Hey folks!

So, Laapataa Ladies snagged the spot as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025 this week. And sure, the controversy around it is still buzzing, with some people questioning whether it truly deserves the spot.

But let’s put that aside for a while. Because we have to talk about something even wilder.

Chhota Bheem.

Yup! The cartoon kid who powers up on laddus (delicious round Indian sweets) just like Popeye does with spinach, and then goes on to smash villains. Well, turns out he and his gang had a movie based on them. And believe it or not, they dared to throw their hat in the ring for the Oscars.¹

Why, you ask?

Well… why not?

The Film Federation of India (FFI) invites any filmmaker whose film has been released in India during the qualifying period (November 2023 to September 2024) to submit it for Oscars consideration.² And the movie just needs to hit a few basic checkboxes. It needs to be at least 40 minutes long, mostly in a non-English language and have a 7-day run in theatres. Oh, and pay ₹1.25 lakh as the entry fee. That’s it! So, pretty much anyone can make the cut.

And that’s how Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan ended up on the list. Maybe they were aiming to take Indian action films to the world stage. Who knows? Either way, you’ve got to admire that level of boldness. And hey, wouldn’t we all love to have that kind of confidence in life?

Here's a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Dream to keep us going by Easy Wanderlings

Ready to roll?

What caught our eye this week 👀

Japan’s turning the dead into gold. Wait… what???

We know that headline sounds a bit spooky. But trust us, this is about business. Japan’s cities are earning some serious extra cash by extracting precious metals from cremated remains.³ Yes, you heard that right!

You see, Japan has the world’s highest cremation rate of nearly 100%.⁴ Over 1.5 million people are cremated every year, and during the process, some valuable materials don’t burn away completely. Think implants like titanium hips, stainless steel bone screws and even gold teeth. So the ashes leave behind valuable metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium and more.

And about half of Japan’s 88 major cities are scooping them up, selling the metals and pocketing around ¥6.5 billion (about $45 million) over the last five years. This money goes straight into the cities’ coffers to help cover cremation costs.

But you can imagine that many families feel uneasy about their loved ones being a source of profit after death. So this practice has sparked quite a bit of controversy.

Some Japanese citizens want laws to ensure that the dead are treated with respect like how other countries like the UK, already have regulations for recycling metals from cremations.⁵ And if that happens, Japan may soon have to follow suit. Cities might need permission from families before extracting and selling off precious metals from ashes of the dead. And that could potentially shrink their extra income.

And guess who else has a similar practice?

India of course.

India has one of the highest cremation rates in the world too, sitting at around 75%.⁶ In Varanasi, you’ll find people working on the cremation ghats, sifting through ashes washed into the river.⁷

That’s because in Hinduism, there’s a belief that placing gold in the mouth, nostrils or ears of the deceased helps protect the soul on its journey to the afterlife. Besides, sometimes families also forget to remove small gold ornaments like rings or nose pins, and those get washed away, too.

This ends up in the hands of the collectors, who put in about seven hours a day to collect ash. And if luck’s on their side, they can extract gold from these remains, earning between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000 daily.

This practice isn’t regulated either, but it hasn’t sparked much controversy in India, perhaps because it supports the livelihoods of the Dom community, who dedicate long hours to collecting gold from ashes of the deceased. Should this be regulated as well?

Let us know what you think!

Infographic 📊

This Day in Financial History 📜

24th of September, 1869 ― A gold scandal sparks Black Friday

On this day something big went down in the US financial world, an event that would later be known as “Black Friday”.⁸

And no, it wasn’t about shopping.

This Black Friday was about gold and two shrewd financiers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, who nearly broke Wall Street with a sneaky plan to corner the gold market.⁹

Their plan was simple ― buy enough gold to drive prices sky-high, and sell for huge profits.

Now, at the time, gold was key to international trade. However, after the US went off the gold standard (a system that connects the value of a currency to a fixed amount of gold) during the Civil War, Congress issued paper money called greenbacks or dollars to help fund the war. So, for a while, gold and greenbacks were both in circulation, competing for dominance.

And here’s the kicker. There wasn’t much gold around, only about $20 million at any given time. So, Gould saw an opportunity to exploit this limited supply.

He teamed up with Fisk and quietly planned to buy gold to create scarcity.

But there was a catch. The US government held a significant portion of the country’s gold. And if President Ulysses S. Grant decided to release some, the market would crash, ruining their scheme.

To keep the government from selling, Gould and Fisk cosied up to Abel Corbin, President Grant’s brother-in-law, and tried to influence policy.¹⁰ And it may have worked for a while.

By late September, gold prices were at record highs, and speculators on Wall Street were starting to panic.

But on September 24, 1869, President Grant got wind of the manipulation and ordered the Treasury to release $4 million worth of gold. The bubble burst, prices plummeted, and chaos hit Wall Street. Investors were wiped out, firms went bankrupt and the stock market took a major hit.

Surprisingly, Gould managed to escape with some profit, while the rest of the market was left in ruins. Black Friday became a wake-up call, showing how easily unchecked speculation could destabilise financial markets, sparking calls for stronger regulations.

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, Tripti Joshi from our content team recommends listening to The Man Enough Podcast, hosted by filmmaker and actor Justin Baldoni, journalist Liz Plank and Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath. It’s all about mental health and what it really means to be human in today’s world. Tripti’s favourite episode features guest Alok Vaid Menon, and she says it’s a must-listen!

And if you end up enjoying this podcast, you can thank Tripti for the rec. We’ve thanked her already. 😁

Finshots Weekly Quiz 🧩

It’s time to announce the winner of our previous weekly quiz. And the winner is…🥁

Durga Prasad Palacharla! Congratulations. Keep an eye on your inbox and we’ll get in touch with you soon to send over your Finshots merch. And for the rest of you, we’ve moved the quiz to our weekly wrapup. So make sure you answer all the questions correctly by 12 noon on October 5, 2024 (Saturday) and tune in here next week to check if you got lucky.

Anyway, that’s it from us this week. We’ll see you next Sunday!

Until then, don’t forget to tell us what you thought of today’s newsletter. And send us your book, music, business movies, documentaries or podcast recommendations. We’ll feature them in the newsletter! Just hit reply to this email (or if you’re reading this on the web, drop us a message: morning@finshots.in).

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Sources: Hindustan Times [1] [7], The Times of India [2], Nikkei Asia [3], World Population Review [4], BBC [5], Pulvis [6], History [8], Britannica Money [9], PBS [10]

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