Pocket Mein Rocket

So there are many moral interpretations that one can extract from the movie.
Simplicity over greed, people over money, and many other things. But if we look
closely, the framework of the film denies any morals at all!

What is so moralistic about running a parallel company within your
organization? And where are your morals when you force a young man, fresh out of
college into the bad world of sales with utter heartlessness?

And all that apart, the company does a serious take on the way hardware
selling happens these days. They have presented the ugly, and then the good
being born from within the ugly.

What the movie exposes blatantly is the filthy underbelly of the self
governed industry that IT claims to be. Self governed for sure, for at least AYSthe
firm shown so intricately in the moviedoesnt follow any rules at all. It makes
its own and breaks them too, proudly.

From bribing people to stealthily looking at quotes, to defaming their own
kith and kin, no one is spared. And well, this evil also, like most, follows a
top to bottom approach, with the big bosses Puri and Rathore leading by example.
But does it really happen? According to Alok Gupta CEO, Softmart, "Not all
movies are realistic, but this one has its shades of gray. It matches reality in
some instances."

One thing that shall grab anyones attention, and more so of those inside the
industry, is the way small companies (and should we pointedly say channel
partners) grease the bigger clients to make money, and then conveniently forget
about the service. In the movie, the service part is so epitomized by the
service engineer, Giri, who cares little for anything except his bikini babes,
and carelessly says that who will value the company and cough up money if their
machines are fixed and delivered in anything less than a week!

Even Harpreet gets his first contract out of anger and greed. He, in turn,
knows that Giri is saleable and thus approaches him.

In all the high drama and people flocking to the Singh clan, one thing that
is so in your face is the apparent shallowness of the sales world. Show them the
Moolah, and they shall hop onto your chariot. Never mind what the chariot is
made of and who is driving it.

And even this setting a parallel company is no shock to channel people. It
indeed has happened with Gupta himself. The company TSoft has its origins in his
own company, and was begun by one of his employees while she was still with
them.

The movies take on the sellers goes a bit deeper when the naked rush for
target achievement, and the way Puri and Rathore treat their employees is thrown
out in the open.

Ranbir Kapoor is again and again beaten by the system; and in the end too,
his venture, Rocket Sales, gets sold to Puri. If he manages to get it back, it
is not because of his righteousness or great working methods, it is only because
the guy at the other end, Puri, has had a revelation.

Although there are many instances that can be dissected, at the end of the
day, the crux remains the same. The movie is a hilarious take on the way selling
happens in todays world. The lies, the bribes, and bosses. Its all there out
in the open. The IT industry only has to see it to believe it.

And, although Rocket Singhs stress on good business practices and honest
service is shown as the other more honest way to run the business, it too is
rooted in mirth, for its foundations are not so clean. However, it is a good
start, as Gupta puts it, "This is the first time that an Indian movie has
depicted any profession, and it is a good start."

Well, and this idea just struck me, maybe Shimit Amin and Aditya Chopra could
have made Rocket Sales with a take-back policy for obsolete systems from their
clients, and have them responsibly disposed off. It could have added a much
needed USP, and maybe championed the cause of e-waste as well!

Mehak Chawla

mehakc@cybermedia.co.in