Month: June 2005 Page 1 of 4

Team India: Goal for 2005-06…

Having yet to understand how the new rules will work in the ODI, the Indian team now faces this.

It isn’t good news for the team that is deemed to usurp the throne from the Aussies. One more aim for this year, and a pretty important one if ICC sticks to the rules strictly.

Come on guys get going, one year of poor ODI cricket from bunch of talented blokes like you all has been a huge dampener on our spirits. Get those feet moving and fight!

Awaiting Sarkar

Sarkar hits the screens this Friday. The promos look intense! The whole film has the typical RGV look. The promos reflect that the film will keep you on the edge of your seat all the time, with the audience in for some mind-blowing performances by the father-son duo.

Amitabh’s whole persona & look sends a shiver down your spine. Terrorizing is his whole presence. Abhishek looks the confused son to perfection.

And the comments about the film prior to the release are also note-worthy:
The Director: Abhishek is a better actor than his father!
The Projectionist at the laboratory where the prints were being checked, after viewing the film said,

‘Aisee picture to maine pehle kabhi dekhi nahin. Amitabh Bachchan aur Abhishek Bachchan ka acting dekhne ke baad, yeh maloom nahin ki kaun kiska baap hai!!’

What a fantastic way to put the acting performances of the duo in perspective. That’s what they mean when they tell you to KISS (Keep it Short and Simple!) !!

Amitabh quotes the projectionist in his interview to Mumbai Mirror. He’ll never forget this projectionist ever in his life. What a compliment, no one could’ve put it better!

Weirdos from our planet…

Browsing through many newspaper sites, one comes across some real weird news. For today’s dose:

P.S.: Nothing to do with the title of this blog. But wished you were here in the early hours of today’s morning?

AB’s Baby Rocks the IIFA Awards…

Caught the IIFA awards on Star Plus yesterday. Now what was I doing home on a nice Sunday evening?
Couple of reasons:

  • It’s been pouring cats and dogs in Mumbai for last few days, and these are the times when home seems the best place on earth.
  • I wanted to catch Abhishek Bacchan’s first stage performance, the promos looked very catchy. Before I get into raving about him (I’ve been a ‘loyal’ fan since his debut!) a few things about the awards nite!

Why is it the International Indian Film Academy Awards? Only Bollywood comprises ‘Indian’? Do we not have films in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, and Marathi? Do they not produce films as good as the ‘Hindi’ ones? Apparently for the last 6 years no one has questioned this and none has bothered to address this issue.

It was indeed appalling to see movies like Mujshe Shaadi Karoge to be nominated for best film. Priyanka Chopra for best actress for Mujshe Shaadi Karoge! Do we need to have 5 nominees? Can we not cut it down to 4 if there aren’t movies worth to be nominated! The movie might have been a hit but it need not classify as one of the best films that year!

The award ceremonies (I’ve lost count of them) have become increasingly monotonous, with all winners stating this means a lot to me! For a change, tell us which one does not or which one means the most!! And I was bored, irritated of that ‘I love you Amsterdam, I’ve never had such a rocking time in my life (We should note that, every award ceremony or show everyone says nothing like this!!), I Amsterdam!’ bit.
Enough of sucking up to people ya! Enough!

These ‘n’ number of award ceremonies have simply reduced the worth of getting an award. If Rani gets Filmfare, Preity will bag the Zee Cine, and someone else the Screen. Cool everyone is happy! And the viewers are made fools!

I think people tune in to the award ceremonies more for the performances rather than the excitement of who will win. Most performances are also becoming similar, add a dash of Shiamak’s troupe, or troupes of famous dance directors, plug in a few recent hits, oldies to get nostalgic and there you have the show set!

And in these boring, monotonous award ceremonies Abhishek’s performance came as breeze of fresh air. The last year has been great for him: Yuva, Dhoom, Phir Milenge. He is going great guns as an actor. Sarkar to watch out this year and if it means anything, Ram Gopal Verma has gone on record to say that he is a better actor than his father. Wow. The Best compliment ever!!! All actors would die to have anyone say that to them.

This confidence reflected in his performance; having overcome being in the shadow of his illustrious parents, he stood his own ground and carved a place for himself. He is not the best of dancers like Hrithik, does not have a fan-following like Salman (whose every awful steps were hugely applauded!) or the aura of Shahrukh Khan but there is an amazing like-ability factor to this man!

He danced with ease in his own unassuming manner, and showing a hint of his dad in his expressions and dance steps.

The ‘Kajra Re’ number at the end with the father-son duo on stage enthralled the audience. The number could have done without Ash. Her whole Miss Sweet as a Saccharine image gets to me and her plastic expressions and dance steps are even worse! Let me not get to her accent at all! What did she say on Oprah ‘My living with my parents is such a Taahpic!’ Not Topic..but ‘Taahpic’. It did not sound American, or Brit, or Indian! It sounded ‘Hinglish’!!!

Amitabh Bachchan continues to amaze me. When his contemporaries are living quietly in their retirement, when people his age cannot think of climbing more than two floors, he matches dance steps to his 29 year old son, we are left wondering who is the younger of the two! His enthusiasm is priceless, and the aura he still has on the people is unmatched and will remain so forever!
No wonder he is and will always be “The Superstar” !

This blog chapter was to be more about Abhishek Bachchan and his Super Star Dad’s performance, also turned out be a IIFA bashing blog, but what the heck I don’t mind;-) I think they’ve asked for it.

P.S: The advertisement breaks were the limit, every break they would have the promo of the Kajra Re number saying ‘Coming Up’. Yes it sure did come up quickly after 3 ½ hrs of the show, right at the end!!!

Black Week for Indian Cricket

First Mushtaq Ali then Eknath Solkar. Two stalwarts of India Cricket passed away within a week. The latter took fielding (The most neglected aspect in cricket) to new heights even before the likes of Azharuddin & Rhodes came onto the scene.

The quartet of our spin bowlers that played the most important role in our victories against WI and England in 1971 always gave Solkar his due credit; for were it not for his awesome fielding abilities they would’ve never bagged the wickets they did. In an era where there was no protection and helmets around, Eknath Solkar stood close to the batsman in the dreaded forward leg position and took some of the most stunning catches.

Sadly, India did not produce his class of fielders consistently cause there is no ‘glamour’ attached to the job. Most find it a thankless job. The fielding was brought live again by Azhar and Rhodes and its importance realized only after the emergence of Aussies and SA as the teams to beat in ODIs, who easily saved 20-30 runs due their fielding alone. Just as crowds flocked to see Jonty Rhodes for his fielding alone, same was the case with Solkar in those days.

An incident I recollect which I had read in one of the sports magazines a long time ago. So much was Solkar known for his fielding abilities especially at the forward short-leg that it has sent alarm bells to a great batsman like Vijay Manjrekar. In a local match where they were pitched up against each other he said to Solkar in Marathi
‘Eknatha tu tikde khadda khanun ubha rahilas na tari tula me majhi wicket denar nahi’
which in English meant
‘Eknath, even if you dig a hole there and sit all day, I will not give you my wicket’

It was not a gibe at Eknath but it reflected the respect Vijay Manjrekar had towards his fielding!
May he inspire more to pick up his art. May his soul rest in peace.

For more on the man read here and Harsha Bhogle’s tribute here.

Sania Shines…

The change in climate and the heavy downpour took its toll on me and kept me at home all day yesterday due to fever!

Had to write about Sania’s match against Kuznetsova! ( I hope I got that name right!!)

Ideally would’ve liked to get it up asap but could not fight the fever,
But as per the age old adage I thought, better late than never;-)

Hey did I get a rhyming or two there?;-)

I dunno how far this lass will go. How many titles she’ll win, how many Grand slams she’ll pocket, but with her amazing fighting display the other day against Kuznetsova she is right up there in my books.

All of 18, but confidence of a player who has been around the circuit for 18 years. Not once was she overawed by her opponent’s seeding (maybe the fact that she had beaten her in Dubai open, helped Sani’s confidence), or the fact that she was playing on Centre Court. I think it must’ve meant the world to her to be playing on the Wimbledon Centre Court. (Here is what she had to say)

For any tennis player it is a dream to be there on that Wimbledon Centre Court. It’s is to tennis what Lord’s is to cricket.

She’ll come back and play many more matches there and go on to win as well. She came back strong in that match, what a fight she gave. Maybe the Indian cricket & hockey teams could learn a thing or two from her.

Most people will say, ‘What is the big deal about her reaching the second round at Wimbledon or third round at Australian open?’

It is a big deal!!! Despite its huge population, India does not enjoy a great sporting culture nor a history of talented sportsman, women are too less and can be counted on the fingers of one’s hand!

And if we will not applaud and take notice of small achievements like these, how will these youngsters get encouraged? How will they know that whatever little they have managed to accomplish, fighting all odds, is being appreciated by their countrymen? How can we not applaud this young lady’s feat?

She has to be noticed, she deserves to be noticed. Her achievements are no small feat. She has managed to get us thinking beyond the Tendulkars, Dravids and Gangulys. Little girls believe that they have a future in world sports, and they can aspire to be the Sanias of the future.

Even the WTA has stood up and taken notice of her! And why are we being snooty in acknowledging that here is a young lady on the threshold of what could be a phenomenal career and make great history for India in the tennis world.

Hey Sania, I seriously don’t care if you never manage to win a grand slam( I’m praying hard you do) but you have taught one damn good lesson which all Indians seem to have forgotten. Fight, fight, and fight hard! There is absolutely no shame in the loss if you know you have given more than 100% in your effort!

Brilliant match lady, a couple of serves and volleys your way and you would be in that third round, but never mind, you are young and you’ll be back…

You’ll be back more mature, smarter, fitter and finer in your game. We are there watching you and applauding you on your every point, Go get them;-)

Vata Pournima and Mumbai Voices on Go 92.5 FM

Vata Pournima is the day when married ladies fast the entire day to pray for their husband’s long life and have him as their husband for the next 7 lives. I wonder why there is no such fast for men;-)

Anyway this blog chapter is not about debating on it or explaining the occasion. As a part of my daily routine I listen to Jaggu and Tarana on the Good Morning Mumbai Show on Go 92.5FM, daily from 7.00-11.00 a.m.

The duo is a complete riot on radio and brings you tons of laughter with their witty conversations and takes on current events. I think it’s a show everyone must listen too.

They do a section called ‘Mumbai Voices’ where they ask the junta to sms/call in expressing their views about a topic raised that day. Today they asked ‘If all married ladies would want their husband for 7 lives’.

The answers poured in. Most said No; after all variety is the spice of life, some said Yes, cause there is no man like him and we are very happy.

A few had innovative answers, but the one that caught the attention was this:

“This is my Seventh Life!”

Somebody has been counting for a long time now!!!

The Wait is Over…

I’m not talking about the much awaited split of the Reliance Empire, or the Aussie defeat at the hands of England.

It’s the much awaited rains. They were late by 10 odd days than the usual and how they have tasted the patience of the Mumbaikar. The heat, the sweat, the sultry atmosphere was getting unbearable!

It poured yesterday and quite a bit today morning. On my way to office, I saw the muck around, the train-timetable all set to go haywire in few days, traffic on roads, people making their way through with umbrellas and windcheaters, pot-holes on roads, certain roads all set to get flooded…

Aha, the monsoon has arrived and Mumbai’s normalcy is on its way to get restored;-)

Enjoy these 4 months…

Will He Be Aus’s Nemesis?

He has been much talked about before the series began. He has a record to back the reputation he is earning as Destroyer-in-Chief.

He proved it again yesterday.

What would be interesting to see is will he be able to do to the Aussies what Sachin did to them in the 1998 season??

Interesting battle ahead!

Saturday Shocker…

Saturday for me is the day to relax after a hectic working week. I usually keep myself away from the computer and today I spent the day with my mother out shopping and later caught up with my school friends for a wonderful dinner.

Got home pretty late, was tired but decided to login to check up mail and this news was nothing less of a shock to me.

Of all the matches being played these days I avoid watching Bangladesh in action. Today, I’ll really rue the fact that I did not believe in the age old adage ‘cricket is game of glorious uncertainties’

I’m a huge Aussies fan, but I’d give anything to catch them being defeated by minnows.
Would want to catch the match, what was it?? Real shoddy display by Aussies or great batting by Bangladesh.

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