A tryst with technology

(Note: This is the writer's cut and an unpublished version...)

After years of Indian cinema pinching from Hollywood, Silicon Valley retaliates with a ‘same pinch’.

September 27, 1998. Bollywood. A large haveli abutted by sunflower fields on one side and the Swiss Alps on the other.

Big B's baritone voice boomed across the table. "I'm sick and tired of our films being compared to Hollywood's technical wizardry all the time. Why should it always be about their technology, digital marvels and software simulations? What should be done to add technology to Bollywood?”

“I've brought in a couple of young computer guys who have a few suggestions…” Yashji mumbled. “Ok, we need technology that will give us access to any song, movie, plot, script or story that we might take a fancy to,” Mahesh Bhatt briefed them. “It would be ideal if there can be a single point from which we can access all of them,” he winked.

“We’ll begin with an audio application called Shazam,” said the first techie. “Just install it in your machine, turn the application on and hold an audio source near it – it will automatically identify the song and it’s all yours.”

“Incredible! And what if I know the tune, but don't have the song with me?” asked Bhatt. “You could use Midomi. Hum the tune into the mike - the application will instantly find the complete song. The other option is Musipedia - a virtual keyboard will appear on your screen and you can play a tune on it. The original song will be located at once.”

“What about scenes? We love to lift scenes as well you know...” mumbled Yashji. “There is AnyClip, a website that has categorized scenes according to genre, year of release, actors, whatever...” the second techie continued. “You can even enter a line of dialogue and it will help you identify the movie.”

“We make around 1000 movies a year - we can't write the stories for all of them, you know...” Bhatt trailed off. “You could enter key words like boy meets girl, brothers separated at birth, lost and found or love triangle in Jinni.com or IMDb – it’ll throw up several plots and storylines for you to choose from,” the first techie added.

“What about complete scripts? There are times when one needs to rip off complete scripts,” said Bhatt. “IMSDB would assist you on that. Musicals, award-winning scripts, family drama - take your pick.”

“Wait a minute!” Bhatt sat up. “But all these sound like different sites to me. Are you sure they are all yours?” “No, they are not,” replied the first techie. “But our site will take you to all of them.”

“The future is all about 100 crore blockbusters – can you ensure that?” enquired Big B. The duo shrugged. “You could have a start-up and hire us.” “How will that help?” asked Team Bollywood. “Even if your movie doesn’t sell, your start-up will - you are sure to make your billion.” 

The trio got into a huddle. “What do you think?” “I don’t know, it sounds so farfetched that even our ridiculous storylines and action sequences sound more believable.” “We’ll get back to you,” they chorused, but never did.

The techies soon met a VC and things worked out. Their new company would offer a single window from where one could search for anything. Needless to say, the idea was pinched from the Bollywood meeting. And that was how Google came into existence.

And that’s also why, despite September 7 being the day when Google was incorporated, September 27 is celebrated as its birthday. For, that was the day Larry Page and Sergey Brin were ‘suitably inspired’ by Bollywood’s big idea.