NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

Slumdog breaks out of niche

ABU DHABI - JAN 26: Cinema operators and film distributors, citing the success of Slumdog Millionaire, say moviegoers’ tastes are turning to more complex and challenging films.

It is important to offer audiences more than action blockbusters, said Nassim Khoury, marketing manager of Front Row, which distributes independent and art house films.

“Slumdog is somewhere in between mainstream and art house and people need to be exposed to this kind of film,” said Mr Khoury.

“We have to say that although a film doesn’t have kicking and screaming in it, it doesn’t have to be bad.

Changing audience perception of independent and art house film is a long process but that is what we are here for. Before, when you would release independent film here, no one would come to see it. Now there is niche demand.”

While UAE filmgoers have traditionally embraced action movies, Slumdog Millionaire manages to straddle the boundary between blockbuster and art house.

“Slumdog is a crossover film and these independent films are not always so successful, but the response has been unprecedented,” said a spokeswoman for Cinestar Cinemas, which is showing the film at its cinemas across the country.

“We are really hoping that this film whets the appetite here for more independent and creative film and we are confident that Slumdog will have some level of impact in this regard.”

The tale of a young slum dweller who competes on an Indian TV quiz show in a bid to win his beloved’s heart won four Golden Globe awards and last week received 10 Academy Award nominations.

Although the movie had a modest promotional budget in the Emirates, buzz for the film in the West helped whip up anticipation here and led to strong sales of advance tickets, the Cinestar spokeswoman said.

“Audiences here tend to react quite well to hype generated in the West, so that helped,” she said. “But there is also a growing trend here to embrace films from areas other than Hollywood or Bollywood, such as European or Chinese cinema.”

Audiences for Slumdog Millionaire have been growing since it opened last Thursday, said Sarin Varghese, manager of the Grand Cinema in Sharjah’s Mega Mall.

“It didn’t do well on the first two days, but now people are just pouring in to see it,” he said. “It is being made popular by word of mouth among the population here, because there wasn’t that much publicity about it here. And the Oscar nomination will also help.”

A new class of young masters

UAE - JAN 26: Rajat Agarwal believes an MBA is the key to his corporate dreams.  The 23-year-old from India has an engineering degree, but doesn’t think it will be enough to help him scale his country’s frenzied and crowded corporate ladder. So, like hundreds of other young people, he has enrolled in a master of business administration programme in the UAE to give himself an edge.

“It will give me the extra leverage in knowledge. It will give me managerial skills. It will step up my level,” says Mr Agarwal, who is studying at the branch campus of India’s Institute of Management Technology (IMT) at Dubai International Academic City.

Once upon a time, the MBA was almost exclusively the domain of experienced managers who wanted to break into the top echelons of the corporate world. These days however, MBA students are more likely to be straight out of college, as Mr Agarwal is, or people with a few years of experience working in junior positions.

To capitalise on the trend, many more universities rushed to offer such programmes, which teach a scientific approach to management. Some observers, however, say the proliferation of MBA programmes has lowered the value of the degree.

Zubair Hanslot, the academic director of the University of Bolton’s branch campus in the Ras al Khaimah Free Zone, says an MBA or a similar postgraduate diploma has almost become a requirement for landing a top job in India.

Students from the country are travelling here in large numbers, driving the growth in local MBA programmes.

The MBA has become the most popular course since the University of Bolton opened its RAK campus in October. More than a quarter of its some 160 students are taking it.

“The economy of India has quadrupled in the past few years,” he said. “It’s a highly educated workforce and the next step from a degree is an MBA. A lot of employers in India and Pakistan won’t let you into a management position without an MBA.

“As there’s a large expatriate population from there, that concept has spilt over into the Middle East. If they cannot get a good position here, they think they can always go back to home with an MBA.”

IMT in Dubai has 370 students taking a two-year, full-time MBA, about 90 per cent of whom came from India. The institute plans soon to have as many as 500 MBA students and as many as 1,300 students enrolled in management courses, within four years.

A number of other branches of western universities, including the Scotland-based Heriot-Watt University, and local universities such as UAE University, also offer MBAs.

Dr Farhad Rad-Serecht, 61, the director of the IMT branch, who set up MBA programmes in Paris, Madrid and Cyprus during the 1980s and 1990s, says the trend toward younger people taking the MBA degree has also occurred in Europe and the US, but that it is more pronounced in the subcontinent.

“Typically now it’s someone with three to four years of experience who considers the time is ripe to have a shift in his career,” says Dr Rad-Serecht.

“In some parts of the world, including India and Pakistan, the average age is lower and the number of years’ experience is lower. You’re talking more about freshers. The MBA is now an entry into the corporate world.”

Sixty per cent of the current crop of students in IMT’s MBA course had no work experience when they enrolled or have only been exposed to the corporate world through internships.

All of which raises the question of whether the degree is in danger of being devalued.

Dr Rad-Serecht says the MBA has become “a commodity” and that more emphasis is now put on the college that granted it. “The prestige is not linked to the programme, but to the brand. If it’s a prestigious institute it still carries a lot of weight.”

He says the skills taught to MBA students are vital to those with a technical background who would otherwise “not be fully equipped to perform at the corporate level”.

“They need the in-depth knowledge of managerial skills. When people start working very early in their careers they would otherwise find limitations because of this lack of managerial education.”

Students too remain confident that an MBA will improve their career prospects – as long as it comes from the right university.

“You tend to rise higher. If you want to get into the corporate world, you need an MBA from a good college,” says Antra Rathod, 25, from India, a student at IMT who plans to settle in the UAE.

Search for small change leads to FNC

ABU DHABI - JAN 26: The Federal National Council (FNC) is to address the issue of worn-out bank notes and the apparent shortage of smaller denominations in circulation next month.

In particularly short supply are Dh20 and Dh200 notes, while other denominations including Dh5 and Dh10 are of poor quality, said Mohammed al Zaabi, an FNC member from Sharjah. “If you find Dh5 and Dh10 notes they are often too old, so we want to know why they have not been renewed,” said Mr al Zaabi. “I raised this issue because it is something that has been noted around the country.”

Mr al Zaabi also wants the council to address why many automated teller machines dispense only Dh100 and D500 notes.

A spokesman for Transguard, which operates ATMs in Dubai, said the smaller notes would take up too much space and run out too quickly. “You will never find Dh50, Dh10 or Dh20 from an ATM. It’s just not practical,” he said.

Several cash machines dispense Dh200 and Dh1,000 notes, which can be difficult to break.

Some residents say they experience difficulties when using taxis, with some drivers refusing to change even Dh100 bills.

“When you give them big bills, they don’t accept them because they don’t have change,” said Nisreen Dajani, 17.“People always get into fights with the drivers because of this.”

Ahmad Killidar, 27, has also had issues with larger bills.

“The most I give taxi drivers is a Dh50 note, and they are not always happy,” he said.

When shopping, Mr Killidar said he noticed that there were more Dh10 notes in circulation, but fewer Dh20 or Dh50 notes. “If I pay Dh100 for a small item, I always get lots of Dh10 notes back.”

Ahsan Mohammed, a shopkeeper at Khamis al Zabi Grocery, said he generally lacks Dh50 notes.

“But we receive lots of hundreds,” he said.

Abdul Rasheed Unikandth, from Al Shareek Grocery, also receives many Dh100 notes from customers but makes sure he always has change available.

“If I see I’m running out of the smaller bills, I go and find change from somewhere else,” he said.

Consumers also voiced concern over the poor quality of some notes, including Ahmed al Hammadi, who agreed that there was a shortage of Dh200 notes in circulation.

“There are lots of small notes like Dh5 and Dh10, but mostly they are old,” he said. “Sometimes if I am at a gas station and they give me old notes in change I hand them back and ask for new ones, because some other places may not accept them.”

The discussion is expected to be taken up by the FNC and Government representatives at a session in the first half of next month, after it was rescheduled.

According to WAM, the state news agency, Obaid Al Tayer, the Minister of State for Financial Affairs, was due to appear before the council this week to discuss the issue. However, Mr al Zaabi said that the matter had been postponed until the beginning of next month.

Gridlock as construction closes busy city road

ABU DHABI - JAN 26: Construction on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares led to a traffic block that drivers said was several kilometres long last night.

A small section of Al Khaleej al Arabi Street, one of the three largest roads off Abu Dhabi island, was closed for 12 hours yesterday so work could be completed.

Motorists said that just after 6pm there had been queues of several kilometres, reaching well onto Abu Dhabi island on the southbound lanes. Some motorists were stuck in traffic near Al Saada Street for more than 45 minutes, with cars diverted away towards Airport Road, which was also busy.

Col Hussein al Harithi, the head of the Abu Dhabi Police traffic engineering department, said the closure had been unavoidable as a pedestrian bridge was being built near the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

“It was necessary to shut down the Al Khaleej al Arabi motorway in both directions, between Al Saada Street and the Shariah Court Bridge, due to the construction works on going there throughout the night,” Col al Harithi said.

He said traffic patrols had been sent there just before 5pm to close the road and divert traffic, and that the motorway was due to be reopened at 5am today.

Despite the increased patrols, motorists met severe delays, some of which were caused by drivers entering intersections before they were clear, blocking oncoming traffic.

Red-light cameras at many intersections were flashing constantly as drivers tried to move clear of the intersection. Many motorists flashed their lights and honked their horns in frustration.

On the radio, announcers from both English and Arabic stations were warning motorists to avoid the area, suggesting they travel up Muroor Road, Airport Road or Al Salam Street.

Police along the motorway struggled at times to keep order as drivers’ tempers boiled over. At 19th and 30th, cars were stopped bumper to bumper in the middle of the intersection after the lights had changed from green to red.

But drivers approaching from the opposite direction drove straight into the queue of waiting traffic, and tried to drive through the smallest gaps. At one point, a cement mixer tried to squeeze past a Ferrari 430, although no damage was done.

Adel Anwar, a 23-year-old student who was driving to the airport to pick up his sister said he had been waiting in traffic for 25 minutes.

“All the way from Abu Dhabi, there is nothing, nothing to say there are problems,” Mr Anwar said. “I reach here and suddenly there are cars. There is no warning and I am now going to be late. Why can’t the police tell us? We just drive straight into traffic here.”

The opposite lanes on Al Khaleej al Arabi street were closed for 15 hours last week for the first section of the overpass to be built. More delays are expected on the road over the next two months, with roads closed and diversions in place in the weeks leading up to the International Defence Exhibition on Feb 22, to allow advertising and exhibits to be erected.

Until March 22, traffic heading towards Abu Dhabi will be diverted on to the other side of the road, which will be divided into two lanes.