Gone with the 2000s

Gone with the 2000s

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A weekend of sporting spectacle

This weekend turned out to be the one of the most spectacular week in terms of sporting action both on and off the field.

The weekend started with the news of Owen joining ManU. This news comes as a relief to fans after the disappointment of missing out on Benzema. With this Sir Alex would be pleased that he has got one of his favorite players. May be not at best of forms but still Owen deserves a place at ManU and Sir Alex has awarded him a place in one of the biggest clubs in the world. This might turn out to be one of the biggest gambles that he has taken in his long career at ManU. But what it means to the fans is the spectacular sight of seeing Rooney play along side Owen. If Owen manages to come of the slump in form, then this combo of Owen and Rooney will surely guarantee many trophies.

The 2 semi finals were absolute beauty. As I started typing this I am watching the match go into the 5th set with each having 7 games against their name. I have been waiting to write about the winner of this spectacular match but these players have been matching each other in every department for the last 3.5 hrs. After his 2003 victory at US Open one would have expected Andy Roddick to be a major force with many more titles against his name. But unfortunately Andy has never been able to cross the final step. Andy is much like the South African cricket team which plays so well but somehow chokes at decisive moments. What else can you say about this guy with such a great serve and a wonderful overall game? And finally after 4.5 hrs Fedex has done in again. But I feel sorry for Andy, guy gave his best, but one should say WELL FOUGHT, HARD LUCK. Roger won the championship and Andy HEARTS.

Then there was India’s victory against the WI. Dhoni provided us with a glimpse of his big hits for which he was known until he took the mantle of captaincy. Dhoni playing the way he played is great news for the team and viewers.

RJ

IPL 2…Bye Bye Chennai .... courtesy Dhoni

This season of IPL was better than the previous one. The tournament was not over till the last ball. This year the teams were more balanced and more or less it was a level playing field unlike last year.

Except for KKR, all teams were in fray till the last match. Sharukh should thank John for the tremendous work he has done in disintegrating the team. On paper I don’t think KKR was such a bad team but their downfall should be credited to one man John and his mighty support staff team. Imagine this you have 15 member squad and then you have a coaching staff of 9 people. Which other team on earth will have such a high ratio of coach to player. KKR probably had a coach for batting, getting out, bowling, fielding, misfielding, wicket keeping, and one for the 12^th man to train him to effectively get the drinks and accessories on field on time.

Chennai didn’t live up to the expectation and didn’t do justice to the talent they have. Dhoni is probably largely responsible for this bad show. His idea of having the middle order packed with all rounders was a good one, but not Oram. In every post and pre match interview Dhoni admitted that his team’s bowling was bad, but what did he do about that? Leave someone like Nitni in his home ground for Oram, no mate that’s not a way plug the hole. Dhoni was not his usual self in the season. If he was thinking about the world cup it’s good, but is there some other reason to it, only Dhoni can answer it.

My dream squad based on the performances this year:

Hayden, Gilli, Raina, Warne (vc), Dilshan, Yusuf, Kumble (C), Manish pandey, Rohit Sharma, RP singh, Sangakara, Yuvraj, Abhishek Nayar, Irfan Pathan, Virat Kohli/Ravindra Jadeja.

RJ

back from hibernation!!!

It feels like eternity since I last scribbled something. This hibernation has been because of long hours of work these days, continues traveling in weekends and also some laziness that has crept into me these days. As it’s been long time and to make sure I don’t loose track of writing thought will scribble something about couple of things I love to see on weekends or rather at any given point of time at home. One of them is EPL and another of course cricket. To get back into groove of writing, will put in a quickie on why I love and hate IPL.

Why I feel IPL is good for cricket viewers and lovers like me and the game as a whole:

• Don’t think there will be any other occasion where I will probably be cheering an Aussie for every 4 and 6 he hits. In my case its Hayden, he has been amazing so far in this season.
• The entertainment value of cricket had diminished over the last few years. It’s IPL and T20 that has ensured cricket gets it back.
• Cant imagine a situation when I will be praying for an Indian batsman to get out or bowl a bad ball.
  
• This has brought in the city loyalty concept that was alien to Indian sports.
• Where else can you see someone of the caliber of McGrath being dropped in favor of a lesser known player?
• Where else can you see some player who is new to his national side sledging the captain of his country and that too twice his size :)
• There is so much action on and off the field that it adds to the entertainment factor.
• Matches get over in a jiffy. One can watch the match in the evening after office and still hit the bed on time.
• What better entertainment during the hard Indian summer.
• The matches are really unpredictable. Couple of good overs with bat or ball can change the result of the game.
• Where else can you see a player slapping his national mate :)LOL.
• And of course rival players from different national sides sharing the same dressing room. In my opinion this will make the matches played between national sides more interesting.

Enough of roses, shifting the focus on thorns:

• With such enormous amount of money being pumped in, at times the game takes a beat and its more of a business venture. This will definitely spoil the fun involved in the game.
• Commentators are such shameless creatures, even commentary greats like Harsha and Ravi cant get a sentence through without mentioning the sponsors of the tournament. Commentators are naming shots after a sponsor, imagine this one commentator repeatedly calls a six as a DLFer.
  
• This crazy concept of strategic break is probably the worst thing to happen to the game. It robs the momentum of the game even in a format like T20.
• At times the Glamor quotient brought in by team owners is irritating as they get more focus than the game. Shilpa having a conversation with Geoff or Raj, who the hell cares man... except for the camera man and few idiotic commentator.

In my opinion I think in years to come IPL needs more teams and a separate window to ensure all leading players are down there playing the tournament.

RJ

Is it emeregence of Newton's Third Law?

An eye for eye is one of the oldest proverbs. This sounds good IF AND ONLY IF it is put into practice in a movie. A hero trying to take revenge on someone provides the necessary masala and an element of thrill, but movies should be the only place where the above said proverb should be put into practice.

It’s kind of disturbing to hear the word HINDU TERRORISM flashed across all channels and papers. Historically Indians are known for their tolerance and kindheartedness, though there have been very few incidents which do not support this statement. Any religious outfit playing its hand in terrorist activities is a cause for worry.

One thing about the whole incident is the word HINDU TERRORISM that gets mentioned in every sentence that is being reported on TV or on paper. With the kind of media explosion that India has witnessed over the last few years and with all the news channels and papers targeting the same story, this was the only word that I could hear across the media. This whole incident is blown out of proportion by media and few so called secular parties in India. News story around this will definitely help them raise their TRP and viewership, but at the other end this will also create hatred amongst different communities. With some many anti Indian outfits conducted blasts at will across India, a mentioned of terms like HT will kindle them for conducting more such activities.

This new word HT is mentioned just weeks after India’s “Most Powerful Lady” issued statement that terrorist are not from any single community and that you cannot associate terrorism to any particular religion. Well if that’s view of the most powerful lady in Indian politics, then I simply fail to understand how her own party members are endorsing this word coined by media. I am just left to wonder if this is what people call cheap politics. The only reason I can think of as to why the “secular parties” are using this word is for the simple reason that BJP and its allies seem to be better prepared to face the forthcoming elections. Hence it seems as though this is an attempt to reflect terror on the BJP. Its surprising to hear this new word of terrorism because, after so many evidences that proved attacks across the country were carried out by few association which are inclined towards one particular community/philosophy never did we hear a word “isl@#^&* terrorism” mentioned in the India media.

Let’s wait till the investigation is complete. But if it is proved that this act was carried out by a group as suggested now, then it’s a cause of worry. If that’s the case then it is the emergence of Newton’s Third Law which is not healthy for India. Let’s all pray that it’s not true and even if it is, let this be last time.

RJ

Longest blogging.. ooops scribbling break.

It’s been nearly 4 months since I wrote my last blog. Probably this is the longest blogging break ever since I started scribbling a year back. There have been quite a few interesting events in this 4months of hibernation.

Initially I thought I will put down couple of lines about each of those in this blog, but then decided against that and I guess I will write in detail about each of them later. Just to get back into the groove of writing I will be scribbling on the week long hibernation that I managed to squeeze in last week in Chennai.

Over the last 3 weeks work and home had almost merged as I ended up working on Saturdays and holidays. The only reason I went home during that period was because my workplace didn’t have a room for me to hit the bed. Though those 3 weeks were physically taxing, it was a great experience in terms of the exposure I got working with few senior management people.

Last week though I managed to slip off from work and spend some quality time at home with my folks. When you are working at a place away from your house even one or two days you spend at home makes you feel good. But 5 whole days at home is a real luxury and I managed to have that last week. 5 days away from computers and work was a real relaxing experience.

Last 5 days at home were essentially spent catching up with few recently released Tamil movies, enjoying Mom’s food , spend some real quality time with my lil sis and visiting few temples in and around Chennai. Most enjoyable part was Mom’s food which was of top quality as always :)

With my sis getting into the crucial and busy time of preparing for her class 12 board exams this year, I guess this would be the last time, when I can spend some quality time with her before her exams. So in that sense this trip back home was very rewarding.

Of the movies I watched I think Saroja was the best amongst the lot. Though labeled a thriller this movie scores because its humor. The best part of the whole movie watching experience was the timing of the comedy scenes and the unexpected scenes in which they appeared. Generally comedy scenes are forcefully injected into the movie but the ease with which they formed a part of this movie was simply amazing.

On a whole this small break in Chennai was the best I have had in the last 2 years when I have been away from home.

Dasavatharam - Butterfly Effect & Kamal the great

I watched Kamal’s Dasavatharam last Friday. I went into the movie hall after hearing/reading only 2 comments/reviews about the movie by people who had watched it. Either they said its great watch,in tune with a Hollywood with all the special effects or that they didn’t expect this kind of a movie from Kamal, a spoiler from Kamal, waste of money.

There were few of my close friends who asked me not to waste my time by watching the movie. Being a ardent fan of Kamal I decided to watch the movie irrespective of the feedbacks I got from them. This blog post is not a review of the movie, its just what I feel about the movie. I might not even discuss about anything like the story, music etc. as I dont think I am an expert to write reviews.

There would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kamal is probably the best actor in the country. His acting skills are impeccable and the emotions that he brings on to the screen clubbed with the body language of the characters are just awesome. But sadly in this movie though the body language is great as always for the different characters the emotions don’t come out well as they get lost under the thick makeup that 6 of the 10 characters. My favorite characters in the movie are the first avatar Nambi, the funny RAW agent and the rugged Fletcher. This I think is the opinion of the many who have watched the movie. I also liked the characterization of of Vincent Poovarag and best of the lot would be Bush.

The theme of the movie is Butterfly effect or Chaos Theory. Kamal the story writer would have done lot of research and brain storming sessions before coming out with the final draft of the screen play, which is evident in the way every character jumps in with those small events which carry greater consequence at the end of the movie.

Kamal movies have always been critically acclaimed but don’t go that well with the mass ( read box office) as most of them claim they don’t understand the message he tries to bring out. Classic examples of this are movies like Kurudhipunal, Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam. But in this movie I think Kamal had consciously decided not to make that mistake again and come out with a story that will reach the masses.

To bring out a story with a theme of Chaos Theory and also make it reach the masses Kamal has done a great job. But what people like me expect from Kamal is not a movie for the masses but a classy movie, as Kamal is associated with class and not mass. May be had Kamal come out with a movie like many of his earlier ones, which get a great reception among the so called “A Class” audience I think the movie would have been spectacular with Kamal stamp written all over it. But considering the budget of the movie had he made a movie for the A Class the producer would have gone bankrupt.

Another thing that might not work in favor of the film is the expectation. With news that Kamal dons 10 avatars I think people expected equal importance to all the 10 roles. But the very nature of the story is about the minor in- consequent events that lead to a major event. In that sense Kamal has done a great job is not giving importance to all the roles in a big way and just using most of the avatars to get the movie going with small events that finally had a huge impact. Be it the 12^th century event which he claims caused the Tsunami after 800 years or the old lady who throws the viral into the Statue of the Lord thereby making sure Fletcher doesn’t get it or the character of Vincent who saves Asin & Kamal from the sand Mafia, these are all great work of how in-consequent events which had a great effect later on.

As I mentioned earlier all the reviews and comments were opining only 2 thoughts, but I came out taking the middle path "it wasn’t bad nor was it great", definitely worth a watch. With all the great special effects in the movie it would have been a great watch only if someone other than Kamal had acted. Just that it is Kamal the expectations were more. For all the hard work Kamal has put in, if the movie flops I think the blame should be put on only one thing "EXPECTATION".

But we should appreciate Kamal is trying to tell a story based on complex theory like the Butterfly Effect in a simple manner to audience who are used to movies with 5 songs, 6 fights, heroism, punch dialogues etc..

As I didn't want to elaborate on the 10 roles and the significance of them in the movie or butterfly effect, I have added few links for people who didn’t understand the link:

http://sathyaphoenix.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/dasavatharam-the-link-between-the-12th-century-and-21st-century-avatars/

http://ravis.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/dasavatharam-trivia/

RJ