ALLL: A sentimental roller-coaster ride for the Gen-X
Snip-In:
Is this movie so great to write about? – Not actually. But it’s nice though. I remember watching the promos while I was in LA around 2005 and Ashton Kutcher has already an heartthrob around the world then. Well, while browsing through my earlier posts, I realized I haven’t written a movie review for last ~5 months. The last article I could post was in April’11 after India’s win in Cricket ODI World Cup. Is it to do with my schedule? – Partly yes! So for some odd reasons I got up early on Sunday morning (when I am needing a lot of rest…could be sleeping disorder!) and thought of writing on this movie, as it’s still fresh as watched just the earlier night. I was about to be writing on ZNMD and another book over last several weeks / months, but still couldn’t get time to do so. Ok, even though ‘ALLL’ is not great, it’s nice and notable for fresh treatment and even fresher performances. And off course the element of LA and SFO, one can get to see in it. The review is going to be shorter. Have to catch up on things, lined up for Sunday
It’s a story of gen-x folks taking place in the US in the dot.com era (2000 something). Ashton Kutcher (Oliver) is fresh out of college and has dreams to make it big in life before he hits 30, and to settle with a steady marriage. He is highly career oriented, just wants to focus on work, and doesn’t even have a girlfriend. Amanda Pitt (Emily) is a tomboyish, future-forward person (read - liberal and open minded) with apparently no ambitions, dreams like Oliver, and is confused about relations - getting in and out of those regularly. They happen to meet (?) in a flight while traveling to NYC from LA, but their first acquaintance almost remains anonymous / mysterious. Oliver gets drawn towards Emily because of her driven nature. The story moves along for next 7 years, where both of them are on separate paths, but get bumped onto each other, while going through sensitive / moving situations in their individual lives.
It’s a light romantic comedy, thankfully with no - action, melodrama and fleet of characters. Very effective editing and direction. Some of the scenes are really very funny and give appealing creativity / originality to the movie.
Snip-Out:
Probably not much over here. May be a romantic song…sounds crazy for a Hollywood movie, right? But you’ll get to know why I missed that in the below text.
Snip-O-Meter:
Ashton Kutcher more than fits the bill as young Oliver, a budding entrepreneur, a level-headed person and a patient lover. So is Amanda Pitt, as she portrays various traits of the character beautifully / convincingly. But the best part is, while watching the initial sequences of the film I could realize that Bollywood’s ‘Jab We Met’ (JWM) is largely based on this plot. Though ‘JWM’ is very nicely and tightly blended with India, locally and culturally(Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh), it’s not just influenced, but has got the soul of ‘ALLL’ to the extent that Shahid’s and Kareena’s mannerisms are also based on Oliver and Emily’s. Shahid apparently just copies Oliver (gestures, walk etc.), Kareena has put her own to the character of ‘Geet’. Kareena’s light make-up, just highlighting her eyes is picked up from Amenda’s. The title ‘Jab we Met’ also is gathered from one of the dialogues (….when we met…) between Amenda and her friend (Michelle) towards the end of the movie. I watched ‘JWM’ a few years back and is not my personal favorite (barring a few things, songs). The swiftness with which the roller-coaster ride for Oliver and Amanda gets over in ‘ALLL’, is something which is missing in JWM as it’s dragged a lot - It can be a brave statement as for many of them ‘JWM’ is a milestone movie.
Coming back to ‘ALLL’. It’s not great, but a must watch at least for Ashton, Amanda and for getting realization of why we still largely follow Hollywood and why it’s still not the other way round. And even if you don’t want to be so analytical, just sit back, relax and watch this on Sunday evening(s).
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Snipper_Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD)
ZNMD: You only live once, so live to the fullest
Snip-In
It was a long break for me as far as watching a movie in a theater is concerned – Almost 10 months after watching Dabangg, I could make it to this one in a theater. I guess for me there wasn’t any movie released during this timeframe which was compelling enough to be watched in the theater (I don’t think I was that busyJ). And ZNMD didn’t let us down, it turned out to be quite a decent flick and in fact a great entertainer. The review may be a little longer than what I’ve been trying to achieve in recent times. Also it may not be that appealing as I’m writing it while being on-board, across 3 different flights.
It’s a Road movie, takes place in Spain and covers the ‘bits and pieces’ (?) of lives of 3 friends who are celebrating Bachelor Party of one of them. Well in true sense it’s much more than just the ‘bits and pieces’. Arjun (Hrithik), Kabir (Abhay) and Imraan (Farhan) are in their 30s and are childhood friends. Arjun is a Financial Broker in London, is a workaholic and aims at minting money so as to retire at 40 and live a lavish life of his dreams. Because of his workaholic nature he is not able to give his ‘current’ time to any relation, had come across a break-up and is single - And also seems to be fine with his personal status. He is coming to Spain to meet his friends but also is carrying ‘his work’ along with him to the trip, he can’t leave it behind just like that. Kabir is into Civil / Construction business, and is throwing this Party. He lives in London, is getting married to his long time friend - an ambitious interior designer Natasha (Kalki) in London. Imraan is a small time copyright artist in an advertising firm in Delhi. He has recently lost his step-father and one of the things deep inside his soul is to meet his biological father staying in Spain (whom he never met, seen or spoken to). On the face of it, he appears to be almost a Casanova and tries to mingle with every other girl comes his way.
But the main thread that runs along the movie is about the mission that all of them want to accomplish during the trip – It’s about coming out of the shell, freeing up the soul, taking on the challenges of life, and getting rid of paranoia each one of them posses. So the deal is to achieve this through some adventure sports. Arjun is scared of water, Imraan of heights and Kabir may be having this trait of not able to say ‘No’ to people J. During this trip they meet Laila (Katrina) and Nuria (..). Laila stays in London and has a living there, but spends time every year for herself – Globe-trotting, deep sea diving / snorkeling and training people on the same. Imraan tries to impress Laila but she falls for Hrithik, and Nuria who is Laila’s friend falls in love with Imran, while initially Imran was very casual about the relation. And all this relation building and occasional breaking, takes place in the back-drop of adventures three of them committed to do in Spain, while enjoying this trip to the fullest.
Hrithik is usual best with his looks, acting and dancing skills. We can get to co-relate to ‘Arjun’ as some (many?) of us actually closely resemble the character (too many business calls, working from the beachside and so on J). Abhay Deol the usual soft guy – He is still not boring, but he can bring at least some change to his dialogue delivery, expressions, and if possible his character selection as well. Kalki was a lot acceptable in ‘Dev D’, is becoming routine now, and may not always click because of her unusual looks. She is probably not the perfect fit for the Hi-Fi (Bollywood is a passé, it’s now HI-FI: Hindi-Films). Katrina is becoming a delight to watch - She does create an impact - gives the whole meaning to the movie as she makes the character stronger through her convincing acting. But the main surprise and attraction is Farhan – He probably over-shadows even Hrithik & Katrina. Thanks to his Production House as the most effervescent one-liners written by him are for his own characterJ. Naseeruddin Shah appears like an ‘artist spent his life in Europe’ – He is outstanding as always, even in a 10 minute cameo.
Snip-Out:
The only thing that looks a little odd, and everyone may not agree – Arjun (Hrithik) is always shy when it comes to dancing-It’s apparent in the SUV / otherwise during their trip. But the same Arjun dances like a ‘Hrithik’ in couple of songs. That looks odd, even if we agree that Laila has changed his perspective towards living the life. His change in the perspective can make him bold, liberal, but can not make him an outstanding dancer. The new-Age HI-FI has come a long way, but still they can bring more authenticity to the characters /scripts. Same is the case with the costume designing – Farhan’s costumes are standing out and he manages to attract attention while sharing the screen space with Hrithik. That’s incredible, but a little odd by HI-FI standards (but may be in-line with the character trait).
Snip-O-Meter:
It’s the same Production House (Excel Entertainment) and crew as in ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.’ (HTPL) with somewhat altered responsibilities - Reema Kagti and Zoya Akthars story and screenplay is very fresh and looks a lot genuine as well. Zoya’s direction is pretty apt. Cinematography could have been further cinematic – but I reckon they might have deliberately avoided capturing the grandeur of Spain (otherwise also it usually turns out to be just the sight-seeing ;)) to give prominence to the characters and story. Songs are great – ‘Senorita’ is a great number to listen and watch. It has a great resemblance with ‘Pyar ki yeh kahani suno‘ song from HTPL. In fact both the movies are pretty close in terms of portraying various shades and sentiments of characters woven around delicate human relationships (HTPL scores better as a movie than ZNMD on this front). But in-line with the title of the movie the audience get the real ‘High’ while watching the intense moments captured in slow-mo after accomplishing each of the missions/adventures, and moreover the monologues / shayari by Imran (written by Javed Akhtar). Even though the monologues has Farhan’s voice-over, who is not necessarily best known for his voice, still resembles a lot with Bachhan’s monologues (Silsila and others). The beauty of these scenes and imapct it creates lies in capturing the opposite – The scenes/visuals are intense with no dialogues, backed with soft tunes played on Piano and at times a very meaningful shayari (by Javed Akthar) voiced-over by Farhan.
To sum it up, superficially it’s a very fizzy, new-age, funny movie, but deep within it captures variety of human relations - and people owning, disowning, possessing, paranoid about those relations – and moreover also profoundly tells how to come out of that and live the life for yourself, for your near and dear ones, and also to the fullest. Or simply put – ‘Chahat ke do pal bhi mil payein …’. A must watch, can be a personal collection for Farhan Akhtar’s and Katrina’s on-screen appearance, ‘Senorita’ song, and whenever we want to enthrust our belief in living.
Snip-In
It was a long break for me as far as watching a movie in a theater is concerned – Almost 10 months after watching Dabangg, I could make it to this one in a theater. I guess for me there wasn’t any movie released during this timeframe which was compelling enough to be watched in the theater (I don’t think I was that busyJ). And ZNMD didn’t let us down, it turned out to be quite a decent flick and in fact a great entertainer. The review may be a little longer than what I’ve been trying to achieve in recent times. Also it may not be that appealing as I’m writing it while being on-board, across 3 different flights.
It’s a Road movie, takes place in Spain and covers the ‘bits and pieces’ (?) of lives of 3 friends who are celebrating Bachelor Party of one of them. Well in true sense it’s much more than just the ‘bits and pieces’. Arjun (Hrithik), Kabir (Abhay) and Imraan (Farhan) are in their 30s and are childhood friends. Arjun is a Financial Broker in London, is a workaholic and aims at minting money so as to retire at 40 and live a lavish life of his dreams. Because of his workaholic nature he is not able to give his ‘current’ time to any relation, had come across a break-up and is single - And also seems to be fine with his personal status. He is coming to Spain to meet his friends but also is carrying ‘his work’ along with him to the trip, he can’t leave it behind just like that. Kabir is into Civil / Construction business, and is throwing this Party. He lives in London, is getting married to his long time friend - an ambitious interior designer Natasha (Kalki) in London. Imraan is a small time copyright artist in an advertising firm in Delhi. He has recently lost his step-father and one of the things deep inside his soul is to meet his biological father staying in Spain (whom he never met, seen or spoken to). On the face of it, he appears to be almost a Casanova and tries to mingle with every other girl comes his way.
But the main thread that runs along the movie is about the mission that all of them want to accomplish during the trip – It’s about coming out of the shell, freeing up the soul, taking on the challenges of life, and getting rid of paranoia each one of them posses. So the deal is to achieve this through some adventure sports. Arjun is scared of water, Imraan of heights and Kabir may be having this trait of not able to say ‘No’ to people J. During this trip they meet Laila (Katrina) and Nuria (..). Laila stays in London and has a living there, but spends time every year for herself – Globe-trotting, deep sea diving / snorkeling and training people on the same. Imraan tries to impress Laila but she falls for Hrithik, and Nuria who is Laila’s friend falls in love with Imran, while initially Imran was very casual about the relation. And all this relation building and occasional breaking, takes place in the back-drop of adventures three of them committed to do in Spain, while enjoying this trip to the fullest.
Hrithik is usual best with his looks, acting and dancing skills. We can get to co-relate to ‘Arjun’ as some (many?) of us actually closely resemble the character (too many business calls, working from the beachside and so on J). Abhay Deol the usual soft guy – He is still not boring, but he can bring at least some change to his dialogue delivery, expressions, and if possible his character selection as well. Kalki was a lot acceptable in ‘Dev D’, is becoming routine now, and may not always click because of her unusual looks. She is probably not the perfect fit for the Hi-Fi (Bollywood is a passé, it’s now HI-FI: Hindi-Films). Katrina is becoming a delight to watch - She does create an impact - gives the whole meaning to the movie as she makes the character stronger through her convincing acting. But the main surprise and attraction is Farhan – He probably over-shadows even Hrithik & Katrina. Thanks to his Production House as the most effervescent one-liners written by him are for his own characterJ. Naseeruddin Shah appears like an ‘artist spent his life in Europe’ – He is outstanding as always, even in a 10 minute cameo.
Snip-Out:
The only thing that looks a little odd, and everyone may not agree – Arjun (Hrithik) is always shy when it comes to dancing-It’s apparent in the SUV / otherwise during their trip. But the same Arjun dances like a ‘Hrithik’ in couple of songs. That looks odd, even if we agree that Laila has changed his perspective towards living the life. His change in the perspective can make him bold, liberal, but can not make him an outstanding dancer. The new-Age HI-FI has come a long way, but still they can bring more authenticity to the characters /scripts. Same is the case with the costume designing – Farhan’s costumes are standing out and he manages to attract attention while sharing the screen space with Hrithik. That’s incredible, but a little odd by HI-FI standards (but may be in-line with the character trait).
Snip-O-Meter:
It’s the same Production House (Excel Entertainment) and crew as in ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.’ (HTPL) with somewhat altered responsibilities - Reema Kagti and Zoya Akthars story and screenplay is very fresh and looks a lot genuine as well. Zoya’s direction is pretty apt. Cinematography could have been further cinematic – but I reckon they might have deliberately avoided capturing the grandeur of Spain (otherwise also it usually turns out to be just the sight-seeing ;)) to give prominence to the characters and story. Songs are great – ‘Senorita’ is a great number to listen and watch. It has a great resemblance with ‘Pyar ki yeh kahani suno‘ song from HTPL. In fact both the movies are pretty close in terms of portraying various shades and sentiments of characters woven around delicate human relationships (HTPL scores better as a movie than ZNMD on this front). But in-line with the title of the movie the audience get the real ‘High’ while watching the intense moments captured in slow-mo after accomplishing each of the missions/adventures, and moreover the monologues / shayari by Imran (written by Javed Akhtar). Even though the monologues has Farhan’s voice-over, who is not necessarily best known for his voice, still resembles a lot with Bachhan’s monologues (Silsila and others). The beauty of these scenes and imapct it creates lies in capturing the opposite – The scenes/visuals are intense with no dialogues, backed with soft tunes played on Piano and at times a very meaningful shayari (by Javed Akthar) voiced-over by Farhan.
To sum it up, superficially it’s a very fizzy, new-age, funny movie, but deep within it captures variety of human relations - and people owning, disowning, possessing, paranoid about those relations – and moreover also profoundly tells how to come out of that and live the life for yourself, for your near and dear ones, and also to the fullest. Or simply put – ‘Chahat ke do pal bhi mil payein …’. A must watch, can be a personal collection for Farhan Akhtar’s and Katrina’s on-screen appearance, ‘Senorita’ song, and whenever we want to enthrust our belief in living.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Snipper: The Social Network
‘Facebook’ the Saga – 500 MN friends comes with few close enemies
Snip-in: It’s early March of 2011, summer is about to begin and wee hours of Sunday morning (Fourish) - I’m not able to catch-up on sleep for whatever reasons. And I’ve been hearing from many friends, that they are actually missing the Snippers. I have not written for last 4-5 months, just because of the schedule and being occupied with many other things. I’ve been watching movies on DVD, however did not watch any at the theater after Dabangg in September ’10.
‘The Social Network’ is the story behind ‘conceiving’ Facebook. It’s a semi-biographical drama based on the early life of Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Social Networking website. Well honestly I could never imagined so many intricacies would have been involved behind Facebook, as only thing we got to hear for all these years was about a networking site developed by a nerd called Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, during the early years of new millennium. It’s a drama, but is as exciting and fast as a thriller movie.
The story covers incidences over a few months while the Facebook was taking ‘birth’ (late 2003- early2004). It gives a perspective about Mark’s side of the story wherein there were a few more contributors to Facebook than just Mark. Right from the 1st scene it becomes interesting to see the ‘compelling’ reason behind the very concept of building a social networking site, how an highly complex s/w program devised for Computerized Chess game is used for comparing/ranking the female students at Harward, how Mark was a visionary and didn’t succumb to business model suggested by co-founder Eduardo Saverin (‘Wardo’) to avail small time gains, the lawsuits between mark, Wardo and the Winklevons twins to gain the ownership / larger pie of Facebook, and most intriguingly - another biographical cameo by the ‘Napster’ co-founder ‘Sean Parker’. All these gives a different dimension the way we look at idea generation, incubating those, giving a business perspective to very naïve thoughts, and all this not with the only intention of making quick bucks but pursuing the vision and gaining a far far more from the dream / venture (billions and billions $ than a few hundred thousands).
It’s a drama between all the stake-holders trying to get the ownership of the idea and largely takes place within the confines of home / college labs / offices. But the script and direction adds a lot of thrill and kick to it, as it revolves around human psyche, people’s determination, their grey shaded behaviors and so on. And what strikes most is all these are folks who are in their early 20s and hitting it really big as compared to what most of us must have done at that age.
Lighting effects play a major role in setting the tone of the film, which gives it a little nostalgic (and a bit of period movie) feel.
Snip-out:
To me it was a perfect treat and there’s not much that could be included under this section. The length could have been a tad short, at the same time some actual coverage in terms of Facebook’s increasing popularity (thousands of friends (users)) and the fame that Mark is getting. They have covered the popularity aspect in an indirect / brief way and nicely though.
Snip-O-Meter:
Well, Jesse Eisenberg looks to have lived the epic character of Mark. It’s not about the facial resemblance, but also the very characteristic of a nerd and genuine human being is very well captured in the character. Rest all have done real good justice to their roles. Justin Timberlake’s cameo as Sean Parker is stunning. He seizes the screen for those moments with the charisma. The Harvard (premiere B-school) ‘dilect’ and ambience created is awesome. The Direction, Screenplay, Editing and the Lighting effects are great. It fetched the academy awards for Editing, Screenplay and the Original Score. If you want to get a glimpse of how cracks were surfaced, before even laying out the bricks, while building the ‘Wall’…. then this is worth the ‘Poke’.
Snip-in: It’s early March of 2011, summer is about to begin and wee hours of Sunday morning (Fourish) - I’m not able to catch-up on sleep for whatever reasons. And I’ve been hearing from many friends, that they are actually missing the Snippers. I have not written for last 4-5 months, just because of the schedule and being occupied with many other things. I’ve been watching movies on DVD, however did not watch any at the theater after Dabangg in September ’10.
‘The Social Network’ is the story behind ‘conceiving’ Facebook. It’s a semi-biographical drama based on the early life of Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Social Networking website. Well honestly I could never imagined so many intricacies would have been involved behind Facebook, as only thing we got to hear for all these years was about a networking site developed by a nerd called Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, during the early years of new millennium. It’s a drama, but is as exciting and fast as a thriller movie.
The story covers incidences over a few months while the Facebook was taking ‘birth’ (late 2003- early2004). It gives a perspective about Mark’s side of the story wherein there were a few more contributors to Facebook than just Mark. Right from the 1st scene it becomes interesting to see the ‘compelling’ reason behind the very concept of building a social networking site, how an highly complex s/w program devised for Computerized Chess game is used for comparing/ranking the female students at Harward, how Mark was a visionary and didn’t succumb to business model suggested by co-founder Eduardo Saverin (‘Wardo’) to avail small time gains, the lawsuits between mark, Wardo and the Winklevons twins to gain the ownership / larger pie of Facebook, and most intriguingly - another biographical cameo by the ‘Napster’ co-founder ‘Sean Parker’. All these gives a different dimension the way we look at idea generation, incubating those, giving a business perspective to very naïve thoughts, and all this not with the only intention of making quick bucks but pursuing the vision and gaining a far far more from the dream / venture (billions and billions $ than a few hundred thousands).
It’s a drama between all the stake-holders trying to get the ownership of the idea and largely takes place within the confines of home / college labs / offices. But the script and direction adds a lot of thrill and kick to it, as it revolves around human psyche, people’s determination, their grey shaded behaviors and so on. And what strikes most is all these are folks who are in their early 20s and hitting it really big as compared to what most of us must have done at that age.
Lighting effects play a major role in setting the tone of the film, which gives it a little nostalgic (and a bit of period movie) feel.
Snip-out:
To me it was a perfect treat and there’s not much that could be included under this section. The length could have been a tad short, at the same time some actual coverage in terms of Facebook’s increasing popularity (thousands of friends (users)) and the fame that Mark is getting. They have covered the popularity aspect in an indirect / brief way and nicely though.
Snip-O-Meter:
Well, Jesse Eisenberg looks to have lived the epic character of Mark. It’s not about the facial resemblance, but also the very characteristic of a nerd and genuine human being is very well captured in the character. Rest all have done real good justice to their roles. Justin Timberlake’s cameo as Sean Parker is stunning. He seizes the screen for those moments with the charisma. The Harvard (premiere B-school) ‘dilect’ and ambience created is awesome. The Direction, Screenplay, Editing and the Lighting effects are great. It fetched the academy awards for Editing, Screenplay and the Original Score. If you want to get a glimpse of how cracks were surfaced, before even laying out the bricks, while building the ‘Wall’…. then this is worth the ‘Poke’.
Monday, April 4, 2011
When billions bleed and shed tears (Happiness) in BLUE
A sleepless night in India / When Diwali is celebrated in April :-)
It was the moment around 1.2 billion people across the country waiting for generations (28 years to be precisely). And MS Dhoni’s team touched that around ‘11sh on Saturday night of 2nd April 2011. I can’t resist myself to express why this victory is so memorable, and out of the world for every Indian, even though we won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1983, and T-20 Cricket World Cup in 2007.
Well in early 80’s, when I was a kid, Cricket by then also was followed as a religion by 60+ billion Indians. However Cricket was mostly heard on the radio, the media ‘coverage’ (forget about the hype) was extremely low and grossly limited to regional print versions of the News Papers. I wasn’t a big fan of cricket but already had developed a great interest for the game then. India was amongst the ‘also ran’ nations during the ODI Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. In 1983, during the Prudential World Cup in England, India was still considered to be a minnow and no one was fancying India to be getting even into Quarter Finals, as we have won just 1 match during the earlier 2 World Cups. Essentially there was absolutely no pressure on Kapil Dev and company. The matches were not telecasted on 'Doordarshan' (DD was the only available channel then) in India. However I still remember it, faintly though, on 25th June, DD announced to air the telecast LIVE. It was an extended summer for us as my cousins were vacationing with us in Pune. All of them at home have already made plans to visit another relative that night to attend a family function. However I was very keen on watching the match LIVE on TV, and made my Dad stay at home along with me. I never was, up until 1.30 AM in the morning, prior that night. But it was worth it, India won the match against all odds and we got the reason to celebrate the pseudo-religion for number of years later. But I don’t remember huge celebrations taking place that night in Pune (not in the neighborhood at least). We eventually won the Benson & Hedges ODI world cup down-under in 1985, while Ravi Shastri got us acquainted with the ‘4 interlaced ringed’ automotive emblem (read ‘Audi’) being the Champion of Champions.
But, but, but, there was a huge gap afterwards. We essentially could not sustain the high pressure games typically in the ODI Cricket World Cups. 1987, the tournament even being in India, we couldn’t prove to be the reigning world champions. 1992 was not memorable down-under. 1996, again the tournament was India, however got ruined because of the frustrated / rioting crowd, and the semi-final match was awarded to Sri Lanka. 1999, the only savior was Sachin Tendulkar’s brave century, a tribute to his father when Sachin traveled back to England after performing the last rites of his father in India. 2003 was the closest we could get to the Cup, but brutally defeated by the OZs in the final. We had a fantastic run during the tournament and Sachin’s 98 against Pakistan on 1st March 2003 was a treat for the cricket lovers. 2007 was a disaster, when for the first time after 1983, the team had to pack the bags, even before fully opening those, leading to a quick exit in the league round.
But at the same time something was happening in the background and we already must have got injected something to turn the color of our blood Blue:-). We won the first ever T-20 World cup in 2007, after making a complete overhaul of the Indian Cricket team. And from that day onwards, some 1 Billion people in this cricket-fanatic nation (and millions of NRIs oversees) started dreaming about winning the 2011 ODI Cricket World CUP. I guess this is a sole reason which makes this victory a lot special than any other tournament / event, we won till this date. There was a huge pressure both on and off the field for the team - We already have had our not so great luck with the foreign coaches, team has been getting revamped, senior players were either retiring or not being considered for their non-competitive performances, and so and so forth. On top of all this, there was immense pressure being built by the press and the TV channels. But Gary Kirsten, and M.S. Dhoni and his team ensured that they are not letting it go this time. 2011 World Cup wasn’t an easy one, even if it was played on the Indian soil. We couldn’t win any match single-sidedly (barring the 1st one with Bangladesh). We had to play against most of the favorites for the Cup, and we played well against all. Most emphatically, making OZs surrender their ego in QFs, defeating arch-rival Pakistan in Semis, and beating Sri Lanka convincingly (Almost :-)) in the finals. And at the same time, the body language /mindset of the Indian players was more than professional, very humble, very passionate and definitely not of snatching the title from someone (like their predecessors). If anyone has to experience the journey of 4 long years in split seconds, they have to ‘read’ Doni’s eyes which were following the trajectory of the cricket ball he ‘helicoptered’ out of the ground to touch the finishing line in the 48th over of the match.
Well reams of papers and terabytes of electronic coverage would be savored here-onwards on this victory. I guess the kind of moment we lived on Saturday 2nd April was somewhat equivalent to the victory at Kargil. At least this generation, probably have not seen anything big compared to that. I guess folks in many developed nations may not be able to understand the big deal around this win (Country as big as this and not able to shine at most of the sporting events is the reality :(). But for every Indian, I believe, it’s a moment to cherish for a long long time.
And an aftermath of this win, even if I’m not an economist (not even remotely) or anything like that, I guess there’s going to be an upswing in the Sensex, the whole India would be on a buying spree, there would be huge spending on white goods, eateries and the cricket merchandise (IPL) for next few months. Even not so deserving Bollywood movies like F.A.L.T.U would definitely gain huge revenues due the long weekend and the sheer mindset of people, which otherwise could have been a flop. This win definitely would become a huge money spinner, across industries, and giving a big boost to the IPL 4, which otherwise was in news for not so good reasons.
MS the cool, Sachin the demigod, and Yuvi who used be utterly flamboyant, but recently turned Mr. Dependable, will remain in our hearts forever and very soon we will stop bleeding in blue, but would start smiling in blue, as it’s going to be a much regular affair for India Incorporate, and not just limited to the 22 yard game. To sum it up, for .IN the Party has just begun :-)
It was the moment around 1.2 billion people across the country waiting for generations (28 years to be precisely). And MS Dhoni’s team touched that around ‘11sh on Saturday night of 2nd April 2011. I can’t resist myself to express why this victory is so memorable, and out of the world for every Indian, even though we won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1983, and T-20 Cricket World Cup in 2007.
Well in early 80’s, when I was a kid, Cricket by then also was followed as a religion by 60+ billion Indians. However Cricket was mostly heard on the radio, the media ‘coverage’ (forget about the hype) was extremely low and grossly limited to regional print versions of the News Papers. I wasn’t a big fan of cricket but already had developed a great interest for the game then. India was amongst the ‘also ran’ nations during the ODI Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. In 1983, during the Prudential World Cup in England, India was still considered to be a minnow and no one was fancying India to be getting even into Quarter Finals, as we have won just 1 match during the earlier 2 World Cups. Essentially there was absolutely no pressure on Kapil Dev and company. The matches were not telecasted on 'Doordarshan' (DD was the only available channel then) in India. However I still remember it, faintly though, on 25th June, DD announced to air the telecast LIVE. It was an extended summer for us as my cousins were vacationing with us in Pune. All of them at home have already made plans to visit another relative that night to attend a family function. However I was very keen on watching the match LIVE on TV, and made my Dad stay at home along with me. I never was, up until 1.30 AM in the morning, prior that night. But it was worth it, India won the match against all odds and we got the reason to celebrate the pseudo-religion for number of years later. But I don’t remember huge celebrations taking place that night in Pune (not in the neighborhood at least). We eventually won the Benson & Hedges ODI world cup down-under in 1985, while Ravi Shastri got us acquainted with the ‘4 interlaced ringed’ automotive emblem (read ‘Audi’) being the Champion of Champions.
But, but, but, there was a huge gap afterwards. We essentially could not sustain the high pressure games typically in the ODI Cricket World Cups. 1987, the tournament even being in India, we couldn’t prove to be the reigning world champions. 1992 was not memorable down-under. 1996, again the tournament was India, however got ruined because of the frustrated / rioting crowd, and the semi-final match was awarded to Sri Lanka. 1999, the only savior was Sachin Tendulkar’s brave century, a tribute to his father when Sachin traveled back to England after performing the last rites of his father in India. 2003 was the closest we could get to the Cup, but brutally defeated by the OZs in the final. We had a fantastic run during the tournament and Sachin’s 98 against Pakistan on 1st March 2003 was a treat for the cricket lovers. 2007 was a disaster, when for the first time after 1983, the team had to pack the bags, even before fully opening those, leading to a quick exit in the league round.
But at the same time something was happening in the background and we already must have got injected something to turn the color of our blood Blue:-). We won the first ever T-20 World cup in 2007, after making a complete overhaul of the Indian Cricket team. And from that day onwards, some 1 Billion people in this cricket-fanatic nation (and millions of NRIs oversees) started dreaming about winning the 2011 ODI Cricket World CUP. I guess this is a sole reason which makes this victory a lot special than any other tournament / event, we won till this date. There was a huge pressure both on and off the field for the team - We already have had our not so great luck with the foreign coaches, team has been getting revamped, senior players were either retiring or not being considered for their non-competitive performances, and so and so forth. On top of all this, there was immense pressure being built by the press and the TV channels. But Gary Kirsten, and M.S. Dhoni and his team ensured that they are not letting it go this time. 2011 World Cup wasn’t an easy one, even if it was played on the Indian soil. We couldn’t win any match single-sidedly (barring the 1st one with Bangladesh). We had to play against most of the favorites for the Cup, and we played well against all. Most emphatically, making OZs surrender their ego in QFs, defeating arch-rival Pakistan in Semis, and beating Sri Lanka convincingly (Almost :-)) in the finals. And at the same time, the body language /mindset of the Indian players was more than professional, very humble, very passionate and definitely not of snatching the title from someone (like their predecessors). If anyone has to experience the journey of 4 long years in split seconds, they have to ‘read’ Doni’s eyes which were following the trajectory of the cricket ball he ‘helicoptered’ out of the ground to touch the finishing line in the 48th over of the match.
Well reams of papers and terabytes of electronic coverage would be savored here-onwards on this victory. I guess the kind of moment we lived on Saturday 2nd April was somewhat equivalent to the victory at Kargil. At least this generation, probably have not seen anything big compared to that. I guess folks in many developed nations may not be able to understand the big deal around this win (Country as big as this and not able to shine at most of the sporting events is the reality :(). But for every Indian, I believe, it’s a moment to cherish for a long long time.
And an aftermath of this win, even if I’m not an economist (not even remotely) or anything like that, I guess there’s going to be an upswing in the Sensex, the whole India would be on a buying spree, there would be huge spending on white goods, eateries and the cricket merchandise (IPL) for next few months. Even not so deserving Bollywood movies like F.A.L.T.U would definitely gain huge revenues due the long weekend and the sheer mindset of people, which otherwise could have been a flop. This win definitely would become a huge money spinner, across industries, and giving a big boost to the IPL 4, which otherwise was in news for not so good reasons.
MS the cool, Sachin the demigod, and Yuvi who used be utterly flamboyant, but recently turned Mr. Dependable, will remain in our hearts forever and very soon we will stop bleeding in blue, but would start smiling in blue, as it’s going to be a much regular affair for India Incorporate, and not just limited to the 22 yard game. To sum it up, for .IN the Party has just begun :-)
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