Kartik Dayanand Boddapati

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Kartik Dayanand Boddapati


Studied architecture, spent many years in the animation, VFX and gaming industries; currently a digital strategist, and more importantly - blogger at Mind u Read

My blog is now also available on 'The Times Of India' website.

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Some reactions to my blog posts:









Extremely smart writing – Arindam Chaudhuri

An extremely beautiful piece on 'Manam' - Ram Gopal Varma

Reach me at: kartik@minduread.com



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Trending posts this week

Artificial Intelligence vs Authentic Intelligence: The moral battle of the future

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We have been reading many stories about Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially since the emergence of ChatGPT—a generative AI tool that possesses immense human-like powers to consume and create content on the fly.   They say only those who embrace AI will thrive in the future, and that it will replace most jobs that humans can do today. There are others, like Elon Musk, who say this AI technology has the potential to go rogue and it needs to be regulated before it’s too late.   Whatever the verdict on that, and whether people choose to use these AI tools or not, one thing is for sure:   AI is going to impact all our lives at a very fundamental human level, and there’s no escaping that.   To illustrate my point, I would like to share three mini stories that I encountered recently.   These are simple stories; not about the wonderful things AI can do for us; but about our reaction to that as humans—leading to the discussion about the battle we all will find ourselves in eventually.   On
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3 Idiots: Confusing a Nation!

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Ok, so 3 idiots , the current Bollywood flick is officially the biggest blockbuster of Indian cinema. An amazing movie with a terrific plotline and characters. Topping it all is the brilliant message it delivers encouraging one to follow the heart, rather than go by the conditioning of parents when it comes to choosing ones profession. At the same time it encourages the pursuit of Excellence rather than the pursuit of Success. A nation agrees but I am a little confused. The issue is not with the message itself, but by the method through which it is conveyed. Let me explain myself.
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K.G.F vs K.G.F: Why I like Chapter 1 better than Chapter 2

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If ever there is a competition to determine who is the biggest fan of K.G.F Chapter 1, I would either win that contest hands down or end up as one of the strongest contenders.   I lost count of the number of times I watched that film, but I am sure it will be over 100 times. As a keen observer of films, and how they work on our psyche, I’ve been fascinated by the appeal of this film. So much so that I’ve started writing a book about it. It’s the second book in my upcoming book series ‘Movies Beyond Stars’ .   As a natural outcome of my fascination for K.G.F Chapter 1, I turned into the unofficial cheerleader of K.G.F Chapter 2 on Twitter.  For a few years now I have been repeatedly saying that Chapter 2 had the best chances of success as a pan-India film compared to all other films, even above RRR.   So, when the big day arrived, I was not surprised to see the outcome - the record breaking collections of Chapter 2.   I went ahead and watched the film too.   However, by the end of the f
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How Shahrukh Khan's KISS gave a kick to Pathaan!

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#Pathaan Kiss karne nahi….Kick karne aaya hai…. That was Shahrukh Khan’s response to a silly question on Twitter during one of his many #AskSRK sessions before the release of Pathaan. However, what he said is just the partial truth and he did KISS. Before you jump to other conclusions— KISS means Keep it simple, stupid! The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated. That’s exactly what Shahrukh Khan did to set up the stage for Pathaan’s blockbuster success. The same principle is also used to structure and mount the film too. Let me elaborate with a similar KISS approach. I’ll pick 5 areas to focus on. At places I’ll use Shahrukh Khan’s tweets to help with the story. Here it goes…
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Divine Science driving star studded blockbusters!

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He won’t stop – that’s the literal translation of ’Aagadu’, the title of a Telugu movie that released last weekend. True to its name, the movie was unstoppable at the box office, netting close to a million dollars on the day of its release in the US. An unprecedented number for an Indian film, leave alone a Telugu film. I was constantly bombarded by Whatsapp updates from my friends in the US who flocked to the screens in droves as if their lives depended on this movie. Closer home, the story was no different - despite negative reviews from critics and 140 character experts on Twitter, the film marched on triumphantly. I watched the movie in a Delhi NCR multiplex which was packed to the brim - a rarity in this part of the country. Craze for the movie wasn’t surprising. Aagadu is after-all a big budget movie made by a popular director with a successful track record starring one of the most charismatic heroes of South India - Mahesh Babu - the central reason for the
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The self-fulfilling prophecy of RRR’s Naatu Naatu song!

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When an event in the real world is inspired by a creative work, they say—life imitates art. It’s most often used in the context of movies influencing life. Have you ever heard of a movie influencing itself through its own art? The obvious thing to say would be—if the movie is good, then more people will watch it, and then it makes more money. That’s how a movie influences its own destiny. But…there’s a higher order ‘life imitating art’ event that I noticed recently. It’s with the Naatu Naatu song from RRR; thanks to its recent Golden Globe Awards win for best original song. I see that song as an extraordinary self-fulfilling prophecy which I am sure even the filmmakers did not see coming. Here’s my theory:
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Republic of Akhanda: Where fiction gets real!

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In early 2021 I wrote a blogpost called “The Age of Bhakti” . The summary or core theme of the post was this: When society and its institutions fail...we have no other option but to depend on the divine.   The recent Telugu blockbuster ‘Akhanda’ is a manifestation of the same concept in an over-the-top commercial format.   Most movies operate in the first part of the summary I shared — where society’s institutions fail and a do-gooder hero who is usually above the law of the land comes in to fix things.   In the process our heroes even break the laws of physics as if it is their birthright, and we accept it without questioning or wondering how such things are possible. The whole act of watching movies is a process of suspension of disbelief.   The legendary actor Balakrishna is known to do these gravity and logic defying acts in the most convincing manner and his two previous collaborations with the director Boyapati Srinu have been huge blockbusters at the box office. Akhanda is their
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Missing the asli swaad of the original Cadbury Dairy Milk ad

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Everyone’s been going gaga over the new Cadbury Dairy Milk ad — a faithful recreation of its own iconic asli swaad zindagi ka ad from 1993.   The original ad evokes a lot of nostalgia for many of us and this re-creation milks that emotion very well. The twist with the gender reversal is the key point that made everyone fall in love with it.   I however feel there is one critical aspect of the original that the new one completely misses.   Before I speak about it, let’s see what the new ad does.   Here goes…
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