Mature Wine: December 2008

Words of wisdom- 4

http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/30221605/End-of-financial-arrogance.html
--good one.

Review - Rab ne Bana di Jodi

There's something extraordinary about every ordinary Love jodi..It seems like YC has considered every bit of this phrase while making RNB.. Truly, after watching this movie I was asking myself " what was different in this movie " and the answer--??hmmm..probably the special thing about this movie is the ease by which they have shown this complex plot that it doesnt seem as complex as it is. RNB is a thorough movie which has definitely more positives than negatives. The plot is very simple which reduces the work of the director to half. Taani ( anushka) by virtue of a hard decision by the almighty Rab looses her wanna be when their bus meets an accident and like predestined, every passenger dies. Surender sahni ( S2) or SRK is the obvious choice before her father to assign her daughter to before he leaves this world. Plain bad luck for Taani for even an iota of her effervescence doesnt match with a Boring workaholic Punjab Power worker S2. The obvious thing: Taani isnt happy with this cohort. S2 on the other hand is a good man who doesnt show possession for even an inch of his wife. This and much more..with SRK taking the back door route of Dance floor to entice the same old flame of love, though this time for himself, gets taani back to the old ways of leading life and makes finally see Rab in himself.

There is hardly any flaw in SRK's acting, right from the point he sees Taani for the first time in the marriage where he endorses a sense of innocence in his face while sipping cold drink to the point when he picks all of his stuff up and goes upstairs with all his paraphernelia to the point of being a gateway to Punjab power. He does it with all sincerity. Anushka is good as well but seems over serious at times. Vinay pathak is a good support. Thats all for him. But there are some obvious flaws that I could catch. One, there is no sign of Taani recognizing SRK in the dance floor( though, yes, he was quite different) Two, there isnt any communication happening between Taani and SRK about the way they are..How long they gonna be like this..How could they together solve the problem ? Nothing..everything is tacit. Be whatever , at the end there needs to be some pivotal discussions which are found missing. How SRK managed to light up Amritsar in the shape of I love you is also a mystery and an uphill task for the lesser mortals like us..

The movie has some good music which is good to hear. Roop Kumar and Sukhvinder are matching to shahrukh's voice. All in all a good movie and watchable once. My rating : 3/5

Ps: YC should avoid mixing old stuff like Raj, Naam to yaad rahega naa..Nopes..no need to rest on the past laurels at all.

India Vs England- Second test

Okies...its official. Indian team is only after Australlia( I dont bother who is first..It would any way be aussies). Happy ?? Yes..But what about the performance of the host team in the fifth day of the second match. No sorry, not only on the ultimate day but also on the penultimate day. Come on !! gimme a break. Fourth day was more like a net practice than an actual match. I am not really sure what were the two batsman upto. The run rate was close to 2 with occasionally sleeping below 2 as well. Now what was your worry ? I mean what was your worry after taking a lead of 160. Not 30,40,50. Its 160. Say if you get out within 150 also ( which anyway wont happen)..No still..what would have been worst ? England chasing 311 in some time meagrely more than a day. Adding to it the math of bad light which introduces a minimum delay of 1 hour in the game. So you expect England to make 300 + runs on the last day. Okies..even if you still, isnt the task of the team to play for winning rather than banking upon the previous win which gave them the lead to slobber.

No I am not done yet. At the end of the day people were made to believe that perhaps the pitch was not conducive to play hard shots and one needs to be on his toes. So what happened after Yuvraj came and started playing his trademark pull and cover drive shot game ? Suddenly the conditions improved ? Yes..for the conditions were pshyco-sporty in nature. GG needed someone to start setting the tone from the other end. And...and..I am sad to say that GG at times was more concerned about the 50 that always seemed to be coming. Thats not expected from a player of the stature of GG. If that sounds offending, please watch the video and ask yourself the reason for suddenly upshoot of the strike rate of the left hander opener after he completed his fifty.

Further, at one time India was more than 330 /4 when both the batsman were in their 70s. Now...was there any really need to make these batsman complete their respective 100s. 55 overs left and Dhoni isnt declaring. Why ? to see these star players complete their tons. I am being brought up playing cricket in the colony and hearing the cliche " Its about the win..not about the records ". Suddenly, Yuvraj looses patience( even he knew that it was not the time to complete his ton)..gets run out..well done..Gamble 1 failed . GG follows suit before the " soft dismissal " of MSD. Gamble 2 fails.

Yes, the host always knew that they couldnt loose . It was on the fifth day that the guest knew that they will loose the series 1-0 , come what may !!! England have leveraged upon the "let it go , enjoy " attitude. At least in my book.