Time heals wounds....

But seems it has forgotten mine...

Jo main nahin hoon to kyun hoon...

Jo main nahin hoon to kyun hoon...
Jo hoon to kya hoon main? - Amir Khusru

Sourav's dilemma...to bat or not to bat!!

When i see the amount of television time today being consumed by our ex-Captain; I am forced to ponder about the situation.
Just when I had thought that Sourav has had the last laugh, destiny has played a very cruel game with him, yet again.
Where did it all start going wrong? It is ironical that Sourav's slide down the trough started when he was at the doorstep of his greatest success as an Indian captain. His first away series win (away from the sub-continent) in test matches.
After a not so great and ever painful century, the moment Sourav decided to create fuss over the friendly banter that Greg had with him and suggested him about his future as a player as well as the captain of team India, before the media, he started his downward slide.
Although that matter was handled by the BCCI within closed doors(as diplomatically as ever), the seize of power away from Sourav and his eventual loss of place would not have come as a surprise to any prudent skeptic.
Yes, Sourav has given us more reasons to cheer about than any other Indian captain (apart from Kapil maybe in 1983).
Be it the shirt waving syndrome he has, or the way he handled the media pressure created by the Steve, he no doubtedly changed the face of Indian cricket.
But the problems that bugged Sourav were same that happens with many good things; that of over Indulgence and self-obsession.
Somewhere down the line he forgot that Team India was the Super set and he, the subset and thought otherwise.
He thought that he could get away with poor strokes as long as the team was winning, and slowly the feeling that he was a burden started playing in the minds of the Indian cricketers (particularly the ones like Laxman, Zaheer and Nehra who were struggling for a permanent place in the team in spite of doing better than Sourav).
One has to agree that he did all the right things by increasing his fitness levels, playing domestic matches(and restarted bowling once again) to get selected into the team and
the selectors were definitely wrong...wrong not in dropping him but repicking him under political pressure.
This has been proven by the turn of events in the first test match in pakistan.A senior player like Sourav cannot be selected in the team and warm up the bench. So, what do we do? We drop both Gambhir and Jaffer who had centuries in the tour game, create in balance in the team and force a player like Rahul to bat at the start of the innings (Sourav's fear of facing fast bowling is an axiom now-a-days, doesn’t need to be discussed any more) just for the fear that,
some hundred awful supporters who have no better work to do will throng down the streets and start burning effigies. What we forget here is that all these events are sponsored by the
political circles of the state ( which is on the verge of assembly elections) to divert attention.
And to his sheer chagrin, the pitch was a batsman's paradise. Who knows what would have happened had Dada opened the innings?
This is destiny's way of saying 'Son your time's up!!'
Sourav has been good, but he could have been great.How can Sourav be happy when he is selected into the team as a batting all-rounder and not as a fully fledged batsman, when I as one of his countless fans feel deeply humiliated by the statement itself? After facing so many downfalls, as a true fan of his, I deserve at least one more swashbuckling innings from him.
At least one more glorious cover drive, but alas he is hell bent to prove to himself that he is "STILL" good. What he does not want to believe is that he is long past his expiry date as an active player.
Ay Royal Bengal Tiger...Take a Bow.. And leave.. For thy have passed thou time..!!

Salman Khan:- The Enfant terribilis of bollywood

Enough has been written about Salman, he has had his fair share of critics and more than fair share of followers.I don't intend to support either groups but i just want to give my take..before delving deeper into Salman's pshyce just go thru an interview by Salman given to rediff before the release of Kyon Ki(his diwali offering,which took a hammering at the box office).Salman seems to be in a very good mood throughout the interview :))...

Rediff: What is your role in Kyon Ki?
Salman: Same role. I play the same kind of roles all the time.

Rediff: Tell us about Priyadarshan's other film, which is releasing on the same day as Kyon Ki?
Salman: Which film is that?

Rediff: How long you plan to do romantic films?
Salman: Till the time they run. We will see later.

Rediff: Kyon Ki is a love story like Tere Naam. What is the difference between the two?
Salman: Tere Naam was directed by Satish Kaushik and Kyon Ki by Priyadarshan.

Rediff: Priyadarshan says your acting is one of the best performances of your career.
Salman: That is shocking news to me.

Rediff: Why should one see Kyon Ki?
Salman: The film has no vulgarity, no exposure and it is a decent film.

Rediff: What are you doing this Diwali?
I am going to my house in Panvel. I would like to advice everyone to keep a distance from the bottle when you light a rocket. Also, see that the rocket does not enter anyone's house. Don't burst big bombs like the rassi bomb. Burst the sutli bomb instead. And don't roam barefoot, as you may get burnt. Wear slippers.

Rediff: How do you feel about the fact that D'damas is associating with Kyon Ki?
Salman: Thank God it was not Nirma soaps.

....Can you expect such brashness from anyone else...from Amitabh or for the matter Shahrukh?No. and this interview precisely tells us what brand Salman is!!The whole of last year saw him hogging the limelight for all the wrong reasons,but all his releases be it Lucky or Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya(which faced the wrath of the entire nation over the Aish tapes) were big money spinners.It is said that in places like Hyderabad or Mumbai where Khan has the most of his die-hard followers, if they show the still photographs of Salman or just show Salman walking around in the screen for 3 hours, the movie would still be a hit.That is the kind of Fanatic fan follwing this man has.As the list of his rumoured girl friends grows and the nation never tires in logging Salman in the list of most eligible bachelors year after year, the aura surrounding him grows..My personal take on his alleged relation with Katrina is ... that there is no relation at all.This affair is one of the many media created hypes sponsored by Salman,who knows that his fan following(especially in the fairer sex) grows with every addition in his list of girlfriends and every decrease in thier ages.We as a nation have given the celebreties Demi-God status and ponder about trivial things about our self created Gods as to how they manage to have affairs with girls half thier age, even if they are losing hair rapidly and are at the wrong side of forty.When a certain Mr.Bacchan sneezes, the entire nation catches cold.BUT the bottom line is that even he is mortal and all the hype is media created.Salman knows the strength of this hype and he has used the media quite effectively in projecting this 'Good boy gone bad due to circumstances' image.He knows that even if one day no hairs are left in his scalp,he would still churn out hits.The infant refuses to grow up!!Who cares,as long as we get our regular dose of the 'Latest Salman doings' and as long as he delivers hits , and his molls are happy being 'Salman's girl'.. Who cares ?? REALLY!!

Sanjay dutt very much kickin and ZINDA!!

Sanjay Gupta teaming up with the 'deadly' dutt delivers yet another blockbuster sucker punch through a movie like Zinda.Yes, the gory gets a bit too much but if one thinks of the life that the protagonist has been leading since the past 14 years, it seems quite realistic they way he chases and tortures his past-tormentors.
Sanjay Gupta has been slick right from they days of Aatish, Haamesha but here he takes a step backward and allows the story to take the frontseat.The only style he has used is the use of different hues(violet,grey) to describe different situations.This shows his growth as a director.
The movie has been 'Inspired' from a Korean movie 'OldBoy'.Korean movies are movies of excess.Their stories take the motive too far and show unimaginable angles to an Old theme.So vendatta may be a beaten to bush motive here in Bollywood, still this is geniuinely a 'HAT KE' story.
Speaking of the performances, Sanjay Dutt is at his best ( particularly in the scenes where he gets angry and is apologetic in the very next moment)John Abraham has delivered an Coming-of-Age performance and the girls (Lara and Celina) hardly get to do anything.If you have seen OldBoy, go see the way Gupta has caressed the movie and handeled such a complex story with charismatic ease; and if you have'nt seen the Korean Original,go watch this out..this is a real HAT KE.

Ten Things that did actually change in 2005

1) Flight rates in India
2) SRK did not have any major hit round the year
3) Laloo Govt. toppled in Bihar (phew..)
4) The captainship of Team India
5) The presidentship of BCCI
6) Mobility @mobiles
7) Sonia Gandhi's Hindi pronunciation( its getting better day by day...one has to admit)
8) Abhishek Bacchan had a hit (finally!!)
9) Team India won a Test series away from the subcontinent(so what if its zimbabwe :(( )
10) After the change in names of so many cities ,that of a certain indian city which is now Bangaluru

Ten Things that did'nt even change in 2005

1) Doordarshan’s broadcast
2) Dev Anand making a movie
3) Bappida’s Hindi pronunciation
4) Sachin creating a new record
5) Sanjay Dutt teaming up with Sanjay Gupta
6) Microsoft yet to find an answer to Google (If Jim Morrison would have been alive today he would have surely rewritten his most quotable quote: "There are things known and there are things unknown and in beetween there is Google.")
7) Left Front cribbing about the government
8) Sourav’s fans (as optimistic as ever) on the roads
9) President Kalam’s honest speeches
10) The profits of Indian Software Houses soaring Quarter after Quarter.