BUSINESS TODAY

JULY 6, 2003

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Q&A: Subrah S. Iyar
As Chairman & CEO of the $140-million Nasdaq listed WebEx Communications Inc, Subrah Iyar is in an enviable position. His company has been ranked No. 1 in a recent Forbes' listing of the fastest growing tech companies. With a CAGR of 186 per cent over the last five years, he's the man to listen to on growth.

Confer Different
'Here's to the crazy ones…' begins the classic ad. Except that there's not a murmur in the conference hall. In fact, there is no hall. It's a virtual seminar. The delegates use VSAT-linked PCs to get across to panelists Samit Sinha of Alchemist, Harish Doraiswamy of Adidas and Kalyanmoy Chatterjee of TN Sofres-Mode.
More Net Specials

FLOTSAM
Second Thoughts

Should the brothers Wachowski have made The Matrix Reloaded at all? The Matrix was a great stand-alone motion pic, and it might have stood the test of time better as just that than as the first part of a not-so-bad trilogy, which is what it now seems set to be, unless Revolutions is more like Part I than Part II. Still, sequels are a hard act to master. One is likely to encounter inept representatives of the genre such as 2 Fast 2 Furious-Vin Diesel made Part I what it was (and still is)-and Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (although this was a masterpiece compared to the ones that followed). Here's a quick guide to sequels that actually clicked.

By R.S.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
1991

In this writer's opinion, this runs The Two Towers close as the finest sequel of all time. The special effects, managed by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, were ahead of their time then, and there are few cooler sights in moviedom than Arnie riding a Hog with a shotgun shoved into a saddlebag. And don't forget that Hasta la vista, baby replaced Go ahead punk, make my day as the distillation of machismo.

The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)
1980

It is dark, tells the truth about Darth Vader, showcases the skills of little green Jedi Yoda (this piece, we did to try like him write), and ends with one of the most amazing duels in lightsaber history-between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. The finest motion pic in the original trilogy, and now the best of a quintent.

Godfather Part 2
1974

Surely, you've seen this. It has Al Pacino as Michael Corleone and Robert De Niro as the young Vito. For those interested in trivia: it is also the only sequel in motion picture history to win an Oscar.

The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers
2002

Well, director Peter Jackson had great raw material-Tolkien's script-but he still deserves all the praise that is heaped on him and more simply because several great books have been translated into insipid motion pics. And not since Carlo Lombardi's Dune worms have creatures as awe-inspiring as the Ents been seen on screen. And don't miss Legolas, the fastest gun, sorry bow in all Middle Earth.

The Two Jakes
1990

Film noir had been dead and gone when Jack Nicholson directed this sequel to Roman Polanski's China Town in which he played detective Jake Gittes. The mood of postwar LA pervades the movie, and Nicholson does tell the mystery that is at the film's core fairly well, although most critics thought otherwise.

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
1982

This is part of the selection because:
I am a Trekkie.
My editor hates sci-fi.
It really deserves to be here (Go figure).

Back to the Future Part 2
1989

If you are one of those people who cannot understand the popularity of Part I of this franchise-this writer can't- try the 1989 sequel. It's got a better plot, and while its space-time related acrobatics cannot really be compared to Philip K. Dick's alternative-chapter plot in Martian Timeslip, it works.

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