2S
Techie. Writer. Photographer.
Archive for August, 2007
August 23, 2007 at 1:00 am · Filed under cricket
- but first, I had to literally rub my eyes over and over again before it sunk in, did the chap say ‘cream’?
Agreed, chief, they got the balls to bitch at the BCCI and ditch them (after the BCCI ditched them anyway, but hey) but barring that, there’s nothing creamy about these players. Perhaps they have the talent after all, but the creme-de-la-creme, monsieur, is currently playing cricket in England. Then, come the benchwarmers, and finally, when the U-19 hotshots are overlooked, does the ICL have names that grab attention.
Not that the ICL has substandard names, but let’s be realistic here - the real ‘cream’ of the ICL, if any, are the international players. So Kapil Dev ought to watch that mouth. It’s bad enough making those kind of statements - but hear this one out: ‘I will back you till the last day I live’. Er - these are cricketers, not the light brigade, right?
Which makes me wonder, is the ICL such a big deal after all? If it is, pray enlighten yours truly, where are the tournament dates? The stable plans? The infrastructure? Or is it too ‘new’ yet? Oops, just an infant, let it be guys. Unfortunately, that makes it all look silly, especially when the guy facing the media is an Indian cricketer that gave his heart and nothing less than cent-percent for his nation. If only the orifice in his face would work as well as his limbs did during the ‘83 Cup, that would give ICL a lot of tidiness, and the BCCI, a few yorkers and bouncers to deal with.
And when the likes of Inzy join the league, perhaps a beamer or two.
Tell you what - I’m backing the ICL for many reasons. To start with, it’s a good combination of raw talent and seasoned players, at first glance. Secondly, these are guys who’ve rebelled in their own way, and I’m a fan of rebellions - sue me if you may. Most importantly, it gives the arrogant BCCI an oh-so-slight kick up the rear to get their act together. And hey, that was bloody overdue.
And what has BCCI done in response? Very little, except imposing bans, introducing their Pak/SL counterparts to similar silly bans if their players try anything ‘fancy’, expel the legendary Kapil Dev as NCA Chairman, and upping the domestic players’ fees by more than double.
Very little.
August 18, 2007 at 11:39 pm · Filed under telly
This is bullshit with a mammoth B.
Wonderful, just wonderful, another good vocalist voted out. Why the hell is Prashant still there? Yes, he’s got an awesome voice, but his last performance wasn’t as good. The song was as easy as it gets, a straightforward Aap Ki Dua, while Puja on the other hand, rendered Shubha Mudgal’s Ab Ke Saawan.
Anu Malik pointed out the harkat in the songs. Udit suggested that he himself couldn’t have sung it that well. Alisha takes it a step forward, suggesting that her rendition was better than the original. Sonu was all praise, and Javed Akhtar went on a forgiving spree after that performance. Mini Mathur summed up her performance in one bloody appropriate word - awesome.
But hey, the audience missed it all, didn’t they? Let’s hope you don’t, here it is.
Surely, we live in a deaf nation.
August 18, 2007 at 6:39 pm · Filed under bollywood
Chak De India is, what SRK could call, a masterstroke.
Forget the whole patriotism thing it has going for itself, this is a movie that raises the bar for other flicks that try. This is work worthy of praise by the guy who gave us Ab Tak Chappan, and it doesn’t try too hard to be artistic, or mainstream. It’s just there, it’s an honest narrative and it proves a point: a good story when told well can entertain, period, without really the need for bikini-clad sex-Sherawats as fillers.
Kabir Khan (SRK) is the captain of the national hockey side, and oops - he misses a penalty stroke against Pakistan in an all-important final. The media manufacture treason, and Khan is soon under the microscope. Eventually, he’s tagged a traitor, and it’s done oh-so-filmi - chalked on the Khan’s residence - before he leaves in a tearless farewell.
We fast-forward seven years. Khan is back, applying for the God-forsaken post of the women’s hockey team coach. Why? To regain the lost pride, etc. No major motivational speech to rope Khan in, mercifully, as he puts forward his case. The women’s hockey board, of course, have nothing to lose, having little faith in their team’s ability. That leaves Khan and his new beard in the company of sixteen girls from around the country, literally, as he begins his harsh mentorship. Sadly for the girls, this isn’t a coach, it’s an authoritarian, a dictator - King Khan at his stringent best - as he makes them toil hard, both mentally and physically, instilling them with confidence and inspiring them with the pep-talk.
Yes, it does get shaky, but Khan prevails, taking the team into the World Championship, not before they had to play a match against their male counterparts to prove their worth. The World Championship, of course, is the big showdown, as Khan guides them nicely with victory after victory, and in the ‘bharatiya nari running around in knickers for their win’, Kabir Khan tries to win the hearts of people. Again.
Unfortunately for director Shimit Amin, when you do decide on a sports flick, something of this nature, you have to compromise on a lot. The end is all too obvious, and rather predictable, but the journey throughout was more than enjoyable, and that’s where he scores. The final moments of Chak De India actually grip you, although you know the end result at the back of your mind. More than anything, I loved this flick for the honesty - there is no real overdone masala talk, no item tracks, no I’m-going-through-a-depression parallel narratives, absolutely no dilution of the sort. It figures - at just over two and a half hours running time, it’s made an impact. The girls do their bits pretty well, and although not all of them hog the screen, there are a few prominent players, namely Chitrashi Rawat as Komal Chautala, Shilpa Shukla as Bindia Naik and Sagarika Ghatge as Preeti Sabarwal. Did I mention Sagarika’s hot? Nope? Okay, here goes - she is.
But, hello, this is a welcome surprise, a Yash Raj flick with no lover boy Khan? And wow, I mean wow, King Khan can act. Disarmingly so convincing, that even those witty one-liners which ought to have had no place in the script is delivered with such precision. Chak De doesn’t try too hard to remain subtle throughout, and there are flaws and the clichés, but he makes them all believable, and proves yet again why he ought to do more roles like these and Swades.
Oh, and the most important factor that deserves mention, either Khan puts up a real phenomenal act or he really loves hockey, or both - because it shows on-screen. The bloke belongs to the field.
So if you haven’t watched it yet, buck up. Best film around patriotism in theaters this year, and a Bible for Indian film-makers who want to make sportflicks.
*****
August 13, 2007 at 1:40 pm · Filed under telly
What kind of shit horseshit audience is listening to, and voting for Indian Idol anyway? How in the world could they possibly lose Deepali, a blessed voice tailor-made for Bollywood’s best melodies. It’s absurd, it’s total nonsense, and as Javed Akhtar put it as only he could - she get’s punished for singing well. Absofreakingbullshit, the length of that profane term doing little to suggest my annoyance at having Deepali out of the show.
Girl, we’ll miss you, we sure as hell will. May you sing and RJ your way into the ears and minds of the nation, this - from a fan like many others who could see your helplessness through your smile yesterday. You were brave to put up the face and rendition you did, and heck, we know that.
If this is the Janta’s choice, then I’d rather not have it. Perhaps the wordsmith, the skylark sweetheart that gave us Made in India, the immortal vocals that rendered Pehla Nasha and the thief who hasn’t even spared the Israeli National anthem - should play their roles as judges. Let them bring their skill and judgement into play and pick the best Idol, and seriously, if this is the kind of voting that’s going to happen, democracy be damned to a bloody death that the people brought upon it.
August 8, 2007 at 11:15 am · Filed under debates
Three words immortalized Gandhi’s call for passive resistance against the colonization.
Three words that formed a mantra which beckoned the people of a nation to wake up to a new reality, and the possibility of freedom.
Three words that are still superfreaking relevant in today’s day and age.
While on a project in Bombay, I was put-up a stone’s throw away from the August Kranti Maidan, or the Gowalia Tank, where Mahatma Gandhi delivered the Quit India speech on this day over six decades ago, the 8th of August 1942. There are no signs of Gandhi there anymore, and it is saddening. It’s a pity to see that the ‘do or die’ approach is today reduced to run-chases by a country’s national cricket team, because that fervour for national service is either invisible, or worse - missing.
Personally, I salute Gandhi’s heart for India, and his vision. However, I do not believe that Ahimsa was the best approach to deal with invaders. To me, Gandhi wasn’t simply rooted in non-violence - he was blinded by it - and a nation’s quest for freedom cannot rest entirely on blind faith. That, for me, was a major flaw in Gandhi’s approach. Besides, I find it difficult to forgive Gandhi for not exploiting his power over the will of people to unite the nation physically. Gandhi vowed that he would never see the country partitioned, yet he quietly accepted it as a harsh reality.
I also hold freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad in the highest regard, mutineers who practiced another form of do or die, to the extent that he is identified as a terrorist in British history. His Atheistic approach shunned the leash of religions, ironically, uniting Hindus and Muslims as well. In spite of their ideals and their flaws, and in spite of all our flaws as a secular democracy today, I and a million others are indebted to them, for the simple reason that we were born in free India.
What is interesting to note is that Gandhi and Bhagat Singh both had the same objective. They both did, and did things differently. They both died, under different circumstances. Gandhi’s loyalty to deontological ethics and his obsession with non-violence curbed the hostility towards those who deserved it, translating his aggression into a defensive model that should not be confused with a ‘wait and watch’ approach. Bhagat Singh, however, was more of a consequentialist, ready to take a ‘wrong’ path to achieve the ‘right’ cause. A balance between these approaches seems to be the impossible solution, even today.
Read the rest of this entry »
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
