In Sync

Just a list of articles, opinions I agree with on us finishing last among the Super Eight in the T20 WC in West-Indies.

1. A very harshly worded by Sidharth Monga is here, http://www.cricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2010/content/current/story/459405.html
2. Former players are in sync with me here, http://www.cricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2010/content/current/story/459426.html
3. Avijit Ghosh asks the question I have been asking since we lost to Australia in the Super Eights, http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Addictions/entry/pathetic-team-india-bows-out
4. More former players last out, http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/may/12/former-players-flay-dhonis-captaincy-after-indias-exit-from-world-t20.htm

Perhaps in my next blog entry I have to come up with what's wrong and how it can be corrected. I can't rely on former players and people running the show to make the right decisions. ;-)

Andrew McGlashan's Assessment

I don't know much about him except that he write on Cricinfo. Since I read most of what's on the site I also read what he writes. His assessment of India's campaign and Dhoni's response to the press can be found here,

http://www.cricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2010/content/current/story/459389.html

I agree with almost everything in the article if not all of it. Some highlights (for me) am (almost) quoting directly from the article:

1. And this from a side in which every member played at the IPL. Ideal preparation? Obviously not.
2. But it was the downbeat nature of his assessment of what the team could have done about the situation which was most clear and surprising. "At the end of the day we are on the losing side, nothing much can be done about it because this is the best 15 [players] you can get in India when it comes to T20. At the end of the day if you are outplayed there is nothing much you can do about it."
3. In hindsight the signs weren't good to start with. They were the last side to arrive and didn't opt for a practice match before their opening game. Dhoni suggested it was the last thing his team needed after a 90-minute coach ride from the international airport in St Lucia to the north of the island. They have also chosen days off rather than practice during the event but Dhoni said "one more practice session wouldn't have made a difference".
4. When they were back in St Lucia they were right at home on the front foot and Raina was back in the runs. Nothing was bouncing above knee height.
5. It's (the IPL) a domestic event, albeit a big and brash one.
6. Dhoni says, "You have to respect your body and if you don't do that then IPL is draining. If you play late games and go to the parties and travel the next day it takes a toll. But if you take care of yourself 45 days of cricket shouldn't affect you because we play 200 or more in a year."
7. It's a question of priorities for this India team and maybe international Twenty20 is now down the list.
8. Senior players, including Dhoni, are being rested, which suggests he is more tired than he has admitted. (This is for the upcoming series involving Zimbabwe and Sri-Lanka, clearly players are choosing IPL over national duty)

These are points I found interesting. Most importantly these are points that support my opinion.

Phew! Three blog entries in two days. I have not taken this performance by Team India lightly. I'm disappointed.

End of Campaign

Quick conclusions from the ongoing T20 WC in West-Indies:

1. No lessons learnt from the last WC. Batsmen were outdone by pace in two matches of three in the Super Eight stage.
   
2. Dhoni found it easier to go after Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh, Juan Theron, Chawla and Sunny Sohal of KXIP than going after Perera, Thushara and Malinga. Very obvious, IPL can't give us the quality that the international stage can.
3. Yusuf Pathan played a total of 33 balls in four innings this series and made 42 runs of no value. It took four balls more to score a century not very long ago, Warne branded this the best century he'd seen. A look at his international record says he is nowhere close to last enough balls forget scoring enough runs.
   
4. Sehwag was missed. Where was he? Oh! He was giving his 100% for Delhi Daredevils so much so that he injured himself. It's okay! After all the franchise paid him a lot of money.
5. Gambhir and Yuvraj were out of form. Sure they will have carry some blame but if heads were to roll it better not be them for they are proven performers on foreign and home conditions.
6. Earlier Indian teams have fared badly, sure it's happened. Whenever we fared badly earlier I felt that a strong team had let us down, look at the teams that played the 1999 and 2007 ODI WCs. This time I feel a weak team is taking the field for India. Gambhir, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer (didn't play all matches) were the only proven peformers from India. The rest were either untested or yet-to-prove-themselves players.
7. It seems like India has two cricket teams playing for it. On one hand MSD is leading the T20 team which has not fared well in a long time. On the other, the same individual leads the test team currently ranked number one. Ironcially last minute series arrangements are being made to maintain that number one status while second-grade players pose as stars and enjoy a long T20 season.

I'm glad "cricketainment" season is over. C'mon Sri-Lanka, Australia and New-Zealand! We have a number one tag to retain!

Why did you say this Dhoni?

"Your franchise pays so much money for you, you should at least make the semi-finals. After that you can say it is a lottery."

- MS Dhoni reacting on reaching the IPL3 semi-final

If India fail to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 WC tomorrow this quote could take an obvious meaning. Loyalty is now bought.

How could Team India decide not to play any warm-up matches in the West-Indies to prepare for the WC? How could BCCI allow such a thing to happen? How could we pin hopes on IPL stars who blasted sixes of weaker bowlers?

As of now Dhoni and his men must focus on the match against Sri-Lanka and win by 20 runs at least and then pray Australia defeat West-Indies. For if they lose,

"A nation of one billion spends hours watching Team India on the field, spends more hours discussing (and blogging) cricket, spends a few minutes praying for the team every day. Now Team India must at least make the semi-finals. After that even I will say it is a lottery."

- Akshay Nanjangud discusses, blogs and prays for Team India

Striker: keeping the stage small

'Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon' is a movie many I know have not watched. I have been advertising this film ever since I watched it but my reputation of recommending 'weird' films meant even those who would have watched the film wouldn't. Chandan Arora directed this film.

'Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh' is also directed by Arora but somehow I missed this fact and am so am yet to watch this film.

'Striker' is directed by Arora and I knew he directed 'Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon' so I anticipated a good film. I have watched Siddharth in 'Boys' (hated the movie) and 'Rang De Basanti' and so was looking to forward to watching him again. To watch a film with carrom as an integral part of the film was another reason to watch this film. In an interview Siddharth explained how much research has gone into the film and how 'real' (cliche so didn't fall for this) everything is in the film. The film was supposed to show us a film about life in Malvani and how carrom is big in this part of Mumbai, this carrom bit being a lifestyle in a certain place seemed intriguing. So, it was all about Chandan Arora, Siddharth, Malvani and carrom with most of my anticipation being about carrom in the film.

What was I expecting? I was expecting a child who grows up on carrom, gets involved in some kind of betting related to it which shows me that the gangsters in Malvani made their money off carrom and not cocaine. Somehow I thought the film would climax with Siddharth's character playing a game for his family and his life. I expected a slick thriller. Now I was in for a few surprises.

Going by Chandan Arora's first flick I should have expected a simple flick but clearly didn't. I liked the way 'Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon' ends. Chutki makes a B-grade comedy with the critics and urban audience don't fall for, but the film does reasonable business in rural parts of the country and she breaks into the film industry. It's that simple. It's about one girl's fascination with being a hip-swinging chest-jerking film star and a simpleton who is in love with her. It's just that. She doesn't bring Bollywood to her feet. Nothing big happens in the film. 'Striker' is similar. It doesn't go too far out of Malvani. Surya pretty much remains where he started his life. The gangsters around him are small crooks really. They don't have big contacts, don't have MP or MLA friends or have the police in their pockets. It's a small world. These gangsters don't show up in the media, the country doesn't know someone called Jaleel is terrorizing residents of Malvani. Life is Malvani seems to be independent of life outside Malvani. I love this aspect of the film. The stage is small and believable. There is nothing fantastic.

I feel the film is not a complete thriller nor does it gives a strong feel for the characters. I read a bit of Khalid Mohammed's review of the film and he felt it could have been a shorter film, I guess he wanted to see a thriller. Personally I'd liked to have seen a longer version. I want to know what Chandra does for a living, what his father did, how Madhu runs her business, etc. The characters, I feel, are not fully explored. Even Malvani is not fully developed. The film seems to scratch the surface in these aspects.

Of course Surya's character is finely developed. It reminded me of Henry growing up in 'Goodfellas'. Siddharth is sincere. Aditya Pancholi, I thought, is terrific in the way almost every antagonist in such films is.

Some specifics;

1. The line of work Surya does in this film is intriguing. Clearly he is taking risks and he accepts that. At the same time he feels he is okay since he isn't stealing or murdering. This makes his taking to gambling over carrom seems convincing. So this is a positive.
2. I loved the transformation of 'Ideal Carrom Club' to 'Ideal Video Game Parlour'. India had moved on from 1977 to 1988. No one was interested in carrom, just like today I guess, and even Master asks Surya to play video games much like today's generation.
3. As expected as it was for Surya to marry Madhu it made sense. Although Surya isn't 100% honest he does know what is right and advices Zaid against his activities. So marriage overcome by guilt is okay for Surya.
4. I like the gambling set-up by Jaleel for Diwali. It's not overly sophisticated. There is no MLA or MP there, just regular looking people. Like I said earlier the stage is small and I like it here.

This is a very good movie that could easily have been a great film. But one should keep in mind that even a very good film is a rarity.

Rating 3.5/5

"District 9" breaks through!

Mere mooh mein ghee shakkar! The reasons for my liking "District 9" was my last blog entry. I get a feeling that the academy reads my blogs! "District 9" is now in the running for the best picture Oscar!

Now anybody who knows anything about cinema knows the academy is not going to hand out the Oscar for best picture to this film. They just won't. Therefore, it is their acknowledgment of "District 9" as one of the best films to have released this year that makes me happy.

Ever since I watched the film in September 2009 I have been hoping this film will be nominated for best picture. With the nominees being extended to ten this year I knew anything was possible. But would the academy nominate an out and out action sci-fi film? A notable exclusion last year was 'The Dark Knight' which many would argue is a superior film which it probably is. Stories came out that it was this exclusion that has given us this great gift of ten best picture nominees. There will still be some who will complain that "The Hangover" is not in the running for best picture. I have not watched the film so will not comment but to those same people I will point to "Up". Better yet, I will point to "District 9".

As per IMDB the film cost $30 million to make and collect $115 million. Small budget film for what we see on screen and the collections are not massive either. Sci-fi never felt so raw before.

Why do I like 'District 9'?

September 2009. I watched this movie four months ago. This is a period long enough to forget a movie altogether but it seems I still remember plenty. I was chatting with a friend yesterday and recollected some reasons why I loved the film.

1. True story revisited on a sci-fi platform: Easy to make the real tale as a drama of oppression and take home an Oscar nomination. But not Neil! No! He sold the real tale through a science-fiction story. Drama transformed to edge of the seat thrills and action.
   
2. Documentary like cinematography: Interesting what this does in this film. In a film about aliens the camera is used like in a documentary. This constantly gave me feeling of watching a true story which, of course, is not true here. This makes the film seem more real than it is in my opinion.
   
3. Wikus Van Der Merwe: What a performance! I'd nominate him (and Jeremy Renner!) for the Oscars right now.
   
4. Christopher Johnson: I call this reverse imagination. An unfamiliar name for the protagonist (at least for some of us) and an everyday name for the alien. Ever heard of an alien called Chris?
   
5. Sense of placement in the action: Follow Wikus and Chris through District 9. I almost knew which way they were going where from the bullets were fired. I was in District 9 for a couple of hours in September.
   
6. Reminder of reasons we live for: Ambition and a sense of achievement are not the reasons Wikus wants to live for. He wants to live (from my understanding) for his family and fear of not being human. There have been points of time in my life when I have felt that living to achieve a goal is not the be all and end all. Why not just live? Take it easy. Be a simpleton. Keep it cool.

Tell me why you love 'District 9'. Tell me anything except that you hate the film!