Yaanai irunthaalum aayiram pon,
iranthaalum aayiram pon !
iranthaalum aayiram pon !
- A Thamizh (Tamil) proverb
In economics or finance, the concept of time-value of money is very fundamental in any valuation model. In simple terms, this essentially means that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar tomorrow. The difference is accounted for return desired for deferring current consumption, adjusting for inflation expectations, and for accepting an assorted collection of risks (credit, liquidity, ...). The afore-mentioned quote contradicts time-value of money, as the quote says that An elephant alive is worth 1,000 gold coins, and so does a dead elephant. Even though time is not explicitly mentioned, I presume almost all of us can see the point... And of course, there are other assets whose value increase over time ( in precise terms, over a sub-interval during its life time ). Commodities like oil, gold, rice, etc., real estates are some examples of such assets (asset classes) whose value appreciates over some time-interval. This post is about assets that belong to the second and third category, the one that is always valuable or appreciates over time.
While I was surfing channels on TV, earlier this afternoon, I stumbled upon Steve McQueen's Magnificent Seven, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/ , the Hollywood version of Kurosawa's, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/ . A cult classic in its own right, the film is one of the cool movies of McQueen. He was stylish, macho and he was the original King of Cool, before the arrival of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. I had come across an interesting article about Steve McQueen and others, about a year back, that I forgot and somehow recollected while watching this movie, that spawned this post. The article lists various deceased artists, who are still in demand for different reasons. The funny part is that these celebrities earn money even after their death !!! And they make a filthy lot of dough !!! The article could be found http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7069981.stm
While I am not exactly a die-hard fan of Elvis/Lennon/Warhol and others, I was happy that an icon like McQueen is not exactly forgotten by this generation. In closer neighborhood, all of us have our own list of style icons from Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu or other film industries. My favorite icons are MGR, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. All of them played the role of an angry young man to perfection, had a unique style when it came to dialogue delivery and acting, and most importantly, they were able to connect with masses in a way not many others could. While Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's, a contemporary of Big B. People outside Tamil Nadu and those who are not die-hard fans of Rajini associate him with his recent movies since mid 90s. But the true cool Rajini belongs to 70s and 80s. Movies like Ninaithaley Inikkum, Avargal, Murattu Kaalai, Thillu Mullu, Moondru Mudichu, 16 Vayathinile and many of his classics of 80s readily come to my mind. Certainly Amitabh doesn't capture public's attention the way Rajini does even right now. At one point, Rajini played a significant role in electing the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While no one knows if Rajini is ever going to jump into politics like other popular actors of South India, he could be formidable opponent to all of the bigwigs of politics, if ever decides to make a foray. It is in this aspect, Rajini outscores Amitabh, taking into account Amitabh's earlier unsuccessful tryst in politics.
But the biggest daddy of all, in my view is M.G. Ramachandran a.k.a M.G.R. For those who don't know M.G.R., he was an icon both in Tamil film industry and Tamil Nadu politics, and he died in late 80s. Even in this age, there are political parties who campaign in the name of M.G.R., and not in the name of the candidates, and end up winning. Now thats what I would call as star power. Value of this star power cannot be estimated in monetary terms, but it is truly a significant number. In my view, M.G.R. is probably more valuable than Elvis !!!
Long live Cool. Long live Kings of Cool...
While I was surfing channels on TV, earlier this afternoon, I stumbled upon Steve McQueen's Magnificent Seven, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/ , the Hollywood version of Kurosawa's, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/ . A cult classic in its own right, the film is one of the cool movies of McQueen. He was stylish, macho and he was the original King of Cool, before the arrival of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. I had come across an interesting article about Steve McQueen and others, about a year back, that I forgot and somehow recollected while watching this movie, that spawned this post. The article lists various deceased artists, who are still in demand for different reasons. The funny part is that these celebrities earn money even after their death !!! And they make a filthy lot of dough !!! The article could be found http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7069981.stm
While I am not exactly a die-hard fan of Elvis/Lennon/Warhol and others, I was happy that an icon like McQueen is not exactly forgotten by this generation. In closer neighborhood, all of us have our own list of style icons from Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu or other film industries. My favorite icons are MGR, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. All of them played the role of an angry young man to perfection, had a unique style when it came to dialogue delivery and acting, and most importantly, they were able to connect with masses in a way not many others could. While Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's, a contemporary of Big B. People outside Tamil Nadu and those who are not die-hard fans of Rajini associate him with his recent movies since mid 90s. But the true cool Rajini belongs to 70s and 80s. Movies like Ninaithaley Inikkum, Avargal, Murattu Kaalai, Thillu Mullu, Moondru Mudichu, 16 Vayathinile and many of his classics of 80s readily come to my mind. Certainly Amitabh doesn't capture public's attention the way Rajini does even right now. At one point, Rajini played a significant role in electing the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While no one knows if Rajini is ever going to jump into politics like other popular actors of South India, he could be formidable opponent to all of the bigwigs of politics, if ever decides to make a foray. It is in this aspect, Rajini outscores Amitabh, taking into account Amitabh's earlier unsuccessful tryst in politics.
But the biggest daddy of all, in my view is M.G. Ramachandran a.k.a M.G.R. For those who don't know M.G.R., he was an icon both in Tamil film industry and Tamil Nadu politics, and he died in late 80s. Even in this age, there are political parties who campaign in the name of M.G.R., and not in the name of the candidates, and end up winning. Now thats what I would call as star power. Value of this star power cannot be estimated in monetary terms, but it is truly a significant number. In my view, M.G.R. is probably more valuable than Elvis !!!
Long live Cool. Long live Kings of Cool...
