‘Best Film Noir Short” at Top Shorts 2017, an international online festival. It was also nominated for Best Editing at the International Horror Movie Awards 2016.
Maintaining that doubt is normal, Arvind mentions that good management is managing doubt and it is also about empowerment and pushing people out of their comfort zone and making them do what they feel, they can’t.
