THE BUDGET EDITION

TWO DECADES OF LIBERALISATION, 20 YEARS ofrelative freedom from economic controls. Theglorious joys of this freedom was at the back of ourminds when we sat down to map out this year’sBudget Edition. Two decades of change needed achange in style. We thought we should tone downour celebratory hoopla and switch to sobriety.Liberalisation doesn’t need chest-thumpingcheerleaders any more; it needs sober and supplethought. For it’s an ineluctable fact of Indian life.Nothing can erase it now. Bad politics, bad leaders,bad policy we may get, but reforms will alwaysremain a part of the Indian ethos.

Keeping all this in our minds, we decided to ditchour budget template of loud and colourful visualsand decided to go for the subtle and classy thatcaptured the journey of the last 20 years. Wedecided to commission India’s top ad agencies togive us outstanding visual snapshots of the greatjourney this country has undertaken in twodecades. Admen from Team Ogilvy, Team McCann,Team Lowe, Team Taproot, Team BBDO, TeamDraftfcb Ulka gave their thumbs-up. We hadnumerous brainstorming sessions. And we playeda hard-to-please client, recommending changesand, in some instances, sending them back to thedrawing board. Indian ad gurus worked late intothe night, burning the candle at both ends. As onead man put it at the end; “Thanks for pushing us;for the revised ad is better than the previous one.”Ladies and gentlemen, we have for you the adsthat tell the story of a rising and powerful India.

The Writing of The Brief

Screen Test

UNION BUDGET 2011-2012

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WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | TUESDAY | 1 MARCH 2011 back page “It’s about time we acknowledge financialresponsibilities towards the environment.Green India mission, for me, is thehighlight as far as policies are concerned”

DEEPIKA PADUKONEActress

AAMIR KHANActor, Director & Producer

“The FM has increased the allocation oneducation by 24% which is a positivestep. Investing in education is aninvestment in our country’s future”

Easy Lies the Crown…The Oscars bowed four times for The King’s Speech, the film in which a stuttering sovereign finds his voice,and Inception, the one about entering people’s minds. The Social Network’s invite kept waiting for a poke

T WAS JUST FITTING THATthe 83rd Annual AcademyAwards this year paid obei-sance to history, dreams andreality. In the debut year for 10

best picture nominees none made an over-whelming sweep — history meets dreamsmeets the reality of dance and deceit .

The King’s Speech, a period drama aboutKing George VI who is unsure about mak-ing a speech a day before the second WorldWar, won four awards — best film, best di-rection (a surprise), best actor and bestoriginal screenplay. The multiple directions that the awards

took saw Inception, the sci-fi thrillerabout dream raiders, getting four, buttechnical ones.

The award for best documentary went toCharles Ferguson’s banker expose InsideJob, resonating the thoughts of the votersfor the last two years: the economy.“Forgive me, I must start by pointing outthat three years after our horrific finan-cial crisis caused by financial fraud, not asingle financial executive has gone to jail,and that's wrong,” Ferguson said.

Colin Firth won the best actor awardwhile Natalie Portman took the best ac-tress award. Christian Bale and Melissa

Leo took the best supporting actor and ac-tress awards (The Fighter).

Indians couldn’t make any mark thistime — Tariq Anwar nominated for TheKing’s Speech (editing) or AR Rahman(two nominations for 127 Hours). ButRahman made up for the miss.

In a ceremony that lasted only 3 hrs 12min, he performed his Oscar-nominatedsong If I Rise with singer Florence Welchto a loud applause. 127 Hoursdidn’t get any. Nor did TrueGrit. Danny Boyle and theCoen brothers were given aroyal ignore by the voters.

“With this tonight, I honour you,and the moral of the story is:Listen to your mother. Thank youto my wonderful actors, thetriangle of man-love which is ColinFirth, Geoffrey Rush and me”

TOM HOOPER BEST DIRECTOR

PictureThe King's Speech

DirectionTom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

Actor Colin Firth(The King’s Speech)

Actress Natalie Portman(Black Swan)

Supporting ActorChristian Bale (The Fighter)

SupportingActress Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

AnimatedFeature FilmToy Story 3Lee Unkrich

Art DirectionRobert Strombergand Karen O Hara(Alice inWonderland)

CinematographyWally Pfister(Inception)

Film EditingAngus Wall and Kirk Baxter(The Social Network)

Music (Original Song)We BelongTogether (ToyStory 3); Musicand Lyric byRandy Newman

Writing(OriginalScreenplay)David Seidler(The King’sSpeech)

LifetimeAchievementAwardIan Wallach,Francis FordCopola, Jean-LucGodard and KevinBrownlow

ForeignLanguageFilmA BetterWorld(Denmark)

“I have a feeling my career’s justpeaked. I have to warn you I amexperiencing stirrings somewherein the upper abdominals that arethreatening to form themselvesinto dance moves”

COLIN FIRTH BEST ACTOR

Documentary(Feature)Inside Job Charles Fergusonand Audrey Marrs

Natalie Portman Melissa Leo

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Writing (AdaptedScreenplay)Aaron Sorkin(The Social Network)

Music (original score)Trent Reznor andAtticus Ross(The Social Network)

PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. by R. Venkata Kesavanat The Times of India Building, Dr. D. N. Road, Mumbai 400001 Tel. No (022) 6635 3535,2273 3535 Email etbom@timesgroup.com, Fax (022) 2273-1144 and printed by him at(1) The Times of India Suburban Press, Akruli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivli(E), Mumbai - 400 101. Tel. No. (022) 28872324, 28872930, Fax (022) 28874230, and (2)Elegant Offset Printers, Shed No. D2-31, Thivim Industrial Estate, Karaswada, Mapusa Goa- 403526. Tel No. (0832)-3045100, Fax - (0832)-3045102. EDITOR Mr. BodhisatvaGanguli. (Responsible for the selection of news under PRB Act). © All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without the written pemission of the publisher isprohibited.

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